Video editing software

[LadyCrimson]

By video I mean camcorder-generated files, not Fraps-or-similar game videos.

 

I've been using Pinnacle Studio for a while now, and while it was fairly powerful/easy to use for simple things, it would crash/freeze a lot ... and I finally got fed up with it. Movie Edit Pro and Video Studio are two brands that some folk have mentioned before, but they seem an awful lot like Pinnacle - ie, feature-bloated that'll likely slow everything down. I suppose if they don't crash as much, it'd be worthwhile, but still ...

 

I don't know if many people here work with home videos, but just idly curious if anyone's used any other program and liked it a lot? It has to work on XP and preferably be in the $100 or less range.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah, sadly for video editing software that doesn't suck, you're going to end up with expensive professional programs like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro. I've heard Ulead VideoStudio is pretty good though, but I don't know what price range it's in. It was described as being for the mass consumer market, so it can't be too much. But seriously, Pinnacle is just horrible. I'm told the reason for this is that in the actual program code there's just major mistakes, but I don't know if that's true.

[Guard Dog]

I have been getting into this a lot lately. I have had pretty good results with Sony Vegas Movie Studio and Sony DVD Architect . They are packaged together and cost around $59.99 to $79.99 US. The only big flaw is that if you need to crop or mix audio you need a seperate editor to do it. And it is not terribly user friendly but it pretty powerful once you learn how to use it.

[LadyCrimson]

Ulead VideoStudio was on sale for $40, and I figured "hey, it can't be any worse than Pinnacle" ... so I'll give that a shot.

If that doesn't work, I'll look for the Sony one.

 

Stuff like this only emphasizes how irritating it is (to me) these days, when you just want simple, basic functionality, but software keeps going in the opposite direction.

[Spider]

Or you could turn to the open source market:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_...s#Video_editing

 

Of those listed I've only heard about VirtualDub and Avisynth myself. But VirtualDub is supposedly ok (have no personal experience with either, I use Premiere Pro at school).

 

But at least they're free to try (and use if they suit you), so only time is lost if they suck.

 

Edit: Of course, looking a bit closer, you probably don't want VirtualDub or Avisynth. Not sure about VirtualDub, but the page claims it's mostly designed for capturing video. There are some editing capabilities, but I'm not sure how advanced ones you need. Could be worth having a look at still. As with many open source programs, there are add-ons available that can add a lot of functionality, if one has the time.

 

Avisynth uses scripting only and has no gui, so I doubt that is very useful.

 

AviDemux can be worth having a look at (although it's described as being similar to VirtualDub, it seems different enough to maybe suit you in case VirtualDub doesn't).

 

At last, Jahshaka seems to be the best bet. Supposedly it will compare to Pinnacle feature-wise when it's done. The operative part of that sentence being when it's done. It's currently in it's alpha stages. I have no idea how far they've gotten and what their issues are. But trying it is free and it seems to have the potential to be what you're looking for.

 

The rest are either Linux-based or not video-editors.

Edited November 12, 2007 by Spider

[Joseph Bulock]

All I can say is that I used Final Cut Pro in college and find it very hard to go back to the consumer level programs. The interface and the quality of the features of the professional programs are just sooo much better. If you're looking to do anything that would actually be shown for anything more than family videos, you might want to save up for one of the big boys.

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah, VirtualDub isn't meant for/doesn't work with DV. But I do like them for editing Fraps-made videos.

 

I also don't have a Mac/Apple and have no plans to get one, although I must admit their gorgeous flat-display screens beckon temptingly to me whenever I browse through stores; something the ones for PC's have yet to do.

 

Edit: and most of my use isn't in the serious pro category ... or rather, all of my useage. I like to tinker, but not quite to that extent. Maybe one day, heh.

Edited November 14, 2007 by LadyCrimson