Video Editing Software 2.0

[lieperjp]

So, judging by the search feature, video editing hasn't been talked about for a while. What do you recommend? Running Windows 7, otherwise yes, I would go Final Cut Pro. I wish I had a Mac. Or at least access to one.

Basically, all I need to do right now is take a video, edit out uneeded parts, do transitions, and overlay text and graphics to video. Maybe string photos along and add music, but I could always use the ubiquitous PowerPoint for that. Might get more fancy as time goes on, but only time will tell that.

Any suggestions? I was mostly comparing Vegas, Premiere, and Pinnacle in my searches. Don't worry about budget, but it can't be terribly expensive, either.

 

[erosing]

Premiere or Premiere Elements if you can't go with the regular version.

Going with Premiere will make you're life pretty easy once you figure it out, and it has a pretty good learning curve, plus it will allow you to do more should you want to than elements or pinnacle.

I would download the Premiere trial, if you don't need to decide urgently, of course same goes for the others if they have demos available.

Also, since you're listed as undergrad, Premiere can, most likely, be had pretty reasonably through your college or other student license sellers.

 

[jstroming]

Vegas, Vegas, and more Vegas. I own Vegas, Premiere, and FCP. Unless your doing some cool sh** and have alot of experience, Vegas is the way to go. I (or any) editor who knows vegas can get even the most inexperienced amateur video editor up and running in a few hours. It really is that basic to understand. It just makes sense.

I started out on Pinnacle, went to Premiere (which I couldnt stand), then Vegas, then FCP. Again I only recommend FCP if your doing some intense sh**. Vegas is the right price (around $500), and comes with DVD Architect (which is GREAT easy dvd burning software).

 

[erosing]

Vegas, Vegas, and more Vegas. I own Vegas, Premiere, and FCP. Unless your doing some cool sh** and have alot of experience, Vegas is the way to go. I (or any) editor who knows vegas can get even the most inexperienced amateur video editor up and running in a few hours. It really is that basic to understand. It just makes sense.

I started out on Pinnacle, went to Premiere (which I couldnt stand), then Vegas, then FCP. Again I only recommend FCP if your doing some intense sh**. Vegas is the right price (around $500), and comes with DVD Architect (which is GREAT easy dvd burning software).

Out of curiosity, what didn't you like about Premiere?

 

[jstroming]

Well at the time I was also learning FCP as well...FCP just had more of an artistic feel to it....This is going to be a terrible example, but I like the curves of the interface more in FCP then the straight hard edge lines of Premiere (at least the version I was using). I am not one of those artsy type people who is like "Mac Mac Mac" for everything, in fact I own both Macs and PCs in my editing suites. But there was "something" about editing in FCP that just seemed "right". Plus the stability of OSX was something of a dream to me at the time. I do multi-layered work that causes software to crash, so OSX was a huge benefit.

 

[HornsOverIthaca]

I started out on Pinnacle, went to Premiere (which I couldnt stand), then Vegas, then FCP. Again I only recommend FCP if your doing some intense sh**. Vegas is the right price (around $500), and comes with DVD Architect (which is GREAT easy dvd burning software).

That's almost the exact same path I took.

I agree that Vegas is probably your best bet. I only used Vegas in college and had great success. The price point is good too. I used Premiere prior to Vegas and I'll never go back. The issues with stability were just too much to handle.
However since my work computer is a Mac I've started using Final Cut Pro exclusively. That's the only one I teach to my students. It's stable, fairly easy to use, powerful, flexible, has great intermediate codecs, makes quick DVDs with version 7, and is expensive. I don't have a personal copy but I wish I did.

 

[lieperjp]

Thanks for the input. Appreciate it so far!

I would really like to go with FCP, as I've used it before, been trained on it before, but alas, I don't have a Mac.

 

[MercyTech]

For just the basic editing, transitions and titles, have you looked at Windows Movie maker?

 

[HornsOverIthaca]

I would really like to go with FCP, as I've used it before, been trained on it before, but alas, I don't have a Mac.

If you've learned one NLE you'll be able to quickly pick up other ones. Just have to learn where all the commands are. FCP was originally a knock-off of Premiere, but they made it much better than the original.

 

[metti]

I have got to say that I am a huge Premiere fan. I am currently running CS5 on a mac and it is awesome. I also have FCP which I use for projects that are in collaboration with other FCP users but for solo work I prefer Premiere. Just to clarify though, I do NOT like Premiere Elements. The two versions aren't even remotely similar and Elements is really annoying in a lot of ways.