Camcorder purchase done, now the video editing software...

[tsutton]

Panasonic HDC-SD20 on the way now, should be getting it on Monday (i.e. tomorrow) - can't wait!

While waiting for it, I've been busy looking around for a good video editing software and I've narrowed it down to one which is the Corel VideoStudio® Pro X2 Ultimate due to the feedback.

I downloaded the trial version from the Corel website, installed it and had a play with it.

After playing with it, I am not too sure if it's a good software or not. It feels a bit restricted, but I guess that's why it costs £67.

Is there any other software that I've missed?

My budget? As cheap as possible as I've run out of funds to cover the video editing software until my next payday. Ideally under £80 to £90 depending on how good it is.

My current PC setup:

Windows Vista x64 (but can have dual boot to whatever operating system required for stable editing)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3Ghz
4GB memory (2x2GB DDR2 800MHz/PC6400)
ASUS HD 4850 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

Thanks all

[tsutton]

Well that was disappointing - I played with Corel VideoStudio® Pro X2 Ultimate and it's pretty slow and stuggles with AVCHD files!

I have now since found another one - CyberLink Power Director 7 Ultra - will be trying it out tonight when I gets home.

Has anyone used it? Good? bad?

Thanks,

[lurcher]

Tony ,
Cant comment of the software , but if you get chance can you give any initial impressions on the SD20 ?
Ordered one myself but I was out when postie came this morn , so be tomorrow before I can collect , got 2 8Gb Class 6 transcend cards to try and have a non oem battery coming this 2week .
There is a seperate SD20 thread that you could post feedback on .

Thanks

Julian

[zircon3035]

Tony,

Have you considered Adobe Premiere Elements? You can download a trial from Adobe, plus the retail price is just within your price range.

I use the full version of Premiere but I understand that the "elements" version is better able to import AVCHD footage. It seems to have good reviews from PCPro etc too.

HTH,

Ian

[Waveform]

the other "usual suspect" in the frame for avchd editor is Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Of all the ones I demo'd I found it the best with Premiere Elements 7 coming in a close second. Both of the above would fit your budget and should be fine with the PC you have.

[tsutton]

Thanks all, will be trying out both CyberLink Power Director 7 Ultra and Adobe Premiere Elements.

[tsutton]

Originally Posted by lurcher

but if you get chance can you give any initial impressions on the SD20 ?

Very impressed with it so far, but I have not used it fully as I am still playing with it.

got 2 8Gb Class 6 transcend cards to try and have a non oem battery coming this 2week .

Good choice, the higher the class, the better. Where did you get the battery from?

[mroshaw]

Originally Posted by tsutton

Has anyone used it? Good? bad?

It's what I went for, after trying out a number of others.

I found that it was the best compromise between flexibility and easy of use. Certainly don't have any problems with performance, and that's running on quite an old Medion (bought from Tesco!) Dual Core with 4GB (32 bit, so actually 3.2ish) and an 8800GT. It was on sale on the Cyberlink web site for a shade over 50 GBP too, which sealed the deal for me.

My ONLY gripe is that there's no diagonal swipe transition, a la Star Wars! What crazy fool leaves that out of a video editing package?!