Hello All

Need some advice on choice of software.

I currently use Pinnacle Studio 9 and was wondering what alternatives i have.

I want similar capabilities with all, if not more transitions than pinnacle and also want to edit so that i can have custom shapes/filters to play the video in.

I am getting married in a couple of months an di have decided to get the filming done professionally but will be doing all the editing myself.

All suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[vonhosen]

I personally like (& use) Sony Vegas

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...ct.asp?PID=967

[MarkE19]

Or there is:

Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 - I use an older version, Premiere 6. great program, but not easy to learn.
Pinnacle Edition - Apparently nothing like Studio to use.

I think these are the main 3 semi pro editing programs on the market. All are very powerful programs with a lot of features and should do far more than you are likely to want. But costing in the region of £500 each they should do!

Mark.

[fcat]

I'll second using Vegas, really is a fantastic and powerfull programme with a great user interface

What format is the footage being originated on?

If it's HDV then your most cost effective solution is Pinnalce Liquid Edition, if it's standard def DV then I would recommend Premeire Elements.

There is nothing near it in terms of functionality or flexibility for either the price or 4 times it. Like MarkE19 I used v.6.02 then Pro 1.5 (on my online suite) I use this on my PC offline suite, though I've never ever considered it a compromise. There are maybe five (useful from a broadcast tech point of view) things that it cannot do, for everything else it's awesome value for money.

If it's another format (such as DVC or BetaSX/DigiDBeta) then you'll require either a conversion done by the crew, or an SDI>firewire interface.

If you insist on spending professioanl money then I can also recommend Premiere Pro, though I can't overstate that unless you are doing work that needs to meet broadcast engineering test standards (purely transmission safety issues, no quality difference) then Elements will do everything you need.

[redsox_mark]

Another vote for the Sony Vegas family. If you don't need all the power of the full Sony Vegas (a Professional package), the Vegas Movie Studio product is available; it has a similar interface and does a large percentage of what the full package does at a very low cost ($99, including a DVD authoring package).

Mark

Big fan of vegas too. Although I had a few problems with the trial version, I bought the unlocked version (about £65 FedExed to your door) and it is excellent. It doesn't do 5.1 surround or AC3 sound though, so if that is a priority then you may wish to go for Vegas 6 which is the pro version - this does HDV editing too. The best bit about vegas is that I've not managed to make it fall over yet, something I achieved regularly with Pinnacle.

Didn't try Adobe due to the user interface, but it depends upon how long you are willing to take.