Newbie - Video Editing Software

[jonnypb]

Hi,

I have a sony minidv camcorder and would like to know of some video editing software that is easy to use. Just need to beable to edit footage, add text and credits, add background music

Any advice on some good software would be appreciated

Thanks

[rickyt]

If you read some of the many posts about editing software , you will realise there is an awfull lot of such packages to choose from ,Ulead , Sony ,Pinnacle ,Serif ,Adobe to name a few .I have tried quite a few myself ,I like Vegas , Serif MoviePlus & Pinnacle . If you want to capture straight from your camcorder , do a bit of simple editing ,add titles & soundtrack and then write directly to DVD , go no further than Pinnacle . I use Pinnacle 9 [was only £29 ] and has never let me down .Yes ,there are more intensive bits of software as I have said but , if you dont want to spend hours at a PC and just want to get the job done ,try Pinnacle.

[toadoftoadhall]

quite a few people have stability problems with some of the editing progs, but usually find one that is stable.
Try downloading the demos, fully working and try them out.
For simlicity, and stability, I would go for Ulead VideoStudio.

toad

[jonnypb]

thanks I'll have a look at ulead and Pinnacle

[melliott1963]

Please do also look at Vegas Movie Studio from Sony, available here:-

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/dow...p2.asp?DID=613

Pinnacle is a great product if it likes your PC. However, I, like many many others, found it to be too unstable.

Just download as many trials as you can (most products are available as a trial download), and see what seems the most stable on your PC and what you like the feel of.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how stable a product is, if you can't get on with it, you'll be wasting your time. Conversely, you may really like the way a product work, but if it keeps crashing on you, then this will also be extremely frustrating.

You should also try Adobe Premier Elements (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/tryout.html) as many people like this.

[senu]

Melliot1963
Very astute ( and just echoing my thoughts )

Up till now I have found Ulead VS 8 & 9 hard to like but stable.
Sony Vegas Movie Studio™ is stable but took me a while to learn but once learnt its proved real fun to use and I now use even the full Vegas 6 concurrently with the same knowledge.
Pinnacle Studio ( now ver 10.5) is very easy to use but has not in the past been stable on a lot of PCs ( not mine I hasten to add).
Adobe Premiere Elements™ :Ive found stable but not really as totally neebee friendly as Adobe make out as it comes from Adobe Premieres stable. Once again with perseverance it is good software even if it has depths hidden from a casual user

Luckily ( .. and wearily ) Ive been in a position to use many of these without having to buy them,: I can say that they are all quite capable, but all need to be learnt , some more than others. Once this learning curve is done , they are all relatively easy to use and go beyond basic cut, join, titles ,music

Im currently "test driving " Ulead Video Studio 10 plus ( last 72 hrs) I must say I find it a much better product than its earlier siblings

Just reiterating the sense in your post

[toadoftoadhall]

Originally Posted by bubble502

Hi,

I have a sony minidv camcorder and would like to know of some video editing software that is easy to use

Thanks

I think easy to use is a requirement here. I hear Vegas is a bit hard to learn, and so is Premiere Elements ( my personal fav ), that is why I reccomend Ulead VS.

toad

[senu]

Originally Posted by toadoftoadhall

I think easy to use is a requirement here. I hear Vegas is a bit hard to learn, and so is Premiere Elements ( my personal fav ), that is why I reccomend Ulead VS.

toad

With all due respect, although I quite easily warmed to and use Avid Liquid 7/ Liquid Edition 6.1 ( not particularly easy to grasp ( initially)) I personally found Ulead VS 8/9 a tad unintuitive ( perhaps the simplicity was " overwhelming") .I found the GUI cluttered and "non standard"
Conversely I really like its DVD authoring stablemates (Movie factory/ Movie workshop).

While I dont need to a "Difficult to use" software ( which can put one off: and God knows Im all for an easy life ), it seems clear that there is an element of personal preferences with all these software.

I (mostly) get them for free to assees usability but find that there is always a small element of personal bias ( which i try to eliminate by perservering).Ask the Apple mac users : nothing to do with windows/PCs interests them

I agree with you that Sony Vegas Movie studio™ does not have the "use me without bothering with the manual" ease but it does have excellent tutorials ( "show me how") which ( should) cushion the learning curve very considerably.
Vegas 6 itself does not but then it is the more " upmarket" software as Premiere is to Premiere Elements.

Despite using Premiere Elements 2 (which I quite like as well) for the first time and making making within one hr an instructional video without even reading its "manual" , I can only attribute this to previous use of Adobe Premiere: hence my remark about it not seeming to be that newbee friendly

Having said all that,Im with you regarding Ulead Video Studio 10 plus : excellent software: Ive had it since Sunday and find it easy to like effortlessly

All in all , I still feel that they are all easy to use ( eventually)

But there are lots of 3rd party videos ,CDs /DVD tutorials/online training/ and books because what is intuitive to one person might easily bewilder another ( our children will soon be showing us how to use our computers )
All IM ( humble) opinion of course

[ap999]

I bought Adobe Premiere Elements a few weeks ago and have been quite happy with it. I didnt find it much harder than the Ulead package to get into, but what decided me was the quality of the video when I burn it to DVD - it was much better quality than the Ulead 30day trial. I also liked power director - good quality output etc- but several users on these forums have experience suppoert problems etc. You can download a complerte trial of Premiere elements.. but it is 1.2GB.. so broadband is required.PCworld are currently offering a deal of Photoshop & Premiere elements for ~£55 (after rebate) which is comparable to the other products

[senu]

Originally Posted by ap999

...PCworld are currently offering a deal of Photoshop & Premiere elements for ~£55 (after rebate) which is comparable to the other products...

Good on you m8,
I think £55 after rebate for both software Packages is actually a very good deal as most of the others are only a few pounds less for only one software and Photoshop Elements™ 4 is ( for photoediting, editing stllls for video, making menus for Premiere Elements) infact fantastic value .I got the same for £69 earlier in the year

APE doesnt do HD but if you dont need that then the charms of Pinnacle Studio 10 ( £59/ 69) and Vegas MS Platinum (£ 69/79?) and UleadVideoStudio10+ may be lost on you

Adobe Premiere is really awesome
but 1f you are beginner I advice you to choose first something which will be fast and easy to deal with. like presentavid which i always use 4 simple edition.

luck-)