Video editing software?

[ygmt13]

I have a panasonic Digital camcorder, and i am doing a project for my school.

I along w/ my group have to hypothetically teach our class a chapter from Jeremiah.

so i came up with the idea to make a movie (documentary style) of the chapter; some talking, some animated battle, etc. what i was wondering was which video editing software would be the best to use? we would need to superimpose "titles" onto the screen (i.e. "John doe, Scholar"), and we would need to somehow get a battle scene and splice it in.

can anyone offer any insight? thanks.

[emily2007]

I think you should go to










Mod comment: This post is blatantly advertising a website and makes no attempt to help the OPs query directly

[senu]

Originally Posted by ygmt13

I have a panasonic Digital camcorder, and i am doing a project for my school.

I along w/ my group have to hypothetically teach our class a chapter from Jeremiah.

so i came up with the idea to make a movie (documentary style) of the chapter; some talking, some animated battle, etc. what i was wondering was which video editing software would be the best to use? we would need to superimpose "titles" onto the screen (i.e. "John doe, Scholar"), and we would need to somehow get a battle scene and splice it in.

can anyone offer any insight? thanks.

Any of the currently available NLE software can do what you want.
I would suggest you do a search on the forums and then come up with a short list which we can then expand on the pros/ cons of

A simple list
Ulead Video Studio 10 plus
Pinnacle Studio 10 plus
Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD ( Platinum)
Adobe Premiere Elements 3
Serif Movie Plus5
Magix Movie pro
These are the "budget ( sub £100) ones . The list is not in any particular order and no good to you oif you use a Mac as they are Windows Software

[james_wmc]

Hi There

I have just bought Ulead video studio 10 and its really good. Its easy to use and very powerfull.

There is a free trail if you go to the Ulead site which you will probably be fine for what you need

Good luck with it

[MarkE19]

Even the free Movie Maker 2 program that comes with Windows XP will do what you want. What it wont do though is burn the final edited footage to DVD (or even VCD), but you will be able to copy back to the camcorder (subject to abilities of cam) or play it off the PC. Other DVD authoring software such as Nero or Ulead DVD MovieFactory will create a DVD from the footage though if this is a requirement.

Help and advice on using Movie Maker can be found Here.

Mark.

[senu]

Originally Posted by MarkE19

Even the free Movie Maker 2 program that comes with Windows XP will do what you want. .....
Help and advice on using Movie Maker can be found Here.

Mark.

This is true , However whilst it is nice to to actually try assembling an Edit with it,
It is limited in some areas and in some instances it can be easer to get results with the "paid for" stuff.
It will need you to import as DV AVI and consiuosly output as such ( it tries to make you make wmv )
Besides you will need more than one program to get to DVDs.
However it is free and you lose nothing by trying it as it may well suffice, just be aware that there is more out there

[Smirnoff Black]

Hey folks.

I recently bought the Canon MV960 and have been using Nero Vision 4 to capture and edit me home movies. The Audio keeps going out of sync and from what I've read, others have experienced the same.

A while ago I bought a Pinnacle Video Capture Card with Pinnacle Studio 10 software. I wanted to convert my old VHS Videos to DVD. Again, the audio kept going out of sync and after two weeks of hair pulling, I just gave up. Again though, I see other users have suffered the same problems.

From searching on this forum I see a few peeps recommending Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus and this Sony Vegas but has anyone tried Adobe Premier Pro 2.0? I know, it's expensive but has anyone got it and if so, is it any good? Or would I just be way in over my head? If so, out of the other two, which would you recommend for a newb like me?

[jaymac]

Premiere pro is excellent but a helluva jump£700 in price from pinnacle why not try premiere elements again free trial downloads.One thing that it stands out for is support both on its dedicated forum and books. I have both and most of the time use elements which will import from dvd.By the way many consider the best route to get vhs onto pc is using dvd recorder

[senu]

Originally Posted by Smirnoff Black

Hey folks.

I recently bought the Canon MV960 and have been using Nero Vision 4 to capture and edit me home movies. The Audio keeps going out of sync and from what I've read, others have experienced the same.

Try something else. Nero vision 4 seems to do this in some systems .( I assume this is firewire capture of DV material)

A while ago I bought a Pinnacle Video Capture Card with Pinnacle Studio 10 software. I wanted to convert my old VHS Videos to DVD. Again, the audio kept going out of sync and after two weeks of hair pulling, I just gave up. Again though, I see other users have suffered the same problems

AV out of synch problems going from analogue to digital are a known problem regardless of which software you use.There are some ADVC Analogue to digital converters which may do a better job .

Another way ( perhaps the best way) is to record the analogue material to DV tape first using camcorders av in. Fortunately the MV 960 has av in.This digital copy can then be transferred to PC using Firewire

Yet another way would be to record the analogue material to DVD via a settop DVD recorder then try and edit the DVD video footage on a PC if you wish

From searching on this forum I see a few peeps recommending Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus and this Sony Vegas but has anyone tried Adobe Premier Pro 2.0? I know, it's expensive but has anyone got it and if so, is it any good? Or would I just be way in over my head? If so, out of the other two, which would you recommend for a newb like me?

1)Adobe Premiere Pro is quite expensive and probably OTT for a newbe with simple needs:
Has a steep learning curve (But is learnable)
Will not banish your Av audio out of synch with analogue

2)Adobe Premiere Elements 2/3 are far more affordable and may be just what you want even though they are not totally newbe friendly but are marketed as such and ver 3 ( I have both) does seem much friendlier

3)Ulead video studio 10 + is friendly enough and capable.
I have it but have uninstalled it as I used it for 2 months to evaluate it. Some swear by it but I found its hand holding a bit annoying and the interface clumsy.
That is not everybody's experience and you may love it

4)Sony Vegas Movie Studio can look initially quite daunting to a newbe but my experience is that apart from having very good tutorials to get you started, once you get the hang of it, its use becomes intuitive and when stuck ; just post a query

There is no perfect Editor and up to a point what you use depends on how much time and effort you put into learning the software and how you get on with its GUI ( Graphical User Interface) ( Ive used virtually all there is to date except the Mac offerings so Im a bit reluctant to recommend anything for fear of being too subjective)
But
I would steer you away from Premiere Pro as its cost in money and time to learn it may be more than you can afford for simple needs

[redsox_mark]

I agree the jump to Premiere Pro seems excessive for a “newb” – unless money is no object. Better off trying Premiere Elements first. Same with Vegas; I’d recommend the Movie Studio version which is much cheaper and is still powerful enough for most users.

What worries me though is if your reason for changing software is sync issues. Capturing DV is a pretty basic operation. Premiere Pro has lots more features than Nero as an editor, but any application should be able to capture (which is just a copy of the digital data).

Before investing in new editing software you might want to try and capture with a few other applications – e.g. Windows Movie Maker. Or even your Pinacle 10 (but with DV, not using the capture card).

[Smirnoff Black]

Thanks for the helpful replies peeps.

I'm trying Ulead Video Studio 10 plus at the moment. If it does the job then I might give Ulead DVD workshop and Movie Factory a try too.

[senu]

Originally Posted by Smirnoff Black

Thanks for the helpful replies peeps.

I'm trying Ulead Video Studio 10 plus at the moment. If it does the job then I might give Ulead DVD workshop and Movie Factory a try too.

The last 2 are DVD authoring rather than video editing software but I use them and cannot recommend them highly enough

Movie Workshops limitation is that it has stayed on ver 2, cannot do 16:9 menus but it is more versatile than Movie Factory.

Movie Factory is Easy to use and quite capable of good results although it is template based and some things cannot be customised ( given its cost that is nitpicking!