WLMM vs Sony or Adobe Premiere Elements

wagonface

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Hi,

I have a Sony miniDV camcorder (10yrs old, but still works perfectly) and iPhone footage. I want to edit all of this to produce home movies on DVD. Laptop is win7 with an i5 processor. I currently edit with WLMM.

I was wondering if I would benefit from buying Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 (this used to be called Vegas I think), or Adobe Premiere Elements?

I don't do really fancy editing. What I need from the software is:
- import from camcorder
- smooth and good looking transitions and text
- easy to use basic functions
- any function that makes editing take less time!

Will I notice the difference if I buy the Sony or Adobe products? Thanks for any advice.
 
Vegas is the pro Sony Editing software.

Of the two the Sony would be my choice and yes it will be a big improvement over the free windows offering. As you are not editing HD you could look out for a cheaper earlier version of Movie Studio.
 
HI, thanks for the response. Apologies if I was unclear about Sony - they seem to give all their products a similar name. The consumer level one seems to be called "Movie Studio Platinum 12" Vegas Product Family Overview
 
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Thanks - I will look at that. Shows what I know - I thought my iPhone4 recorded HD! Thanks again.
 
Shows what I know - I thought my iPhone4 recorded HD!

So did I. It does, according to the spec.?..... If you intend to make a DVD that will play on a standalone DVD player, then all your final video footage will need to be in Standard Definition MPEG2 format.

Now it is fairly 'standard' to convert DV footage to MPEG2 in most editors.

What you will need to check is how easy it is to convert the iphone 'High Defintion' 1080p footage into 'Standard Definition' MPEG2.

I don't use the editors recommended so far, but hopefully members that do can confirm that they can handle DV and 1080p HD iphone footage on the same timeline....
 
Ahh, sorry didn't register the phone footage.
If you go the vegas route get at least version 10 that can handle HD.

I've got 11 and I can have SD & HD on the same time line (project set to HD) and render out as SD (the HD loses a bit) or as 720 HD ( then SD looks a bit off).
 
I'd guess that most of the users of a paid for video editing package only use a small part of the features it is capable of. Most of these packages are just cut down versions of a fuller Pro version and so tend to have a massive range of tools to get very good results from your footage for not too much money.

I have in the past used Windows Movies Makers 2 (and very briefly WLMM), Adobe Premiere Pro and now mainly use Sony Movie Studio v10
WMM has the advantage of being free and very easy to learn and get results from quickly. However it is easy to use because it only has very limited features.
Adobe Premier has what I consider the steapest learning curve and the UI takes a fair bit of getting used to. But once you know your way around it the workflow is logical and easy enough. I've only used the Pro version, and even that was a good few years ago now so can't comment on how different Elements is.
Sony (Vegas) Movie Studio has a good UI for my tastes and you can learn to do things quickly once you have a basic run through its UI. However I should state this was the latest of the 3 programs I used so did have previous experience with using the others, and this may have made it a little easier to learn even though the UI is very different.

So should you buy one of these (or another) paid for programs?
Well what do you want to do that you can't currently do with WLMM? If the answer to this is 'nothing' then why spend money you don't need to. However if you are struggling to get the results you want then a paid for program should make life a bit easier as you will have a large range of new tools to play with.

Mark.
 
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Thanks for everyone's replies. I am going to trial the latest Sony software. Hopefully it will be better than WLMM in the following areas: quicker (I have a 64bit laptop); better quality effects (text, transititions etc), more scope to make better looking videos as I get more proficient.
 
Let's hope OP has a good experience with Sony Studio (and yes their product names are a big mess, just as you get used to one name - it's changed!).

I've settled with Vegas Studio v10 Production suite, which is pretty comprehensive, but too many transitions will extend the Render times. WLMM doesn't have this problem since all their effects are simple. However, on the few times I've tried WLMM it has almost resulted in brain damage. By comparison the Sony product is fully featured and there are plenty of Tutorials on YT (although their quality varies). Now, a year later the movies appear by magic... usually!
I believe Studio v12 includes "64-bit capability", whilst still being 32-bit.....not too sure how it does this...
When a Poster says they want it Easy - that's an issue, sine Easy implies little learning . . . and VS needs some effort to get it flowing just how you like.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've done some digging and I'm going to do a free trial of adobe elements and Sony Vegas. I like the way elements has a basic interface which lets you learn, before you move to the more advanced interface.

Good point about me wanting 'great movies easily'. This isn't realistic - I realise I will need to take time to learn whichever programme I choose. I just want something more powerful and less infuriating than wlmm.
 
My experience of Free Trials isn't good, unfortunately the time-limit seems to criple my head and I lose interest. It would be far better if they "watermarked" the output but otherwise gave you nearly-full access.

If the Adobe product has an "Easy Screen" that might be helpful, as you only need to find out if it works OK to start learning their tricks . . . and sadly that is an issue . . . I like LightWorks because they really want you to use their Keyboards (and they have a really fancy editor-desky-thingy at over £1k) . . yet I discovered most editors work with (nearly) the identical Kyboard Shortcuts, so I'm buying-up odd-colours of nail varnish (discounted) so I can paint one of the two White keyboards I have. Nowadays they are all black, so you can't colour-code the buttons....

I bought Vegas Production Suite v10 for i-footage only (and Amazon are selling v11 (for -i and -p footage)at under £40), that comes with a 45min DVD Tutorial - but it's hopeless UNLESS you already know Editing. Recently, some friends that are hardened users of FCP (a mere £700) were amazed that a £40 program has all that power . . . and that DVD is only scratching the surface.
Sony includes "Show me How" tutorials that guide your mouse over the screen, but for my eyesight it's very difficult to follow . . . the text is too small - but the Idea is outstanding, on about 20-topics - really gets you used to the layout. (I use my TV as Monitor, so it's easier to read.).

So, my advice is to BUY whatever software appears to be the best - and that probably means one a friend uses . . . so you can learn from each other.
Good luck, and if you can give us any feedback/thoughts - that may help others too.
 
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