Video Editing Programs - Suggestions?

[Mark Farnik]

So I have about two and a half hours of fantastic MiniDV storm footage from this season, but I have no program with which to upload and edit my footage. I'd really like to get my videos edited and online sometime fairly soon, so I've been looking at several different video editing programs under $130 ( the max I can spend on my college student budget), including the following:

Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12
Sony Vegas Pro Platinum 8.0
Adobe Premiere Elements 4

Out of these, which would you reccommend? Any pros/cons to any of these programs? Any standout features that make any of these three a 'must buy'?'
Whatever program I buy needs to last me at least a couple of years, so I don't want to invest in a program that won't meet my needs or will frustrate me endlessly.

Any advice/feedback would be tremendously appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Billy Griffin]

Mark, I'm a big fan of Sony Vegas. Seems user-friendly enough to me, but that's just my personal preference.

 

[scott r currens]

I would highly discourage you from using Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12. That is what I have and I have also had Pinnacle Studio 10 and 11. I hate that software because it is extremely buggy and crashes all the time. The only reason I keep using it is because it is the only video editing software I know how to use. I would go insane trying to figure out anything else.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

My husband is a high school video production teacher and I asked him his opinion.

He says that without question, Sony Vegas is the top choice for a couple of reasons:
Sony Vegas is the most user-friendly out of the three. He won't even attempt to teach Adobe Premiere because it is too difficult to learn.

Sony Vegas 8.0 can edit HD footage.

Vegas allows you to have unlimited video and audio tracks.

The built-in effects that come with the program are excellent.

Final project doesn't take as long to render w/Vegas as with other two.

All reviews say that quality-wise, Vegas is closest program to Final-Cut Pro.

Hope that helps...

Melanie

 

[Mark Farnik]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I have a possible offer pending from a fellow ST member where I may be able to pick up Adobe Premiere 2 for a fraction of the retail cost. If that doesn't pan out, however, I plan on purchasing Sony Vegas Pro Platinum! Can't wait to get started editing my footage and getting it online

 

[John Wetter]

My order would be:

Premiere Elements
Vegas
Pinnacle

When reading about Premiere, be sure to read that it's in Elements first, as there are some significant differences between it and it's big brother.

-John

 

[Jason Foster]

Adobe

I'd suggest the Adobe Premiere Elements. That way when your ready to upgrade to a more capable platform like Premiere CS3 (or the latest version), you'll already be familiar with Premiere.

 

[fplowman]

Without a doubt Vegas!

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I forgot to mention the most important part in my earlier post, so...

Prior to March of this year, I had never before shot something with a video camera, much less done any video editing. I went on a one-day chase in March with the tour group that I always chase with. I decided to bring my video camera.

When I got home, I asked my hubby (the video production teacher) to teach me how to edit. Again, I have never done editing before this. It took me 15 minutes to learn Sony Vegas. What a breeze. It took me about four hours to edit and render about 1 1/2 hours worth of raw video. I added music and graphics. For my first video, I am quite pleased with it.

So, if you want to see a cheese-ball music video put to an on-call group chase, feel free to check it out.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=INloL0VHxKA

I'm warning you, tho...You probably won't like it. I really made it for myself so I could remember the trip in detail. I also made it for my fellow chasers that I go on tours with; They were unable to be there and they wanted as much footage as possible.

I could have trimmed it down a lot more, but I wanted to leave in as much as possible, because I didn't really make this for public viewing; I made it for myself. There are three videos, totaling approx 25 minutes. Take a look, if you dare.

And yes, I know I spelled 'cumulus' incorrectly in the video, lol!

Melanie

 

[Ben Holcomb]

For what it's worth, I've had a heck of a time with Pinnacle horking the video it renders. Especially if it's shot in 16:9 it really doesn't handle it correctly. Maybe it's a mistake I'm making, but it's almost idiot proof.

I've been using Premiere Elements recently. They have a free trial
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/

 

[Travis Davis]

I've always used Sony Vegas. It took me a while to figure out exactly how to do everything I wanted to do, but once figured out it works great!