movie editing software !!
- Thread starter hartley
- Start date
pengipete
Rising Star
What do you need the software to do?
Do you want to produce and edit home movies and save them to DVD or do you just want to bung a few films that you taped off the telly onto a disk with some titles and chapters?
Do you want Blu-Ray support and HD editing?
Do you want the program to handle camera control - perhaps for stop animation?
How much do you want to spend?
Without at least some basic information, it's impossible to start to answer your question.
The right software for you might be completely free - Windows Live Essentials has Movie Maker - and all you have to do is download it - no charge or it might be Adobe Premier Pro - a mere £700. In between those two, there are dozens of video editing apps - some do HD, some do stop motion, some use studio standards like SMPTE whilst others have built-in special effects.
In the absence of any clues, Adobe Premier Elements is a good all-round product for general home use, Sony, ULead, Pinnacle, Roxio, Nero and Cyberlink all make popular video editing software though they are usually part of a multimedia suit - prices will be around £75. For more powerful home use, Adobe Premier Pro and Sony Vegas Pro will fit the bill at £500-£700. Oddly enough, there's nothing in between those price ranges - you either pay just short of £100 or over £500.
I think the best thing you can do is buy a couple of magazinea that have tested and reviewed lots of DV software or go to a website like DVUser - even Cnet or Trusted Reviews should have something.
Do you want to produce and edit home movies and save them to DVD or do you just want to bung a few films that you taped off the telly onto a disk with some titles and chapters?
Do you want Blu-Ray support and HD editing?
Do you want the program to handle camera control - perhaps for stop animation?
How much do you want to spend?
Without at least some basic information, it's impossible to start to answer your question.
The right software for you might be completely free - Windows Live Essentials has Movie Maker - and all you have to do is download it - no charge or it might be Adobe Premier Pro - a mere £700. In between those two, there are dozens of video editing apps - some do HD, some do stop motion, some use studio standards like SMPTE whilst others have built-in special effects.
In the absence of any clues, Adobe Premier Elements is a good all-round product for general home use, Sony, ULead, Pinnacle, Roxio, Nero and Cyberlink all make popular video editing software though they are usually part of a multimedia suit - prices will be around £75. For more powerful home use, Adobe Premier Pro and Sony Vegas Pro will fit the bill at £500-£700. Oddly enough, there's nothing in between those price ranges - you either pay just short of £100 or over £500.
I think the best thing you can do is buy a couple of magazinea that have tested and reviewed lots of DV software or go to a website like DVUser - even Cnet or Trusted Reviews should have something.
pengipete
Rising Star
That's easy - Adobe Premier Elements. Version 9 has just been released - around £80 list price but you'll find it for £60-70 on line. If you want to save a few quid, you'll find the last verion - 8 - for around £40. Check the specs and decided which is best for you.
Better still, if you can stretch your budget a bit, you can buy Premier Elements 9 and Photoshop Elements 9 (fantastic graphics and photo editing software) together for £90-odd on Amazon - an absolute bargain.
Better still, if you can stretch your budget a bit, you can buy Premier Elements 9 and Photoshop Elements 9 (fantastic graphics and photo editing software) together for £90-odd on Amazon - an absolute bargain.
barrydrake
Silver Level Poster
I'm going to be a real pain here. I have several really first class movie editing apps - and they didn't cost me a penny! One of them is included in my operating system. Sorry, but none of these apps are available for Windows. Just one of my many reasons for dropping Windows .... Can I mention the 'U' word, Mr Moderator? I use Ubuntu.
Hi Barry,
Nobody on the forum has anything against Ubuntu (or Linux for that matter) and you're more than welcome to discuss it - in the appropriate context.
That is to say, in this situation the OP is running a Windows PC and seeking advice relating to Windows software. Recommending a switch to Ubuntu OS over Windows is not particularly helpful and your post does air on the side of advertisement.
Why not make use of the Linux Forum? You could make a thread about the pros/cons of Ubuntu Linux and advise users on the best free software available:
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?32-Linux
This would be constructive and is bound to earn you some Rep points too!
shades
Silver Level Poster
I guess you've probably made up your mind now so I'm probably a little late. I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Only £42.38 on Amazon.
LINK HERE
Slightly steeper learning curve than other similar products but well worth it in my opinion.
Tried Premier Elements and couldn't get on with it. But it's all a matter of personal taste.
LINK HERE
Slightly steeper learning curve than other similar products but well worth it in my opinion.
Tried Premier Elements and couldn't get on with it. But it's all a matter of personal taste.
Also probably a bit late but - for any others who might be joining in - it's really quite a personal choice. I downloaded the demo versions of several (I already had Pinnacle but it just didn't work for me) others like Corel, Sony etc., and the one that worked the best for me was PowerDirector 9 Ultra 64 (currently on Amazon for £31.97. It's one of the few that runs in 64bit, which can make quite a difference. There are a couple of really good, thorough reviews on the Amazon site.
I didn't see anywhere that he said he was specifically looking for windows software, just that he wanted some recommendations.
I would definitely recommend trying a few linux alternatives on a live boot cd or usb key before investing a reasonable chunk of cash.
Before you've invested the time to learn a particular softwares approach is without a doubt the best time to really shop around. Afterwards you inevitably just make comparisons to whatever you use.
I would definitely recommend trying a few linux alternatives on a live boot cd or usb key before investing a reasonable chunk of cash.
Before you've invested the time to learn a particular softwares approach is without a doubt the best time to really shop around. Afterwards you inevitably just make comparisons to whatever you use.
http://techcityinc.com/2009/02/04/top-10-free-video-editors-for-ubuntu-linux/
A few free alternatives to consider
A few free alternatives to consider
Randomthom
Silver Level Poster
I'd advise people to steer clear of Adobe products given their lack of interest in fixing bugs in their own software. Premiere Pro has a 3 year old bug whereby imported footage will drop out of sync with it's audio after approximately 45mins to an hour of constant footage.
It's worth trying VirtualDub, a freeware open source package. There are some excellent plug-ins (e.g. Deshaker) and it can do everything you need it to!
It's worth trying VirtualDub, a freeware open source package. There are some excellent plug-ins (e.g. Deshaker) and it can do everything you need it to!