Good video editing program?

[Calavera]

Whats a good video editing program? Something thats easy to use like Windows Movie Maker, but maybe with a few more features and it'd be nice if it wouldn't crash every 2 minutes.

[Lartrak]

I thought Premiere was fairly good. Not super stable, but very easy to use and has some pretty powerful features. Avid is also good, but MUCH harder to learn, I thought.

[DaMadFiddler]

There are three big ones, and they're all bloody expensive. Lartrak listed two. Premiere is popular because it's part of the Adobe suite of high-end apps. Avid is popular with a lot of TV work--my dad works for NBC, and Avid is what they use in the studio.

The third program is Final Cut Pro, which is what my university teaches. Where Avid is used for a lot of TV work, Final Cut Pro is popular with filmmakers. Most of my film-student friends used Final Cut Pro.

I'd say look into those three applications, and see which one suits your needs and aesthetics best. I don't know of any particularly powerful open-source alternatives, though maybe someone else can help you out with that. Most computers come with really basic, cheapie editers (Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, respectively--personally, I think iMovie is a better product, but Apple puts more of their focus on that kind of thing to begin with), but if you want to do some serious video work, those are the three programs you should look into.

[gamedudex2]

avids actually used more in the film industry, final cut is good though, avid is a little better though. ya and tv uses a version of avid for on the fly editing for live broadcasts. premiere sucks ass though. im planning on getting or building me a nice workstation pc for me next year and use avid..


if you want something free , avid does have a free limited feature version of it.... i prefer the full versions, but the the free ones ok to play around with (and is still better than premiere to me)

free version of avid its just a limited feature version http://www.avid.com/freedv/


http://www.avidstore.com/us/index.cfm?p ... turerid=17

[Calavera]

I just want to do basic stuff like Window Movie Maker lets you do, only without crashing all the time.

[S. Thompson]

Adobe Premiere if you've got some extra cash.

VirtualDub is an awesome, free tool - but it's a bit limited as to what you can do.

- Fuzmeister

[MulletMan13]

iMovie fits the bill perfectly, but you'd need a Mac so scratch that.

[Calavera]

iMovie fits the bill perfectly, but you'd need a Mac so scratch that.

Yeah I know, why don't they make a windows version. It sucks.

[Covar]

iMovie fits the bill perfectly, but you'd need a Mac so scratch that.

Yeah I know, why don't they make a windows version. It sucks.

because if they made windows versions of all their software who would buy macs?

[Christuserloeser]

A load of MAC software is available for Win32, like Avid or Photoshop, but also Quicktime and Acrobat. - Wasn't Macromedia Flash a MAC developed format too ?

[APE]

iMovie fits the bill perfectly, but you'd need a Mac so scratch that.

Yeah I know, why don't they make a windows version. It sucks.

because if they made windows versions of all their software who would buy macs?

The same ones who already have their heads square up their ass about apple products. They may not sell as well but it's not like Apple needs to offer 20 different maqs at any given moment. Almost everything they've offered from the norm has "failed" or at least been discontinued.

See:
Newton
G4 Cube
Whatever that thing was with the screen on a pole

The Maq mini is next on that list.

[Stormwatch]

G4 Cube

Its problem was pricing. It was too expensive. If you wanted a high-end machine, the PowerMac G4 was far more expandable. If you wanted a cheaper one, the iMac G4 was about as powerful.

Whatever that thing was with the screen on a pole

That's the iMac G4.

[Calavera]

iMovie fits the bill perfectly, but you'd need a Mac so scratch that.

Yeah I know, why don't they make a windows version. It sucks.

And with that, I derailed the whole topic.

[Calavera]

I still haven't found a good alternative that is as simple to use as movie maker without the crashes. Movie maker would be perfect for what I do, but I can't use that thing for more than a few minutes without constant glitches and crashes.

[|darc|]

A load of MAC software is available for Win32, like Avid or Photoshop, but also Quicktime and Acrobat. - Wasn't Macromedia Flash a MAC developed format too ?

Actually, networking cards on all platforms have a MAC implementation.

[gamedudex2]

I still haven't found a good alternative that is as simple to use as movie maker without the crashes. Movie maker would be perfect for what I do, but I can't use that thing for more than a few minutes without constant glitches and crashes.

get the student version of avid for what you need, its cheap, its not gonna do everything but will be good for what you are looking for.

you can get the student version of avid media composer for like $295.
http://www.genesis-technologies.com/pub ... tID=974031

I have a much higher end avid though. we have a $100,000+ avid set up at an office I do stuff for also.


it wont be drag and drop easy like windows crappy move maker, but its not too difficult. Now you might have some issues depending on your system and the quality you are editing at though. are you using a gaming video card or a rendering card? I use a Nvdia Quadro FX card for video editing. If you are going to be rendering many layers of effects a good card will help also ram.

but if its just little simple stuff you shouldnt have too many issues to worry about and the student version will do everything you need and much more.

how many monitors are you working with? its always easier to do work with multiple monitors.

[gamedudex2]

Adobe Premiere if you've got some extra cash.

VirtualDub is an awesome, free tool - but it's a bit limited as to what you can do.

- Fuzmeister

avoid this piece of crap like the plague

in the professional field mostly porn is edited using premiere its crap.. although it has improved over the years its not in the league of even final cut which isnt even close to avid. (i use both final cut and avid though they both are good in certain ways)