Hi i have a very Bad editing program( came with fire wire) But my birthday party will be like in a month. i have like 150 dollars saved up( lots of money . But i was wonderong which editing program should i get. i will possibly have over 600 dollars after my party. which edinting program is good and also not the expensive, i dont want to spend all my money.

which platform?

You got Pinnacle 7 with your firewire is my guess...


With less than $600 dollars... hmmm... Actually in all reality if all you are going to do is select which clips you want and arrange them in a specific order and add transitions between them, whatever you have now should be fine. If you buy an expensive editing program what more are you going to do with it that you cant do with the program you have now?

i have a pc

i would say that u should just try pirating some softwear but that would be bad...i am condemning anybody who pirates any editing program in order to further their ability to make film and art in such non porfit ways as putting films on this site etc... i am condemning it, condemn...

maybe instead of suggesting pirating...which we don't ever do on this site, ever, for the sake of studentfilms remaining in existence...you should suggest trials. If you are on PC, premiere pro is a great choice, and if you buy the education version you can get the video suite which includes premiere pro, after effects, audition, and encore for under 600, i think its around 500 or so, you should check. But the good thing is you can go to adobe.com and try them all for thirty days, full versions, then drop your cash when you know you are satisfied.

ah yes, thats something i forgot, shoot ur film, then get a demo/30 day free trial, u can get em for probly everything and more stuff like sorenson squeeze, etc... yes that avoids the pirating which we condemn...condemn

You didnt answer my question. What do you want from a new editing program that you dont have with your current software?

Avid FreeDV

Sorry Braininabox-

Um just more choices then what i have now. Also i have a very Crappy DV cam- Canon zr 70, Yes Make fun. Since i have that cam i want a Program that will help me with making the video quality looks better, Like in the Indoor shots. Also just the need for Better titles and i want more stuff for audio becasue we're making a movie with a bit of V.O. That is really all i want and the other standard things i can get.


I Downloaded the trial and i figure out that it is really hard to understand. I dont know if its me but sometimes I Cant tell if the effects are working or not. If any one has premeir pro 1.5 is it easy or hard or am i an idiot SORRY FOR SPELLING

Well, with the indoor shots, the only thing u should do is light it well. You can do things in post, but that is the easy way of doing, and it won't look as well. If you have software that came w/ the dv thing or whatever, you should be able to do voiceovers on that. IF thats all you want to do. Abobe Premiere pro is a very hard concept of editing. More along the lines of Professional. From what I read that you wanted, pinnacle is the things that jumps into my mind that you can do common things like that. But trust me. If you decide to get premiere pro, remember that it is professional, and it will take some time getting used to. The book that it comes with doesnt explain very well. But good luck

BTW...you said that you can't tell that the effects are working or not...you need to render that part of the sequence. There is most likely a red line above the parts you need to render, so after you render it, it turns green, then you will be able to watch it.

Whatever you do, don't use Pinnacle Studio.

Yeah, the interface is simple to use and it has good features, but it's the most bug-ridden program I've ever used. The thing works fine until you try to render a finished product, and then, prepare to rip your hair out as you suffer through hundreds of random rendering hangups and program crashes. Just look at Pinnacle's own forums to see all the problems people are having.

Anyway, I say again, don't use Pinnacle Studio.

dang so many people i odnt know which to lisen too

I may be one of the few lucky people on the site that have had no problems with Pinnacle Studio. I started with 7, and have purchased the upgrades to 8 and 9 and enjoyed using them all. I also have Premier Pro, AE and Avid Free DV, but use Studio 9 for most jobs.

I think you would very much like Studio 9. It's easy to learn and use, and has all the functions you would need. When you get more time and experience under your belt, then go for Premier Pro or AVID.

I haven't had to deal with their customer support yet (knocks wood), but it's a very easy program to learn with a lot of flexibility and tools!

Anyone tried Pinnacle's LIQUID Edition? Anyone know anything about it? I keep getting emails to upgrade to LIQUID! Just curious.

If you can afford it, I'd say get your hands on the Education version of Xpress DV or Xpress Pro.

They're great apps. (and PC and Mac versions in the same box!)

Xpress Pro is only $295 from Journey Education!!!

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Just one thing to throw on to Chris' post. Yea Avid is a great idea, particularly if you really want to enter this field. Just make sure you have some serious specs on your comp. From my experience with Avid, even freeDV, it needs much higher specs than the other consumer and prosumer options.

Thoughts avid users?

Check ebay. You can get full brand new versions of Premiere for ~$300 & less.

Try Video Explosion Deluxe. It's easy to use and its got great features. It runs for about $100.

to respond to jeff with his concern about specs and avid xpress...
the computer i use avid xpress pro on, is a p4 2.4ghz comp with 512ram...
THIS SHOULD BE BARE MINIMUM PEOPLE...

avid is a great program, but i totally think avid is something worth checking out...

good thing i will have a G5 in about 3 weeks

check it out though, i LOVE avid...