Video Editing on the PC

[calikatoom]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any reccomendations for a basic video editing package available for the PC?

I have some experience with Final Cut Express on the Mac, and don't need half the features that it offers.

I am looking for a down and dirty, cheap software package that I can add some music to my Helmet Cam footage so I can burn DVDs for some of the fellas that come on the rides.

Right now, my laptop just has Windows Movie Maker, which only seems to be able to save as an Mpeg or othe CD quality clips. I really want to be able to hand out a DVD that people can stuff into their DVD players.

Thanks
Gail

[Fastfar]

Originally Posted by calikatoom

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any reccomendations for a basic video editing package available for the PC?

I have some experience with Final Cut Express on the Mac, and don't need half the features that it offers.

I am looking for a down and dirty, cheap software package that I can add some music to my Helmet Cam footage so I can burn DVDs for some of the fellas that come on the rides.

Right now, my laptop just has Windows Movie Maker, which only seems to be able to save as an Mpeg or othe CD quality clips. I really want to be able to hand out a DVD that people can stuff into their DVD players.

Thanks
Gail

Gail, I suggest you PM com3, (he may answer or not) he is very experienced with this, check out his website at seppes.com. Also halfwing could be a good resource...

[Mats]

i like adobe premiere a lot.

[Michael Bishop]

If you are just going to brun DVDs and want to just add music I use Sonic MyDVD 6.0 . But if you are going to do more I use Sony Vegas 6.0.

[DaleC]

Gail - I originally purchased Pinnacle Studio Ver 9.4 at Fry's for about $70 -75. (?) (they now have a version 10) and it worked quite well (and easily) for my video editing on my new XP Professional computer that I built for this new endeavor. I also used Microsoft's encoder package to reduce the file size of the Pinnacle produced files to a much more usable (one the web) size and all was going well for about a month or two. More recently, I've developed a 1394 firewire initialization error that fails to allow Pinnacle to see my Sony camcorder and after talking to many many technical support people at both Sony and Pinnacle it still remains an unsolved issue with everyone pointing fingers in different directions as to the potential causes of the problem(s) - XP SP2, the Sony camcorder and XP, the Pinnacle software, ect. ect. I've also looked at new hardware, reloaded operating systems, etc. etc. so I won't go there, but I've now downloaded a trial version of Vegas 6.0 to see if that works and time will only tell.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/dow...p2.asp?did=583

Cnet.com gives some great reviews on Video Editing software and I like to check them out prior to many purchases. They now rate many software packages and you can see their reviews here:

http://reviews.search.com/search?part=&q=video+editors

They seem to give high marks for Video Explosion Deluxe at a grade of 9.0 and $69. to $75. a package so you might want to consider that one.

Good luck with whatever you use and hope you don't run into the initialization errors that have popped up for me. It's been a royal PAIN!!!

DaleC

[calikatoom]

Thanks for the info everyone!

Dale - I am heading to the Cnet link right now.

Thanks Again!
Gail

[klavdy]

G'day Gail.
Klavdy, Australia, here, Hmm, being a complete novice at putting together a DVD, I naturally used the most complex bloody thing imaginable, and thats Adobe Premier Pro 1.5.
What a steep learning curve that was!
It took ages, I didnt have a clue what I was doing, and the tutorials are not novice friendly, its as if they expect you to already know how to use it!
I had to get a PCI card, install that with the Firewire thingy, and an additional 300 Gigabytes of external memory, Vids are REALLY hungry for disc space,but, jeez, although it takes a fair bit to start getting the hang of it, its been worth persevering with, as i'm starting to get some good results.
Its a very powerful tool once you learn it a bit.
I've been using a " HELCAM" system, ( Google 'em) with a sony dcr42 cam, I like the look of the helcam as opposed to the tank mounted shots.
Having said all that, I'd still go with the Adobe again.

Klavdy.

Does anyone have any reccomendations for a basic video editing package available for the PC?

I have some experience with Final Cut Express on the Mac, and don't need half the features that it offers.

I am looking for a down and dirty, cheap software package that I can add some music to my Helmet Cam footage so I can burn DVDs for some of the fellas that come on the rides.

Right now, my laptop just has Windows Movie Maker, which only seems to be able to save as an Mpeg or othe CD quality clips. I really want to be able to hand out a DVD that people can stuff into their DVD players.

Thanks
Gail[/quote]