PC edit ?
 

My brother needs a program to edit video on a PC. What is good? He just wants a simple program, but I know there are some crap PC programs out there. Thanks

Hi Bob,

If he needs just very basic editing...
WinXP has a bundled video editor. If he doesn't already have XP, he can get a basic video editor for the price of a worthwhile OS upgrade...or an OS upgrade along with an inexpensive, basic editor. I haven't used it myself, but it is part of the XP installation.

Beyond that, you'll get people here praising their own choice and throwing darts at anything else. Fortunately, most of the mainstream editing packages have FREE 30 day trials available for download...Vegas, Adobe, and I'm sure some others. If this isn't a Christmas gift for him, he can just download 'em all, give 'em a try, and make his own decision.

At the consumer level...
I happen to be an Adobe user, so I'll mention the new Premiere Elements (caveat: I've only used big brothers Premiere and Premiere Pro, not Elements), which I would expect to be a good consumer-level editor / DVD burning package for about $100, or bundled with Photoshop Elements, about $150...it also has a free 30 day downloadable trial. If you're needing to pick it up quickly as a Christmas gift, this software might be one of your better options for price/performance for a budding videographer.

At the prosumer / pro level...
This is beyond "simple program" but for completeness I'll mention the prosumer level. If he is shopping for serious capability, he definitely ought to try-before-buy because these are all in the many hundreds of dollars. I wasn't fully happy with my software until I upgraded my way into the current $1500 Adobe Video Collection Pro suite...but I consider myself a serious hobbyist. In any case, any of the video packages at this level are beyond most folks' Christmas budget...unless you have deep pockets or REALLY like your brother!!! ;-)

Pinnacle Studio 9
 

Pinnacle Studio 9 is an excellent choice for the "home movie maker". It's inexpensive, very easy to use, and provides exceptional features for a NLE in this category. It's easier to use, but more capable, than the Mac iMovie. If you check you local discount stores like Fry's Electronics, you can often find it for free, or almost free after a rebate.

For more info see:
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPa...01&Langue_ID=7

Plus, if/when you get ready, you can upgrade both the software and your projects to Liquid Edition 6, the pro NLE by Pinnacle.

Thanks for the info.I'll pass it along to him. I'm using a Mac with FCE. My son has a PC with the XP movie edit program. But he doesn't have a firewire hook up so I can't try it.

Yup, got to be able to capture his video before he can edit it! He can pick up an OHCI-compliant 1394 (Firewire) PCI card for probably $20-30 at most any retailer that carries computer stuff (Best Buy, CompUSA, Frys, etc). No need to get a fancy/expensive 1394 card. I don't know, but some of 'em may even come bundled with "lite" versions of editing software...but probably not worth it to get a more expensive 1394 card just to get the lite software, IMHO. The card should be a no-brainer to install if he has an XP box.

THEN y'all can anguish further on editing software! ;-)

Newegg is around $16 for a firewire card. Newegg has an excellent resellerratings.com rating and should get the card shipped fairly fast.
pricewatch.com lists vendors that are even cheaper.