What advice on non-linear editing software can GL2 users give for someone just starting out? I will be shooting mostly outdoors -- flowers/animals/scenics. I believe I have upgraded my hardware suffficiently to run most of the software out there.
With WIN XP Home, I get Windows Media Player. I also have Pinnacle Studio 8.6 loaded, but I am not thrilled by its basic capabilities. So now I'm also looking to spend the money on Premiere 6.5 or something else in that price range. Any advice on this?
As with most software; i.e. Photoshop for digital photography, I'll probably use only 1% of all its capabilities. But I would like the basics to work well and to be user-friendly.
My first basic need after capturing will be to screen the clips I've taken to decide which ones to keep. So I need a large screen, high quality review of my daily take. Pinnacle does not provide for that. Does Premiere or something else?
Thanks for your insight based on the experience of GL2 users out there.

Hi Roland,

I use Premiere 6.5 for all my editing. Sometimes, I'll use AfterEffects for certain types of effects, but I try to stay in Premiere whenever I can. Premiere is a very capable programs, but it is kind of unstable. I do lots of wedding/special events, and I've gotten to the point where I save (cntr + s) every time I do ANYTHING on the timeline. It has it's weaknesses: clunky interface, instability (especially when dealing with lots of layers) and audio manipulation isn't the greatest, but it's still a good program. I see lots of posts about how great Vegas Video is, but I've never used that program. All I can say is the finished products I do look very professional, and the program isn't that hard to use once you get familiar with it. Plus, there are a ton of tuts available for Premiere (www.wrigleyvideo.com being one of the best - Go Curt!), I haven't seen many for other platforms. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mark

Thanks for the response, Mark.
It's been hard for me to find much on the strengths and weaknesses of various competing editing programs. I will be mostly shooting and capturing for a while; the editing will come later. I guess I'll just have to dive in and possibly gravitate to a more powerful editing program later on. But all the chatter about instability and other problems is not very reassuring.
Thanks again.
Roland

Hi Roland,

Supposedly, Premiere Pro is more stable than 6.5, but there have been reports of various type of bugs copping up. I'm happy with what I have for now, but when I pay of my GLS it's time to think about and upgrade...now, if I can only convince my wife...

I've tried all the free and cheap eding packages out there, and they just don't compare to a professional editng package. Things that could take you hours with MS Moviemaker can be done with a click of the mouse, or a cheap (sometimes not-so-cheap) plugin.

The point is, if this is for home use, I would'nt spend $400-600 on an editing package. I make money with mine, so I can justify the expense. Try out the free packages; if they do what you want them to do, then its all good! Remember, editing software won't make a good movie, YOU will. These are just tools to help you along. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mark

You can try the Vegas Video demo. It's interface is completely different than other NLEs but many people find it easy to use and very efficient. It is very powerful in everything except for titling, since it won't do super fancy titles (If you really need that then get a 3rd party titler). From looking at the Vegas Video forum here it looks like a VERY stable program. Premiere has historically been buggy, and so is Premiere Pro.