Hi.

I just got a new computer with an Intel core i7-2700 3.5 GHz 4 core processor with HyperThreading and Turbo Boost, with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I have 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce 220 video card. My current version of Pinnacle 12 does not seem to work too well with this set-up. What I would like to know is what rather inexpensive editing programs are available that will work with 64 bit computers?

Thanks.
Mike

the least expensive is probably Edius

Thanks for your reply.

Eight hundred dollars is a bit more than an inexpensive program. It does look like a wonderful program, but since this is a hobby and not a business, it is more than I want to spend.

Mike

Mike...I can only speak to Sony Vegas Pro, but it has 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I would imagine any 'PC compatible' NLE would come in a 64-bit version. I'm sure those with more knowledge will chime in. Someone is selling VP 9 & 10 in the 'classifieds', that might be a cheaper alternative. If you're not going to do a lot of 3-D rendering, VP 10 would be a good choice.

JMHO, YMMV.

J.

Mike, you might want to check out Edius Neo for $199 at Videoguys.com - Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 3 Ideal for New Video Editors (http://www.videoguys.com/Item/Grass+Valley+EDIUS+Neo+3+Ideal+for+New+Video+Editors/239343630363.aspx)

Hi.

I just got a new computer with an Intel core i7-2700 3.5 GHz 4 core processor with HyperThreading and Turbo Boost, with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I have 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce 220 video card. My current version of Pinnacle 12 does not seem to work too well with this set-up. What I would like to know is what rather inexpensive editing programs are available that will work with 64 bit computers?

Here is part of the problem:

Pinnacle Studio 12 is strictly a 32-bit program, and thus cannot take anywhere near full advantage of today's modern CPUs and GPUs. Furthermore, it effectively cannot use more than 2GB of RAM - and its performance is very sluggish to begin with, even with the absolute fastest CPU in the world.

Unfortunately, most of the other inexpensive $100 consumer video editing programs are also constrained to 32-bit operation even on a 64-bit OS. Even Premiere Elements (the latest version) comes with a 64-bit editor but the rest of the program is 32-bit.

With the newest release of Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 11 (re: 295) it now recognizes more that 4 Gig of memory. I'm running 16 Gig's of Memory on an AMD 6 core and its very fast. You can find the produciton suite for less than $100 on Amazon and the work flow is similar to Vegas PRO. Great deal. You are limited to 10 video and 10 audio tracks, but that's a lot for most folks. I had a competitors product that was supposed to be a challenge to the Semi-PRO stuff but it was really buggy. (You probably know which one I'm talking about given your current NLE).

I would first point out you are running a fairly old version of Pinnacle Studio.

But I'm another Pinnacle Studio escapee who went to Sony Vegas Movie Studio, then Pro.
Two thumbs up on both of them.

Have you looked at this page from Videoguys, a DVinfo sponsor?

Videoguys Blog - Video Editing Choices For Tight Budgets ? Videoguys Recommendations for under $500 (http://www.videoguys.com/Guide/E/Video+Editing+Choices+For+Tight+Budgets++Videoguys+Recommendations+for+under+500/0xfdcdd613abe29facfef09a0a8754c3ae.aspx)

Also, bear in mind that many programs are available in time-limited fully functional trial versions. You download them and see how well or how poorly they work on your new system.

Thanks.

I know that Pinnacle 12 is old. It has worked great for me up until now. I am torn between upgrading to Pinnacle 15, Avid Studio, Power Director 10, or now I guess, Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 11.

Mike

I am going to try the free trials on each program over the next several weeks to compare them. Of course, I won't get a complete picture of each since the free trials are somewhat limited packages, but at least I will be able to see how well they run, hopefully.

So far have downloaded trials for Power Dirctor 10 and Sony Vegas. Power Directer free trial is limited, so it is hard to accurately judge the package, and having just gotten Sony Vegas, I am still learning.

Mike

Thanks for your reply.

Eight hundred dollars is a bit more than an inexpensive program. It does look like a wonderful program, but since this is a hobby and not a business, it is more than I want to spend.
Mike
oops, didn't notice crossgrade option :)
Power director then would be your next choice, but Ultra , Delux is a 32 bit application as well as vegas movie studio

You could hold off buying and check out Lightworks, the new version is due out soon and there seems to a number of improvements over the current beta version. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it's used to edit feature films and has requirements needed for long form productions. Certainly it's a program for cutting stories.

I don't know if the new version will be 64 bit or if that's coming later.

Announcement (http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=263)

Roadmap (http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=246)

Currently, the beta is a free download, but with limited codecs.

I am going to try the free trials on each program over the next several weeks to compare them. Of course, I won't get a complete picture of each since the free trials are somewhat limited packages, but at least I will be able to see how well they run, hopefully.

So far have downloaded trials for Power Dirctor 10 and Sony Vegas. Power Directer free trial is limited, so it is hard to accurately judge the package, and having just gotten Sony Vegas, I am still learning.

Mike

Some suggestions.

"Sony Vegas" can refer to "Vegas Pro 11" --- a very capable, 64 bit application that retails for about $500 and has an enthusiastic forum here at DVinfo with lots of pro and semi-pro editors. It may be more than you want and will have a pretty steep learning curve when coming from Power Director. If you got the "Pro" trial version, do not install it until you can give it enough time to work with it. The much less expensive "Vegas" studio apps will likely seem more familiar. As I recall, they are all still 32-bit apps with some optimization for Win 7. As Jeff points out, they can utilize up to 4gB of RAM which may help with speed. Whether they will be as speedy as Power Director 10 is something you'll have to look at on your system.

Avid has two different products with very similar names: "Avid-Pinnacle Studio" and "Avid Studio." The Avid-Pinnacle products are supposedly aimed at entry-level video editing, are 32-bit applications, and the various versions retail for somewhere between $50 and $100. "Avid Studio" is supposed to be aimed at "prosumers" and "advanced enthusiasts" and is optimized for multi-core processors (like your I7) and 64-bit operating systems like Win 7. (I'm guessing that "optimized" means it is still running 32 bit code, though.) DVinfo sponsors Videoguys and B&H sell it for $115 (US$).

Reading through several different users reviews on the net on various programs, it is becoming somewhat discouraging, what with crashes and other pitfalls.
As to Sony Vegas Studio HD 11, I am currently trying to learn the trial version. It is just enough different from Pinnacle Studio, that it gives me some problems trying to figure things out. But I am making progress.
Would really like to see more with Power director 10, but the trial is limited and doesn't give any kind of complete picture of what it can do. Anyone care to give a good thorough review of the Ultra version?
Reading the forums about Avid Studio, there are a lot of complaints about crashes and poor customer support.

So other than upgrading my Pinnacle 12 to Pinnacle 15 (which from what I have seen, there is not much difference), I am undecided, as of this date, between Power Directer 10, Sony Vegas Studio 11, and Avid Studio. Will work with them until the trial periods are up and then see what is what and make a decision.

Has anyone seen or heard news about if/whether Sony Vegas Studio or Avid Studio will be coming out with true 64 bit progams any time soon? Would hate to spend the money now and then regret it within a month or three when a new version comes out.

Mike

Here is something to look at... cheap. You can still get the last update from Sony.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/private-classifieds/505552-sony-vegas-pro-9-10-licenses.html <(DVinfo garage sale)

Vegas 9.0x was pretty good. (although the GPU become ineffective in rendering)

Well, after suffering four days with no electricity (nor heat); really bad snow storm knocked out power, I can return to normal and get back to my testing of editing programs.

My situation could have been worse though; at least I had no tornadoes. My sympathies and prayers to those of you in the mid-south.

Jay West. Thanks for the note. Sorry I did not clarify. I appreciate your input.

Mike

No need to apologize.

If there have been complaints about Avid's stability and the quality of the company's support, I am not surprised. Avid is pretty specific about the hardware requirements for its products. Those can be pretty narrow. I suspect a lot of the complaints come from folks whose hardware is not optimal for video editing. You would think that a basic editing program ought to run on all manner of hardware and OS configurations, but the price of the basic programs does not allow for much development testing. (That limited pricing means also that company support is apt to be pretty thin, as well. That would account for complaints about it.) The Pinnacle division of Avid -- has it been spun off? --- is in the same boat, only more so.

Your hardware configuration should be up-to-snuff for Avid Studio but you will not know until you actually try the program. That is why demo/trial versions are so important. Get one and find out if it works or does not.

As for getting a fully 64-bit program, you pretty much have to go up to the "pro" type programs. If you are a student --- usually even a part-time student --- at an established institution, your student id will qualify you for the very steep "academic" discounts on the the like likes of Vegas Pro and Edius 6. Those programs will run very well on your I7-2600 with 8 gig of RAM and the GT video card. (There are also similar discounts for PPro CS 5.5. and Avid MC6, but your hardware is a bit light for comfortably running them.)

If you can find somebody who wants to dump their Vegas, as the previous poster noted, be sure that you are buying an upgradeable version. If they have Sony Vegas Pro 10 and upgrade to 11, they will use the Vegas 10 serial number to activate their Vegas 11. If you bought the previously registered Vegas 10, you probably could run it but you would not be able to get an upgrade to 11.

And, speaking of hardware, how are you set-up with hard disks? Hopefully you have a second hard drive for your video projects. If you have the projects on the same disk you use for the Operating System and the programs, you'll run into bottlenecks that will really slow you down. Basically, SATA drives do not work well with simultaneous reads and writes which is what you do when you have program, OS, and data files on a single disk. For some applications, such as word-processing and e-mail, this bottleneck is not noticeable. It can be a big problem when you have your video data and project files on the same disk that is being read for program instructions and operating system calls. If you have not already done so, add a second large drive (preferably one rated to spin at 7200 rpm) and put your video and projects on that disk. Doing that might (or might not) solve some of your issues with Power Director and Pinnacle 12. It will definitely help with Vegas Movie Studio and Avid Studio. (Also, should help with Edius Neo 3 if you wind up testing it, too.)

Hi Jay.

I have so much to learn. Yes, I have two fairly large hard drives. And I do load my finished projects on one of them.

I will not be upgrading my computer since I just did that a month ago, so I do have to be mindfull of what programs I can use. I am trying Sony Vegas Studio and Power Director right now. Both seem to run fine on my machine. As for Pinnacle 12, I am not unhappy with it, and would consider upgrading to Pinnacle 15, except that I want to expand my "tool set" and have a program that offering a different set of tools and "looks". Avid Studio (while I have not tried it yet), will probably just be familiar enough to Pinnacle that it would not require too much additional learning, but I could be wrong.

On a side note, do you know of any music programs that I can use to add some nice background music tracks for my "commercial" projects? I need some music that I can use without infringing on copyrights, etc., that does not sound cheap. The "Scorefitter" (Ithink that is what it is called) that comes with Pinnacle is OK as far as it goes, but it is thin sounding (digital synthesized) music and limited. I would like to find something of better quality without getting into legal trouble.

Mike

I believe Avid Studio and Edius Neo may come with some kind of music soundtrack program. I have not used either product so I cannot comment on what those programs might be or how they do. I do not know if those programs would be part of the demo/trial.

I have been using Smartsound products since Adobe CS2 and have found it useful for my needs. There is a pretty wide variety of material available, some free and most not particularly expensive. You basically pick a style, select a track, and pick a length of time. The program generates the track for the exact length you want. If you go to Royalty Free Music, Royalty Free Stock Music Downloads (http://www.smartsound.com) you can audition some tracks and see what you think.

A few years back, I worked with Acid, Sony's looping program. (As I recall, it came with an unbelievablely inexpensive cross-grade version of Vegas Pro that I bought because I had some projects which needed 5.1 surround sound and AC3 exports which, at the time, was a very expensive add-on for PPro.) I never really got the hang of it and Smartsound was good enought for what I needed. I also work with professional musicians who also have products like Sibelius. Where I've had projects where the budget will not support hiring musicians, but I've needed something specific, I have taken old sheet music to them, had them scan it and generate music tracks with a bit of orchestration.

Thanks Jay. I will take a look at Smartsound.

You could hold off buying and check out Lightworks, the new version is due out soon and there seems to a number of improvements over the current beta version. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it's used to edit feature films and has requirements needed for long form productions. Certainly it's a program for cutting stories.

I don't know if the new version will be 64 bit or if that's coming later.

Announcement (http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=263)

Roadmap (http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=246)

Currently, the beta is a free download, but with limited codecs.

Brian, do you have/use Lightworks? What more can you tell me about it, over and above what is shown on the website.

Mike

I'd suggest registering on the site and downloading the manual(s). Those might be helpful to getting a sense of how the program works (or does not) for you. Also, check out the forums at LIghtworks because, I believe, that there are some tutorials in there.

It's nice to be back in the forum. I would like to state that I am NOT a representative of any vendor of either software or hardware. I have been (at a consumer level) editing HD video for more than 4 years with various bits of software, some good some mediocre. I belong to various forums of 3 consumer grade NLE which I own. I do so because it offers one the ability to judge the overall quality and ease of use of the app at hand using the feedback from a large number of similar users.

I will not identify 2 of the NLE because I've found using them either excessively expensive (especially when various add-on features are required to complete a simple video) OR of mediocre quality overall. My personal choice currently is PowerDirector or PD (version 10 only, 9 and 8 were poor performers) from Cyberlink. Before I explain my choice I should point out the drawbacks of this app. There are 2 major items about PD that anyone interested in using it should know. One is that their support is very poor (if not for the user forum many users would be gone). Two is that they do not subscribe to the usual level of external add-ons such as New-Blue-FX which is available for a large number of NLE.

The advantages and requirements of the current version (10) of this app are the following:
- Runs on either Win7, 32 or 64 bit
- In 64 bit mode it makes full use of 64 bit mode
- It is fast, nearly 4 times faster than the 32 bit version of 2 years ago
- It is now very stable (unlike all the previous versions)
- It handles AVCHD editing very well
- It makes use of the full GPU with either Nvidia or ATI graphics
- It is simple to use for serious consumers
- It has a user friendly interface

What the vendor does not warn users of is the need for an overall fast PC (for marketing reasons I suspect). And it shows when the forum is analyzed for a while. If the need at hand is for a simple enough app that edits a large variety of videos and renders them to an equally large number of output formats then this app will do very well. From the feedback that I've read on the forum and my personal experience in using it (over the past 3 years) it will render a complex edited AVCHD clip of 10 minutes in 14 - 18 minutes WITHOUT using GPU acceleration. After extensive testing many of the users such as myself have found that GPU acceleration frequently results in renderings that are not as crisp and close to the original as we would like. The increase in rendering speed offered by the GPU is not as critical on a fast PC.

Hi Allen.

Thanks for the review. Right now, I have the trial versions of PD10 and Sony Movie Studio HD. Since the PD10 trial version is so incomplete, it is hard to accurately judge the overall program. So I have a couple of questions for you:

1. Can you use various royalty free music sites with PD10?
2. Can you burn a longer than one hour AVCHD video on a dual layer DVD? The trial version doesn't seem to want to let you do this.

Thanks.

Mike

Mike,

1. PD10 offers Smartsound which I believe is in the trial version. I personally do not use it so cannot comment on it but it is popular with other users.
2. A dual-layer DVD will typically allow for about 1 hour as per your finding. There is no "fit" option in the DVD burn section. However, there is an option (on the burn window) to downgrade to a lower burn profile AVCHD of 720 x 480 (=SD). Another way is to render (produce) the video to a lower profile first (3 are offered on the produce window) which will result in smaller files. This can then be imported into the "content" section of the "create disc" window.

Allen

Hi Allen. The reason I asked about the length of video possible with PD10, is that with Pinnacle, I can burn a longer than one hour AVCHD video on a dual layer disc. And that is without downgrading. It would seem unusual for PD10 to not at least match that.

Mike

I agree. There have been users complaining of the identical scenario on the forums. But keep in mind that AVCHD is already a compressed format.

Brian, do you have/use Lightworks? What more can you tell me about it, over and above what is shown on the website.

Mike

I'm not Brian, but i do use Lightworks - have had it on Xp64 & w7 for a while now.. on my system it's stable. It's a pretty good edit toolset, but it's UI is really it's own... some folks find it frustrating but i have been using it since 1989, so i'm happy with it.

I also own several Avid MC' 6.01's a Avid Symp 6.01 and two Avid DS10.5.2's.. so i'm not limited in my choices when it come to tools i can pick to use..

I also have a licence of both Vegas and PP on a w7 machine but rarely use them...

recent films cut on Lightworks include "The Kings Speach" and "Hugo"... it's hard to imagine that one could blame the tool when folks can win Oscar's with it...

d

Hi Dermot. Thanks for the answer. I'll have to give it a look.

Mike

Brian, do you have/use Lightworks? What more can you tell me about it, over and above what is shown on the website.

Mike

I've got a copy. I'm just playing with it at the moment until the final release with the full codecs becomes available, which is due shortly. I gather they've added quite a few new features and hopefully with plug in options for a good range of software.

I really like the workspace, it's clear and uncluttered. It doesn't have the same interface as the other NLEs, so you can't just operate it precisely the same as FCP or AVID. Although, I would say that I managed to get up and going faster with Lightworks than Vegas.

NLE's are personal things and Lightworks has been traditionally regarded as less IT and perhaps more editor centred than the others.

Here's one experienced editor giving comparisons: http://lightworks.mtv-web.ufg.ac.at/lightworks_forum_video_editing_nle/index.php?topic=40.0

If you've got a limited budget, it's certainly worth checking out, especially if you do long form work.

Another thought about Lightworks is that it seems to allow you to play with your material in different ways. You can almost doodle with the clip order and then convert that into an edit on a timeline.

Hey Brian. Do you have to have the special keyboard in order to work with Lightworks?

No, neither the console or the special keyboard are available yet. I gather they'll be available when the final release version comes out. You can use your standard keyboard using either FCP or AVID key strokes combined with your mouse. You can do a fair bit just using your mouse on its own.

The current beta version can do certain things and people are using it and a free version will continue to be available, but the annual subscription version will have extra features and can use a broad range of licensed codecs.

I gather they're planning to have a new web site with an on line store. You need to see if the final version will do what you require, but it's free to play with. Once the Windows version comes out, they'll be working on the mac and Linux versions. Always good to have another option.

Well, here are my thoughts so far:
Power Director 10. I really like this program, but the thing that still concerns me with PD10 is the length that I can burn an AVCHD video on a dual layer DVD. I want to know if the length for burning an AVCHD DVD can be for over an hour of video. Pinnacle 12 can do this, so I would hope PD10 will be able to do this also.

Vegas Movie Studio HD 11. I like this program also, but I have not been able to figure out how to burn an AVCHD DVD. Maybe it is not available on the free trial. Can anyone help me with this?

Lightworks. I have not yet downloaded Lightworks, I have yet to evaluate.

As for the newest version of Pinnacle and Avid, I have not yet decided to run their free trials yet.

Latest update.

First, I stand corrected. Cannot burn over an hour in AVCHD with dual layer disc, in any program.
Second. I like PD10 the best so far, great picture with AVCHD, great sound also. It burns a short AVCHD DVD rather quickly. Not sure how one saves their library from one project to another. Not real thrilled with their menus.
Third. Vegas Movie Studio HD produces great sound also, but was unable to compare picture quality since I could not burn an AVCHD disc.
Fourth. Tried Adobe Premiere Elements. Produces nice picture, but the sound is not quite as nice on the AVCHD disc produced compared to PD10 and Vegas. Had trouble with the opening picture (premenu?); couldn't easily get it to start the program. I also was greatly turned off by the constant water mark stretching across the middle of the picture on everything when using their trial version. That was very distracting when viewing the produced discs. This caused me to not want to further test the product.

As for not being able to produce AVCHD in Vegas, I will either have to buy a BD player or completely disregard Vegas in my considerations. I liked Vegas a lot, so I will have to give myself some time to think this through.

Am now looking at Avid Studio. Will update again in a week or two.

Mike

Well, after looking at several consumer NLEs free trial versions (costing less than $150), here are the results I found, which I would imagine most of you already are aware of.

1. Power Directer 10 produces a fine picture and decent sound when producing an AVCHD DVD. But, sometimes the picture and sound is not in sync. Nor will PD10 download and use m2v video files. Included music files are limited, but sound better than some the other NLE packages. Titles, menus, etc. are OK, but when I played a produced AVCHD DVD on my plasma, the menu did not want to show on the first attempt. Only when I replayed the DVD again right away would the menu show up as it is suppose to. This program does render AVCHD rather quickly, which I like.

2. Corel Video Studio Pro X5. Nicer free included music selection. Will produce AVCHD DVDs, but picture is not quite as good as PD10; resolution seems less. Sound is close to PD10 when adjusted on the timeline. The program crashed more often than some of the others. And it seemed really slow rendering AVCHD when burning an AVCHD DVD. Titles, menus, etc. are OK, fairly easy to use.

3. Pinnacle 15 HD. Not much different overall from Pinnacle 12. 3D seems to be the major difference. Picture and sound is great with AVCHD DVDs. Basic tools are OK, but the supplied music library is pretty bad, in my opinion. This program will download all the basic video files I use. Wide, but simple, variety of titles, menus, etc., and are easy to use.

4. Avid Studio. Great sound in AVCHD. Will not capture straight MPEG video files. Had a problem with some produced AVCHD footage on DVDs displaying some dithering (for lack of a better term), but it did not affect all the AVCHD footage, nor was it consistant from project to project. It seemed to get worse with repeated burning of the same files. That ruined it for me when considering this program. Program has good working menus, titles, etc.

5. Sony Vegas Movie Studio 11. Good sound, but will not burn an AVCHD DVD, which makes this program useless for me. Since I don't have a blu-ray burner, cannot comment on picture quality. Steep learning curve, but I was interested in this program until I learned about the lack of producing AVCHD DVDs. Because of that, I simply cannot remember much else about the program.

6. Adobe Premiere Elements. Hard to fairly compare since the trial version has a semi-transparent banner that runs across the middle of the screen proclaiming that you are using a trial version. It is present during the whole time you are using the program, as well as on produced DVDs. Nice picture (from what I could tell) when producing AVCHD, but the sound is less. For whatever reason, the menus on produced DVDs did not want to work well when played on my plasma. It took several attempts to get the menu to play. It was difficult for me to learn how to trim video clips with this program. It may be that I just am a slow learner. Overall, it seemed to have decent variety of tools, etc.

And so there it is. None of these NLEs satisfied every wish, but some were better than others. AVCHD picture quality was close, but there was some minor differences. Sound was also varied, but close in quality. Music libraries varied, with some free offerings being somewhat decent while others required extra $ without offering anything free. Every one of them crashed at least once, but some crashed more often that others. My computer is new with lots of power, so I can't say what the problem was. All the programs were getting into 3D (which at this point I am not interesed in), and they all had varying amounts of "kiddy" stuff or fluff in their production extras. Some were easier to use than others, in acquiring video and audio files, capturing video/audio, accessing/managing their libraries, and using adjustment tools to enhance or fix video/sound files (some were better than others, but were very similar to each other).

I had high hopes with each of these programs and wanted each to be the complete answer I was looking for. Guess maybe to get what I would like to have, I would have to spend a lot more money and get the "pro" version NLEs. Unfortunately, this is only a hobby for me, not a business.

Thanks for letting me ramble.

Mike

Just because the title of the thread is "Which programs for 64 bit computer" I wanted to mention that shortly after the release of the full Free and Pro versions of Lightworks on 28th May, they will be followed by 64 bit upgrades.

There's nothing miraculous about 64 bit, but it does allow you to use your computer's memory, storage and I/O to their full potential.

Thanks for the heads up David. I will take another look at Lightworks later this spring.

Mike

Mike,

Very good comparisons of the popular NLE apps. I've done testing 3 of the apps (Corel, Adobe, Vegas) you listed and am in total agreement with you. Currently my preference is PD10 (I edit only AVCHD) because it produces the highest quality of video images (I do NOT use any GPU accelerators) in the shortest amount of time (my projects are always 35-45 minutes long) and is intuitive to use (this was not the case in versions prior to PD9). The app is finally getting some NewBlueFX plug-ins (yet to test most of them) and the designers are actually requesting user feedback on improving the DVD menu editor (a week point).

Thanks, Allen. Yes, PD10 so far is my favorite despite a couple of it's drawbacks. The syncing of picture and music is my biggest concern, since I add a lot of popular recorded music to my lengthy home productions (vacation, family, model railroad, videos). If I were to get into commercial enterprise, I would really be concerned. I really wanted Avid Studio to be my solution, what with the fact that I had been using Pinnacle Studio for so many years. But the "dithering" of AVCHD video is very worrisome.
As I still have a bit of time yet before I make my final decision, I will look at one or two more offerings. But whatever I end up with now, can be replaced easily enough when and if one of these products improves enough in the next round of development.

Mike

Mike, I have PD-9 but have not used it, mainly because of its lack of "JKL"
However, I decided to give it a go just to do a quick promo title and I can't believe how "clunky" it is. To me it feels like a toy.

A few examples : Zooming in & out on the timeline - Shift + for in & just - for zooming out ? In Vegas you simply scroll the mouse wheel up & down.

Playing along the timeline it stops at every clip end, unless you hold down "page down" - ?? In
Vegas you can use the mouse as well as the spacebar but it makes it a lot simpler of course to use the "JKL" keys where you go in both directions fast slow & stop by using 3 fingers on the JKL keys.

Moving clips along the timeline were jerky and not precise, especially if you want to trim them and apply a Xfade. In Vegas they move up & down very smoothly and you simply slide them over at the ends to get a Xfade, no menus required !

I agree that AVCHD is a pain but you can simply use imgburn to do that from what I am told.

I really feel you should persevere with Vegas & burn your AVCHD files separately, as in the long run your whole editing flow will be smoother.

I'm using a Win 7 Quad core machine with 12 g RAM so I don't think I'm lacking in the PC dept.

RonC.

It's a matter of what one gets used to. Having used PD now for more than 3 years going back to Vegas is awkward ! And the time it takes to complete a project is simply frustrating - too many options and no quick way to get good results. It's the way it is when you get used to using a tool a certain way. Ultimately what matters is whether or not one enjoys using the tool, be it good or bad.

I just discovered Lightworks today.
I downloaded the beta and played around with it.
It seems clean and tidy and customisable.
Different to Premiere to use but I like it already.
It plays back UC QT from a Hyperdeck Shuttle.
When it is released soon with codecs including DNxHD I might have to replace Premiere with this.

Looks interesting Paul. - Just a few questions before I look at it though.
Does it have plenty of tracks, JKL, and easy to zoom in & out on the timeline ?

Other features I use often are linking & un-linking clips together for using different sound to a particular clip.
Does it enable burning of AVCHD DVD's with menus and does it have a good titler ? - (This is a downer for me in Vegas.)

RonC.

You can do quite a few tracks on Lightworks, I haven't seen the upper limit figure, but it does get used on feature films.
EDIT Just checking one figure currently mentioned is 32 audio tracks and as a follow up I added audio tracks to an edit, so the beta version is currently limited to that number. The release version may offer more tracks, but at this point most productions would probably be using specialised sound editing software anyway. I gather AVID is up to 16 tracks on Media Composer 6.

One thought with Lightworks, is that perhaps you could copy the original edit and use that to lay additional tracks, do a pre mix and add that to the original edit. It's extremely easy to copy your edits on Lightworks for further work or to play with a different idea for cutting a sequence.

You can use JKL, either FCP or AVID key strokes. You can zoom in & out using the scroll wheel, plus do a number of other functions with the wheel. I wouldn't work the same way with Lightworks as Vegas, you really need to explore it without referring back.

The terminology used on Lightworks is a bit different, it might do the same thing, but use a different term for that process. That's not unique to Lightworks.

Lightworks isn't a DVD burner, you need separate software for authoring DVDs. The pro & educational versions will have a titler after 28th.

The new version will have more powerful drag and drop than the beta, so it may be a matter of finding the best way to do things. Lightworks is pretty flexible, but some ways of doing things are quicker than others.

It doesn't seem to be too demanding on computing power, some people have been successfully using older machines.

Lightworks is not a DVD burner.....
OK, so correct me if I am wrong. You would make a video file with Lightworks, and then open that file with another NLE and then produce your DVD.
Hopefully, that second NLE would not change anything in the quality of the video or sound while burning to a DVD.

Come 28th May Lightworks shouldl be able to export formats suitable for your DVD burner: "Export to a wider range of formats including DVD and BluRay".

You don't need another NLE, just a DVD authoring program. I export to DVD Architect Pro from my Vegas using suitable formats. I should be able to do the same with Lightworks.

I was only asking concerning the use of an NLE as a DVD burner, since I already have a couple of NLEs.

I'm sure you could, if you're not transcoding etc, when using the other NLE as a burner there shouldn't be any difference.