Hi Bill, just want you to know that you are a marketer's nightmare, and a direct threat to the global economy. The only way people will continue to spend every cent they have is if they are never satisfied, and that is the job of the marketing machine: to make you feel unsatisfied unless you have THEIR latest new and improved product.

I come from a marketing/branding background and I see what these companies do to the mind of joe public. One just has to see how Apple has manipulated the market. Then think about Adobe. Microsoft. BMW. The minute Joe Public awakes from his brainwashed stupor the world will unfortunately come to an end.

Anyway, you're absolutely right. Editing is 5% software and 95% creative decision making. If people really want to make great video, they should save a little money on the software and invest in decent lighting.

I'm sorry guys, but this is absurd. It's worth it to find out the advantages and disadvantages of each NLE before choosing which one to learn. It's no different than any other purchase or decision. All glove brands will fit on your hands, all shoes will keep your soles from touching the ground, all cars will take you from point A to point B, but deliberating before choosing one of these items doesn't indicate a lack of profundity. So why an NLE discussion has garnered such a repsonse is puzzling.

And in truth there absolutely are significant differences between applicaions that one should be aware of. At the most basic level, some will run only on a Mac others only on a PC and some both platforms. Some will take advantage of the video card, but you have to have that type of video card or be willing to spend the money for one.

No one is saying software will make you a good editor, but there are real differences in how they function, what additional apps they come with, and what type of computer they require.

And being that this is a discussion forum, I see no harm in discussing NLE's. In my book, it's actually prudent to do research before making a decision.

A agree with Bill, is not what NLE you use,is what you do whit him !!
I been using CASABLANCA(now HD), for a long time and my bussines wedding has
ben a successfully for many years(even with the global crisis), and only one
customer ask me with EDIT computer I was using.
When he saw the results from his wedding(he use fcp for hobbie),he was IMPRESS !!

Just to share my 2 cents!!!.....Franklin..

PS-sorry my ENGLISH

I have a friend - he has one camera, one mike, some lights, Premiere Pro 6.5 and a Pentium II computer.

But he made a few indie movies.

And he's listed on IMDB!

And Lance Armstrong riding a twenty year old Schwin will dust me everytime. Does that mean I shouldn't pay attention when I decide to purchase a new bike?

No, it doesn't.

But thinking that if you buy the latest Schwinn will make you beat him... well...

Well that would be pretty stupid of me, now wouldn't it? And it's not at all what I wrote (or implied) in post #17.

Good. On the other hand, I am not saying either that Armstrong would be able to win Tour de France on a 50 year old rusty, heavy bike, but he will still be able to beat me on my latest and greatest Schwinn.

All we are saying here is that TRAINING is a lot more important than the bike, or in our case, the software.

Agreed. *(manly) hug*

Discussing NLEs is a lot like discussing tastes in women. Blondes vs. brunettes, voluptuous vs. athletic, american vs. european, etc. I say try them all, and quite rigorously, before you marry.

Seriously though, Peter is also right. Each NLE really does cater to a certain type of user. Vegas is great for sole videomakers/ENG types, Avid is perfect for large production studios, Adobe for mixed media production, and FCP for small/medium studios and indy filmmakers. Each is very strong in their domain, and each is also capable of a few things the others aren't. I am a lone videographer that does commercial videography and eventually settled on humble Vegas Pro because it allows me to do masking, compositing and motion graphics without leaving Vegas, and the audio capabilities of Vegas are exceptional. It was also rediculously easy to learn the Vegas workflow. It never crashes. And most importantly, it costs considerably less than the more popular NLEs.

I see what you are going at if you say you already have editing software then yes, it doesn't matter. However, if you haven't bought any yet and have only taken surface level dabs into each on a friends/school's computer and want to buy one, well, why not find out which one will do you best in the future? My cheap Vegas copy will serve in the back, but since I'm actually going to invest in some tools like Photoshop and Dreamweaver too, looks like I'm going Premiere for integration. Besides, that just means that when my dad is going to upgrade his tools to cs4, I just have to tell him to get the Master Collection instead of just the Creative Suite and give him some on top, not even the whole difference... good deal.

Chris, I don't mean to switch sides here, LOL.

And I do think you are making a good and wise decision w/ Premiere. But while Vegas may be inexpensive compared to the bunch, but please don't get into your mind that it's "cheap." It IS an insanely powerful program, as really all NLE's are nowadays.

Just to add to this, I think it can also depend on what type of footage you are editing. I have a HMC151 now and previously used Premiere. Everything I read is telling me that Vegas will perform better with the Panny's codec than premiere can, so I'm going to download a trial and give it a go.

It won't make me a better editor, of course. It could increase my productivity though, and that is an important factor whether you are a hobbiest or professional.

Steve, FWIU, Panasonic makes a converter for AVCHD to P2 DVCPRO-HD. Here's a link:

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro...load.htm#avchd


And here's link to a tutorial for using the trancoder in Avid, but I imagine it would be similar w/ Premiere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clfVn...e=channel_page

It's great to see almost no rabid fanboy rant in this thread. It's probably because the level of professionalism is quite a bit higher on this forum than others. One way to get a better idea of what to use is to download a trial of the NLE that you are considering and try it on for size. One caution though - If you are accustomed to using a particular NLE, you will feel very awkward at first in a new environment. If you do decide to evaluate a new NLE, give yourself enough time to become familiar with it before you make a decision.