i'm surprised @MS Movie Maker 2.0, a VERY easy to use NLE!!
 

although the export leaves a lot to be desired (obviously they want to promote their own format/codec) the general ease of an amatuer quickly cutting and titling a nice short piece of DV is literally at anyone's fingertips. i'm really amazed that it can be done! it has all of the nice transitions (disolves, wipes) and simple titling. it's pretty much all amatuer need when starting out. all i can say is wow! i've been trying to sync up a video (that has no audio) to an audio file (that has no video) in vegas and it's been quite painful whereas the movie maker simply locks it into place. i literally dragged and dropped my way into finishing the piece =). and yesh i'm easily impressed =).

i've been trying to sync up a video (that has no audio) to an audio file (that has no video) in vegas and it's been quite painful...

This shouldn't be the case. Have someone who knows what they're doing in Vegas show you around a bit. Or, crack open the manual and read the first chapter or two on the basics of editing.

You can select a region in Vegas that has an obvious syncing "landmark" (such as a gunshot or sound of someone clapping), loop the video, and slide the audio around until they seem to match sync as the video and audio play in real time.

Then, select both and group them -- they'll be permantently sync'd.

- jim

well simple to you but it isn't intuitive when presented to new users. meaning if you'd never edited before you open up MS Movie Maker you can drag and drop any clip to anywhere and still edit almost like a pro. same with final cut pro. as for vegas you have to study, practise and THEN do somn so simple as syncing material up.

That's a strange viewpoint given the majority of others' experiences -- I ditched Premiere 6.5 after looking at the stack of books it would've taken me to learn it properly. Having spent just ten minutes inside the Vegas timeline, I was editing "like a Pro."

Final Cut and PPro can't be "easier" than Vegas, just different. Especially if you're completely new to editing.

Different strokes, I guess...

Incidentally -- if both source clips (audio and video) are the exact same length, I don't understand why you didn't just park them at the beginning of the timeline, or just snap them to the cursor? You do that and they're sync'd automatically.

I'd need more of an understanding of your problem to be sure, but I really can't fathom it being any easier than stated above, without another NLE just doing it for you??

- jim

Yi Fong Yu, Have you looked at my newsletters? Particularly the "Beginner's Corner" articles? http://www.jetdv.com/tts

Vegas is NOT hard to use and is NOT hard to sync clips. It is very logical in how it does things. To me, when I started using it - everything just made sense. Everything is treated equally.

I looked at Premiere but the "A/B" workflow didn't make sense with my 3 or 4 camera edits. (Yes, I realize Premiere Pro has done away with the A/B metaphor.) I couldn't even "quickly" find a way to see only the "B" image - with Vegas I just soloed the track!

Is there a learning curve? Sure - same as with ALL other NLE's.