Looking for good DV editing program

[Todd Dilley]

I have looked around and have tried to decide which is the best DV editing program for the PC. I have started to heavily lean towards the Uleads Studio Media Pro 6.5 due to its easy accessibility and many great options. It seems to offer just as much as other programs. In fact, most of the main DV editing programs seem to offer very similiar features. From Premiere to Canopus, it's confusing as to which one to choose. Any help on this matter is appreciated. If anyone has an experience with a particular program and some unique features, let me know.

Thanks

[Chris Hurd]

In this realm you can spend anywhere from $50 to more than $2000 on DV editing software, Todd... what's your budget?

[Dylan Couper]

It depends on what you are planning to edit. The real time capture cards that use Premiere all have distinct advantages. Avid Xpress DV is a software only powerhouse, and expensive. Vegas Video 3 is possibly the sleeper of the bunch (my choice).

(generalization) NLE's all do the same things, some just do certain things better than others.

And of course, your budget may be the defining factor.

[Andrew Petrie]

I'm tyring the Vegas Video 3 demo right now, and for the price advertised, it looks to be a great tool. $419 for the download version. There was a regular poster who mentioned buying Video Factory and upgrading to Vegas Video was actually cheaper. I'm not sure if that's still the case, maybe Sonic foundry caught their goof? :)

[Dylan Couper]

Yep, doing it that way worked out to $260.
That's one of several honest ways of getting Vegas Video for less than the $419 price. Not that it isn't worth the full price, because it is.

[Bill Ravens]

I've been using Vegas Video 3 since last Xmas. I can't say enough about this software. I NEVER have to deal with Premiere again...thank god!!! And my interfacing with AE has been greatly diminished. The audio editing possibilities are WAY beyond anything Adobe ever did. Compositing, panning, chromakeying are all very easy with VV3, no other SW needed.

[Todd Dilley]

I wanted to thnak everyone for their responses. I should have included budget wheb mentioning this subject, but budget was actually not a concern. I just wanted some testimonials from people who have used editing programs for their PC and which ones they have found to be helpful. I did have one specific question, do most, if not ALL, editing programs let you SUPERIMPOSE words over your image?

For example, A man walks into a restaurant and at the bottom of the screen it says: OHIO CAMPUS 1989.

Any help on this matter would be helpful.

Special thank you to Chris Hurd for helping me out on my other post regarding recording footage being recorded into the XLS-1.

[Bill Ravens]

VV3 has a very accomplished Titler utility that will do just about anything you want, including subtitles, credit rolls, custom backgrounds or transparent. One of the nicest things to do is subtitles in a letterboxed frame.

[Chris Hurd]

Just about all DV editing applications will offer titles and graphics overlays. It becomes a question of real-time vs. rendering; how much customization of titles, transitions, etc.; hardware plus software vs. software only; and type of interface.

Hmm, I think we need a buyer's guide, don't you?

[Federico Prieto]

Vegas is a superb NLE; far better than Premiere......

Blue

[Andrew Petrie]

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd :

Hmm, I think we need a buyer's guide, don't you? -->>>

A buyers guide would be great. Infact buyers guides for all of the must-haves would be nice (tripods included :D ) I live in a city where good equipment can not be found in stores to try-out. Instead, I have to rely on the reviews and opinions I find scattered around the web. It'd be great to have a centralized resource here at DVInfo, written by people who know their stuff.

[Andrew Petrie]

I personally don't have the time to wait for magazines to get their finger out and write up buyers guides. The internet's great for getting info you need at any time. I recently bought a videomaker mag that had a editing board buyers guide. It was very sad, written for the complete newbie who doesn't understand how a computer works. I wanted to hear about the pros and cons of each card bundle, but instead they told you what a PCI slot was. Useless.

Here I can get solid real-world opinions on various products, and I'd like a site that housed that kind of useful information. Hell I can't afford the time or money to experiment with equipment, I need assurance that what I buy will be something I'll be happy with. Sadly, stores around here dont stock quality.

I really think some sort of Guide/Review section would make DVInfo complete. the articles section is a great start though.

Create a Review section in the forums, covering Optics, Audio, Editing (inc. computer hardware), and Accessories. the rules would be simple (though difficult to actually enforce, you'd have to rely on trust): ONLY reviews are posted. Reviews/Opinions should be as detailed as possible, and no replies to reviews to keep it all neat and tidy.

That's the easiest way for Chris to run reviews on the site. Otherwise he'd have to spent quite a bit of time organizing submissions (believe me, I've been there :)

*shrug* I'm just throwing ideas out. I'm a veteran webmaster too, so I know what kind of a task this would be if done via html, a dedicated Reviews section in the forum is the only conceivable way to do it without a major push and support from the regulars.