Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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

Re: Which programs for 64 bit computer?
 

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.