The Latest PC Editing Programs

Which Do I Need and Which Should I Buy?

Newcomers to digital video creation on PC really have two choices for software editing programs, 1. Go with the free built in Windows Movie Maker (or other free equivalent like pinnacle’s VideoSpin) 2. Purchase one of the many software packages that run around $100. This post addresses the most important question that arises from these two options: Do I need to pay for a program and if so, which should I buy?

The part of the question “Do I need to pay for a program?” can be answered by asking yourself if you feel limited by the capabilities of Movie Maker or whatever free software you use. There is nothing wrong with free as long as you don’t feel the need to do more than what the program offers. If you feel held back by the limitations, by all means spend the money and get a stand-alone editing program. I promise you will not regret the decision.

The answer to “Which should I buy?” used to be a convoluted one, but as of late, two programs, Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate and Adobe Premiere Elements 4, have emerged at the top of every list.

The reason Studio 11 and Elements fare so well is because of two very important concepts: Support and Cross-Compatibility. Other PC editors like Roxio Easy Media Creator, Corel Ulead VideoStudio, and Sony Vegas are created by companies whose main target is not video products. Sony is new to the video software marketplace and their editors, though not bad, require a lot of prior technical knowledge and don’t integrate all the video processes (capture, edit, export) very well. Corel is known for their Draw software, and again cannot compete within the video editing landscape that for so long has been dominated by Pinnacle and Adobe. Roxio makes CD burning software for God’s sake!

If you are serious about video-making, go with Adobe Elements 4 or Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate. It is worth the investment and the wonderful support, and frequent updates insure your software will not become outdated a few months after your purchase.

Another good reason to go with one of these two? MindBites will be providing feedback and instructional videos for these platforms to further your enablement as an author. You can already find two Premiere Elements videos (Beginners Guide, Intro to Animation), and one on Pinnacle Studio 11 is soon to come.

Tags: Corel, Peremiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio, Roxio, Studio 11, VideoSpin, Windows Movie Maker | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | 1 Comment »

Five Windows Editing Programs for under $100

While anyone with a PC and Windows XP or Vista can edit video using the built-in Windows Movie Maker software (Keith’s WMM analysis), it simply cannot compare with the features and options offered by the stand-alone editing programs on the market. WMM is free for a reason. It is designed to give beginners the easiest and most straightforward tools for cutting together media without confusing the user with more advanced tools. Luckily, PC users have a wide range of really great editing programs to choose from, many of which are less that $100. I would like to analyze five pieces of software that can be bought for under $100 and hopefully demonstrate that it is possible to achieve very professional looking editing jobs without the pricey and complicated professional editing packages.

The five programs are Ulead VideoStudio 11 by Corel ($89.99), Adobe Premiere Elements 4 ($99.99), Pinnacle Studio 11 ($99.99), Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 ($99.99), and Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 ($79.99). So what can you do with these programs that you can’t do with WMM? More than one video and audio track, more efficient interfaces, advanced video and audio effects, and more powerful import/export capabilities.

Perhaps the most important feature of these products is the ability to add multiple audio and video tracks. What this means is if you were designing a MindBites training video on underwater basket weaving and you wanted to split the screen in half and on the top half show your hands twisting wicker and on the bottom show your friend’s hands twisting different wicker you could easily overlay the two videos on separate tracks. The same goes for audio. If you want the sound of the wicker twisting underneath “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel, you can do so by placing the audio clips in different tracks. The usefulness of multiple tracks should not be overlooked even for beginners, and WMM does not offer more than one audio and one video track. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: DV, editing, music, PC, Pinnacle Studio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Ulead VideoStudio, video effects, Windows Movie Maker | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »