Best video editing software for Windows?

[tkingdoll]

Any recommendations for Windows movie/video editing software?

I'm getting rather tired of Windows Movie Maker and want something a bit better - I don't have particularly sophisticated needs and neither do I want to spend a lot of money, and I am not buying a Mac so please don't suggest that!

Mostly I want to edit footage into scenes (so far so easy), incorporate titles and scenes built in Flash (which can be exported as any format so also in theory easy), and have some decent transition and subtitle options. I can get by with WMM but I find it crashes a lot and isn't particularly user-friendly, and the subtitle options are lousy. If there's a better option out there for a few hundred pounds or less I'll take it.

[dtugg]

Try Adobe Premier Elements. (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/) You can download a free 30 day trial to see if you like it.

[GreNME]

I bought a cheap copy of Sony's Vegas Video, but mostly because I was partial to it back when it was a Sonic Foundry product (and later bought by Sony in 2003). It's basically a track-based editor with some decent transition, title, and effects capability, not unlike what Garage Band (or my preferred app, Acid) does with music. It's pretty intuitive, it's easy to learn how to do basic stuff, and depending on where you look you can usually find it in sales bundles with one or two other software titles (I found mine with Sound Forge and some Sony photo album crap) for cheaper than buying it alone. The only exception to that is maybe checking out Amazon-- actually, Amazon has the three different flavors of Vegas (one (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Vegas-Movie-Studio-9/dp/B001CPFWH8/), two (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Vegas-Movie-Studio-Platinum/dp/B001CPFWI2/), and three (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Vegas-Movie-Studio-Platinum/dp/B001CPHTAQ/)) for pretty good prices, so you may want to check it out there.

Also, I should qualify that I have a general bias against Sony, but because Vegas Video was originally made by someone else Sony mostly just tried refining what was already a great product, which means it's still pretty decent software for your average video editing desires.

[Reeco]

I second Sony Vegas - link. (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope) Very "pro" for the money.

[kedo1981]

Hands down SONY VEGAS
The pro studio vers are the best but Vegas movie studio will do

[tkingdoll]

Excellent! Vegas looks perfect, there's a free trial which I shall poke around with first. Thanks peeps.

[Wowbagger]

Try Adobe Premier Elements. (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/) You can download a free 30 day trial to see if you like it.

NO!

I can tell you from hard-earned experience that Adobe Premier Elements is one of the most difficult video editors for Windows, today. You can't lock tracks, the interface has a brutal learning curve, and its performance is sloggy as hell, etc. And, I can probably pile on more reasons than that, if I wanted to.

Of course Premier Pro is a lot better, in some of those regards, but has an even-more brutal learning curve, and is a lot more expensive. (I am actually using this for my main feature film, though.)

My favorite is Pinnacle Studio 12. Much more intuitive workflow and interface. Very powerful in the areas you will probably need it. Good performance. Etc. There are several editions to choose from: Each one better than the one before it.

I have a nice sized collection of video editors, but I've always tended to use Pinnacle for almost all of my video editing needs.

Vegas is also not too shabby. Especially if you want lots and lots of audio tracks. But, Pinnacle is the best, in my book.

[Alareth]

I've used Vegas since around 2000 and agree with all the recommendations. It is probably the best software only NLE out there.

[Skeptical Greg]

I vote for Vegas also .. As mentioned, you might want to try Vegas Movie Studio also.

You can compare the versions here..

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiopp/compare

Movie Studio Pro Pack comes with some nice add-ons that are not included with Vegas Pro.

Compared to Vegas Pro, the main limiting factor is Movie Studio is limited to 4 video tracks ... probably not much of a problem unless you are planning on doing commercial production work ..

As is, it will blow MovieMaker away ..

[Wowbagger]

Pffffttt... just about anything can blow MovieMaker away. Even iMovie blows MovieMaker away.

[PixyMisa]

I just looked, and Sony Creative's online store is having a 35% off sale, so it's a good time to buy. (Particularly for me, because they gave me a 20% off coupon after I found a bug in Acid Pro.)

[Soapy Sam]

Just a bug? No rootkits?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Any recommendations for Windows movie/video editing software?

I'm getting rather tired of Windows Movie Maker and want something a bit better - I don't have particularly sophisticated needs and neither do I want to spend a lot of money, and I am not buying a Mac so please don't suggest that!

Steal a Mac.

[Lanzy]

Steal a Mac.

how would a sandwich from McDonalds help?:rolleyes:

[GreNME]

Steal a Mac.

And what? I have a Mac and nothing on it is as useful as Vegas Video. Sure, there's software out there for the Mac, some of it really slick, but for what's being asked neither the Windows nor Mac built-in stuff is really all that great.

That's not to say that the Mac stuff isn't good. It is, but it probably wouldn't be sufficient here either.

[malaka]

Some good advice was given to me here (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=133396)...

[Kilgore Trout]

I still vote for VirtualDub (http://www.virtualdub.org/). The caveat: I'm not really into video editing, never used anything else, the learning curve may be steep because of the interface, and I'm ridiculously cheap (it's totally free). It, sometimes with AVISynth, has done everything I've needed it to do (a logo here and there, removing commercials, cropping/resizing, and general video fixing up).

[elgarak]

And what? I have a Mac and nothing on it is as useful as Vegas Video. Sure, there's software out there for the Mac, some of it really slick, but for what's being asked neither the Windows nor Mac built-in stuff is really all that great.

Oh, I would say that iMovie is quite a bit better than Windows Movie Maker.

Which is what tkingdoll asked for.

Except that he already excluded Macs.

[tkingdoll]

Oh, I would say that iMovie is quite a bit better than Windows Movie Maker.

Which is what tkingdoll asked for.

Except that he already excluded Macs.

She did ;)

Yes, iMovie is better than WMM but paying £X for a Mac I don't want is not better than paying £Y for some Windows software.

[Skeptical Greg]

Some good advice was given to me here (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=133396)...

It looks like the good advice you received involved using a Mac -

The OP said that was not an option..

[kedo1981]

Probably one of me favorite things about Vegas is that you can play your timeline and still do things like adjust effects, move clips around, tweak track motion, all the while the video or audio is playing, it rocks. All other NLEs set effect, play, change effect, play

[GreNME]

Oh, I would say that iMovie is quite a bit better than Windows Movie Maker.

Which is what tkingdoll asked for.

Except that he already excluded Macs.

Meh, I suppose how much better it is may vary in mileage depending on the person. I haven't found it worth much more than WMM, though I'd agree it's better (which isn't saying much).

But maybe I don't have the experience with iMovie to know where it shines that much above WMM. Regardless, I prefer the track-based versatility of Vegas, so it might be a to-may-toe / to-mah-toe thing.

[Jungle Jim]

Ok. I have downloaded Vegas. However, I am unable to import/copy a project I created in Movie Maker into Vegas. Does any one have an easy solution?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Except that he already excluded Macs.

If you were to ever meet tkingdoll in person, trust me - you would never mistake her for a he. :eek:

[The Central Scrutinizer]

She did ;)

Yes, iMovie is better than WMM but paying £X for a Mac I don't want is not better than paying £Y for some Windows software.

The Mac software wouldn't freeze up all the time. :)

[PixyMisa]

Just a bug? No rootkits?
Sony Creative is a company that Sony bought (it was the software division of Sonic Foundry) and renamed. They haven't had a chance to wreck it yet. ;)

The bug is that you can't use some of the included codecs because the programmers forgot to put them in the drop-down list. The codecs are there, and they work (it automatically uses the right codec when you import files), but you can't export to those formats. :(

[kedo1981]

Jungle Jim asked
“Ok. I have downloaded Vegas. However, I am unable to import/copy a project I created in Movie Maker into Vegas. Does any one have an easy solution?”



Sorry Jimmy the Jungle boy it ain’t going to happen, Win Movie has it’s own EDL format (Edit Decision List) that is incompatible with other NLE programs, most other allow you to import/export other program’s EDLs (it’s a text file).
On the bright side editing with Vegas (once you get the hang of it) is so much faster that you will be able to recreate your project and add more creativity to than you could before, in no time.
Google “Sony Vegas user group” and you’ll find complete tutorial projects to download.

[Skeptical Greg]

The Mac software wouldn't freeze up all the time. :)

How often is acceptable ?

iMovies hangs (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=imovie+hangs&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=)

imovie locks up
(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=imovie+locks+up&btnG=Search)

[Jungle Jim]

Kedo: Thanks very much for the info.

[malaka]

It looks like *some of* the good advice you received involved using a Mac -

The OP said that was not an option..

There...fixed it for ya...

Before I ultimately switched to a Mac, folks were generous with their Windows-based advice.

[Skeptical Greg]

But I don't see where the Windows advice helped you solve your problem, other than steering you away from it ..

Did I miss where the Windows advice helped you solve your problem, without using the Mac ?

If you are just trying to have the last word, it's all yours..

[malaka]

I'm angry at myself for even taking time to type this post, but...


It looks like the good advice you received involved using a Mac -

The OP said that was not an option..


In the above post, "that" = "using a Mac". Thus making your second sentence, "The OP said *using a Mac* was not an option..".

In fact, the OP actually said, "I am not buying a Mac so please don't suggest that!"

Ultimately, I ended up using a Mac. But I didn't buy it.

But I don't see where the Windows advice helped you solve your problem, other than steering you away from it ..

Did I miss where the Windows advice helped you solve your problem, without using the Mac ?

If you are just trying to have the last word, it's all yours..

In my linked thread, there were lots of suggestions regarding "non-Mac" applications and tools.

Eventually, most of the "Windows advice" given was primarily "don't use Windows video editing software!". Which did, in fact, help me solve my problem.

Trying to have the last word? Really?? I despise conflict and now have a rash...

Anyway, I was just trying to help (even if "help" meant "Hey look, I've been through this, too! You're not alone!").

[Grizzly Bear]

Any recommendations for Windows movie/video editing software?

I'm getting rather tired of Windows Movie Maker and want something a bit better - I don't have particularly sophisticated needs and neither do I want to spend a lot of money, and I am not buying a Mac so please don't suggest that!

Mostly I want to edit footage into scenes (so far so easy), incorporate titles and scenes built in Flash (which can be exported as any format so also in theory easy), and have some decent transition and subtitle options. I can get by with WMM but I find it crashes a lot and isn't particularly user-friendly, and the subtitle options are lousy. If there's a better option out there for a few hundred pounds or less I'll take it.
After Effects may be a good one to try if your adding effects to videos and compiling them together. As always though since it's proprietary use the trial version to see if it does the things you need. I'm currently learning AE for my interactive media class and the interface is fairly easy to navigate after following some basic tutorials. Itt's all dependent on what fits your budget though, after effects is fairly expensive if you're getting anything but a student license

[The Central Scrutinizer]

How often is acceptable ?

iMovies hangs (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=imovie+hangs&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=)

imovie locks up
(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=imovie+locks+up&btnG=Search)

I guess I wasn't clear - what I meant was, OS X doesn't hang or randomly reboot like Windows.

In 3.5 years of 24/7 Mac usage, I think I can only remember programs hanging 2 times, and neither were Apple software.

[GreNME]

I guess I wasn't clear - what I meant was, OS X doesn't hang or randomly reboot like Windows.

In 3.5 years of 24/7 Mac usage, I think I can only remember programs hanging 2 times, and neither were Apple software.

Windows doesn't randomly reboot either. Hanging happened early on in XP's life, but after SP2 almost exclusively non-OS programs would be the cause of hangs, which were usually problems with programs trying to hold on to resources they were required to let go. Random rebooting ended with Windows 98-- I can pretty much assure you reboots since can be isolated to having a specific reason, whether hardware or software related. That said, I'm on my second Mac and I've experienced both program hangs and the dreaded kernel panic. I've also had to deal with needing to reboot because services would refuse to start properly and I've had to reboot just as often as with Windows due to updates (even more than Windows lately).

My point is: offering "use something else" as a solution to a problem isn't a solution to the problem in the first place. Sometimes it could be the solution, but more often than not it isn't. Macs have some solutions for video editing, but there are equally good basic video editing software out there for Windows (and Linux) so switching platforms isn't a realistic answer.

No big deal, though. If you dig your Mac, that's cool with me. I like mine too.

[DavidJames]

I second Sony Vegas - link. (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope) Very "pro" for the money.I downloaded a demo copy last night. I had been using Windows Movie Maker (I have very basic needs) and was absolutely thrilled with how fast Vegas loaded the VOB's into it's system. I did nothing to modify it and saved as a 256kb .wmv movie and it took an hour to created.

All the time it appears to save loading the VOB's was consumed (and then some) by rendering it.

All I need to do is convert VOB's to a format to stream on the web, not high resolution or anything. I'm currently using SUPER to convert from VOB to wmv and then Movie Maker to add a title page and closing page and to save to a 340kb file. For a one hour video, it takes, about 1 hour, I was hoping it would take much less time.

Am I expecting to much?

[Wudang]

Sony Creative is a company that Sony bought (it was the software division of Sonic Foundry) and renamed. They haven't had a chance to wreck it yet. ;)


NSFW from the Onion

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of

[kedo1981]

Sup Dave

Whenever you change to another format WMV to Mpeg for example your rendering time will be greatly lengthened. I f however you render a time line of clips of all same format you have very fast renders (Vegas only renders change, example, a transition between two AVI clips only needs the transition rendered {this is SOP for most NLE’s })
So figure if you have a 20 min VOB (which are really Mpeg2’s ) and then want to render out to say WMV or Mpeg4 it will have to change every frame of video, =long render time.

[DavidJames]

Sup Dave

Whenever you change to another format WMV to Mpeg for example your rendering time will be greatly lengthened. I f however you render a time line of clips of all same format you have very fast renders (Vegas only renders change, example, a transition between two AVI clips only needs the transition rendered {this is SOP for most NLE’s })
So figure if you have a 20 min VOB (which are really Mpeg2’s ) and then want to render out to say WMV or Mpeg4 it will have to change every frame of video, =long render time.Thanks for the info. Let me ask this then, what would you (or anyone else) recommend to stream VOB's (home made) from a web page? I really would prefer not ftping the huge Mpeg2 files to the server.

[Skeptical Greg]

Stream and do what ? View them ? In real time ?
It is not clear what you are trying to accomplish ...

[DavidJames]

Stream and do what ? View them ? In real time ?
It is not clear what you are trying to accomplish ...I run a web site which stores and streams church services from a local church. They record the services, give the DVD's to me and I upload them to the website so people can view them.

This is done, on the cheap, so I'm using free stuff I found. SUPER to convert the VOB's to WMV and Windows Movie Maker to put the 3 VOBs I get together plus I add a title and credits page.

I stream them from a Joomla site with JoomlaWorks "AllVideos" Plugin (http://www.joomlaworks.gr/content/view/35/41/).

I choose all of that because it was free and I got it to work without to much trouble. While researching the free stuff I found a bunch of things that costs ~$30-$40 which to me weren't any better then the free stuff. I could probably get them to pony up $100 for a tool that would simply things. But I haven't had much time to research.

I found this thread and thought Vegas might be the ticket, but maybe not.

[Skeptical Greg]

If you have to convert to .wmv, there will probably not be a faster way to do it than with Vegas 9 ( or with what you are currently using ). Vegas might simplify things a bit, by letting you do everything in one application .
Like kedo1981 said, it is the rendering from one codec to another that will slow things down.

The only thing that will speed it up is more robust hardware..

I have a 3.8ghz i7 920 quadcore processor , and rendering one minute of mpeg2 to .wmw ( 320x240 audio = 22khz stereo ) took me 22 seconds. Adding titles & etc. would have slowed it down some ..

[DavidJames]

If you have to convert to .wmv, there will probably not be a faster way to do it than with Vegas 9 ( or with what you are currently using ). Vegas might simplify things a bit, by letting you do everything in one application .
Like kedo1981 said, it is the rendering from one codec to another that will slow things down.

The only thing that will speed it up is more robust hardware..

I have a 3.8ghz i7 920 quadcore processor , and rendering one minute of mpeg2 to .wmw ( 320x240 audio = 22khz stereo ) took me 22 seconds. Adding titles & etc. would have slowed it down some ..I don't have to convert to .wmv.

Assuming I keep my current streaming software, I can convert to:
FLV, SWF, MOV, MP4, 3Gp and DivX. I'm open to suggestion.

[Skeptical Greg]

What optimum output resolution and sound quality are you looking for ?
I'll do some render tests for you, based on which of those formats Vegas supports.

[kedo1981]

Tell you what DJ, lets try an experiment
Take one of the .VOB files , a short one, that is save to your HD.
Make a copy
Rename it (“name of file.VOB”) to “name of file.mpg
And try to upload to Youtube or BLIP tv

If that works you’ve killed birds with one stone
Skipping the conversion step (as long as there isn’t any editing needed)
And by letting Youtube or BLIP or anyone of the others host the video all you need to do is embed the code into your Joomala page .

[DavidJames]

What optimum output resolution and sound quality are you looking for ?
I'll do some render tests for you, based on which of those formats Vegas supports.I'm currently rendering at (from MM) 340kbs, 320x240 pixels and 30 fps. Sound is 192kbs.

[Skeptical Greg]

kedo1981's idea is worth looking into, but large -1g+ VOBs might be a problem..

My rendering experiments show that .mpg to .mp4 is pretty fast.. One minute of video taking about 11 seconds on my hardware with Vegas .

There may be any number of options besides Vegas that would allow you to do that .

Since you mentioned a $100 budget, with Vegas, you would be looking at the ' Vegas Movie Studio ' product.

[DavidJames]

kedo1981's idea is worth looking into, but large -1g+ VOBs might be a problem..

My rendering experiments show that .mpg to .mp4 is pretty fast.. One minute of video taking about 11 seconds on my hardware with Vegas .

There may be any number of options besides Vegas that would allow you to do that .

Since you mentioned a $100 budget, with Vegas, you would be looking at the ' Vegas Movie Studio ' product.Uploading the VOB's (or Mpeg2) would be prohibitive due to size. I will get the latest DVD tomorrow and will look at the mp4 option.

Thanks for your help.

[DavidJames]

Uploading the VOB's (or Mpeg2) would be prohibitive due to size. I will get the latest DVD tomorrow and will look at the mp4 option.

Thanks for your help.I did this weeks videos. The VOB's are about 2.5 GB, to big to upload. I tried converting to MP4 and it told me it would take about 45 minutes, add in the time to import the VOB's and it's longer then with SUPER and WMV. No doubt Vegas provides MUCH more options and flexibility, both of which I don't really need.

I have the need for speed :).

Thanks everyone for your help, I'll keep looking around.

[Wowbagger]

Have you looked at ProCoder 3? http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/ProCoderSW/index.php
(ETA: It's pricy, but I'll be damned if it ain't good!)