Simple and cheap multitrack video editor

Lflex

List of available options (see more details in topic below):

http://www.nero.com/enu/nero-video-hd-overview.html
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiopp
http://videopro-x.magix.com/us/ ($320 only on Amazon)
http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx?sct=inc&ct=msn&cid=94
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=27&id=8422&Itemid=269
http://www.magix.com/us/movie-edit-pro/plus/ ($39 for non-plus, and $69 for Plus)
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1175714228541#tabview=tab0 ($60)

Information resources and reviews:
http://www.manifest-tech.com/links/pcvidsw.htm
http://www.dslrphoto.com/dslr/adobe-premiere-elements-9-video-editing-application-review-roundup,19740.html

Products one by one:

Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X4

Price: Actual < $50

Product homepage:
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1175714228541#tabview=tab2

Reviews:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330787,00.asp
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/software/365995/corel-videostudio-x4

Nero Video Premium HD

Price: Actual < $30

Product homepage:
http://www.nero.com/enu/nero-video-hd-overview.html

Reviews:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/software/362968/nero-video-premium-hd
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374239,00.asp

I am a complete novice, so please bear over with me if my video vocabulary is a bit limited.
I consider myself a still photographer and thats why I purchased the GF1 in the first place. For some years now, I have enjoyed using a video capable P&S camera for small (poor quality) video sequences and put them together in Windows Movie Maker but it doesn't really work with the GF1 video files. I enjoy the very high quality I achieve with the hack and would like to preserve it when editing the video

So what is an inexpensive, easy to use application which can run on a low end low spec laptop (1.5 years old 3mb RAM 2.1GHz MS Vista with some insignificant spec'ed on board graphics chip)?
These are my requirements:

* Price below USD 100
* Must be able to run on a low spec labtop (I don't intend to upgrade for this purpose and I am willing to be patient when working)
* I use LPowel's reliable patch and I am shooting MJPEG only
* User friendly: I dont want to learn more than absolutely neccessary
* I usually shoot small sequences of around 20-60 seconds and need to trim them and combine the clips into small videos of max 5 min.
* I need fade transitions between clips
* I need some simple sound control as I don't pay much attention to sound when I record video (for example I need to be able to use some ambient sound from one clip to replace the sound of another).
* Some text functionality (placing some explanatory text during the video).

With possible exception of intelligent use of limitied computing resources I would expect my requirements is covered by most products, so what would be your recommendation for a user friendly application that doesn't require to much PC power?

Thanks in advance

Lflex

Vitaliy_Kiselev

May be http://www.magix.com/us/movie-edit-pro/plus/ ?
$99 price and you can do many thing with it.

Toronto

$94.95
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope

$89.95
http://www.mediachance.com/video/index.html

Free
http://www.debugmode.com/wax/

Explain what "low spec" means to you.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

http://www.mediachance.com/video/index.html and http://www.debugmode.com/wax/ are not suitable for anything. Free is very limited thing and mediachance is just old.
You can check Sony Studio and Movie Edit Pro.
But I suggest the latter.

Max

How about Adobe Premiere Elements 9 for 79$ ?

Mark_the_Harp

Serif does very good software too. Often their upgrades aren't that significant so you can find older versions of their software pretty cheaply and not lose much functionality over their latest stuff. Try Amazon / EBay but only buy if it's legit and not yet registered. Their latest video package is MoviePlus x5 and it can handle HD, blu-ray/DVD burning, image stabilization, noise reduction, and if you want it, masking and compositing etc etc. They have always hugely impressed me with the usability of their stuff and it's very easy to use at a basic level too.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

>Adobe Premiere Elements 9 for 79$

I think it is quite new, but also limited, as Adobe can't allow co compete to their pro tools.

Overall I think that this topic could be interesting, as many low cost software frequently go under the radar.

Mimirsan

+ for magix
It has a huge wealth of options for its price and runs faster than adobe elements.
I was using it before I moved to prem pro 5

Mimirsan

Other one is Powerdirector 9
pretty simple program to use.

Mark_the_Harp

Didn't know about Magix. What a great thread!! I understand about "simple" but I bet you'll be flying soon with your editing. Nice to try to stick to one that's going to meet your needs as you get better.

eiji

What about Lightworks? It's still a beta but it's free, open source and shows great promise.
http://www.lightworksbeta.com

Lflex

Great. Thanks for the suggestions and keep them comming. I'll install a trial version or two ower the weekend to check some of them out.
Lflex

Mark_the_Harp

I had a quick download of Lightworks and got excited until I discovered it won't load .mts files.

Zoke

@Mark_the_Harp I haven't tried Lightworks yet and don't know which codecs and containers are supported but have you tried demuxing them?

Actually, I found this thread for you, perhaps it can help: http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=27&id=8422&Itemid=269

chip

There are a lot of codecs Lightworks doesn't support right now and without a dedicated hardware device, the mark and park philisophy is a pain to edit with.

Sony or Magix, test both.

mpgxsvcd

AVS Video Editor is the simplest to use full featured program I have found. It can handle any codec and it will do many transitions, stabilization, audio controls, and basic color correcting. All for about $70. If you want something easy to use then it will work for you.

http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx?sct=inc&ct=msn&cid=94

Mark_the_Harp

@Zoke - thanks for that. I may take another look at it and thanks for digging up the thread. I only looked at Lightworks really because I was intrigued, it's free, and it was a way of distracting me from the half-finished edit I'm (supposed to be) doing in Sony Vegas!

Vitaliy_Kiselev

As I understand, only Magix support 50p/60p video editing from this list.

DrDave

Magix is a good, full featured program and has the audio engine from the Sequoia/Samplitude platform. As such, you can do many things with it!

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Btw, Magix bough many good developers and their products over last years.

They also have more pro solution - http://videopro-x.magix.com/us/

chip

>and has the audio engine from the Sequoia/Samplitude platform

wow, really? That's one of the best audio engines out there. Would beat most if not any of the major NLEs

Vitaliy_Kiselev

>wow, really? That's one of the best audio engines out there.

It looks so, in their pro offering they state it openly.
You can look for educational offerings.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Link to Sony video editors features comparison

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

Looking at this table it seems like http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiopp is better choice among Sony cheap offerings then less expensive things.

edun

Magix is awesome. Used it years ago on a Pentium 4 with XP. Did totally everything, from greenscreen to audio fades by dragging ends (woo! five years later people are cheering because fcpx does it.) and it all in realtime. Brilliant.

Mark_the_Harp

I don't know Magix but it sounds great. Equally I love Vegas Pro but it's good to know of alternative ones. Your thing about dragging the ends to create audio fades reminds me of way back in the early '90s when SaDiE came out (one of the first computer audio editors) and the developers visited us at the BBC. We all poked around and then asked them "Can you do x..." and each time they shook their heads and gave us a look as if to say "Why would you want it to do that?". Thankfully they changed the product and it was brilliant. Early video products like Panasonic's QuickCutter had a similar interface, and I loved using Quickcutter mainly because you could just get on with editing really quickly (you could ingest at 4x speed). The software I personally hated were the ones that used film terms for everything (clips and bins and whatnot), which was just plain confusing to anyone who'd never edited film, which was probably most people!

CRFilms

I use sony platinum 9. It's a little buggy and crashes a lot if you try to render out full 1080p, but when it was new it was the cheapest editor that could do 24fps via custom templates. And it could do 50/60p, though only mp4 or wmv renders.

I just downloaded the 11 trial version and I'm liking it. Renders MP4 faster and it has MainConcept MPEG2 presets for 24p hd format. It's only 1440 at 1.33 pixel ratio, but if you don't do effects, just edits, it renders out without re-transcoding looks like. Handles the stock avchd better, and allows more custom templates for different render settings on certain file types. Version 9 had only two MainConcept mp4 settings, while 11 has more and it allows you to edit them to turn the 720p apple tv settings into 1080p. I'll buy it once the trial runs out.

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