HELP

After doing some research i have purchased a new sony handycam from comet electrical, i opted for the mini tape product as i have heard that DVD and HD are total crap.

I need to find software so that i can edit my recordings, so what is the best budget wise and easiest to use, where can i get it from?

thankyou

Congratulations on buying a camera - and good job avoiding HDD/DVD.

The best editing software to buy/use is the one that you get along with best. Most people will simply recommend the software that they use. Why? Because that's the one that they get on best with.

My advice is to search for reviews on Google, install some demos, and see what you find best. Don't bother with recommendations from others.

Consider buying a video editing magazine. As well as reviews and advice, they often include trial software on the coverdisc, saving you a lenghty download.

If you have XP, you already have editing software on your PC.

Good luck.

Yes i have found windows movie maker on my windows XP, im a bit concerned as it sounds out of date eg if i want to put music into the film it only wants me to choose a wav file and it says under save to CD? when i want to create dvds? help

Ah. You can edit video with Moviemaker, but not make video DVDs. For that you will need DVD authoring software. Most paid for video editors include this now.

Practical Digital Video magazines latest issue was out the other day - nip down to WH Smith and see whats included on their coverdisk.

An alternative is Digital Video magazine. I think one of our moderators contributes to that one...

You really do need to get 'hands on'...

Do you know of any freeware software movie editing which is available on the web which i could use?

If you want a challenge, try Avid DV free (Professional DV Editing for the enthusiast) If you want something mad, try Zwei-Stein (Zwei-Stein Video Editor 3.01 | t@b.com - Video Editing Software and More) I can't think of anything else that is totally free. You may struggle to find any freeware DVD authoring software.

what is nero like?

It's OK. I use it occasionally as it allows DVD authoring of all manner of movie file formats, including .wmv files.

It's fairly limited when it comes to menu creation though.

Nero allow you download a demo version.

so what editing can i do with nero?

Very little.

The Nero suite includes a video editor. I've not spent much time with it, but it didn't look any better than Windows Movie Maker.

Download the demo.

Nero 7 [Nero 7 Trial]