Hello

I am a newbie to this forum and to video editing. I have bought a second hand PC that has a Canopus Capture Card, DVStorm2 Drivers and Applications and Adobe Premier 6.5.

I would appreciate any advice regarding the software I have; should I stay with what I have or should I look to purchase more up to date programmes? If so what would you recommend? The PC I have is a self build with a Pentium 4 3.66Ghz Processor, 1 Gb RAM, a Pioneer 105 DVD - RW Re Writer and OS is Windows XP Home Edition 2002.

Please let me know if there is anything I need to change.

Thank you

What's your camera?

If it's miniDV, in terms of editing functionality, I can't see you're going to get much benefit from replacing Premiere 6.5. However, there are a couple of other things to bear in mind. Firstly, it's not a beginner's program and secondly, if you're planning to stick your creations onto DVD, you will need some DVD creation software.

I have a Sony Handycam, which does use the small digital tapes. I also have Ulead DVD Workshop SE which I believe is a DVD creation programme? I would appreciate any other advice you can offer me on maybe tutorials publications that will help me. I have a copy of the Premier 6.5 Video Workshop that seems quite good at covering the basics of Premier, but I do realise that this is not really a beginner's programme. Fortunately I am in a position where I do have plenty of time to dedicate to learning.

Thanks for your reply Ande.

I bought the Visual Quickstart Guide for Premiere 5.1 (last version of Premiere I used). It was excellent and I imagine the 6.5 update will be just as good. Not sure where you are based but second-hand copies are available from Amazon.co.uk:

Amazon.co.uk: Premiere 6.5 for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guides): Antony Bolante: Books

I will look forward to getting started. It's good to know that if I run into problems there are people on this forum who are keen and willing to help.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply Andy E.

enjohn49

Adobe Premiere 6.5 is a very old version of that software now. I would suggest you download a 30 day trial of Adobe Premiere Elements 4 from Adobe's website and use it for 30 days. It is a cut down version of the bigger application Adobe Premiere Pro but it will allow you to capture, edit and burn to DVD all in the one place, I'm not a big fan of using separate programs to do all the tasks. If you like it and it runs with no problems on your computer setup, then the full version can be purchased for around £70.

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Ordinarily, I'd agree with you - but the combination of Premiere + DVStorm is quite powerful for real-time editing of DV tapes. The only concern I'd have is the stability of said combination. It was often ropey in the extreme.

Thank you both for your input I do appreciate it, but now I am little confused; should I go for the trial version of Premier Elements 4 or try the 6.5 that I have already and see how I get on with it? Any further help from either Andy E or Nikosony would be appreciated, or does anyone else have a view on these two options?

Thanks again.

enjohn49

Personally, I'd try what you've got first. There are plenty of pros still editing on Premiere 6.5 + DVStorm cards amd you may find with Premiere Elements that your hardware's not up to the job.

I agree with Andy E, try what you have first and if it gives you the results you want then stick with it. Your computer system consisting of a Pentium 4 3.66Ghz Processor, 1 Gb RAM, a Pioneer 105 DVD - RW Re Writer and OS is Windows XP Home Edition, should have no problem using a more up to date non linear editor such as APE4 or similar. Just remember to defragment your hard disk a lot more now before capturing. Having a second hard disk to capture video to exclusively is recommended.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick any day...