Just got a new Sony HC40E. Looking to get some decent editing software, what shall I get?

I am after something easy to use, easy to edit into a decent looking video. Looking to spend £50ish max. Just want to do basic stuff, maybe add sound, have surround sound on, easy "cut and paste", basic effects and write to video CD/DVD or back to the DV tape.

Downloaded a trial of Ulead but found the editing very hard.

Also, what is the difference between a dvd and video CD?

For just over £50 inc P&P, get Adobe Premiere Elements. It's been reviewed on this site. Clicky!

(cheapest price i found was here).

Not sure about surround sound, though some other people on here might be able to help you out with that question.

Difference between a DVD and VCD: DVDs bought from a shop hold 9.4GB* and CDs only hold 700MB. a video CD is just a normal CDROM with an MPEG video on it. VCDs are probably about the same quality as VHS.

* I think it's around that size. Although there are currently more single layer DVD writers in use which you can only fit 4.7GB on, Dual layer writers (8.5GB) are generally only a few pounds more, so it makes sense to get one of those instead.

CambsGuy there are lots of very good and easy to use video editing suites out there in your price range. MAGIX Movie Edit, Ulead Videostudio 8, Pinnacle Studio 9, and Roxio's Easy Media Creator 7 to name but a few others.

Most have a downloadable trial and I strongly recommend you do this and get a feel for each one's interface, performance, and features. Then you will be in the perfect position to make a choice based on what is important to you.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

__________________
Lloyd

That's my opinion. If you don't like it I have others

System: Apple Macbook Pro 17, and an external Freecom 500GB eSATA drive.
Software: Final Cut Studio 2 (FCP 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Color, DVD Studio Pro 4, Compressor 3), Sonicfire Pro 4.5
Favourite Resources: Findsounds.com, Free DVD menus, Ken Stone's FCP Page, Wikivid

My vote is for Movie Edit Pro 2005 - £45 from Amazon. Very capable software, and there is an excellent user forum for support.

It's good with sound and has a pro-logic compatible surround editor.

The only problem with it is doesn't output 48kHz DV-AVI files (it only outputs them at 44.1kHz) - although all others formats (MPEG, MOV, other AVIs) are output at 48kHz. So, if you want to print to tape and keep the proper sound, you need to output separate audio and video files and upload those using something like Movie Maker.



Jason