Before purchasing anything, I need to know which product is best for me: Xpress Pro, Liquid, or something else? A colleague of mine has Avid Xpress Pro. I thought that could, amongst other things, open avi files and edit or combine them (i.e. apply effects, convert, transitions, etc) which is what I need.

However no matter what I try, and can't seem to get even the simplest .avi file opened in Avid Xpress Pro. It says "The format of test.avi is not supported for import." although the avi doesn't rely on any fancy codecs or whatever (plays fine on the same system in media player). Adobe After Effects is also installed on that system and it works fine with the same avi file.

Maybe I'm just missing something, after starting a new project am I supposed to do File -> Import and then select the .avi, or something else?

Any help would be much appreciated!
Or is Avid Express Pro not what I need? Which of the Avid products would suit best?

Pinnacle Studio would probably do the trick. I am not familiar with Avid Express Pro - do they have a support page? For that matter, if it's not complicated, you could use Windows Movie Maker.

__________________
Alley
Pinhead Project

I agree with Alley - try movie maker first - you might as well.

__________________
I have one prejudice - I am anti HDV for consumer camcorders.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

That's strange, cos I've got Avid Xpress Pro and I can import & use AVI files fine. What are you importing the footage from/with?