*Sorry for posting this in more than one place*

Hi,

I am a "mom" video editor. I have old videos from my analog camera as well as new videos on my digital camera that I'd like to edit and transfer to DVD to be able to store and watch.

I was using Pinnacle Studio 9 (I think) which was recommended to me and it was easy to use. However I was using it with a crappy computer so it would take forever, would freeze, etc. I got a new computer and was excited to start again and found out that the Pinnacle Studio I have doesn't work with Vista.

So now years later I'm looking for a suggestion again on a video editing software that I can use. I'm not technical or anything so software that's good and easy to use would be great.

It looks to me like the Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere Elements or maybe Vegas (although it looks to be more "pro" than I'd like) may be the way to go.

How do you like Pinnacle? The Adobe board seems to have more traffic, if you will, is that program better? The same?

Thanks for any advice.

Thanks!
Stacy

Stacy- please try not to double post as it confuses the functionality of the forum and makes if fiddly to use. If you would like a thread moved I am sure most of the mods and admin will do that for you so long as it will help you to get the help you need.

Would you like me to close your other thread ?

Mark.

I posted it in the different forums because I wanted opinions from the Pinnacle people and the Adobe people and the other part is my "backstory" if you will.

I don't know how to get the opinions of both users if I don't post it in both places.

I posted it in the other forum first but I wasn't sure I'd get the answer or opinions I was looking for.

Yes - regardless - it is preferred that questions are not duplicated.

It is actually likely to be counterproductive.

But as you wish. Be aware that it is possible that another moderator may make an adjustment if they dont see this.

Stacey

I started my video editing on Pinnacle 9 too.I found it the most frustrating thing. If you comp isn't really up to it it can freeze 90% of the way through a DVD render - And the render might have been 4 or 5 hours. Aagh! Pinnacle support just told me my PC wasn't up to it - but frankly it was lazy programming. Offline rendering shouldn't cause the CPU to halt, just because it runs out of steam!

I then got Adobe Premier Elements, and it was like a breath of fresh air. Things that Pinnacle just seemed to fail to do, or do really badly, like slipping a clip by an exact number of frames, were easy. Syncing cuts to music suddenly became a breeze, and of course you aren't limited to 2 video tracks and a titles track (I'm assuming that later versions of Pinnacle have sorted that out now) but on Premier Elements, you get unlimited video tracks and audio tracks up to 99 of each. So split screen, multiple screens, etc are easy to do. PE also has keyframe editing so you can easily animate scale, rotation, etc. And it comes with a whole bunch of nice plugins. The version I have doesn't play nice with HDV capture from my cannon. I am guessing however that the latest version probably has addressed that bug. The also have added AVHCD capability too.

Just recently I got Final Cut Express for my macbook. I love that. The Apple Intermediate codec makes HDV editing a complete breeze, and I find the workflow, for me at least quicker than Premier Elements. But PE is still on my windows box, and I still use it for some things.

So for me. Stay clear of Pinnacle. Premier in all its incarnations is brilliant, and should you ever get a Mac, Final Cut is splendid! Most of the guys around here seem to use Sony Vagas, so they must be doing something right too, but I've never used it to know.

Sony and Adobe provide fully functional demos for you to download and try.

I have never used pinnacle so my opinions are garnered from users of this forum over the last few years.

It does appear that many people find this app unstable.

It is often cited as easy to learn but then people have reportted that they soon become frustrated with it's limitations.

I would hesitate to reccomend it.

Vegas value versions and premier elements are liked by many.

MarkOneMusic!

Thank you so much for that great review. I so appreciate you taking the time to write it!

Question. If I buy Adobe PE do I have to buy anything else to go with it?

Stacy

And me huh ?

You've been great too Mark W! Thank you for all your help as well!!! (sorry I thought I thanked you too)

Lols - ta - I was worried you were down on me after that thread thing above- lols.