i have a sony DCR HC 30 E and a firewire card i jst want to know the best video editing softare iam using Ulead and Pinnacle but the problem is that the video clarity int the cam is awesome but wen i make it a VCD i am loosing the clarity pleaseee could any one help me abt this ican't make dvd bcos i do not have dvd writer pleaseeee help me

I would try to get a dvd writer ($100.00 or less) I've found that VCD quilty is pretty low due to the compression. How dose it look on you monitor? As far as pinnacle software, its very buggy. Try Vegas if you don't mind learning new software.

__________________
Wil Chapman Jr.
Oly, Washington
DP, Producer, Editor

Feel free to visit ( UPDATED!!! )
http://www.myspace.com/chapmanphotography
http://www.myspace.com/sport_specific (personal and training site)

Yes, VCD is a no-go. And remember not to use USB for capture, even if you do author a VCD. As for software, I don't know, what's your budget?
Pinnacle Studio is good, but so is Ulead VideoStudio, and Vegas MovieStudio, and Adobe Premiere Ellements, in this price range. Try them out (they all have public trial versions available for download) and see which fits you best.

Oh and let me make another suggestion to you, if you're planning to enter the professional level someday, try Avid. It's the industry standard. Way more professional than Premiere and Vegas and anything else. Pretty much everything you see on TV (and in the movie theaters) is edited either in Avid or Final Cut Pro (for Macs).
So check out Avid's website and grab their free, streamlined version of their most popular editor, Avid Xpress DV. www.avid.com/freedv/

How stable is avid though? For instance Studio 9 was pretty stable then avid bought pinnacle. Now Studio 10 is very unstable. I ended up getting Vegas because its a stable program. I found it hard to spend all that money after buying S10+

__________________
Wil Chapman Jr.
Oly, Washington
DP, Producer, Editor

Feel free to visit ( UPDATED!!! )
http://www.myspace.com/chapmanphotography
http://www.myspace.com/sport_specific (personal and training site)

Studio 9.4.3 (the last incarnation of Pinnacle Studio before it was acquired by Avid) is works like a charm. Studio 10 however, was a great disappointment.
But older products, like Studio and Liquid (now renamed to Avid Liquid) are not guaranteed by Avid in terms of stability, they still rely on their older platforms, with their known bugs.

I was talking about Avid Xpress (Free, DV, DV Pro, HD you name it). That's rock solid.