IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

I have used several video-editors over the last few years in my sporadic attempts at film making. Generally I have used various incarnations of Pinnacle Studio (the last one being version 10). I briefly use a Full version of Premiere many years ago.

I use a Canon and a Panasonic DV Camcorders and generally Pinnacle Studio has been fine for me. However, I now find that I also frequently use my Panasonic DMZ5 still camera for impromptu video at family occasions and whilst travelling. Similarly my wife uses her Casio camera which outputs .AVI files. I would like to incorporate these videos with my "proper" camcorder footage. There is one problem that I have encountered, and not satisfactorily solved; that is that the video output from the DMZ5 is in .MOV format (Quicktime).

As far as I can tell Pinnacle cannot import Quicktime format material, although it seems to be able to cope with the .AVI. I have looked for solutions on the web where the general advice is to convert the .MOV footage to AVI, or similar, before importing to Studio. I have tried several utilities in my attemps at doing this, including using a full version of Quicktime, but have always encountered problems. These include loss of audio, loss of definition, dropped frames and even complete scrambling of the output. Probably most of this is due to my ignorance of what are the correct settings, but I have spent many hours trying to make the conversions work, and frankly, the time wasted is out of all proportion to the final result .

Recently I have been trialling ULead Video Studio 11, which has no problem importing .MOV files alongside standard DV. But I find the editing features very clunky when compared with Pinnacle Studio. Perhaps this is due to my lack of familiarity with the program, but it does seem to be less capable than Pinnacle. If I don't find anything better I will purchase a copy and learn how to use it properly, but I must say that I am not overly impressed with its editing facilities at the moment.

I have also had a quick look at the specifications for Adobe Premiere Elements 4, and these say that it can import .MOV files, but never having used Premiere Elements I am unsure if I will find this as unfriendly as the ULead product. I am very familiar with Photoshop and understand that the Premiere Elements workspace is similar (as far as it can be) to Photoshop. Is that true? Is it as capable as Pinnacle Studio, being an Adobe product I would imagine that it is.

So: What I am asking is: - Which is the best product, in the Pinnacle Studio price bracket, that can edit normal DV footage and also Quicktime (.MOV) and .AVI footage, without having to carry out conversions or similar?


Suggestions eagerly awaited.

The big guns seem to be either asleep, on the beach or painting the back fence! If I can make a contribution, you could have a look at 'MovieMagix'. [www.magix.com] According to the specification of Movie Edit Pro Plus, it does cope with Quick-time. It is priced at around 60€, sorry I don't live in the UK!

Like most things in this life some rate and others hate. I use version 10, along with Adobe Premier and a now dust gathering Casablanca avio. It depends very much on what you want to do. I was introduced to it by a member of my old club in the UK. Like so many of the editing software today, it has many add-ons and effects could be deemed as superfluous. It is esy to use, works well and is kind to you and saves a back up file, if, on the odd occassion it freezes.

I must admit that I had a problem when I first installed it, but the magix technical support in Germany sorted it with a 'patch'. That was an earlier version. My compatriot has the latest version and uses to get his stars from BAIFF! – Welcome aboard!

PaddyW wrote:Magix. That was an earlier version. My compatriot has the latest version and uses to get his stars from BAIFF! – Welcome aboard!

I managed to get a free copy of Magix the full bells and whistles version to evaluate and to write a review for the company! I`ve yet to use it properly, but what I saw was excellent. It even tried to start to capture HD on my non HD system!

So i`m not much help but Magix is quite a good price and has lots of stuff the big guns have.

Be good...

Stingman

Have a look at Sony Vegas Studio (or Studio Platinum if you want to edit HDV.) The latest versions of many of the low cost edit systems allow mixing different source materials on the timeline.

ned c

We love Ulead Studio 10 (and 11 when we have some spare money to buy it)

Magix is potent (I have a review of it - well, the first half - in the current issue of FVM).

Although powerful, IMO Studio is a better product in terms of ease of use. V12 is now out - but I don't think that supports MOV files either. There are converters available freely on the 'net (MOV-AVI) but I'm not sure what the quality hit would be.

Editors are very much, as stated earlier, a love or hate thing. I've seen Casablanca demo'd for example, and have seen excellent award winning films made with it. But I couldn't live with it I'm afraid - doesn't suit my way of working.

My editor of choice is Avid Liquid, but that is now to be made obsolete - a new product is in developemnt to replace it in the Avid/Pinnacle line up. I'm not even sure that Liquid can import MOV files either though ... something I've never needed so never checked out.

I love using Studio too. Very simple and gives the desired effect!

Re : MOV... just purchase the fully licenced version of Apple Quicktime (only about £15-£20 max) and you can do lots of varying conversions including AVI-MOV.

You were so going to get everyone posting "This is my favourite editing program" sort of answers, right from the start!

If you love your editing prog, stick with it, and just do a google search for "mov to avi converter" or something like that...

http://movietoolbox.com/converter.html

This one's $30 (£15) but I'm sure with a bit of searching, you'll find a free one.

good luck!

Thanks to all who responded with advice, as posted above.

I have always been reasonably happy with Pinnacle Studio, but as the latest version still doesn't seem able to deal directly with Quicktime movies (.MOVs) I have no option but to look at alternatives. No chance of "sticking with the editor you know" in this case.

I have downloaded evaluation copies of Premiere Elements 4 and Magix Movie Editor Pro 14 Plus. I have had a quick play with Premiere and found that it looks interesting, but the evaluation version puts a huge banner across the video. That is fine for an evaluation, but have an urgent need to "knock together" a short video incorporating some Quicktime files, so I have spent more time with Magix.

Magix is a strange brew; It seems to be a powerful package, but has a very poor support service. The help system seems to be either very terse or very complicated and overblown. There seems to be no middle road. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. Does anyone know where I can find a decent guide to using Magix Movie Editor? I cannot find anything much on Magix's site.

Despite this, I have managed to create my short video using it, and I am beginnng to appreciate the logic of the system. I will still try Premiere when I get some time, and then decide which to purchase.

Thanks again for the advice.