Best Video Editing Suite

[Vash]

I've got a BUNCH of old VHS converted to DVD - all old school Isshinryu, Goju, Uechi, Shorin, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to create chapters when I did the dub. So, I've got the DVDs ripped to my computer.

What I need is to be able to edit specific clips into different chapters, splice different clips together, and create a Menu.

Price is not an issue.

Please, help teh meeeee!

[David Jamieson]

adobe premier and creative suite2 or 3 with after effects and you can turn out professional quality video and of course do all teh non-linear editing that you desire.

there's mac solutions that are similar using quicktime pro, but then, you gotta buy a mac.

also, avid video technology is another thing, but that will make price an object, trust me lol.

spend the 1000 bucks on premier and cs2 (maybe a little more) it is totally worth it, even the learning curve is worth it and that is just a little steep for those products. But there you have it. Been doing it for more than a decade and those are my choices. :)

[CaptinPickAxe]

I know that in-the-box, Final Cut for machintosh is great. If you have a few hundred dollars to waste, buy Pro Tools. That's what they use a Skywalker Ranch for Post production. It's not very n00b friendly however there is nothing more indepth. You can get down to microframes. Are you familiar with timecoding?

Also, your probably going to need some hardware to get the VHS to digital information. Check out Sweetwater.com for pricing. The have very courtious, helpful sales reps. I did most of my gear shopping for my Production suite there until MeatShake got a job at Guitar Center. Can you say "Min."?

[Vash]

I know that in-the-box, Final Cut for machintosh is great. If you have a few hundred dollars to waste, buy Pro Tools. That's what they use a Skywalker Ranch for Post production. It's not very n00b friendly however there is nothing more indepth. You can get down to microframes. Are you familiar with timecoding?

I've done some, but not enough to be a non-n00b.


Also, your probably going to need some hardware to get the VHS to digital information. Check out Sweetwater.com for pricing. The have very courtious, helpful sales reps. I did most of my gear shopping for my Production suite there until MeatShake got a job at Guitar Center. Can you say "Min."?


I've already got DVDs made of the VHS, and have used the Xilisoft DVD Ripper 4 Platinum to get the DVDs on the PC in several formats. I'm not looking for gorgeous, just clean and functional.

kinda like MMA for video . . . :eek:

[omarthefish]

As a relative noob to the PC editing world I've been trying everything. I also live in China so "price is not an object".

Adobe Premier - It's the only one that lets me do subtitling properly but I think doing DVD authoring could be a nightmare with it. Perhaps if it wasn't a Chinese copy and I had access to product support but with the "Chinese market" there's no help to be had.

Ulead Studio 9/10 - MUCH easier to work with. More user friendly and learnable but less powerful. It has great looking subtitling tools but I can't seem to get the sound to play when I am in titling mode so it's impossible to get a natural flow with the timeline. Strong points include much easier video effects and transitions than with Adobe.

Pinnacle Studio - For DVD creation, which is what you seem to be after, this one is far and away the best choice. When I bought Dazzle 90 hardware, which is an adapter to let you hook up the video and sound output form the back of your TV or DVD to a USB 2.0 port on your computer and basically rip analog video into your hard drive, it came with Pinnacle Studio 9.0 and a copy of Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder. The Instant DVD Recorder would have been perfect for what you did. You can use the wizard to create menu styles before you start and then once you start recording your VHS stuff onto your hard drive it will create chapters at whatever regular time intervals you specify. I think the default it every 10 minutes. When it's done you have all the files ready to burn directly to DVD or you can have it burn the thing as it records. The Studio/DVD recorder also lets you create stuff or chapters from other files you already have. It lacks Adobe's ability to add audio or subtitle tracks and is limited in the kind of file types it can use but for what you described, it's very user friendly and automates a lot of stuff.

[Vash]

adobe premier and creative suite2 or 3 with after effects and you can turn out professional quality video and of course do all teh non-linear editing that you desire.

Adobe keeps popping up, here and on other forums. I've loved all there image software, so that shouldn't be a suprise.


there's mac solutions that are similar using quicktime pro, but then, you gotta buy a mac.

Okay, hardware price is an issue . . .


also, avid video technology is another thing, but that will make price an object, trust me lol.

*coughpiracycough*


spend the 1000 bucks on premier and cs2 (maybe a little more) it is totally worth it, even the learning curve is worth it and that is just a little steep for those products. But there you have it. Been doing it for more than a decade and those are my choices. :)

Awesomeness. Thank you.

[Vash]

Adobe Premier - It's the only one that lets me do subtitling properly but I think doing DVD authoring could be a nightmare with it. Perhaps if it wasn't a Chinese copy and I had access to product support but with the "Chinese market" there's no help to be had.

Again with the adobe. Gotta be something to that.


Ulead Studio 9/10 - MUCH easier to work with. More user friendly and learnable but less powerful. It has great looking subtitling tools but I can't seem to get the sound to play when I am in titling mode so it's impossible to get a natural flow with the timeline. Strong points include much easier video effects and transitions than with Adobe.

I've had uLead before, but was unimpressed. But, it was back in the day. On old hardware.


Pinnacle Studio - For DVD creation, which is what you seem to be after, this one is far and away the best choice. When I bought Dazzle 90 hardware, which is an adapter to let you hook up the video and sound output form the back of your TV or DVD to a USB 2.0 port on your computer and basically rip analog video into your hard drive, it came with Pinnacle Studio 9.0 and a copy of Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder. The Instant DVD Recorder would have been perfect for what you did. You can use the wizard to create menu styles before you start and then once you start recording your VHS stuff onto your hard drive it will create chapters at whatever regular time intervals you specify. I think the default it every 10 minutes. When it's done you have all the files ready to burn directly to DVD or you can have it burn the thing as it records. The Studio/DVD recorder also lets you create stuff or chapters from other files you already have. It lacks Adobe's ability to add audio or subtitle tracks and is limited in the kind of file types it can use but for what you described, it's very user friendly and automates a lot of stuff.

RadioShack, my current slave-driver, sold this once upon a time. I worked with it, but didn't like the automation. I found it to be more complicated than a standard vhs-to-dvd recorder (like the latest Panasonic (http://www.hometheatermag.com/discplayers/505panasonic/) ).

Thanks for the suggestions!

[David Jamieson]

I also respect the other opinions as posted by the others here.

all good suggestions giving you a pretty wide array of choices for your solution.

[Fu-Pow]

There are 3 prosumer NLE programs that are kind of recognized in the industry:

-Avid Xpress Pro
-Final Cut Pro (Mac)
-Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe and Final Cut are nice because they have tight integration with other media tools. I can't tell you what they are on the mac because I'm a PC person but I use Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Encore (DVD Authoring.) I use Avid Xpress Pro for editing mostly because its what I learned on and also its a very stable program.

Now keep in mind that you can buy "pro" software that has a lot of bells and whistles but if you are going to be doing basic stuff then you might not need all that stuff and you'd be better off getting a "package" of programs that can take you through the whole process ie capture, editing, effects/titles and DVD authoring.

Adobe is a good option for integration but each one of the programs I mentioned has a trillion buttons and it take a lot of time to figure out what each of them do (not to mention all the keyboard shortcuts!).

So I would look for something in the consumer/prosumer range that has a range of features that will take you through the whole process. If not, I'd plan on spending alot of time looking stuff up in books or help menus.