I have just go my Sony DCR TRV-17 camcorder and now I want to download my videos and edit and maybe make small home movies with them. My question which software program should I use?
I realy don't want to spend $500 for software, I don't need anything that fancy. I have read several reviews on Pinnacle Systems Studio 7, AIST Medialab's MovieDVsuite and Ulead Media Studio just to name a few. Ahy thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

You can download trials of any of these programs to see if you like them. Another program to consider might be Mainconcept's "MainActor" - (www.mainconcept.com).

If you have to buy a firewire card to enable the transfer to your computer, you might consider seeing what software comes with the card. For example, the ADS Pyro cards come with the VE version of Media Studio Pro, which is essentially a fully-functional version of the program less a few transitions and the extra programs (which I rarely use anyway).

- Andrew

I have used both the Pinnacle Systems Studio and Ulead Media Studio, personally, I like Pinnacle Studio better. If you buy a firewire card kit, it usually comes with one software, like the one I bought - Studio DV from Pinnacle System for $99. The package comes with a firewire card, 4pin-6pin cable and the Pinnacle Studio software, which is very easy to use.

I'm a newbie to this digital camcorder and video editing stuff. What do you guys recommend as good software for video editing? I'm mainly concerned with simplicity of use. I've got a Sony TRV-140 digital camcorder. Thanks.

Matt

I am struggling with DVgate and Premiere but if you want something easy then Premiere is not the way to go. I have heard that Pinnacle Studio 7 was good and it has now been replaced by Studio 8. That might be a good way to go? I haven't used it so I don't really know.

Dave

Sonic Foundry Vegas Video 3. Get it!

Studio 7 was good but 8 is even better because you can burn directly ; a one stop answer for capture, editing and burning.
I've heard of DVD burning problems in Studio 8 but I have no experience w DVD ; SVCD are almost as good....... almost.
Graeme

I use and like Studio 8, but it does occasionally crash. This is on a brand new Windows XP system with .5G RAM and 50+Gb free disk space. Still, for creating a lot of different formats (AVI, MPEG, VCD, SVCD, DVD or streaming Windows Media and RealVideo) it does the job with minimum effort. SVCD is my preferred format for 32 minutes of fullscreen video at ~2/3 DVD resolution (best quality). The $30 firewire card that came with my version works great.

I asked the same question recently and someone recommended the Vegas software. But that software is $400 and doesn't include the hardware. What about the software that comes with the firewire card, like the ATI DV Wonder for example. Does it just suck? It includes the card, cables & software.

I have used and love Vegas Video 3.0. I have tested several packages including Premiere 6, Media Studio Pro 6, Avid DV Express 3, Pinnacle Studio DV 7, and Vegas Video 3. I like Pinnacle and Vegas Video the best. Pinnacle for entry level easy editing, and Vega for all the expert stuff. Great package and I found it at CDW computers for $289.

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=349926

or do a search using pricewatch.com and You may find it even cheaper.

It really doesn't need and special hardware, other than any OHCI compliant firewire (ieee 1394) card. You can pick those up for $30-35.

I highly recommend Vegas, though for all your editing needs.

Has anyone tried Movee.com Cobalt Producer? Thoughts?

I use Muvee autoproducer.
The concept of it's editing philosophy is superb. I was actually well suprised at the capability of this software.

In terms of convenience it's hard to beat. Very simple to use and virtually totally automatic.

I've looked at MGI videowave. All the Ulead editors, and I can honestly say that some of these are the most complicated tools on the face of the earth in comparisom.

Manual editing is fine if you have the time, and I certainly wouldn't do away with it's flexibility, but in the digital photography age, it's fast, effortless results that make all the difference.

Muvee autoproducer makes it much more fun.

The mistakes it can make automatically, I too have actually made similarly in some of my manual editing techniques. It isn't easy!!

As you say you're a newbie RAND, I would concentrate more on getting things right in Camera (like we did in the old Super 8mm days)!

Then I would try muvee autoproducer.

I use MGI videowave 3 for manual editing since it requires the least amount of power to run and thus seems more reliable on my SLOW laptop!

It's crude but lets see what we can do first before we get into the deep end big time!

Video editors nowadays are probably the most complicated bits of software you'll ever see. (gulp)!

What video editing software have you all used with the Canon ZR series camcorders? I tried to use Ulead Video Studio and it does not recognize the camera, so capture is not possible.

I have used both Ulead Video Studio and VirtualDub successfully with my zr50. However, that's because I have an all in wonder card with s-video hookups, thus anything will then recognize the camera. I still have not successfully transferred video with firewire, even though I have a firewire card and a sound card with a firewire hookup on it.