What Consumer Video Editing Program Should I Buy?by Andrew AlexanderPublished on Dec 24, 2001 12:00 AM 
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Let's tackle one of the more difficult and challenging questions out there - people asking for advice on what’s the best editing software. Talk about wading into a minefield. In my mind, the ''best'' anything is a matter of personal choice and experience. What one person considers the best, another will think is the worst, and perhaps for the exact same reason.
In my mind, the best software will have the following characteristics:
- Intuitive: functions are logical, buttons are where I think they should be.
- Resilient: able to handle tough situations and won’t crash.
- Scalable: does simple things easily, but also has lots of options for larger projects.
- Efficient: doesn’t bog me down in details or redundancies.
You can edit a simple home video with After Effects, but you probably wouldn’t want to. Similarly, you wouldn’t want to produce an effects-laden presentation with VideoStudio. The products are geared towards different markets, and before you look around for what’s the best, you have to define your criteria.
Price. This is a big criteria for some people. Before you go asking about what’s the best software, figure out how much you can spend. Ulead Media Studio Pro is an excellent software, but it costs around five hundred dollars. However, some pieces of hardware that you might need to edit video may come with ''lite'' versions of the software that do just as good a job, so it’s something you may want to consider when buying hardware.
Scale. Are you editing home movies or making music videos? Will your projects be long or short? Are you an experienced user or just starting out? If you buy a program you’re not technically ready for, you may throw it back on the shelf to gather dust
Try before you buy. If you can do it, find a trial version of different editing programs, and see what they can do. Before you invest your money in a program, it’s a good idea to know what the program is capable of!