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Top Four Non-Linear Video Editors

dvguru.com — Don't know Final Cut Pro from Vegas? DV Guru has a look at the top four software non-linear editors, with some in-depth analysis.

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  • dcharti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Awesome post. It's nice to see this kind of side-by-side review of such involving applications.
  • ichirorabbit, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0ideo editors are all personal preference so NO DIGG
  • rBennett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My biggest problem with Avid is that they're not flexable at all. Why use something you have to conform to? Software should conform to you, not the other way around.
  • cessax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0this was a bad article. the guy picked vegas video over adobe priemere and he chose final cut over avid. he certainly might know facts or features but that doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about. simply put, you use an editor you can afford and are most comfortable with. avid is very expensive (not the free dv version) but its also a powerhouse editor. final cut is nice but its not stable, even on a g5 machine. its mostly personal preference when it comes to editing sytems and this guy dropped the ball on his choices...shame on him haha. he only chose final cut because he's a mac user and its the most affordable for consumers. all in all, i say screw all those high end systems...windows movie maker is where its at! LOL
  • emblym, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0"Video editors are all personal preference so NO DIGG"

    This is the most retarted statment I have ever seen in a Digg comment. Its a software based article. I don't understand the problem. By your standards everything on Digg should be a personal preference and "NO DIGG".
  • craigtheguru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I love Final Cut Pro and am glad it made it to the top of the list. I'd expect another list for consumer-grade DV editors featuring apps like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker (lol).
  • GiBill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As a communications student I've edited on a lot of systems. I have to say as great as non liner editing is sometimes I miss good old A-B liner editing. Now don't get me wrong I love the flexibility of the non linear systems, but if you have a short package that is planed out well liner systems work just fine.
    Oh and I have to say I really do love final cut pro, but mostly because my school has all new G5 editing systems and they work like a dream.
  • cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0emblym - please learn how to spell your insults

    I personally use Vegas and like it very much. I agree that it is better than Premier by a good margin.
  • wyrmwood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thank GOD Vegas made it in there - I get so much flack for using vegas instead of other NLE's. I've been using "sonic foundry" products long before sony bought them out, so it's just more comfortable, and therefore faster turnaround for clients, and therefore more revenue.

    I use avid sometimes (the symphony and dv xpress), and tried premiere (yuck), but haven't had a chance to give FCP a day in court yet. Good article!

  • orangetiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What? No throwing stones at yet another sony product? But im glad FCP was #1.
  • mcsweeney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0cess... All 4 NLE's are "fairly" stable if set up correctly (all editors crash I know). Personally I've had more problems with crashing on Premiere than FCP, but I wouldn't say that Premiere is more crash prone on a PC over FCP on a G5.

    Windows movie maker...or might I suggest 3 SVHS decks daisy-chained together with no controller?
  • rockmanac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm a huge fan of Final Cut. I moved to it from Media 100. We have 5 Avid NewsCutters, 1 Premiere 6 and 1 PostBox editors at work, i'd much rather sit through all the problems of Premeire 6 before I touch the Avids.. It took me twice as long to edit the project on the Avid than if I had done it in Premeire (the Premeire box was in for a dead system drive and PostBox is too old to import the PhotoShop graphics I had, they have to be in PostBox format).

    -A
  • rBennett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hey,

    I use newscutter almost on a daily basis. I've got to say, if you give it a shot, and learn it properly, Avid kicks major ass. I'd take Avid Xpress/Newscutter/any avid product over any version of Premiere.
  • shockingbird, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I use Premiere Pro on a regular basis and have sampled the others. They all work well. Find the one that fits you best... then learn After Effects.
  • xerox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0premiere is nice and all, but runs slow for me. i've tried vegas, it wasn't anything special. so in the end, my personally choice is between Avid and Premiere.
  • almost_crazy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nice list but I think it's what you like to edit on. I get to use FCP and Premiere, I like Premiere more because I can tie in after effects and photoshop easier. But all the system's on the list are top on the line. No mater witch one you pick, it's going to get the job done
  • copperkidd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Final Cut Pro is definitely #1 and I hope to start using it again on Intel Mac systems. I still love Vegas Video even though I had to go back to version 5.0 because 6.0 would cause any MPEG-2 encoder to reboot my system. Adobe sucks for requiring Windows XP for Premiere Pro. Shame Adobe, shame...
  • CoffeeCup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I use Premiere 1.5 with Encore DVD to make movies from my DV camcorder as well as using Pinnacle Studio. I like Pinnacle studio simply because it is a breeze to use and has lots of features. I actually had to RTFM for Premier 1.5 and I never have to actually do that so its usability isn't very intuitive. As far as Windows Movie Maker goes, it won't even capture the audio from my DV camera. Nero comes with a pretty neat capture/editing software package as well.
  • conigs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Avid is great and quick, but I find it very limiting, expecially for vertical edits. My choice: FCP with After Effects. Though sometimes I think FCP may be too flexible for it's own good. Take, for example, how it handles media.
  • mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What about Cinelerra?

    Free editor ftw...
  • Swift2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"its mostly personal preference when it comes to editing sytems and this guy dropped the ball on his choices"

    If it's personal preference, then you're just saying this guy has bad personal preferences. Oh. There's no difference, but this guy's really dumb to like what he likes. Sure. Makes sense to me.
  • Metal_Guru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Bah, is there any Linear editors nowadays anyway? As far as I know, all ARE NLEs. You would be nuts to work linear. So the title doesn't work. And not a very good selection as Magix's Movie Edit Pro was not featured. Sure, Magix has given it a dorky name and underpriced it at $59.99, but if you are a serious video editor like me, you would know why it is underrated. Worth checking out for both serious AND non serious editors: http://site.magix.net/english-us/home/video/movie-edit-pro-10/?no_cache=1&version=
  • Jarrod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm sure most of us know about it, but, just in case, Avid has a free editor available with their Free DV product available at-

    http://www.avid.com/freedv/

    Just thought I'd mention it. It may be all you need to do the project you are working on. It's not a trial it is fully working, capable software.
  • kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Looks decent, Metal_guru. Do you know if it will "unsqueeze" 16x9 footage and produce a letterboxed output as an option. I have this camera that does 16x6, but after years have not found a way to easily process that footage into something watchable, on a media player OR DVD. It says it supports 16x9, but it can be deceptive. That's meant a few diferent things and I've been burnt in the past. Thanks if you can help. If not I can try their cust serv.
  • seriypshick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Final Cut Pro is still probably a little better, but it's also a far more expensive and pro-oriented program than Avid Express."
    Avid is more expensive than FCP.

    Just check the prices
    Avid is: 1,695.00
    And FCP is 999.
  • GiBill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Metal_guru "Bah, is there any Linear editors nowadays anyway? As far as I know, all ARE NLEs. You would be nuts to work linear. "

    Sorry to break it to you but non linear editors are still in many newsrooms around the country. As I said before if you've had a well planned shoot and are used to linear systems then you can edit as fast ,if not faster, than on Non - liner systems. Also many editors prefer the tactile feel of liner systems.
  • rockmanac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0rBennett... I guess it's personal preference.. I find the Newscutter enviroment confusing.

    Metal_guru... To give you an example.. Our live truck is equipped only with an old Sony RM-450 editor. If a reporter in the field needs to edit something they have to use a linear editor. I also have one in tape rolling that's used for simple dubs (from Beta to DVCPro since that's what our Newscutters accept (but most archive footage is on beta)). While I primarily use a NLE I still pride myself on the fact that I still can, in a pinch, edit on a linear editor. (I sometimes still wish I had the chance to learn how to edit film and reel-to-reel tape the "old fashioned" way, but we didn't have access to the equip.)

    -A
  • yoharryo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0In school I have to use Premier Pro, rather than my preferred FCP which I use at home.
    I don't have any major problems with premier, except it makes you do everything the long way, and you need to know a lot of tricks to get the best from it( e.g pressing escape rather than stop when capturing). Also Livetype beats the ***** out of Premiers titles...
  • super_structure, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I find it hard to believe that someone would drop over a grand on video editing software and not have any idea which one to buy. This length of buying guide is great, but really only for entry level software (Final Cut Express versus Premier Elements). Professional software could use some further explanation as to the strengths and weaknesses.
  • antiTRACE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bleh, I edit my movies in hex, using a free hex editor!
  • kingkool68, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Woot! Vegas is finally seeing some light. I can't stand the fact that every other editor has two monitors hogging the screen. You don't need two! One works quite well. Arg! The only reason NLE were made that way was to convince Linear editors to make the switch and so they would feel more comfortable. It is irrelevant today. Vegas allows you to work faster and get more done. Everyone boasts that Adobe, Apple, and Avid have packages, but Vegas does Audio, video, and composting all in one package. Plus they have a DVD burning program. Get with the picture people!
  • HoGiHung, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I made the switch from VT [4] to FCP (studio). Very impressed with Apple's product. I'm still very fond of Newtek and use Lightwave on both Windows and OS X. But I was so tired of all the problem I had with VT [4], albeit mostly due to windows.

    Ho.
  • JasonScott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For the record, I edited BBS: The Documentary, a 5.5 hour, 8 episode series, on Vegas Video (now Sony Vegas). To do it, it took 8 months knocking down 250 hours of video to 40, then editing from those 40 hours of clips to the remaining 5.5, with another hour and a half of bonus. I tried the others (on Windows) and didn't enjoy them anywhere as much as I did with Vegas.

    I didn't use a Mac because I didn't want to buy a whole new hardware set. It worked great for me.

    It's a personal preference, but I really, personally, enjoyed it.
  • squeakypants, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0vegas better than premiere??? no digg
  • bedouin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0JasonScott:

    Awesome to see you in here; I keep meaning to buy your BBS documentary but haven't gotten to it yet. I've started filming a documentary of my own (non-tech related) and it will be interesting to see how a first-timer approached it all.

    Everyone else:

    I skipped the reviews of the other editors and went straight to number one, which I inherently knew would be Final Cut Pro (smirk).

    I don't like how he trashed Final Cut Express. I find it to be great for an individual who is beyond making simple home movies, but still not in need of tons of pro features. I'm just wondering what he thought was missing.

    Anyone interested in getting into video I think it's best to start with meager software. Make a really great piece in iMovie and push it to its limits and then move one step up. If you've never edited before it seems silly to jump right into high-end apps. If you're creative you can make a decent piece on any kind of equipment.
  • Metal_Guru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ok, my bad, thanks for clearing that up... I had a faint idea that the news might use it but I had never come across anyone not on NLEs.

    KindRobot - I have never done that so I'm not sure... I heard that it does tho. Just post in their user forum and you're bound to get an answer (the support there is good). I wouldn't trust their Magix's email support tho (they aren't fast).
  • Metal_Guru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0KindRobot - oops, the link didn't show up, here it is:
    http://support.magix.net/boards/magix/index.php?showforum=90
  • GiBill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Metal_Guru,I would like to give you credit for responding in a mature fashion. Too many times on digg someone is corrected and they get all defensive. If more digg fans acted like that it would be to the true benefit of the site.
  • jo42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What? Windows Movie Maker didn't make the cut? Waah...
  • Metal_Guru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thanks GiBill... Nobody likes admiting mistakes, but if you are wrong, you're wrong. You can't know everything. ;)
  • stokestack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0All I know is, people at NAB this year were still complaining that Discreet discontinued Edit. Four years ago.
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