Software recommendation?

[cdeemer]

I'm looking for a video editing program that is less temperamental than PE. Any suggestions?

[Paul LS]

All video editors are temperamental... just look at the forums of any major brand. The difficult part is finding the hardware/software mix that works for you. Having said that most folks seem to believe Sony Vegas is fairly stable.

[Chuck Engels]

If you are fairly used to Premiere Elements then the only thing that will probably come close is Vegas as Paul recommends.
None of the other programs that I have tried can do half of what Premiere Elements can do.

This is one of the reasons to have a separate computer for video, nothing gets put on that computer that would possibly conflict with Premiere Pro or Elements.

[cdeemer]

Has anyone tried Power Director? One computer mag ranked it superior to PE in every category.

[Chuck Engels]

Just a quick look but it seems to only allow a maximum of 6 tracks, that would never work for me.

[Paul LS]

I have use dit in the past. However Power Director is pretty basic when you compare the depth of features and effects in PE.

[George Tyndall]

This is one of the reasons to have a separate computer for video, nothing gets put on that computer that would possibly conflict with Premiere Pro or Elements.

Very good advice, Chuck!

I took it a step further:

I have 3 identical computers: 1) one that is exclusively for PSE4.0 projects; 2) one that is only for PE4.0 projects; 3) and a third to go online with.

If ever there is a dire need to go online with either 1 or 2 (which is very rare), I expose them to the net for the absolute minimum time possible. Even with number 3, I am never online for more than 2 continuous hours.

Now that I've become increasingly "chicken" about going online, I'm making more use than ever of the Internet off-and-on switch on my modem

[jag32266]

I fully agree with keeping a pc strictly for the video edits et. al.

I built the machine that I have listed in my sig and it's never online, and not even connected to my 4 hub router. Tho, that 'may' change as I become less paranoid,..

My other two machines:
One I use mainly as my internet and/or work horse all-around-kind of machine while
the 2nd was an older machine gimme from a friend that no longer wanted it. So I use it as a miscellaneous kind of thing.

One really cool peripheral device just purchased is a Hard Drive enclosure which came with a Sata interface card (wow) that I can add as an internal connect. I thought it was going to be strictly usb but it has that too. The cool part- think of a toaster where you add your slice of bread. Identical to how you pop in/out your Sata drives. Comes with it's own power supply, and all cables you need, even USB if you require this instead. Pls try the Sata since it's 3Gbs/s over usb. Less than $40.00 usd-
Vantec NST-D100SU NexStar Hard Drive Dock - SATA to USB 2.0 and eSATA

and CompUSA (TigerDirect) has them listed at -

http://www.compusa.com/applications/Sea ... u=V13-3300

Talk about adding HD space in a hurry!! Think about the current prices on Sata hard drives($60+ @500gb) and try not to go nutz. How's this for a way to build an archive...

[cdeemer]

I really see the advantage of having a dedicated video computer. Trying to figure out how to redesign my small basement office to include 2 computers! I also have a keyboard in here. Hmm.

[cdeemer]

All of my students who are serious about film and video have a Mac. If I got a 2nd computer just for video, I suppose I should go that way. Thoughts?

[Steve Grisetti]

If you are going to get a Mac, at least get Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro. Don't bother with iMovie.

That's a heck of an investment though -- but, if you want a low maintenance, highly stable system, that will likely do it for you.

[cdeemer]

I don't want to spend a ton of money either.

[George Tyndall]

All of my students who are serious about film and video have a Mac. If I got a 2nd computer just for video, I suppose I should go that way. Thoughts?

I wrote two heavily-illustrated history books with Macs, but for handling media (movies, video and photos) I went with PCs, for the following reason:

For the price of one Mac that would do what one media-center PC could do, I could buy 3 PCs.

Why three?

When it comes to video, three PCs are vastly preferable to one Mac, and here is why: To burn a DVD--which is what most users of video software do--you need to 1) capture the video; 2) edit the video; 3) import/edit the music 4) export the music and video; 5) burn the DVD.

Simply stated, if your goal is to work efficiently, you need to perform more than one resource-intensive process at a time, and that requires more than one computer.

[cdeemer]

Thanks, George. Good food for thought.

[Bobby]

I really see the advantage of having a dedicated video computer. Trying to figure out how to redesign my small basement office to include 2 computers! I also have a keyboard in here. Hmm.

I have my video PC next to my regular PC and use KVM switch to switch the screen / mouse / keyboard / speakers between them. Works very well and not much space required beyond the physical second PC box.

And I second the motion for a second PC - my video PC is clean and mean and fast and I can switch back to the first to do email, web browse, etc. while rendering on the video machine.