SpeedEdit or Vegas Pro8?...speed/2.35:1/hdv only editing...

Chris Light

Chris Light

Veteran
I agonized over my camera purchase for 3 months before purchasing the A1 a week ago, and man, I'm glad I did.

But now I'm editing. I have a decent (and somewhat upgraded) HP(a1210n) Windows Vista SP1 32-Bit w/AMD Athalon Single-Core 3500+ Processor, Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS 512mb PCI-E video card, and 2.5GB RAM. 135GB free on the 200GB internal Hard Drive.

Since I am just using Windows Movie Maker for now, I have had a chance to re-aquaint myself with the basic editing process....but now that I am shopping for the obvious upgrade, I am disheartened by the fact that within Movie Maker, my projects are jittery, without audio, and when i apply a wipe or fade, it never quite previews correctly, jumping around like streaming video on dial-up. But after all the guessing and free-wheelin', my movies play just fine in Media Player.

So, as I'm shopping for upgrades, I'm tossed between NewTek's SpeedEDIT and Sony Vegas.



I want to edit fairly on the fly(i.e., spend enough time but not piss off my wife), i want the resulting video to be in 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio (don't know why, except I love it, and i frame as such with the A1's assist), and minor color correction is key. Mostly putting music over video, but may explore audio separation in the future. I am only doing this for personal enjoyment, but if my computer can't handle Movie Maker smoothly, what can I expect with these two programs? I'm leaning towards SpeedEDIT....or some more upgrades for my 'pute. Quad-Core and addl. harddrive are already on the list...

help me understand, will ya? haha

-Chris Light
 
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I've never used Vegas but I understand it's a solid program. I have Premier Pro, Edius Pro, and SpeedEdit. Since I got SpeedEdit about 3 months ago, I haven't used the other two NLEs. SpeedEdit is my favorite NLE by far. It's not perfect, but once you get used to the workflow, it is fast. It can do all of the things you mentioned and a lot more. As far as the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, that can be accomplished in any editor with as simple overlay to letterbox the image. AfterEffects can actually out put a .mov in that aspect ratio.

I think that no matter which NLE you choose, you'll need to update your OS to SP2. For SpeedEdit, your computer specs will probably work fine for SD but you'll need to upgrade to at least a dual core for HDV editing.
 
hey, thank you...that's some solid, straight info...just what i was looking for!

is there already SP2 for Vista?...I just got SP1, but was never notified about SP2....I should abort this mission and get a Mac haha
 
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&Q=&is=REG&O=productlist&sku=536041

B&H has Vegas Pro 8 for $129 (Normally $450+)... I use it for all of the basic editing processes... I use after effects for my composites and titling needs....

Vegas does a great job overall... Some minor bugs here and there I've had in the past but nothing catastrophic...

Pretty much all of the NLE's are going to accomplish the same thing... It's just a matter of how you want to get there and how much effort you want to put in to it... For me Vegas is a good editor with professional features such as multitrack sound editing /mixing etc... Another advantage is that if you have a slower system it uses a software based directx render to preview your timeline with adaptable resolutions... So for a top notch system you can set the preview quality to full high rez or for a slower system you can preview a pixely draft quality...

As far as PC NLE's go, Sony Vegas is my pick...
 
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skinny! said:
hey, thank you...that's some solid, straight info...just what i was looking for!

is there already SP2 for Vista?...I just got SP1, but was never notified about SP2....I should abort this mission and get a Mac haha
Click to expand...


Sorry, I was thinking WIndows XP. I just read too quickly. There is only SP1 for Vista at the moment. Xp is up to SP3 now.
 
dougster77...i don't know ...it's a "CD only" price. is that for a burned copy?...i know B&H, but that sounds too good. how did so many cd's come loose from their boxes and manuals?.....i could be wrong....and am i crazy for still leaning towards SpeedEdit? ah well, you pretty much said it when you said that most all NLE's will do the same thing.
 
Ya I personally haven't bought that package so I can't vouch for its authenticity... But that is a really good deal and if it was anywhere else except B&H I wouldn't buy it...

At the end of the day its your own personal preference and ease of use that should determine what you buy...

You can try Vegas Pro 8 for 30 days... May be worth your while to check it out...
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials/vegaspro
 
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