GH2 Editing GH2 Footage Soon - Recommendations Needed

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francheezie

Active member
After a couple years out of the producing world, I'm getting back in and just picked up the GH2. I'll be filming some comedy shorts, music videos, web commercials, some green screen, and wanted to know what's the best and easiest way to work with the GH2 footage. I am open to Mac or PC, would love to keep it under like $500 for the editing package if possible.

Final destination for all the shorts will be the web, so I don't need a super pro setup, but still need to be able to handle green screen and keying.

Thanks for your recommendations, any input would be great.
 
If you are trying to keep costs down, the Sony Vegas consumer software is a pretty good deal. It`s built upon the same code base as the Sony Vegas Pro software, and the user-interface is almost identical. You can definitely produce professional results with this package. ( I have a friend who edited and authored a commercial hockey DVD using this software ) The Imagination Studio 3 adds 3D video editing and blu-ray disc authoring.

Also, you can download fully working trials for any of the Sony software products, so you can try things out before commiting.

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum Production Suite : $125

Imagination Studio 3 : $175
 
Though the FCP purists may wish to hit shift+delete upon me for saying so, FCP X (~$300) would be all you'd need and yield great results. Nothing better within that price point, IMO.
 
Last edited:
mcbob,

For simple stuff - FCP X indeed would seem to be fine.
Help me out though, how is its handling of AVCHD files?
Can it work with them directly like Edius or Premiere Pro CS5.5? Or does it still require transcoding?
 
It would be awesome to just be able to dump the GH2 footage right into the editor too without converting, I'm pretty sure FCPX and Vegas both do this.
 
francheezie said:
It would be awesome to just be able to dump the GH2 footage right into the editor too without converting, I'm pretty sure FCPX and Vegas both do this.
Click to expand...

I've tested this out and native MTS files from a GH2 will play in FCP X without any transcoding. You also have the option to transcode to ProRes later if you want to.
 
IMO it is all going to depend on what you are used to working with and how many bells and whistles you used while editing previously. Other than probably keying, everything from Movie Maker to Avid is going to handle what you want to do with one GH2. If you are used to doing color correction, running stuff through After Effects to tweak it up and are going to want image stabilization software, you better find compatible software to begin with.

Every time I have thought "well this time I can get away with the cheapie consumer version" and go with that, I almost always end up kicking myself later, then turning around and getting "the good stuff" that I should have bought in the first place.

Of course, YMMV.
 
Edius 6 on a i7 Sandybridge will (does for me) cut through native MTS (50mbps) and MJPEG (100mbps) like the proverbial hot knife thru butter...
 
If you're going to the Web then Final Cut X will be a great choice... but I hate the darn thing.... but I am not just delivering to the web and that's why.
 
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