Home Video Editing

[TheRenegade]

I just got a Sony DVD Camcorder, and am wondering if someone who is more experienced with Video Editing can help me find a good program to use.

I need it to take the video off the DVDs and edit as needed. Also be great to be able to burn it too.

I have never done any editing, so something user-friendly would be great.

[backlash]

adobe premiere pro 1.5 is great to use. There's a learning curve, but not too hard. You could also use windows movie maker, which is easy as pie, but you're limited to the file type to create and you lose quality.

I'd say get a copy of premiere elements. Those are suited to the masses. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know for sure.

[Wolfmight]

Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 is great for all kinds of video editing. (They have an update that adds HD support too)

Cyberlink Power Director (versions 4 & 5) is good for basic homevideo editing.

Windows Video Editor is also good for basic homevideo editing.

I've never used Sony Vegas, but I've heard Adobe is better than it for advanced edits.

I personally use Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 for most of my video editing, because I'm in film school. I also use Final Cut Pro, which is 20-30% better than Premiere, but it's only for Macintosh OSX. Cyberlink is nice for fast editing projects, grabbing video off a camera to put on the net, and home movies. I use Sorenson Squeeze to compress video files to make them internet ready. Quicktime is probably the best quality to use for a compress video on the net. WMV is second, but not all systems support it.

Basicly, Quicktime looks better, has a much less glitchy timebar and runs on both Windows and Macintosh. I've had a number of times were I couldn't load an important video off the net because it was in .wmv and I was using a Mac in the studio.
Most .wmvs tend to freeze when you try to explore different parts of the video in your browser...that just sucks. The only way to look through at different times in a .wmv is to download the file to your hardrive somewhere and open it in a media player such as Media Player Classic.