Hi -

I'm a longtime user of Final Cut Pro. Love it to death. I'm also a starving student (haha) and there's also news about Apple possibly switching to Intel processors. (It will be revealed tomorrow, if it's true.) But either way, I'm not in a situation where I can afford a G5 desktop. And if the rumors are true, I'm not sure now would be the best time to buy anyway.

So I'm considering venturing back to the PC side of things. I said CONSIDERING, before anyone gets upset or anything, haha. I love FCP but frankly it really doesn't matter what I use, I just need to edit my movies.

That being said...

What do you guys recommend? I used to use Premiere on the PC years ago, but am a bit skeptical now. Apple updates Final Cut Pro all the time. Adobe Premiere Pro seems to have been at the same version for a couple years now. Is it updated often? Does it have features that rival FCP's? Basically I just need to be able to edit anamorphic 24p footage... can it do it? How's Vegas? I was never a big fan, but since I've used it, it's been bought by Sony Pictures, and apparently it's going pretty mainstream as well... so how is it? Can it edit 24p anamorphic footage? Any others out there I should consider? I know of course AVID is the defacto, but I can't stand the interface. Just keep in mind that I really don't care about much more except being able to edit 24p SD anamorphic footage.

Thanks in advance.

Adobe updates it's applications regularly. They brought out a Premiere Pro 1.5 update last year.

Premiere Pro would definitely be more like Final Cut Pro than Sony Vegas, but either one would be a good choice. Both can edit anamorphic 24p footage.

Someone else will have to give you a rundown of the feature differences between Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro. I do know that Premiere Pro doesn't include any application like LiveType.

If you do decide to go the Adobe route, make sure to look at the Adobe Video Collection. The standard edition includes Premiere Pro, After Effects Standard, Adobe Audition, and Encore DVD, all for $400 (student price at CampusTech.com (http://www.campustech.com/c/campust/23814.html)). It's quite a deal.

Hi Daniel,

Here's the link to PPro's download page, including the free trial:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=98&platform=Windows

The trial version, good for 30 days, does apparently have a few limitations like not including the Adobe Media Encoder so you can't export to mpeg or WMV (presumably just avi of various flavors). Like all software, PPro does have a couple of issues, one of which is strobing seen in overexposed areas of 24p footage:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@787.cEeVepoKsW0.2@.3bb4e9c8

Premiere has changed a LOT in the last few versions, so you may be surprised to find you like it! ;-)

How's Vegas? I was never a big fan, but since I've used it, it's been bought by Sony Pictures, and apparently it's going pretty mainstream as well... so how is it? Can it edit 24p anamorphic footage?

Vegas works great on the PC and can edit 24p anamorphic just fine. I recommend you download several of the options available and test them out. That way you can see how the workflows and abilities differ. When you test Premiere, ask questions about it in the Premiere forum. When you test Vegas, ask questions about it in the Vegas forum. You'll find lots of help for both of them are available. Another major option is Avid.

If you are used to Final Cut, Vegas will make little sense to you. You kind of need to re-learn everything... the sticky at the top of the Vegas forum may help. It tells you shortcuts that just aren't obvious. i.e. "s" is for split edit (equivalent to razor in Final Cut). Roll edits and slip edits can also be done... the crtl and alt keys modify stuff to allow those operations. Check my post which links to the Sony forum.
In Vegas, there are no buttons for that stuff.

Personally I like Vegas because there are some powerful things you can do in it for audio and color correction. However, I think Premiere would also suit you fine because you can dive right in and start editing- if you don't need fancy stuff, Premiere Pro will be fine.

Adobe has ridiculously good integration between the apps in its video collection these days. You can bounce between Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Encore, Auditon, and After Effects and develop a great workflow if you do a lot of different things.

Apple is trying to follow that model with its upcoming "collection" of FC, Motion, etc., so that standout feature fo the Adobe VC may be a thing of the past.

If all you are doing is cutting Anamorphic 24P, without worrying about output and such, then that also might mean little to you. For someone like me, who does weddings, home movies, presentations, and a whole variety of stuff, the time-saving integration and power fo the Video Collecton is key.