Consumer Editing Software for AVCHD filmmakers in El Salvador

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Jesse Freeston

Hey Battle,

Looks like my little engine that could just makes it across the finish line for Elements 7, according to the website. So I'll probably go ahead and give it a try. Thanks so much for your help on this one.

Cheers. Jesse.

A "little engine that could just make it" doesn't mean you'll be able to edit very well with it. AVCHD takes a LOT of computer horsepower and quite a few of us who thought having a quad core would insure we could handle it smoothly have found out otherwise.

While your machine seems to meet Elements 7 minimum requirements that just means you'll probably be able to import the media, drop it on the timeline, and MAYBE be able to do something with it there if you are exceedingly patient.

I edit 1920x1080 17Mbps AVCHD on a machine with Intel Q6600 (quad core) 2.4Ghz processor, 4GB RAM, and an Nvidia 8800GT 512MB graphics card. Primary software is Pinnacle Studio 12 Ultimate and Pinnacle says a quad core 2.66Ghz is minimum so I'm a bit under spec on that.

As long as I keep it simple and don't ask for too much processing on the second video track, AND exercise a lot of patience waiting for each clip to be processed before going on to the next one it goes OK. Although longest timeline I've done so far is 26 minutes.

Cyberlink PowerDirector 7 Ultra does a little better, things go smoother but there are a couple of things that are not quite so intuitive as Pinnacle Studio but it is a bit less demanding of computer resources.

The folks finding a relatively smooth go of editing AVCHD are using quad core 2.8 or 3.0 Ghz processor based machines.

But the advice to download trial versions and see what works is very good. Elements 7 or Vegas Platinum may turn out to not be so processor demanding as the ones I use. Good luck.

[Hans Ledel]

I think you should have a look at "Edius NEO."

It is cheap and it is also very good. You can have the same layout as FCP if you want.
You can usually find good deals on EBAY

Here is a link EDIUS Neo NLE Software

Cheers

Hans

[Rob Croll]

Originally Posted by Kevin Crockett

I would recommend Vegas. Vegas is the editor I cut my teeth on. To me, it was very intuitive. I've never used Premiere Elements so I can't give you a first hand opinion but I know many people who've started with Premeire and have gone to Vegas.

Most say Vegas is more intuitive, and easier to use.

Just download the free trial of each and try them both.

+1

Its very intuitive and DVD Architect comes with the bundle so it also offers a nice solution for burning DVD's