Which programs for 64 bit computer?

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Mike Burgess

Brian, do you have/use Lightworks? What more can you tell me about it, over and above what is shown on the website.

Mike

I've got a copy. I'm just playing with it at the moment until the final release with the full codecs becomes available, which is due shortly. I gather they've added quite a few new features and hopefully with plug in options for a good range of software.

I really like the workspace, it's clear and uncluttered. It doesn't have the same interface as the other NLEs, so you can't just operate it precisely the same as FCP or AVID. Although, I would say that I managed to get up and going faster with Lightworks than Vegas.

NLE's are personal things and Lightworks has been traditionally regarded as less IT and perhaps more editor centred than the others.

Here's one experienced editor giving comparisons: http://lightworks.mtv-web.ufg.ac.at/...php?topic=40.0

If you've got a limited budget, it's certainly worth checking out, especially if you do long form work.

[Brian Drysdale]

Another thought about Lightworks is that it seems to allow you to play with your material in different ways. You can almost doodle with the clip order and then convert that into an edit on a timeline.

[Mike Burgess]

Hey Brian. Do you have to have the special keyboard in order to work with Lightworks?

[Brian Drysdale]

No, neither the console or the special keyboard are available yet. I gather they'll be available when the final release version comes out. You can use your standard keyboard using either FCP or AVID key strokes combined with your mouse. You can do a fair bit just using your mouse on its own.

The current beta version can do certain things and people are using it and a free version will continue to be available, but the annual subscription version will have extra features and can use a broad range of licensed codecs.

I gather they're planning to have a new web site with an on line store. You need to see if the final version will do what you require, but it's free to play with. Once the Windows version comes out, they'll be working on the mac and Linux versions. Always good to have another option.

[Mike Burgess]

Well, here are my thoughts so far:
Power Director 10. I really like this program, but the thing that still concerns me with PD10 is the length that I can burn an AVCHD video on a dual layer DVD. I want to know if the length for burning an AVCHD DVD can be for over an hour of video. Pinnacle 12 can do this, so I would hope PD10 will be able to do this also.

Vegas Movie Studio HD 11. I like this program also, but I have not been able to figure out how to burn an AVCHD DVD. Maybe it is not available on the free trial. Can anyone help me with this?

Lightworks. I have not yet downloaded Lightworks, I have yet to evaluate.

As for the newest version of Pinnacle and Avid, I have not yet decided to run their free trials yet.

[Mike Burgess]

Latest update.

First, I stand corrected. Cannot burn over an hour in AVCHD with dual layer disc, in any program.
Second. I like PD10 the best so far, great picture with AVCHD, great sound also. It burns a short AVCHD DVD rather quickly. Not sure how one saves their library from one project to another. Not real thrilled with their menus.
Third. Vegas Movie Studio HD produces great sound also, but was unable to compare picture quality since I could not burn an AVCHD disc.
Fourth. Tried Adobe Premiere Elements. Produces nice picture, but the sound is not quite as nice on the AVCHD disc produced compared to PD10 and Vegas. Had trouble with the opening picture (premenu?); couldn't easily get it to start the program. I also was greatly turned off by the constant water mark stretching across the middle of the picture on everything when using their trial version. That was very distracting when viewing the produced discs. This caused me to not want to further test the product.

As for not being able to produce AVCHD in Vegas, I will either have to buy a BD player or completely disregard Vegas in my considerations. I liked Vegas a lot, so I will have to give myself some time to think this through.

Am now looking at Avid Studio. Will update again in a week or two.

Mike

[Mike Burgess]

Well, after looking at several consumer NLEs free trial versions (costing less than $150), here are the results I found, which I would imagine most of you already are aware of.

1. Power Directer 10 produces a fine picture and decent sound when producing an AVCHD DVD. But, sometimes the picture and sound is not in sync. Nor will PD10 download and use m2v video files. Included music files are limited, but sound better than some the other NLE packages. Titles, menus, etc. are OK, but when I played a produced AVCHD DVD on my plasma, the menu did not want to show on the first attempt. Only when I replayed the DVD again right away would the menu show up as it is suppose to. This program does render AVCHD rather quickly, which I like.

2. Corel Video Studio Pro X5. Nicer free included music selection. Will produce AVCHD DVDs, but picture is not quite as good as PD10; resolution seems less. Sound is close to PD10 when adjusted on the timeline. The program crashed more often than some of the others. And it seemed really slow rendering AVCHD when burning an AVCHD DVD. Titles, menus, etc. are OK, fairly easy to use.

3. Pinnacle 15 HD. Not much different overall from Pinnacle 12. 3D seems to be the major difference. Picture and sound is great with AVCHD DVDs. Basic tools are OK, but the supplied music library is pretty bad, in my opinion. This program will download all the basic video files I use. Wide, but simple, variety of titles, menus, etc., and are easy to use.

4. Avid Studio. Great sound in AVCHD. Will not capture straight MPEG video files. Had a problem with some produced AVCHD footage on DVDs displaying some dithering (for lack of a better term), but it did not affect all the AVCHD footage, nor was it consistant from project to project. It seemed to get worse with repeated burning of the same files. That ruined it for me when considering this program. Program has good working menus, titles, etc.

5. Sony Vegas Movie Studio 11. Good sound, but will not burn an AVCHD DVD, which makes this program useless for me. Since I don't have a blu-ray burner, cannot comment on picture quality. Steep learning curve, but I was interested in this program until I learned about the lack of producing AVCHD DVDs. Because of that, I simply cannot remember much else about the program.

6. Adobe Premiere Elements. Hard to fairly compare since the trial version has a semi-transparent banner that runs across the middle of the screen proclaiming that you are using a trial version. It is present during the whole time you are using the program, as well as on produced DVDs. Nice picture (from what I could tell) when producing AVCHD, but the sound is less. For whatever reason, the menus on produced DVDs did not want to work well when played on my plasma. It took several attempts to get the menu to play. It was difficult for me to learn how to trim video clips with this program. It may be that I just am a slow learner. Overall, it seemed to have decent variety of tools, etc.

And so there it is. None of these NLEs satisfied every wish, but some were better than others. AVCHD picture quality was close, but there was some minor differences. Sound was also varied, but close in quality. Music libraries varied, with some free offerings being somewhat decent while others required extra $ without offering anything free. Every one of them crashed at least once, but some crashed more often that others. My computer is new with lots of power, so I can't say what the problem was. All the programs were getting into 3D (which at this point I am not interesed in), and they all had varying amounts of "kiddy" stuff or fluff in their production extras. Some were easier to use than others, in acquiring video and audio files, capturing video/audio, accessing/managing their libraries, and using adjustment tools to enhance or fix video/sound files (some were better than others, but were very similar to each other).

I had high hopes with each of these programs and wanted each to be the complete answer I was looking for. Guess maybe to get what I would like to have, I would have to spend a lot more money and get the "pro" version NLEs. Unfortunately, this is only a hobby for me, not a business.

Thanks for letting me ramble.

Mike

[David Stuart Shapton]

Just because the title of the thread is "Which programs for 64 bit computer" I wanted to mention that shortly after the release of the full Free and Pro versions of Lightworks on 28th May, they will be followed by 64 bit upgrades.

There's nothing miraculous about 64 bit, but it does allow you to use your computer's memory, storage and I/O to their full potential.

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks for the heads up David. I will take another look at Lightworks later this spring.

Mike

[Allen Vodi]

Mike,

Very good comparisons of the popular NLE apps. I've done testing 3 of the apps (Corel, Adobe, Vegas) you listed and am in total agreement with you. Currently my preference is PD10 (I edit only AVCHD) because it produces the highest quality of video images (I do NOT use any GPU accelerators) in the shortest amount of time (my projects are always 35-45 minutes long) and is intuitive to use (this was not the case in versions prior to PD9). The app is finally getting some NewBlueFX plug-ins (yet to test most of them) and the designers are actually requesting user feedback on improving the DVD menu editor (a week point).

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks, Allen. Yes, PD10 so far is my favorite despite a couple of it's drawbacks. The syncing of picture and music is my biggest concern, since I add a lot of popular recorded music to my lengthy home productions (vacation, family, model railroad, videos). If I were to get into commercial enterprise, I would really be concerned. I really wanted Avid Studio to be my solution, what with the fact that I had been using Pinnacle Studio for so many years. But the "dithering" of AVCHD video is very worrisome.
As I still have a bit of time yet before I make my final decision, I will look at one or two more offerings. But whatever I end up with now, can be replaced easily enough when and if one of these products improves enough in the next round of development.

Mike

[Ron Cooper]

Mike, I have PD-9 but have not used it, mainly because of its lack of "JKL"
However, I decided to give it a go just to do a quick promo title and I can't believe how "clunky" it is. To me it feels like a toy.

A few examples : Zooming in & out on the timeline - Shift + for in & just - for zooming out ? In Vegas you simply scroll the mouse wheel up & down.

Playing along the timeline it stops at every clip end, unless you hold down "page down" - ?? In
Vegas you can use the mouse as well as the spacebar but it makes it a lot simpler of course to use the "JKL" keys where you go in both directions fast slow & stop by using 3 fingers on the JKL keys.

Moving clips along the timeline were jerky and not precise, especially if you want to trim them and apply a Xfade. In Vegas they move up & down very smoothly and you simply slide them over at the ends to get a Xfade, no menus required !

I agree that AVCHD is a pain but you can simply use imgburn to do that from what I am told.

I really feel you should persevere with Vegas & burn your AVCHD files separately, as in the long run your whole editing flow will be smoother.

I'm using a Win 7 Quad core machine with 12 g RAM so I don't think I'm lacking in the PC dept.

RonC.

[Allen Vodi]

It's a matter of what one gets used to. Having used PD now for more than 3 years going back to Vegas is awkward ! And the time it takes to complete a project is simply frustrating - too many options and no quick way to get good results. It's the way it is when you get used to using a tool a certain way. Ultimately what matters is whether or not one enjoys using the tool, be it good or bad.

[Paul Kapp]

I just discovered Lightworks today.
I downloaded the beta and played around with it.
It seems clean and tidy and customisable.
Different to Premiere to use but I like it already.
It plays back UC QT from a Hyperdeck Shuttle.
When it is released soon with codecs including DNxHD I might have to replace Premiere with this.

[Ron Cooper]

Looks interesting Paul. - Just a few questions before I look at it though.
Does it have plenty of tracks, JKL, and easy to zoom in & out on the timeline ?

Other features I use often are linking & un-linking clips together for using different sound to a particular clip.
Does it enable burning of AVCHD DVD's with menus and does it have a good titler ? - (This is a downer for me in Vegas.)

RonC.