I just receieved a nice dell laptop for graduation so Final Cut is out, and I would use Avid but they arent supporting Vista, or my soundcard at the moment so it isnt looking like a valid option. Adobe and Vegas are two that i hear are also pretty good options. Which do you think that i should choose? I qualify for academic prices and my system specs are below in case they help. Thanks for reading and please comment.

Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop

2 gigs of RAM, 42 Gigs Free Memory

Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300

Audio: SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5600 @ 1.83GHz, 1833 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

Download the trial versions of each to see which one you like. I prefer Premiere Pro CS3.

It depends a lot on what are you planning to do. What kind of material (SD or HD), what output (DVD, Web streaming, DivX ...). Do you need to be able to import/export, share projects with others? Adobe's strong point is its whole suite integration (round-trip to AfterEffects is easy), miriads of plugins, hardware acceleration support. Vegas is good for a one-man workshop where you need to quickly do project after project with medium complexity (wedding/event videographer, documentaries, corporate training videos). Sound processing options are excellent in Vegas. Neither Adobe nor Sony Vegas will help you get into the "Big Game" currently.

You did not say which Avid product you planned to use originally. Was it Xpress or Liquid?

You'll need external disk storage if you plan to do any sizeable project: original material, cut material, intermediate renders, final render require a lot of space. And god save you if you plan to go HD. Besides, external drives are much faster.

Possitively the best advice. Adobe has a very generous 30-day trial that was indistinguishable from the full-blown version when I tried it (asside from the omission of third-party content). I haven't tried the Vegas trial so I can't comment there.


I respectfully disagree. Perhaps CS3 wasn't on the market when you wrote that in July? CS3 is my first plunge into the Adobe video editing world after years with Avid Media Composer and more recently Final Cut Pro, so I can't comment on what life was like before. True, you won't compete with Hollywood if you're using CS3... BUT, you'll have the power to create virtually anything you see that is produced locally, save for advanced 3D modelling done with Maya or similar software. With After Effects, you are pretty much limited only by your imagination. I started using CS3 last month for a project that required resolution independence, and I'm totally sold. I still like Avid, but I no longer aspire to be a DS or Symphony editor now that I have CS3!

Well this thread is several months old now, but need to comment on something since it got dug up....

Yes, but the point brought up by Darth Acer is still valid, it won't help you get into what many folks consider the 'big game'. Meaning you likely will need more than experience on Adobe Premiere(Or Vegas for that matter) in order to get a job with a broadcast or production house working on largish projects. Typically as a minimum in my experience I see FCP, but Avid tends to be for the larger(est) projects.

That is not to say you can't do a good job in Premiere, just that where it is used by other companies is a bit limited still, and those companies are the ones that some people will be applying for jobs. I can(And others have) do amazing stuff in Blender, but on my resume it doesn't mean crud to most places as they look for one of the 'big names' Same basic concept.

Seablade

Yes this is an old topic, but hey, I'm new here

I think you'll find those attitudes are quickly changing. My production house was an "avid or nothing" house. Our contract with Avid expires this April, and Avid will no longer support our Unity workspace. As a result, we're taking a hard look alternative platforms, namely FCP (not to go off on a tangent, but Apple currently has nothing like Unity for sharing media, yet we are still considering the switch). We are finding a number of our sister houses across the country have already made the jump to FCP! This was unthinkable just a year ago, and now medium-large sized houses are already making the plunge. As the editor with the most FCP experience, I'm taking it upon myself to examine the alternatives to Avid. Recently, I've taken a number of large projects into FCP and Adobe CS3. And I've got to say, Adobe is now (finally) a player. They are going to give Apple a run for their money, as After Effects totally blows Motion out of the water imho. Throw in tight integration with Photoshop and Illustrator, and my hell of dealing with never-ending client revisions is looking a whole lot more rosey.

Only time will tell, but I'm already seeing a rapid shift in attitude toward the "small" players in the video world like Apple and Adobe.

Last time I used Premiere, FCP kinda blew it out of the water. Haven't used it lately, but it was not just in features, but also ease of use that this was true with for me.

Seablade

Let me be clear, I'm comparing Adobe CS3 Production Premium to Apple Final Cut Pro Studio 2 (and honestly, I'm MUCH more familiar with FCP Studio 1 as opposed to the newer version 2). If you compare JUST Premiere Pro CS3 vs. FCP 6 (the main video editing program of each suite), then I'll give you that FCP is probably the better product. The interface of either program is nearly identical imo, so I wouldn't say either one is any easier, but FCP certainly has more bells and whistles. However, if you compare the whole suite of products offered by Adobe vs. Apple, Adobe's suite more than makes up for the shortcomings of Premiere.

The problem with FCP 6 and the FCP Studio 2 suite as a whole, however, is that an advanced user will find the features extremely limited. Great, I can add a fancy red animated text. But I need it in green. Not going to happen in that style, unless you go through an inefficient and impractical workaround.

If you use CS3 Prod Prem, by comparison, you will find After Effects to be FAR more customizable. I'm talking exponentially more. Apple Motion is a joke in comparrison. And the two suites are in the same price range, I believe, so the comparisons are fair. Throw in the fact that CS3 Prod Prem also gets you Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash... it just blows away Apple's line of products, and is well worth the slight difference in cost.

I'd break it down like this: novice editors won't get much out of either, intermediate users will have the skill to enjoy the quick, easy templates in FCP Studio, and advanced users will enjoy the freedom of CS3.

Its all very subjective, and I'd say any of the products mentioned in this thread are right for somebody. I just think that if you're going to delve into this world, go head first and get the product (CS3) that will give you the most room to grow. Believe me, After Effects is a HUGE bonus on any résumé.

Fair enough. As I mentioned I haven't used the most recent version of Premiere. You are right in that down the road Premiere may be a big player, at the moment however it is limited in the number of houses that use it in my experience. Ill take your word in as far as capabilities go for the time being though, no money or time to test them out any more and find out myself

I am curious though, about the titling limitation you brought up, was pretty sure something that simple could be done in FCP/Livetype, but I have a feeling I am misunderstanding what you are trying to do there. There is a reason I do audio

Seablade

Audio seems to be an afterthought with CS3, so if you are an audiophile, I think you'll be disappointed. I can't believe Premiere has no OMF export option, or something similar, for integration with other products like ProTools. Also, Premiere lumps paired stereo tracks together into one cumbersome mess of a track rather than leaving them as two discrete tracks that can be manipulated individually with ease. They can later be separated, but only after they've been added to a sequence - so a sequence with hundreds of edits will require hundreds of commands to separate the audio tracks. It is frustrating beyond words.

Sheesh, after them buying out the company behin Cool Edit Pro, I would have expected them to at least get single file destructive editing done right since that was a point where CEP shined.

Beyond that I can't say I was expecting much in the multi-track department after seeing their attempts in Audition 2.0 though. Ah well.

Seablade

Heh rant on Apple products ahead....

Why the heck can't they include codecs for XDCAM in Final Cut Express? Eeesh. I get given video clips to work with every now and then and I don't need the editing power of FCP, but I can't work with the dang clips because they are the XDCAM codecs and there is no way short of FCP to get a hold of those apparently for the mac.

Seablade

Adobe products never disappoints....go for it...ofcourse a bit expensive though...

Although I have never used Adobe premier, my note goes towards Sony Vegas. Very easy and friendly to use.

I prefer adobe, but they are both good.