NLE of Choice

[D7k1]

So at NAB Sony made Catalyst a subscription only bit of software, and some folks were told that 13 would the last Vegas. I use Sony Movie Studio Suite which is very powerful but has not had a real upgrade in 2 year, making me wonder if the Vegas/Studio combination are both end of life products (EOL). It's hard to image an organization as video focused as Sony not having a current consumer NLE. As I see it if Movie studio and Vegas are not continuing (I was just going to order Vegas Edit before I saw the post about Vegas being EOL) hen its time to move on. Also the Catalyst forums are very much like the Adobe forums when they switched to subscription for their products. And of course the QT issue has raised additional issues in the NLE world. All of my videos are short projects or stock 30 second clips.

So if Studio and Vegas is EOL, it seems my choices are ($300 or less):

1. Resolve (free version)
2. Premier Elements
3. PowerDirector Suite

Anything I've missed?

Anyone have used both Elements and PowerDirector (seems a lot more powerful and you get a sound editor and color grading system). If so what is your choice. Still like to hear from those who only used one of the two. Resolve needs a slightly better video card (I only have 1 gig of memory on mine) but I will evaluate - I would just not like to spend $1K on the software if I need something in the full version.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 20897]

Premiere Elements is fine so long as you don't need to sync multiple camera angles and sync audio. It can be done, but takes a lot more work. If multi-angle/audio sync is a need, then you might be better off subscribing to Premiere CC.

 

[DaveEP]

There's also Lightworks (free and paid) : Compare Versions

 

[D7k1]

Premiere Elements is fine so long as you don't need to sync multiple camera angles and sync audio. It can be done, but takes a lot more work. If multi-angle/audio sync is a need, then you might be better off subscribing to Premiere CC.

thanks, I've use Plural eyes.

There's also Lightworks (free and paid) : Compare Versions

The free version doesn't do 4K (big deal for me), so its a bit past my budget for to purchase, to subscribe I might as well go with Adobe.

 

[kevinparis]

there is also Hitfilm Express - only briefly played with it... more for the VFX aspect, but probably worth checking out


HitFilm 4 Express - Free video software - HitFilm.com

K

 

[GBarrington]

Can someone explain what the acronym, "NLE" means? I don't get out much!

 

[kevinparis]

Non linear editor

Non-linear editing system - Wikipedia

K

 

[masayoshi]

Vegas and Movie studio will be sold under the name of Vegas creative software (VCS), but VCS is a subsidiary of Magix. Magix is a well known company in music industry, selling sound editor (DAW) called Samplitude and Sequoia, both of which are highly regarded among 'high end' audio professionals. Magix's strategy seems to be competing Avid by acquiring NLE (Vegas and Vegas Pro) to complete there creative software package.
Currently Avid owns Pro Tools (major DAW for pros) and Media Composer (NLE for pros and media), but they are not doing well. I can't guarantee Magix will win the competition, but I do not believe Vegas is EOL in the next few years at least. But if you don't like uncertain future of VCS and are willing to switch the NLE now, Premier is probably a safer bet. You mentioned sound editor function, but do not expect too much, particularly if you want to use DAW plug ins based on VST format. Besides CC subscription will include Adobe Audition, which is a nice DAW.

p.s. basic sound editing (enhance high/low, some noise reduction, compression, gating, etc) is possible in Premier as well.

 

[D7k1]

Stayed with Vegas (14) as it now looks like Magix is fully behind product.

 

[Wisertime]

As a novice, I found Filmora easy to use and happy with it. I tried Resolve, it requires too much PC horsepower and over complicated for basic use. I wanted to like it.

 

[DaveEP]

I keep coming back to FCPX. I bought it several years ago and they just keep upgrading it and never charging for the upgrades. Hard to complain.

I also like Premiere Pro, but I'm stuck on CS6 because I can't justify the Adobe tax of £49 every month, even when I'm not using it. If they had a perpetual license upgrade they'd have had my money.