Editor's Choice for #1 Video Editing Software is Sony Vegas Pro

Doing work with consumer-grade video editing software is one of those places where there's a gap in the available software that's commonly used.  The low end software is very limited in its capabilities, and often can't output video in resolutions high enough to look good on today's larger HDTVs, while the higher end software has a sharp learning curve that will be daunting to new users.

Apple, Sony and Adobe are all trying to close this gap, with better user interfaces on more complex software, and slimming down feature sets to keep the suites easier to use.  All of their video editing software (technically called Nonlinear Editors, or NLEs) have a different mix of features, trying to find that perfect mix of ease of use and extra functionality to help them compete against each other.  So far, the debate rages on, but with the PC' owning 80 plus percentage of the market (and Mac most of the MAC users still owning PC's) having a PC powered editing software provides some great benefits and offers some strategic differences.

Where they differ is how closely the 'consumer' version of the video editing software matches the look and feel of the 'pro' version; Adobe Premier Elements will teach you almost nothing about Adobe Premier Pro.  Sony Vegas, on the other hand, keeps the user interface more or less the same, it just doesn't have as many options as the full Pro version - though it does off the most features in a consumer set that we've found. 

What it does do to ease the learning curve is a project wizard, that will walk you through a series of questions regarding what you want the output to be, and then configures everything for you.  This is a welcome layer over a lot of complexity and option hunting. 

Sony Vegas still allows you to input more types of video than the competition, and alone among consumer products, allows you to accept multiple video formats in the same project, letting you do the rendering step (where all the formats are converted) at the end of the project; this is an enormous time saver, and once again, removes a set of complex choices from the consumer by just seamlessly doing it.

Sony Vegas Pro will bundle all your imported content into a Project Media window, and you've got a lot of options for managing video, audio and special effect assets.  This is probably overkill for a consumer grade video editing program, but it's one of the ways where Sony is trying to give you a smooth learning curve 'ramp' up to the Pro version. Where Sony Vegas excels is in its handling of audio, which, given the pedigree of where Sony bought the software from, is hardly surprising.  (The original company that wrote this software is Sonic Foundry).  It automatically adds tracks for 5.1 and 7.2 surround sound, gives you more options for doing audio mixing and more, and still keeps the general work flow clean. 

This is barely touching the surface of what this software package can do, but it's probably the best mix of features and usability around; it may not be My First Video Editor.  It is highly recommended as your second one, however, when you want to try something more complex.



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