To the video editors out there, which program...

[Staren]

I have a question for all the video editors in the group. My younger brother has been the digital video guy in our family for years, but has always used freeware or shareware programs. He's gotten to that level where the features of those programs just arn't enough anymore. I want to get him a full featured editing program to go along with his new computer, but we can't make up our mind between Adobe Premiere Elements or Ulead VideoStudio 10. He has tried both on his older system, but doesn't really have a favorite either way. So I thought I would ask what people here use.

[Strider]

I use Vegas Video editing software which is by Sony; however, I've been using this before this was own by Sony. I like the program; however, I haven't been using it lately for I've been concentrating on Photoshop and Illustrator for college courses I've been taking. Sony does make a light version of the program; again, not always developed by Sony. I wish Sony wouldn't have bought Media (developers of Vegas), but at least Sony has done something smart and kept the people who were responsible in developing Vegas (and other good media software) mostly intake.

[Mac Medic]

Avid Free

http://www.avid.com/freedv/

[SonicVanguard]

Avid Free

http://www.avid.com/freedv/
Won't work with WindowsXP - it's a Windows 98 program only.

**EDIT** Just noticed Avid has updated Avid Free DV to be WindowsXP friendly. Way to go Avid. And sorry MacMedic for not browsing first and posting second.

Now of the two programs in question, Adobe Premiere Elements is by far the better choice. It has the power of Premiere Pro behind it with a more consumer-friendly interface and a few features no consumer would ever use disabled.

[Shadar Logoth]

I agree. Premiere is deffinately the better option.

[Staren]

Hmm, that was my first thought as well. Elements seems to be the standard, but there seemed to be a lot of crashing issues and format converting problems with 3.0 so I was a little iffy on that so I wanted to see what others thought about both programs before I ordered anything.