Editing Program Comparison

There are many editing programs available. At DVC we don’t sell all of them, just the ones that we think are the best. The choice of program does come down to your personal preference - something which you cannot properly appreciate until you have used them all for real editing!

Your type of project will have an impact on your choice. If you do lots of long weddings, for example, you need a program that can cope with this - some programs slow down hugely when the project goes over an hour or so. Or you may need a program with good off-line capabilities so you can edit your project and later take it to a full broadcast suite for finishing off. There is nothing to stop you having 2 or 3 programs on your system and using the best one for the job in hand, but of course you will then have to learn each of them!

	For	Against
Sony Vegas
	Excellent sound features, and good quality video FX. Powerful compositing features normally only found in programs like After Effects. Supports many formats - one of the few programs to currently edit AVCHD footage. Comes with DVD Architect - one of the most comprehensive DVD and Blu-ray writing programs. Can export chapters and subtitles from Vegas to Architect. Full 5.1 surround sound editing with everything needed to put this on DVD. HD output supported by Black Magic cards.	Quirky interface - some say old fashioned, but mainly different to everything else. No way to improve playback performance by adding extra cards etc.	Click here for more information
Canopus Edius
	Edius is one of the most stable and reliable programs we sell. . Does more in realtime at full quality than other programs - even on OHCI. The best realtime performance for HDV editing - good at mixing formats on the timeline too. Only one with an option for full HD playback via Edius NX.. ProCoder Express built-in gives you NTSC-PAL conversion as standard, plus simple output to various formats. You can put NTSC footage on a PAL timeline and in automatically converts it! Flexible titling and all realtime. Can handle more formats that most programs, especially with the broadcast option -it supports XDCAM-EX, DVCPro HD and AVCHD natively.	Not as many features as Premiere or Avid. Limited plug-in support. Sound editing is not on the same level as Premiere Pro or Sony Vegas- no surround sound support. Many effects are not keyframable. Missing small things found in other programs - you can't see the sound waveform before you put it on the timeline, no audio gain etc... No Blu-ray writing support - you need to use a different program which typically is Adobe Encore. The latter can only be bought with Premiere Pro.	Click here for more information
Adobe Premiere Pro
	One of the market leaders - realtime through OHCI but can do even more if you add a capture card. Huge plug-in support. Basic version has realtime preview playback through FireWire. Add an extra card and the abilities get multiplied. An open program that lets many people write modules for it - if the basic HDV editing is not enough then invest in Cineform and get full quality realtime effects. Huge number of useful features built-in. Integrates well with other Adobe products, especially After Effects and Photoshop. Good jack-of-all trades Comes with Adobe Encore DVD for comprehensive DVD and Blu-ray writing . Dynamic Link to After Effects, Export to Encore and Soundbooth all included.	If using a dedicated card then you need a properly set up system to make the two work together - which is why yous should buy it from DVC! Not too good at large or complicated projects. Realtime performance is not great without a Matrox card. A bit slow at supporting new formats - now will support XDCAM and DVCPRO but still no AVCHD support.	Click here for more information
Avid Liquid
	Realtime hardware and software based effects, professional feature set and DVD writing built-in. Background rendering means effects are made while you carry on editing. Large number of realtime effects over multiple layers. Instant save. Encode and write a DVD directly off the timeline. Add chapter points and create menus while you work.	Avid have said there will not be another version of Liquid, although they promise a program based on the same principles in 2009. No major update in over a year means that it does not support some new formats - no AVCHD support and although you can import XDCAM-EX you have to work around some issues. HD editing performance for all but pnp effects is not good even on the best systems.	Click here for more information
Avid Media Composer
	It’s Avid - the industry standard! Excellent compatibility with full Avid suites for off-line editing. Lots of realtime effects even live to DV; realtime out to TV with Avid Mojo. Makes the most out of your computer to get the best realtime performance it can. Excellent media management - the best for organising your projects and collaborating with others. Years of experience by editors means lots of high quality development. More effects and features in the program than every other editor - includes rotoscoping, painting on video, excellent quality slow motion, drop out fixing features, and lots more. Amazing amounts of plug-ins which let you do so much more that you can with any other editing program.  Comes with lots of extra programs: Avid DVD for DVD and Blu-ray authoring, Avid FX for compositing, Sonicfire Pro for easy music creation, Sorenson Squeeze for making different formats and Boris Continuum for complex effects. Works on Apple Mac and PC. The professional’s choice.	Less intuitive than other programs - Avid has more in it but it is harder to get at with a lot of features only accessed through keyboard shortcuts - if you don’t know these you don’t get far! When you know it you can edit fast! More Expensive. You need to use an Avid validated system to get proper support - which is more expensive than buying a normal DVC computer. Sound editing is really quite poor compared to other programs. No surround sound for example. Of course it does integrate very well with the industry standard sound program, ProTools, really well!	Click here for more information