I currenlty have ULEAD VideoStudio 7 and Nero 6.5 Suite of software. I'm a simplist and always look to consolidate software. I know if I was purely going for video editing software under $125 I'd get Premier Elements 2.0. But I'm just looking to caputure some DV tape and throw in on a DVD don't need to due a bunch of fancy crap so I wouldnt' take advantage of most of Premier's features. My main critieria is I want a good encoder. One that is efficient and let's you produce high quality results. I probably bet getting and HD cam pretty soon and will want to do 16:9 wide screen DVD's and eventually HD or Blue Ray DVDs. As far as encoding, with ULEAD I'm constantly dissapointed with the final image quality on a DVD even using MPEG-2 with variable bit rate up to 8000. The ULEAD encoder is dog slow. I've heard horrow stories about Nero 7 Ultra's reliability. I hate to be switching back and forth between different suites of software. I want a package that provides and end-end solution for DVD authoring yet also allow burning of CDs, DVD-ROM, DIVx, you name it, Blue-Ray/HD DVD support not required but a big plus. It's looking like Roxio 8 Easy Media Creator is about the only other decent choice out there other than Nero. So do I become a Nero to Roxio convert, or has Nero starting patching the bugs in 7 to where it is probably worth an upgrade. I've always been impressed with Nero's wide compatibility for devices and highly reliable burning capability. Maybe I should just go for Adobe Premier Elements for video editing (assume it has a much better encoder than ULEAD) and keep Nero 6.5 for burning? Heck, I wouldn't mind going into the $150-$200 range if I could get a suite of bullet-proof products. Sony Vegas is suppose to be good but it is just video editing. I want video capture/editing DVD authoring (menu creation), CD/DVD ROM burning, etc. - the works if possible. But I guess like all cases, the swiss army knife does a lot of things good but not all things excellent? Sounds like Roxio EMC is the closest thing to the best all-in-one solution but will I be dissapointed with the encoding performance? Help!
it sounds like you need a good professional editing program. all these consumer ones are pretty basic and limited. go with the full adobe premiere pro. you can get it for ~$400. If you want to do DVD menu creation, Adobe Encore is the way to go. Getting decent programs like these will save you many headaches in the future.
