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PC Software:
As mentioned, many software packages for video editing are available for
the PC, although a handful stand out. Probably the most popular choice is
Adobe Premiere (see Figure 2.1), which has been the standard-bearer for
years. Premiere is a professional-level editing suite available for both PC
and Mac. The cross-platform nature gathers many fans, although Premiere
has moved more to the PC side of the equation thanks to Apple’s direct
competition with Final Cut Pro.
Premiere comes heavily bundled with tools to help you create your
videos, such as the Adobe Title Designer for creating professional-looking
titles for your videos and an application called SmartSound QuickTracks,
which lets you create royalty-free soundtracks for your videos. (See
Chapter 10 for more details on audio editing tools.) The Windows version
of Premiere offers special sound-sweetening tools built as DirectX plug-ins
as well as support for Windows Media importing, editing, and optimized
exporting.
One of Premiere’s strengths is its integration with other Adobe products,
not the least of which is Adobe After Effects, an application aimed specifically
at creating video effects. After Effects is popular with the StarWars “fanfic”
(fan fiction) crowd, who always want to make parodies of their favorite
sci-fi epic. Of course, After Effects has many, many other fans, as well—it’s
a wonderful application for adding all sorts of effects to your video. You’ll also find that Premiere works well with other Adobe products such as
Adobe Photoshop and Adobe’s library of fonts and type tools.
Of course, other options are available: another major player, Pinnacle
Software, offers various titles for video editing and DVD burning—Pinnacle
Studio is the home version that’s focused on quick edits and DVD (or video
CD) burning, and the Pinnacle Edition is the prosumerlevel
software for editing larger projects. Pinnacle is also the maker of
Commotion, a popular digital effects tool.
Beyond those are some options at both the higher and lower ends of the
spectrum. Avid (www.avid.com) is the norm for editing in most professional
circles, particularly for film and network television, with prices to match—
from $3000 for Avid Express DV to close to $200,000 for the high-end
commercial tools. Other vendors of high-end systems include Media 100,
NewTek (www.newtek.com), Incite (www.inciteonline.com), and DPS/
Leitch (www.leitch.com). For lower cost options, check out Discreet
Cinestream (www.discreet.com) or Vegas Video (www.sonicfoundry.com).
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