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This movie talk has prompted me to ask if anyone has a Video Software recommendation that runs on MS-XP.

I was using Ulead Videostudio10 plus. Videostudio10 plus was pretty powerful software that had some very frustrating bugs. Luckily, I found a website that explained how to use the software way better then the manual as I was a complete beginner. The manual sucked to say it nicely.

I know there is a new Videostudio10 plus version by now that I can upgrade to, but I wanted to ask if anyone else has a recommendation.

Thanks,

your mo-chine should have "Window's Movie Maker" on it... it's nothing super fancy but that's what I use... quick, easy and painless.

I use CyberLink PowerDirector. But there's a lot to be said for sticking with the software you know (Ulead) and that works on your computer.

Video editiing software is notorious for computer crashing. I think several things can reduce crashes.

1. Reboot your system and don't have a lot of other software running. This will help maximize the amount of memory (RAM) your software has available to it.

2. Don't be impatient. If your software is slow in processing something, wait it out. Clicking other commands while it's processing a different command can lead to crashes.

3. Save your work every few minutes. Some programs can be set up to do this automatically. That way, if the program crashes, you don't lose a lot of the work you've already done.

4. Video editing software loves fast, multi-core processors and lots of memory. On multi-core systems, it will run best on newer systems running Vista or Windows 7 that can help take advantage of parallel processing opportunities. That said, for a long time I worked on a computer with just a Pentium 4 processor, XP, and 2GB of RAM and was perfectly happy. It did take a long time to render though. The trick there is to start the process late at night so it can work while you sleep.

milkman, good points and I did follow them for the most part. I still wonder if all the program crashes caused my HD to fail? I did push the software capabilities by creating a long video using many of the features the software had to offer.

You are right, to learn a new system will take time, which almost makes me not want to make another movie. I went through a painful learning curve to get this software to work, thank god for the VideoStudio forum I found.

Can you compare Cyber Power Director to VideoStudio?

I tried to read some reviews, but I don't trust first timer reviews, most beginners do not have a clue about the process.

I use Sony Movie Studio now, after suffering through several iterations of Pinnacle. The interface isn't nearly as friendly as Pinnacle (it'll probably be years before I can use all its features) but it never crashes.

Cyberdirector does seem to be the current hot setup right now though.

http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

I use the Adobe CS4 suite (Premier Pro, After Effects, Encore and Soundbooth)

I find that having the Editiing and the post processing seperate is actually more managable, and aftereffects is very powerful, yet easy to use. Having both Sound and DVD authoring software integrated into the package is also extremely useful.

Well, the good thing is that once you've been through the learning curve, you've been through the learning curve.

I think longer movies are more prone to crashes because you're using up more system memory and resources as you work on them. That's why I suggest frequent saves.

I doubt the software and movie making ruined your hard drive. Drives simply fail. Obviously, the older and more use they get, the more likely they are to have a mechanical failure. (A good solution for that is a two-disk RAID system where one disk constantly mirrors the other. If one drive fails, the other has got everything on it, so there's no data loss. That's what I'm using now.)

Moving to another editing program probably wouldn't be that hard. They all seem to work with timelines and have similar features. When I switched from one to another, I found it wasn't that big of a deal. I quickly picked it up. Ulead may have different bells and whistles you like that PowerDirector may not. What I haven't liked in PowerDirector is how hard it is to make a good opening screen and menu for a DVD. Their system lacks flexibility. Or I lack patience. Since I post most of my videos to the web, it's not that big of a deal. Unfortunately, I have no experience with Ulead except I did use their photo-editing solution for a while and liked it.

I bought PowerDirector because it seemed to be rated highest in the reviews. The good thing is these programs aren't that expensive. If you don't like them, you're not out hundreds of dollars. You're probably just out a hundred bucks.

Longest movie I've done so far with PowerDirector was 25 minutes and it went smoothly.

Consider Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Reportedly rock-solid and fairly priced. The "Platinum Pro Pack" has more features than you'll ever use. If you want to spend big bucks Vegas Pro is the way to go.

Craig Smerda wrote:your mo-chine should have "Window's Movie Maker" on it... it's nothing super fancy but that's what I use... quick, easy and painless.

I just used this. Thanks for letting me know that I have it I've never used any video software before & this was easy. The weird part is that when you start clipping sections out, the clock reflects that & you've got to do some math to figure out where you wanted to make your cuts. It downgraded the quality some. I did not change the audio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR9Jfd8QPP4

PAC, this was shot w/ my Pentax Optio WS80. I just set it on a rock & let 'er roll.

Use Linux and Cinelerra together with avidemux