I dont have an iMac, which editing program for PC? Thanks

Premiere is pretty good. Some editors swear by Vegas. Avid is another popular one.

I've used all three...

I didn't like Avid at all...

Premiere is a great program, it's what I use.. But, for as much as it costs, I'd be surprised if your friend is giving up his license so you can take over ownership of it at no cost.

Sony Vegas is decent, though not QUITE as powerful as premiere, it does have most everything you're likely to ever need, and the cost is significantly lower. If you're shooting standard def I know you can buy a copy of vegas from a variety of places online for somewhere around $80.

hehe, yea, well my friend went overseas and picked a couple copies for premiere for a very cheap price. Now that you talk about HD. Do you advice I stick to SD or HD if I would be submitting to a film festival?

Premiere. I have the complete Production Studio Premium. No complaints so far except a compatibility problem I found with the Creative Labs software that came with the X-Fi sound card. Had to remove all the resident controls. Premiere kept crashing with them loaded.

Premiere with After Effects and plug ins is a winner but even as a PC fan all I can say is GET A MAC! Final Cut Pro is simply the best home programme to edit on.

I'd venture a guess that "very cheap overseas" means pirated. The license won't be legit on it. So if you create a project edited on it and sell it, you can be sued for buying stolen goods or something of that ilk. And they can kill the distro of your project and take all potential sales from it into account, and perhaps your rights to the project.

The real license is cheaper..assuming you're trying to get to the point where you're releasing films for external consumption (i.e. film festivals, distribution, etc.)

I suppose my comment on vegas was vague... Vegas can do HDV, and maybe full HD, but the version that includes support for it costs a little more. If you're not concerned with that, you can get a good deal... See here.
The version that handles HDV is closer to $500 I think.

As for festival submission.. Let me ask you this.. if you were going to submit something in HD, what media would you submit on? Regular DVDs aren't really meant for HD, and will only hold 15 minutes or something like that, but I'd guess most festivals at the moment aren't equipped to handle HD DVDs (in either format HDDVD or BluRay).. an HD burner is ridiculously overpriced at present, so that's out... I suppose you could send them a Hard drive, but again it comes to whether they are equipped to handle playback.

You safe bet, to be compatible with the most festivals is to submit in standard def, either on a dv tape or dvd -- as they dictate. Shooting in HD or HDV is great, but at the moment, there's not much you can do with the finished product at that resolution. The film we're working on now I am shooting in HDV. The plan is to keep it at that resolution all the way through the edit, and final coloring, and then render out a standard def master for dvds and festival submissions. whether it stays high def that longer or not remains to be seen, but the point is the final product, at least for now, will be standard def.

Mr. Knightly, I was not aware of that. I was under the impression, "How would they ever find out?"

Mr. Vincent, very interesting. I guess I will just shoot in standard definition.

MelonDome said:

Mr. Knightly, I was not aware of that. I was under the impression, "How would they ever find out?"

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Well.. advertising your intent to use pirated software in a forum would probably give them a pretty strong tip. Don't believe for one second that just because you post without your real name you can't be tracked. Even if that didn't happen, the universe has a way of catching up with you, so one way or another it's always going to be cheaper in the long run to use products obtained in a legit manner. Incidentally, as a student you can get a pretty major discount on the adobe suite, though the usage dictates that you can't use it for a commercial venture -- so even that could bite you in the arse.

MelonDome said:

Mr. Vincent, very interesting. I guess I will just shoot in standard definition.

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There is still a benefit to shooting in a higher resolution to begin with, as it does give you more detail in footage downconverted to standard definition later that footage that is shot in standard def to begin with -- plus when Hi-Def distribution methods become more readily available (probably within the next year to two years at the most) you'd be able to release your film(s) in high def by just outputting a new dvd. That's a good reason to shoot HD (or HDV) and carry that resolution all the way through the post production workflow.. even if it can't be easily output at that resolution now, the future will allow it, and that future is barreling down on us.

I use Avid and Premiere.

If I know I'm not doing something that requires After Effects, I ALWAYS choose Avid. It's a much "crisper" program. At least for me, but I was raised on Avid.

Premiere + After Effects = Win; when it comes to slicing in effects and what not. But, I just can't get into the work flow of Premiere.