May 16, 2007
If you are going to make home movies from your camcorder footage, you need more than Windows Movie Maker or the free video editors that come with some camcorders. That is especially true if you plan to put those movies on DVD.
For under $100, you can buy excellent video editors with DVD designers from a variety of companies like Pinnacle, Ulead, Adobe and Roxio (Sonic Solutions). They all have the features you need and their own individual style.
My favorite by far is Sony's Vegas Movie Studio+DVD. It is priced at $90; a free trial download is available at the site. The Platinum edition ups the price by $30 and adds a variety of features including basic color correction.
The Sony Software products are from its
Sony Creative Software subsidiary in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison is the home of Sonic Foundry,
which sold its Desktop Software Division to Sony in 2003. Sony notwithstanding, these products are all made in America!
If you are looking for the heavy duty version, check out Vegas+DVD. It's the bargain-priced professional video editor at $560 but don't let the price fool you. It competes very well with much more expensive products like Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro.