Im new to non-linear editing having just built my first full non- linear system from scratch. Thats scratch as in bare mother board, case, CPU, RAM Drives, etc. Here's my 2 cents worth.(posted 9261 days ago)Premier is a good program - so is Uleads Media Studio Pro.
I have Ulead MS Pro full version. It came bundled with my DV Raptor card. What? You haven't heard of this card? DV in/out via Firewire into PC. Has separate Y-C output to monitor. Uses camera CODEC to "make" picture to send simultaneously to the monitor and to the computer. Batch capture, etc. very nice. And only $599.00. Actually I paid a wee bit less as a "distributor". It was either that of wait. You'll begin to see DVRaptor card reviews soon.
Look at the edit solution altogether.
How much money do you have? I had about $5,000. The computer cost me approximately $3,800 plus the parts I already had. The $3,800 included the DVRaptor card. Uleads software does pretty much the same as Premiers. The plugins from Premier are usable in Uleads MS Pro, also. One situation I noticed at the time I purchased the DVRaptor card was that Premier rendered everything to a separate file, requiring additional storage space, as well as time.
The Ulead MS Pro renders only transitions and effects outputting from the timeline using a program called "SmartPlay". Canopus supplies the required additional software to use the DVRaptor card with MSPress. NO additional storage for massive rendered files is required. This means you save money on storage. I've currently got 30 GB online for about 150 minutes. I dont know if this has changed with Premier, but it IS a big point to consider. Check it out.
If you have a computer yet and are thinking of saving money by building one, e-mail me at the above e-mail address and Ill send you the specs for my system.
You can get a demo copy of PREMIER from Adobe at:
http://www.adobe.com
Uleads MS Pro demo is also available at URL:
www.ulead.com
Both are free with disables saves, etc. Try before you buy, but dont be swayed by price. There are both competitive dollar wise. Evaluate all considerations , specs, costs, speed, etc, and of course YOUR specific requirements before making a decision.
I personally wanted a DV Rex card, and Speed RAZOR, but I spent a little too much on the computer. The FAST DV card is a good choice as is Speed RAZOR for software. Both are higher end products. The DVREX gives the FAST DV card a run for the money. Pretty much the same cost, but the REX uses BOTH the built-in AND software CODECs to render, AT THE SAME TIME! Check out the DVREX specs at URL:
http://www.canopuscorp.com
Good luck!
Teddy J.