Comparison of video editing software

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.

Contents

[edit] General information

This table gives basic general information about the different editors:

Developer Year of first release Year of latest release Latest version List price (USD) License
Adobe Premiere Pro Adobe Systems 2003 2007 CS3 (3.2) $799 Proprietary
Adobe Premiere Elements Adobe Systems 2004 2007 4.0 $100 Proprietary
Avid Free DV Avid  ?  ? 1.8 Free (No Longer Available) Proprietary
Avid Xpress DV Avid 2000  ? 4.8 No longer Available Proprietary
Avid Xpress Pro Studio HD Avid 2003  ? 5.8 $1695 Proprietary
Avid Liquid Avid 2003  ? 7.2 $999 Proprietary
Avid Media Composer Avid 1989  ? 2.8 $2495 Proprietary
Avidemux 2007 2.41 Free GPL
Blender Blender 1998 2008 2.46 Free GPL
Cinelerra Heroine Virtual 2002 2006 2.1 Free GPL
EDIUS Pro/Broadcast Canopus 2002 2007 4.52 $699/$999 Proprietary
Final Cut Express Apple 2003 2007 4 $199 Proprietary
Final Cut Studio 2 Apple 1999 2007 6 $1299 Proprietary
FORscene Forbidden Technologies 2004  ? 15 April 2007 from $2/hour Proprietary
iMovie Apple 1999 2007 7.1 $79 (as part of the iLife suite); free on new Macs Proprietary
Kdenlive Open Source Community 2002 2007 0.5 Free GPL
Kino Open Source Community 2000 2008 1.3.0 Free GPL
LiVES Salsaman 2002 2007 0.9.8.2 Free GPL
MainActor MainConcept 2004 2007 5.5 $199 (No longer available) Proprietary
Media 100 Media 100 (now part of Boris FX) 2006  ? 11.6.3 $1495.00 Proprietary
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite Pinnacle Systems (now part of Avid) 2000 2007 11 $129.99 Proprietary
Pinnacle Studio Pinnacle Systems 2007 2008 1.1 Free Proprietary
Serif MoviePlus Serif (Europe) Ltd. 2003 2006 5.1.1.27 $79.99 Proprietary
Sony Vegas Sony Media Software  ? 2007 8.0b $449.96 Proprietary
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Ulead Systems (now part of Corel Corporation)  ?  ? 8.1 $399.99 Proprietary
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Ulead Systems (now part of Corel Corporation) 2007  ? 11 $99.99 Proprietary
VirtualDub Avery Lee  ? 2008  ? Free GPL
VirtualDubMod  ? 2005  ? Free GPL
Windows Movie Maker Microsoft 2000  ? 6.0.6000.16386 Bundled with Windows Proprietary
Developer Year of first release Year of last release Latest version List price (USD) License

[edit] System requirements

This table lists the operating systems that different editors can run on without emulation, as well as other system requirements. Note that minimum system requirements are listed; some features (like High Definition support) may be unavailable with these specifications.

Windows Mac OS X Unix Processor RAM HDD
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes (as of CS3) No 1.4 GHz, SSE2 compatible processor 1 GB / 2 GB when editing HD 4 GB
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes No No SSE2 compatible processor 512 MB 4 GB
Avid Free DV Yes Yes No 933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC 1 GB  ?
Avid Xpress DV Yes Yes No 933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC 1 GB 20 GB
Avid Xpress Pro HD Yes Yes No Pentium 4, PowerMac G5 1 GB 20 GB
Avid Liquid Yes No No Pentium 4 or higher 1 GB 20 GB
Avid Media Composer Yes Yes No Pentium 4 or higher 2 GB 20 GB
Blender Yes Yes Yes 600 MHz 128 MB 20 MB
Cinelerra No Yes Yes 500 MHz 256 MB  ?
EDIUS Pro/EDIUS Broadcast Yes No No Pentium 4 3.0 GHz+ 1 GB 800 MB
Final Cut Express No Yes No 500 MHz 384 MB 1 GB
Final Cut Studio No Yes No 1.25 GHz G4, Intel Core Duo or Xeon 1 GB 4 GB Apps
FORscene Yes Yes Yes N/A 256 MB Any
iMovie HD No Yes No PPC G4 or faster, Intel based Macs 256 MB 10 GB
LiVES No Yes Yes 800 MHz 128 MB 10 GB
Kdenlive No No Yes 600 MHz 256 MB 1 GB
MainActor Yes No Yes 700 MHz 128 MB  ?
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite Yes No No 1.4 GHz 512 MB 1.7 GB
Pinnacle VideoSpin Yes Yes No 1.4 GHz 512 MB 150 MB
Serif MoviePlus Yes No No Pentium II or AMD Athlon XP 128 MB 149 MB
Sony Vegas Yes No No 1.0 GHz 1.0 GB 200 MB
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes No No 800 MHz 256 MB 800 MB
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes No No Pentium 4 or higher 256 MB 1 GB
Merging Technologies VCube Yes No No Pentium 4 or higher 512 MB 800 MB
Video Edit Magic / Express Yes No No 500 MHz or higher 256 MB 200 MB
Windows Movie Maker Yes No No 1 GHz for best performance 128 MB 2 GB
Windows Mac OS X Unix Processor RAM HDD

"Unix" includes the similar Linux, BSD and Unix-like operating systems.

[edit] High definition import

The table below indicates the ability of each program to import various High Definition video formats for editing.

720p HDV 1080i HDV DVCPRO HD Uncompressed HD IMX AVCHD
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes (3rd party)
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes No No No No
Avid Media Composer Yes Yes  ?  ?  ? Yes
Avid Xpress DV No No No No No
Avid Xpress Pro Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Avid Liquid Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Blender Yes Yes No Yes No
Cinelerra Yes Yes  ? Yes  ?
EDIUS Neo Yes Yes No No No
EDIUS Pro Yes Yes No No No Yes
EDIUS Broadcast Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Final Cut Express Yes Yes No No No Yes
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
FORscene Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
iMovie HD Yes Yes Yes (3rd party) No No Yes
LiVES Yes Yes  ? Yes  ?
Kdenlive Yes Yes  ? Yes  ?
MainActor  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite Yes Yes No No No
PowerDirector  ?  ?  ?  ?  ? Yes
Serif MoviePlus Yes Yes ? ? No
Sony Vegas Yes Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes (Sony Cameras Only)
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes Yes  ? Yes No
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes Yes  ? Yes No Yes
Merging Technologies VCube Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Video Edit Magic  ?  ? No  ? No
Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes No No No No
720p HDV 1080i HDV DVCPRO HD Uncompressed IMX AVCHD

[edit] Feature set

High Definition support Non-destructive editing Full-screen playback Storyboard mode Video tracks Audio tracks / max channels Timecode display
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes Yes, on separate monitor Yes 99 99 Yes
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes Yes Yes 99 99 Yes
Avid Xpress DV  ? Yes Yes Yes 8 tracks, unlimited layers 8 tracks, unlimited layers Yes
Avid Xpress Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes 24 tracks, unlimited layers 24 tracks, unlimited layers Yes
Blender Yes
(via ffmpeg)
Yes Yes No Unlimited Unlimited / 2 No
Cinelerra Yes
(any resolution)
Yes Yes No Unlimited Unlimited / 16 Yes
EDIUS Neo Yes Yes Yes No unlimited realtime layers unlimited realtime layers Yes
EDIUS Pro/EDIUS Broadcast Yes Yes Yes, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime No unlimited realtime layers unlimited realtime layers Yes
Final Cut Express Yes Yes Yes Yes, in the Media Browser 99 per sequence 99 / 2 per sequence Yes
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes Yes Yes, in the Media Browser 99 per sequence 99 / 24 per sequence Yes
FORscene Input only Yes Yes (podcasts) Beta test 2 4 Yes
iMovie HD Yes Yes Yes Yes 1 2 Yes
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes
LiVES Yes
(any resolution)
Yes
(multitrack mode only)
Yes No Unlimited 1 / 2 Yes
MainActor  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Serif MoviePlus Yes Yes Yes, & on separate monitor or TV Yes, partial Unlimited Unlimited No
Sony Vegas Yes

(any resolution)

Yes Yes, on separate monitor No Unlimited Unlimited/Max Channel 16 Yes
Pinnacle Studio ((yes)) Yes Yes Yes 2 4 Yes
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes Yes Yes, on separate monitor  ? 99  ? Yes
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 9 Yes
Merging Technologies VCube Yes Yes Yes, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime No Unlimited Tracks and Layers Unlimited / 16 Yes
Video Edit Magic / Express  ? Yes Yes No 2 / 1 (Express) 2 / 1 (Express) No
Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes Yes Yes 1 1 Yes
HD Non-destructive Full-screen Storyboard Video tracks Audio tracks Timecode display

[edit] Output options

DVD High Definition Smart phone Java phone QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes (Blu-Ray)  ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  ?
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes (Blu-Ray) Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Avid Xpress DV Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No  ?
Avid Xpress Pro Yes Yes (Blu-Ray) No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No  ?
Blender No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No
Cinelerra Yes  ?  ?  ? Yes Yes Yes Yes  ? Yes  ?  ?
EDIUS Pro/Broadcast Yes No  ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No  ?
Final Cut Express Yes No Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes No (as of 2.5) Yes Yes  ? Yes
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes  ? Yes
FORscene No No Yes Yes Yes (MPEG 2) Yes (MPEG 2) ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes
iMovie HD Yes No Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes No Yes Yes Yes (with .Mac) Yes
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  ?
LiVES Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No  ?
Serif MoviePlus Yes ? No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes  ?
Sony Vegas Yes Yes (Blu-Ray) No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No  ?
Pinnacle Studio Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No  ?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes Yes Yes (via plug-in) Yes (via plug-in) Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes (with DropShot)  ?
Merging Technologies VCube Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? No  ?
Video Edit Magic Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Windows Movie Maker Yes No Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes (WMV only) No No
DVD High Definition Smart phone Java phone QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting

[edit] Target market

Consumer Prosumer Professional
Least
expensive




Most
expensive

Kino
Pinnacle VideoSpin
Avid Free DV
Windows Movie Maker
Clesh
iLife
Ulead VideoStudio
Canopus EDIUS Neo
iMovie
Adobe Premiere Elements
Pinnacle Studio

LiVES

Kdenlive
MainActor
Final Cut Express
Avid Xpress DV
Canopus EDIUS Pro

Blender

Cinelerra
FORscene
Ulead MediaStudio Pro
Sony Vegas
Canopus EDIUS Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
Canopus EDIUS Broadcast
Final Cut Studio

Avid Xpress Pro
Merging Technologies VCube
Avid Media Composer

[edit] See also

[edit] External links