To really answer the question of "Buying a Digital Editing Platform", one has to look at hardware as well as software, since a lot of the time it's a matter of getting video off the old video tape, the video camera (analog or digital), a digital camera, or even film! So the first thing to do is to talk about at least three levels of video capture/editing hardware you can buy today that will suit your needs. I'll try to break them down into "Professional" ("Pro"), "Serious Hobbyist" ("Hobbyists") and someone who just wants to get an old VHS tape onto a DVD, let's called them the "Regular People" ("Amateurs", which I don't mean negatively.)
First off, there's several types of output that video devices provide, aside from proprietary ones like Sony's "D-Video" and others. The main ones are:
1. Regular coax cable, which everyone is familiar with: the black cables with the plug that you twist after you get the brass middle bit in the slot. This is pure analog output and not great quality.
2. Composite output: this is common now due to DVD players, and is far superior to coax. It's three "RCA" style plugs, a yellow one for video, and a white/red pair for left/right audio output.
3. S-video: this is the best, and requires a special "DIN" type cable to use, but transmits the most information and is the fastest, although some would argue that unless you're working with high-def (HD) video, composite is just as good.
Video capture and processing hardware for your PC/Mac:
1. Pros: Paradise Media Products makes the Osprey line of video capture cards which are considered the "Cadillac" of the market amongst pros I know. Most if not all of their products work in PCs and Macs, and are expensive but worth the money. You can always start with the simplest and most portable: the Osprey 50, which is a USB-based video capture/input set-up that can take composite or S-video input and capture it through a USB2 port. Not bad for around US $100.
2. Hobbyists: there's a ton of "video capture cards" out there, made specifically for this purpose. Given how inexpensive the Osprey 50 is and that you ultimately just want to get the video into a digital format stored on your computer, I don't know if I'd recommend bothering with a dedicated card any more, if you can buy a USB device and not have to open your computer up.
3. Regulars: many graphic cards that you use to play games or want to have installed so you can get the best video output for when you're editing now offer composite and S-video input and range around US $150. This solves two purposes at once: you can get the video into your computer, and you can display it at the best resolution with the proper colors. NVidia's e-GeForce line is one example of this kind of card.
OK, we've gotten some thoughts about the hardware you might need to get the video into your system for editing. Now on to the editing part itself. There's a ton, and I mean a literal ton of editing, converter, "joining", blah blah software out there, and almost all of it costs between US $20-40 and sucks, if it works at all. I've tried out many, and most crash or don't do the job correctly. It's almost nightmarish. So if you're willing to shell out the bucks, you might want to save yourself the headaches and use what the Pros use:
1. Pros: There's no question what's the Kind of Video Editing programs, available for both Windows and Mac OS X: Adobe Premiere. This is what the pros use. They'll usually buy the whole suite that includes Abobe Aftereffects for messing with the video if you do any type of design work, and Adobe Audition if you want to edit sound to sync with the video. Adobe owns this market, and while pricey, their products deliver. If you're Mac-only, you can use Final Cut or Avid Express, but they're very Mac-specific, and ultimately while some claim they're better or easier to use or offer more features than Adobe's Premiere suite, if you're a pro, you'll go Adobe, because while you might be sitting in front of a Mac at work one day, two months later you may find yourself interviewing for a job at a place that uses Windows PCs, and if you know Adobe, you're covered.
2. Hobbyists: There are three major players in the mid-level market, for those who don't want to shell out the major $$$ for the Adobe suite or its competitors, but find they need more than either Apple or Microsoft's "Movie Maker" offers. The three to check out are:
• Nero Vision Express - Known for their CD/DVD burning software, this gets good reviews and is reasonably priced.
• U-Lead Video Studio - Known more for the software that come bundled with your scanner or video camera, they're made a serious attempt here at a real video editing system, and while the user interface is a but "dumbed down", it offers quite a few features for the price.
• Pinnacle Studio - The most expensive of the three, but closest to the pro stuff. They've been in the business a long time and have survived by sticking to this market, where people are looking for a decent video editing program because "Movie Maker" (either version) doesn't cut it, but again, don't want to shell out major $$$ for the top-end stuff. Probably the best of the three in this category.
3. Amateurs: Both Mac OS X and Windows XP, 2003, and Vista come with their own video editing programs which are usually "good enough" for the amateur to get what they want. On the Mac, there's Apple "Movie Maker", and on the PC, "Windows Movie Maker". They're both basic, simple to use, and while they don't offer a lot of bells and whistles, they actually work and best of all, they're free.
Now, what to do with your video once it's edited? That's a different article, which I'm sure will soon appear on Helium if it's not already here. Cheers, Wink