Video editing software

[Plinko]

I haven't seen a thread on this subject in a long time, so let's have another go around.

I'm looking for recommendations on video editing software (Windows).

The main reason I'm doing this is to make a 5-ish minute video for baby girl's 2nd birthday, though maybe at some point I might do something with the replays I've got saved up). I'd want to be able to bring in pictures, AVI and MOV files (my camera and Mrs. Plinko's iPhone) and layer over music. Addings words is nice, special effects aren't really important as much as being able to open files, cut them into scenes and compile them into a longer file.

I've bought Magix previously and threw it away after a few hours because the interface was more or less garbage.

I'm willing to spend money on it if it gets me a better interface, though probably not more than $200.

Thanks for your input!

[Zork Nemesis]

I used to use a version of Windows Movie Maker that came with my copy of Windows XP. While it's nothing impressive, it allowed me to convert my super huge AVI recordings from my copy of CamStudio into a more sizable file. Granted, I haven't done this in a few years but I recall Windows Movie Maker being relativly easy to use and it was free, as it came with my system.

[bullet4o1]

+2 for Windows Movie Maker. It's free!

[El_Hefe]

movie maker on Win7 is a lot better than other versions of it...

look into Adobe Premiere Elements

[Dog]

I use Premiere Pro CS5.5
On the Alienware laptop, it runs so well and smoothly.

[Plinko]

I will consider Movie Maker since I just installed Win7. Does it play well with MOV files? Most importantly, does it allow me to re-orient the video in them - my wife has a tendency to take video with the iPhone oriented vertically instead of horizontally, it doesn't adjust when I play the videos in Windows so I have to watch them with my head turned.

Premiere is on my radar since I have a fair experience with Adobe products and (used to) do well with them.

[Zork Nemesis]

I don't recall it's compatibility with MOV files, I know Media Player isn't compatible with them without an external plugin (and even then I can't get it to work), so I don't think it is. It may be able to import them, but it will save the final product as a WMV file I believe.

[ketchuo]

Well im not that big on window movie maker, but I do use it since it is free.

[Mortis462]

As said above Movie Maker or Adobe Premier Elements would be perfect for your intended purpose.

If you need files in different formats let me know and I can transcode them to anything you would want at work, it's what I do everyday and would be happy to help out, just let me know.

[BigBiker05]

I used to use the old windows movie maker just fine. I tried using the 2011 version on win7 and I absolutely hated it. It has been so dumbed down I can't figure out how to do anything I want it to do and it keeps trying to edit it itself.

[Dog]

My only problem with WMM is it's ability to crash fairly often, especially when importing large video files.

If you want decent conversion software, check out:
http://www.pazera-software.com/

They do lots of converters, for things like FLV-AVI or MOV-AVI, and can batch convert too.

[Will T.]

My only problem with WMM is it's ability to crash fairly often, especially when importing large video files.

My favorite thing about Win7's version of WMM is that they seem to have FINALLY fixed this. I'm sure it's still possible to make it blow up, but my experience has been very stable thus far.