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Cheap(er) alternatives to Premiere Pro

Hey all,
I've recently acquired a PC and now need something to be able to edit on. A quick google search reveals that Premiere Pro (the benchmark?) is way out of my current price range. Are there any alternatives that you might recommend? I see there are a couple of 'free' programs on the 'net (Openshot, Avidemux, VirtualDub), I am skeptical of their quality though. The cheaper the price the better of course, but I still want to be able to have multiple video/audio tracks and have access to some basic effects too. I've heard Sony Vegas mentioned here and there, anybody care to vouche for it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Premiere Elements 10 should be able to had for about $40-$50, Premiere Elements 11 for $75. I'd spend a few extra bucks and get PE11. I'm currently using Premiere Elements 10, and it works fine for simple work. There's not much of a difference content wise, but the layout has been revamped into what I see as an improvement.

I'm looking to start using Creative Cloud, I can't sack up to spending $800 at one time for Premiere Pro CS6. I can't even justify spending $500 at one time on the CS5 version. $30 a month(yay student discount) is do able for me, that's less than a shift of work for month long access to not just Premiere Pro, but also After Effects.
 
What Artificial said is what I currently have. $15 (i began mine during a deal) a month is heaps better than forking it out.

At student prices you can pick up a full copy of the production premium (includes premiere, after effects, photoshop, flash etc) for around $300 which is what I recommend EVERY student if you think you are serious. IMO from the others I've used the others aren't up to scratch and if you do get another THEN upgrade you will wonder why you didn't...

I haven't heard of Lightworks but did just have a look, and it seems quite decent, probably worth checking out
 
At student prices you can pick up a full copy of the production premium (includes premiere, after effects, photoshop, flash etc) for around $300 which is what I recommend EVERY student if you think you are serious. IMO from the others I've used the others aren't up to scratch and if you do get another THEN upgrade you will wonder why you didn't...

The lowest I could find it was for $400, if you could point out where to get it for $300 that would be fantastic. Either way, I think I'm gonna just use Creative Cloud or use Premiere Pro montly till the Spring. I won't have much time to devote towards film and videos will I'm in school. But, once Spring semester is over I plan on ordering Production Premium from New Egg and using their 6 month financing(maybe I'll find something computer related I "need" for another $100 so I can get 12 months to pay it off).

Sony Movie Studio Platinum Suite 12 is another option to consider, both for myself and the OP. I'm gonna download the trial, see how I like it. If it's an improvement over Elements 10, which it seems like it will be, I'll probably snag it instead of using Creative Cloud until late spring when I'm ready to amp up my production.
 
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After a brief stint on movie maker and pinnacle studio I learnt all my editing skills on Premiere Pro CS3, I'm not sur what CS2 is like what that doesn't like something definitely worth checking out! The a chance some of the codecs maybe out of date.

Artificial I got my prices in Australia. So the US or wherever Akron is very well might be more expensive. But in the US I'm pretty sure I've seen it cheaper. To be exact I got it for $315, and that was CS4 but I'm fairly certain it's still similar
 
I'm downloading CS2 Premiere Pro as I type, can't wait to see what it has to offer.

In other news, I found CS5.5 Premiere Pro for $80 or I can get CS5.5 Production Premium for $325. I'm gonna pick up premiere pro whenever, if ever, I determine CS2 is no longer serving my needs well enough.
 
Technically, adobe didn't make it free... it's free to current license holders. They are doing away with their authentication servers for that product and are providing a way for their paying customers to continue to use their product... so they've designated a serial number for those customers which you may note is right next to the download links on that page.

So technically, using this software without having a valid license is piracy, and we try not to promote piracy here -- there was ALOT of buzz and news coverage on this one! Rumors of a huge move by Adobe, then their retraction, the link down, then the link back up... exciting news day :)
 
Who'll ask which software we used? I'm not telling that I'm doing piracy but just out of curiosity will someone really ask about the softwares we used and that whether they are pirated or not?
 
Who'll ask which software we used? I'm not telling that I'm doing piracy but just out of curiosity will someone really ask about the softwares we used and that whether they are pirated or not?

Generally not... but if you make something and make a profit from it, but get audited, you've potentially lost not only the profits that you have to pay back, but the product can become the property of the company who's software you stole. I'm not willing to risk that for my projects as I'd be knowingly letting down everyone who worked on my film with me (generally 40-50 people).

This, however, isn't a discussion about piracy, it's about legitimate software options for the OP.
 
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