Looking Adobe Premier / Sony Vegas alternatives !

Question

I'm thinking about going amateur-ish into video editing, and before I start wasting hundreds of bucks, I'd like to learn a bit.

I can work pretty well with VirtualDub, AviDemux and Handbrake. But I'm looking for something more along Adobe Premier and / or Sony Vegas.

Are there open source / freeware alternatives to Adobe Premier and / or Sony Vegas?

I'm using Win7 btw. and am willing to use Linux IF absolutely necessary (which would mean I'd have to first learn how to operate with Linux)

Answer 1

Interestingly enough, all the "good" free video editors are on Linux. The only decently stable Windows freebie is Windows Live Movie Maker. On Linux, there's PiTiVi (the one that now comes with Ubuntu), OpenShot (which some dub "the only usable free video editor), KDenLive (which is as of now the most stable and feature-full of them all, but seems to be hated a little), Kino (which is quite unusual), and LiVES. My advice for a Linux program is OpenShot or KDenLive.

Another thing to address is that you're unfamiliar with Linux. You can run Linux from an emulator (like Portable Ubuntu) but then that's not too bright an idea when editing video, so to recommend a good starter Linux distro, try Linux Mint.

Just FYI, the term for this kind of software is a "Non-Linear Editor" or NLE. Makes very little sense, but...

Answer 2

Ever tried Cinelera? It's a pain in the ass, and may not have all the drivers, but I'm sure it would work with Ubuntu.