I would learn Final Cut Pro. Avid is good (used it for many years) but your cost of entry is going to be higher.

As to being the "most widely used software", that's always open for debate.

Final Cut sounds like it's worth learning, but I'm a PC guy so I'll probably learn Final cut after Avid and perhaps Adobe.

I'm already very comfortable in Sony Vegas Pro, which I believe is as capable as any editing software, from what I gather there's no clear winner but each app has pros and cons (although having not used them all I couldn't make an informed opinion).

From the comparisons I've read some are better equipped for multi-cam projects, some have more effects/plugins and others have a faster workflow etc.

The reason I want to learn other programs: some companies insist you work within a certain program and there's also the possibility of having to jump on board an existing project.

windows movie maker if you want for "banging out half dozen music video edits a week"...



just a joke.

Well you've managed to put out some good edits using it... :)

I have it from enough people to believe Vegas has the fastest workflow, I've been using it for a year now and I'm still getting quicker, it's great for us VJ's.

I just think it would be cool to learn something like Avid, see what I'm missing or not as the case may be...

I have been editing videos over a decade and have used Avid, Premiere, Pinnacle, Vegas, etc.

Avid is solid and works great for full featured films.
Premiere works great but lacks a lot of freedom of manipulation for audio.
Pinnacle... consumer version of video editing.
Vegas has the most features and freedom for manipulation for stretching/compressing audio/video which is what you mainly need when remixing/editing music videos.

I am sure A-Swift will jump in and say Final Cut blows them all away ... and I know a lot of people use it. I have a small amount experience around it so I can't see how much easier and more powerful it would be compared to all the rest including Avid.
I just know it is picky and it is a bit of a process to just compress and line things up at times when in Vegas it is as simple as holding down (CTRL) and dragging the ends of the file. Seconds later... done.

Thanks for your insight Al.

You've confirmed what I've been told about the other programs.

Trouble is the time it would take to learn another editing 'system' I could probably have edited like 20 videos in Vegas, so the question one has to ask is whether it's worth it.

I'm not sure if I want to make a career out of video editing, but it can be very enjoyable.

I've never said FCP was easier because I don't think it is. I do think it's better though. I wouldn't say it blows anything away because it doesn't. I do think that overall, Mac is a much better platform for doing video.

And yes, I do believe that Avid is used on more tv shows than most editors but I'd be willing to bet FCP beats it for feature film work. Vegas and Premiere are literally a no-show for either.

What the post productions houses choose is largely based on how it fits into their workflow and more importantly, how well it can move projects in and out of their facility with the least amount of headaches. Workflow is huge. Individual editor plusses and minuses don't matter so much really. Asset management, support, hardware accelerated editing, seamless offline/online workflow, all these things are a pretty big deal to pros but none of us could give two shits about any of that stuff.

Seriously, how many of us are gonna call support for an editor issue? Most of us didn't even buy our editor legally anyway.