Oh boy here we go. I know Premiere is only for Windows and not Amiga OS, that does not make it any less crap. I would not recommend Premiere to anyone even a home user. The crap interface and the render everything attitude of this package has turned off many budding new video editors. Premiere is not fine for the beginner or anyone for that matter, it is crap period. By recommending it to anyone you are just giving him or her a world of frustration. Since you brought up Vegas Video I tried that out and found it's word processor interface to some it up in one word "Lacking". Also the learning curve is too long and it lacks needed features. It has plenty of useless buzzword features though. The problem with many software solutions on Windows is the programmers of these packages don't have a clue about the broadcast video editing/TV industry. Real editors don’t want their video editing software packages to look like word processors with lots of pull down menus and stupid geek terms. They want their video editing hardware/software to look like what it replaces video editing hardware. Switchers, Digital Disk Recorders, Proc Amps, Vectorscopes Etc. That is what has always been so nice about Newtek. Boot up a Video Toaster [2] and bide goodbye to the Windows interface. T[2] looks and acts like what it replaces, editing equipment.
The Flyer also has a wonderful real-time easy to use interface and you don’t to render your video project or effects. In fact this is what hurts many of the DV only solutions, you have to render out to DV tape. A very long process I might add. Also I never said you had to buy decks. MiniDV works fine with the Flyer in fact you get to hook it direct, no TBC required. Can you hookup via Firewire? No but a live feed recorded to the Flyer will look better than the compression DV tape offers anyway. By the way my company does not sell computers or computer equipment. We are a developer and sell only the hardware/software that we develop. I do see complete Video Toaster Flyer systems sell on ebay all the time though for about $1100, a great value for sure. Normally I don’t get involved in on-line debates but Jule was getting pummeled for no reason. Am I trying to say that the PC is not suited for video/editing? Of course not, there are many great packages like Combustion, DFX+ and VT[2] of course but these solutions will cost you and the original poster was asking for Amiga solutions. The SGI also has some killer solutions for video/editing/effects like Flint, Flame and Smoke but you will need about $200,000 to start. As far as needing a switcher, even shooting a simple thing like a graduation requires several cameras to do it right. Your going to save yourself lots of time in post if you take advantage of a real-time switcher. As you pointed out if you find a used Amiga Toaster system at a price close to a new or used Video Toaster [2] system then of course go for the T[2], only a fool would not go for it if the price is about the same. With the announced T[3] software upgrade coming out this system will continue to go from strength to strength. As far as Ami[2] goes (our product that lets you put a T[2] in your Amiga). It only takes advantage of a few of the features of T[2] so does not need a 2Ghz processor. Depending on how well the product is received and how it sells will determine what features we add over time. I think the On-Topic thing to do since this is amiga.org and the original poster asked for Amiga video editing solutions since they hate Windows is to recommend Amiga solutions with the understanding that it is a used system. There is no reason to be Adobe pimp daddys in an Amiga only forum.
Best regards
Bill Panagouleas
DiscreetFX
Founder/CEO
bill@discreetfx.com
www.discreetfx.com
