need advice

[dacow]

Hi,

I am quite new to DV, so I need some advices.

I've tried several programs and methods to transfer my home movies from camcoder to SVCD and here's what I found the best for me - Ulead VideoStudio 6 + firewire card for capture and simple editing and then DVD2SVCD with CCE 2.5 for encoding and SVCD authording. The question is - should I use Adobe Premiere at all? I hear people say it's the best but I don't really need any features like filters or effects. Is there anything I am missing? Or the only good thing about Premiere are effects which normally noone needs? Besides that Premiere is quite complicated and I am always messed up about number of formats and features it supports. And is it always THAT SLOW?

And another question is (which is more about shooting than tech) - is it possible to make smooth, professional looking video with my camcoder (which is Sony DCR-PC9)? What are the factors to make it look like MTV clip? Expensive camera? Lens? Proper lighting? Or any special post-processing?

--cya

[OvERaCiD23]

If you're just doing simple editing (cutting and adding transitions), then Ulead is fine for you. Premiere does feature many more filters/effects, but as you said, many are not necessary for simple edits. I'd say stick to Ulead, as it sounds to fit your needs perfectly.

As for professional looking footage, many things come into play. The first item is to have a perfectly steady camera during shooting, meaning a tripod is a must (smooth, slow pans and little to no zooming during shooting). Good lighting conditions can vastly improve the quality of your footage as well. Post-processing can be implemented as well to create that "professional" look, but if your original footage is of higher quality then less will need to be done in post to bring it up to the standard you're looking for.