iMovie or Final Cut Express

[CappyAA]

Ok so what's the big differences between the two? I am buying a new iMac shortly. I do some video editing, but nothing serious. The extent of my video editing would be putting up videos on YouTube or putting movie clips together from my camcorder to make funny movies of my friends and me.

I guess my main question is - FC Express is $200. What am I getting extra for that $200 over iMovie?

Thanks for the help!
Cappy

 

[Agent Smith]

For what you're doing, iMovie will be fine. IMO, Final Cut Express would be good to get only if you see yourself wanting to do more advanced video editing. Whatever you do, don't forget to also download iMovie 6; it's a free download from Apple for those with iMovie '08.

 

[bmcgonag]

For what you're doing, iMovie will be fine. IMO, Final Cut Express would be good to get only if you see yourself wanting to do more advanced video editing. Whatever you do, don't forget to also download iMovie 6; it's a free download from Apple for those with iMovie '08.

Agreed.

Brian

 

[eRondeau]

iMovie '08 will probably leave you wanting more, and FCE will probably leave you feeling a little overwhelmed. I'd D/L iMovie 6 and use it.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

I would agree with the other comments made. Imovie '08 will make editing movies very easy and quick, but it lacks some functionality that imovie '06 provides (like working with more advanced audio levels). I would have sticked to Imovie '06 if it only was compatible with my sony camera. Now I use Imovie '08 to import movies and do the editing in FCE (90% could have been done in Imovie '06...)

 

[akm3]

For just slapping stuff on YouTube, iMovie '08 is *Exactly* what you need. A lot of people here hate iMovie '08 because it misses a lot of cool features from iMovie '06, but from my perspective as a new user, iMovie '08 is much, much better to just slap stuff together.

I did two projects, one in 06 and one in 08. Yes I could do some neater stuff in 06 but it took FOREVER and wasn't intuitive. Working in 08 was about 4x faster and the end result was just as good (for basic, slap it together throw it on YouTube stuff).

I'd start with '08, if you need more features try '06, if you hate '06, try Final Cut Express.

I think the next update of iMovie, if they add back a lot of the titles and transitions, etc from iMovie '06, then it will really be a killer product. More audio control would be nice too.

 

[Everythingisnt]

Pretty much the same as everyone else said - iMovie should be fine, although I strongly prefer iMovie '06 over '08 for some reason. In any case, downloading it is a MUST.