It's crazy to think that 20 years ago with the first Intel Macs, if you were a Mac user editing videos for non-professional use, your only real option in going beyond iMovie HD was the $300 Final Cut Express, and even then it was still a little daunting and you also didn't get keyframe control for all the effects!
Fortunately, iMovie HD was a very capable editing application for something that came pre-loaded on new Macs with features Windows Movie Maker could only dream of, like more than one audio track, rubberband-style volume editing, customizable video and audio effects, built-in DVD chapter markers, and the Themes. And you could expand the capabilities with some transition and effect plugins (GeeThree Slick even offered a plugin effect where you could do splitscreen, picture-in-picture and chromakey effects as if you had two video tracks!).
The more "daunting" but even more capable Final Cut Express. But back then, as I said, it only imported from DV sources with no batch capture, and you only got keyframes for video motion effects and not any of the "special" video and audio effects.
For professionals 20 years ago, your options were pretty much limited to Apple's own Final Cut Pro Studio and Avid Xpress DV/Pro. (Adobe came out with a Mac-compatible version of Premiere Pro in 2007.)
Apple also used to have a page on their website comparing iMovie, FCE and FCP.
Windows users, on the other hand, had more options that could do more than what Windows Movie Maker ever could, such as Pinnacle Studio Plus, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Adobe Premiere Elements, Ulead VideoStudio and Cyberlink PowerDirector. Costing around $100 each, these provided multitrack video and audio editing (at the time, Premiere Elements was the only one to have 100 video and audio tracks, an impressive feat for a consumer video editing program at that time!), keyframe control, 5.1 surround sound support, HDV editing, even built-in DVD authoring (Studio Plus was known for having such excellent DVD authoring and menu creation from right within the timeline, making DVDs almost as elegant as what iDVD could come up with).
Flash forward 20 years. Today, Mac users have more options when they are ready to go beyond iMovie but aren't ready for expensive professional software yet (not just Final Cut Pro but also Adobe Premiere Pro, BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve (comes in a free version but can still be really daunting to consumers) and Avid Media Composer).
This includes Mac-compatible versions of Adobe Premiere Elements...
Cyberlink PowerDirector...
...and Wondershare Filmora! This one even lets you edit .AVI and .WMV files on a Mac! (.MKV files as well, but PowerDirector for Mac can also handle those as well.)
I've been making videos since high school, nearly 24 years now, and it's fascinating to see how much digital video creation has changed, to the point where we can now shoot 4K video on Smartphones. I also remember how 20 years ago, Apple was definitely marketing the Mac at video editors as part of showcasing the "fun" aspect of those computers, compared to today where they tout the Apple Silicon Macs are fast and energy-efficient for work AND fun, including of course video editing.
Fortunately, iMovie HD was a very capable editing application for something that came pre-loaded on new Macs with features Windows Movie Maker could only dream of, like more than one audio track, rubberband-style volume editing, customizable video and audio effects, built-in DVD chapter markers, and the Themes. And you could expand the capabilities with some transition and effect plugins (GeeThree Slick even offered a plugin effect where you could do splitscreen, picture-in-picture and chromakey effects as if you had two video tracks!).
The more "daunting" but even more capable Final Cut Express. But back then, as I said, it only imported from DV sources with no batch capture, and you only got keyframes for video motion effects and not any of the "special" video and audio effects.
For professionals 20 years ago, your options were pretty much limited to Apple's own Final Cut Pro Studio and Avid Xpress DV/Pro. (Adobe came out with a Mac-compatible version of Premiere Pro in 2007.)
Apple also used to have a page on their website comparing iMovie, FCE and FCP.
Windows users, on the other hand, had more options that could do more than what Windows Movie Maker ever could, such as Pinnacle Studio Plus, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Adobe Premiere Elements, Ulead VideoStudio and Cyberlink PowerDirector. Costing around $100 each, these provided multitrack video and audio editing (at the time, Premiere Elements was the only one to have 100 video and audio tracks, an impressive feat for a consumer video editing program at that time!), keyframe control, 5.1 surround sound support, HDV editing, even built-in DVD authoring (Studio Plus was known for having such excellent DVD authoring and menu creation from right within the timeline, making DVDs almost as elegant as what iDVD could come up with).
Flash forward 20 years. Today, Mac users have more options when they are ready to go beyond iMovie but aren't ready for expensive professional software yet (not just Final Cut Pro but also Adobe Premiere Pro, BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve (comes in a free version but can still be really daunting to consumers) and Avid Media Composer).
This includes Mac-compatible versions of Adobe Premiere Elements...
Cyberlink PowerDirector...
...and Wondershare Filmora! This one even lets you edit .AVI and .WMV files on a Mac! (.MKV files as well, but PowerDirector for Mac can also handle those as well.)
I've been making videos since high school, nearly 24 years now, and it's fascinating to see how much digital video creation has changed, to the point where we can now shoot 4K video on Smartphones. I also remember how 20 years ago, Apple was definitely marketing the Mac at video editors as part of showcasing the "fun" aspect of those computers, compared to today where they tout the Apple Silicon Macs are fast and energy-efficient for work AND fun, including of course video editing.
