i'm using kdenlive on a linux system. it's ok; considering the postings above, it's even more than that. i'm working with fullhd avchd (gf2) and mpegs (dslr). i have not been confronted with lots of problems, sometimes there are some stability issues and minor other problems. there is an integrated autosave / recover system, that works very well. all in all, i recommend kdenlive. http://www.kdenlive.org/

@Kihlian Looking forward to seeing what comes out of the realtime effects department. My initial experiences with file support a few months back kept me from spending much time with it.

Honestly, what @subco says about how much you can do with some of the inexpensive software is very true. Vegas Platinum is also cheap enough that my hands-on clients can buy it so that we can throw projects back and forth between our systems. That is simply not the case for the more expensive software (FCP, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, etc.) At the same time, if I train someone on Vegas Platinum, they can start using Vegas Pro right off the bat without any "that doesn't work anymore" caveats: just some feature additions. :)

@WK Has GPU acceleration:

http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=179

and:

http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=182

read the line: Powerful, realtime effects

Another thing will be (in the near future) the first editor on Windows, Mac and Linux, like Gimp and the 3D program Blender (all two free). Since I already use the last two I can choose which operating system I want.

I was referring to the new Lightworks, i.e. version 11. Re-wrapping is exactly what I tried, but it's not fooled by the change of container, it actually checks the codec. And audio must be converted because it can't handle AC3, not even in the new Pro version. To keep using the free version, the solution I see for now is to re-encode perhaps in that Matrox MPEG2 all I-frames HD codec that LW let's you also export to. Or maybe some other codec. I'll have to try that later.

Works with .mts files from GH2, on 2 July will also come out a pro version for 64bit systems. I must say works very well with the files from the GH2, faster than mi previous PP CS4, the logic it´s hard to understand at the beginning but after this the editing work goes very fast. They also will maybe this year Release the source code, after this interesting things could be developed for it (I hope so). Had some limitations (when changing the speed of a clip do not automatically change the length of this and if you import a photo it makes it the project size, you couldn´t zoom in or out, could not import footage with different fps)

No AVCHD, no quicktime h264 (i tried to fool it), and no Title tool in Lightworks free. me no likey Pro is 60$ per year. Actually the known issues for ver 11 pro says AVCHD with AC3 audio has problems to import

I for one, am ready for Lightworks.

After a hugely successful 18-month beta program, EditShare is pleased to announce the official release of Lightworks, the world-class NLE, on the 28th May 2012.

The hotly anticipated release of Lightworks includes a host of new features for editors, resulting in a lightning-fast NLE that runs on wide range of PC hardware. Completely re-architected and optimised for multi-platform deployment, this will be the first time a professional NLE has been available for free, with a low cost upgrade for the pro version.

New Multicore Media Engine

With a brand new Multicore Media Engine, Lightworks now includes support for advanced Long-GOP editing, offering real-time performance for all the main Long-GOP camera formats (H.264 and MPEG-2) and also XDCAM EX, XDCAM HD, AVCHD and HDV.

Editshare EMEA Managing Director James Richings said:

“We’re really excited about the developments over the past few months. Although we are a little behind our original release schedule, we think the wait has been worth it. We are now able to release Lightworks with more features that will appeal to every type of editor.”

Richings went on to say:

“We didn’t know quite what to expect when we first released the Beta version of Lighworks. But 16 months on we have over a quarter of a million registered users and 30,000 new downloads every month - and that’s before we release the Linux and OS X versions!

“We’re taking Lightworks right to the top. We’re speeding up our recruitment of developers, and we’re making it easier for broadcasters, film-makers and educational establishments to get started with Lightworks. With our built-in Project Sharing, Lightworks is incredibly scalable, integrating perfectly with our world-class shared storage and workflow solutions”.

New Features

• Very wide format support including AVCHD, H.264, AVC-Intra, DNxHD, ProRes, Red R3D, DPX, XDCAM HD 50, XDCAM EX, DVD, BluRay, 4K support. (DNxHD available for a single additional payment)
• Support for all popular camcorder and DSLR video
• Native real-time title generator
• Improved interoperability – including AAF with Avid and Editshare Flow
• Major improvements to Drag-and-Drop in the timeline
• Trimming enhancements
• Automatic Edit backups
• Better Import and Export windows: more options, easier to use
• Shared Projects
• Stereoscopic workflow

A new Lightworks website and the Lightworks Community will be launched on 28th May:

http://www.lwks.com

The Lightworks Website has been completely reworked. There will be an Online Store for lightworks-related products, such as Lightworks keyboards and consoles, and a new Lightworks Community with professional profiles, specialist user groups, community events, multi-lingual chat, messaging, video showcases and a multitude of features that will help Pro users connect and contribute to the creative life of the Lightworks Community.

Pricing and Availability

• Lightworks: Free Available 28th May 2012
• Lightworks Pro: $60 per year Available 28th May 2012

I have tested lightworks. Yes, you have to get a new approach to how things happening if you use anther editor, but this is the easy part. The problem is that till now you may have many codec imprt-transcode-export problems. They really doing great improvements but i wont use it for everyday jobs. I suggest a linux distribution if someone has an older pc and wants everything free. You can make a partition on your disk if you can not uninstall windows and install the linux distribution. The same for MAC users You can find multimedia dedicated linux distr. or you can choose only the programms that you really need. Kdenlive, cinerrella, avidemux and don't forget Blender for "deeper" editing. Yes, they have their "specialities" but don't forget that they are totaly free and keep going to be and they have the support from a very huge community!!! Try it!!!

@Alfi666

We have some topic about this. Try to search for Lightworks. And it is not really simple editor :-)

As far as personal experiences, Vegas generally scaled better with the hardware I used than Premiere Pro, but with two caveats.

1) Vegas Studio (at least as of version 11) scales well with internal hardware up to 4 cores. It does not support more cores or make (meaningful) use of GPU acceleration. Vegas Pro 11 addresses both these complaints beautifully.

2) No version of Vegas support as many professional add-in cards as Premiere Pro. But in comparing Premiere Pro CS 5.5 and Vegas Pro 11, Vegas both supports acceleration with wider assortment of GPUs (almost any OpenCL card for Vegas Pro vs an approved list of CUDA cards for Premiere Pro).

3) No version of Vegas runs natively in OS X. If you don't want to deal with Windows or Windows emulation, Vegas obviously can't take advantage of the system.

If you do end up upgrading to Vegas Pro from Vegas Studio, adding a OpenCL GPU for as little $60 U.S. can improve playback and render performance by as much as 4 to 5 times in my experience with an 8GB AMD 1090T system (though this is VERY project dependent). But whatever editor you choose, keep in mind that you hard drive/SSD can quickly become the bottleneck on a project and make a bigger difference than your GPU.

I've been testing out the Sony Vegas HD Studio 11 and Platinum 11 versions...the great thing is you get a free trial period for each different version.