Alternative Windows Editing Apps

From MITVWiki

There are several products that will allow you to edit video with more finesse than Windows Movie Maker. They range in price from free to over $1000, and in quality from barely usable to feature-packed.

[edit] Software Reviews

Wikipedia has a Comparison of video editing software and a List of video editing software.
PC Magazine reviews 4 of the top packages.
Top Ten Reviews covers 10 packages under $100.

[edit] Free Editing Software

Jashsaka is an open-source, cross-platform video editor. Not particularly easy to use but the most full-featured open-source offering.
Avid Free DV (No longer available Free DV Discontinued) Was the introductory offering from industry heavyweight Avid. Requires registration to get the download and reported to be somewhat complicated.
JumpCut is a free online video editor from Yahoo. It's not as full-featured as other offerings but is very simple and easy to use. Good for small projects and beginners.
Wax 2.0 is a freeware video editing software for Win32. It uses Windows Movie Maker, VirtualDub and FreeFrame for effects and transitions and allows editing of unlimited video layers and even has some 3D functionality and hardware acceleration support. GUI is a bit grey, but useful.

[edit] Commercial Editing Software

Avid offers a wide range of products. Its top-end offerings, while expensive, are widely used by professional video editors.

Ulead has three video editors. The most basic is DVD Movie Factory, which allows for basic editing and the addition of titles. Next is VideoStudio 10, which offers features like transitions and export to multiple file types. The company's top-end product is MediaStudio Pro, has improved audio editing, color correction, and other advanced features. All Ulead products have free trials, are relatively easy to use and have intuitive user interfaces. Unfortunately, not all of the features work as advertised and customer support is known for being slow to respond to correct known bugs.