Adobe Premiere Pro
This is not the same Adobe Premiere many of you know and may or may not love. Premiere Pro is a complete re-write of the code, from the ground up. It looks different, it operates differently and it definitely performs differently. Gone are the days when you required 3rd party hardware in order to get productive results. Premiere Pro can now stand alone as a powerful and feature rich real-time NLE. That said, you can still gain additional features and real-time performance by adding hardware like the Matrox RTX100 Xtreme Pro or Canopus DV Storm 2.

Sony Pictures Vegas 4
Vegas 4 has got to be one of the best kept secrets in the industry. I've been a big fan of Vegas since version 2.0. With 3.0 they added some cool real-time performance. With 4.0 they got it right. How right you ask? Good enough to get Sony's attention and have it be the cornerstone of a technology purchase from Sonic Foundry. At the time this article is being written, Sony has not yet unleashed the full power of its marketing muscle and brand name. By the time you read this it should be starting. The future for Vegas looks very bright indeed.

Avid Xpress Pro
You knew it was just going to be a matter of time before Avid took the core feature set of Xpress DV and moved it upstream. With the introduction of Xpress Pro they have done just that. Not only have they added several new features that more professional Avid editors have been craving, but they've also added cool new tools that prosumer and home users will love. The new multi-camera support is sure to be a big hit with event videographers, and the automatic expert color correction insures your video will always look great – even if you can't take the time to color correct it yourself.