Review by Kenneth Depree

I’m an American ex-pat living in Sosua, Dominican Republic. Currently I am doing videos of the musicians who roam Sosua Beach hoping to earn money entertaining beach goers. I’ve been using, and like, the AVS Video Editor but as PowerDirector 12 Ultimate was so highly recommended I decided to give it a try.

It is an impressive program and offers a lot, but it is not for me since what I shoot is pretty straightforward and makes little use of imaginative effects or theme templates. But for someone interested in including those features in their videos, this is most certainly an editor to be considered. It has very rich collection for those using the full editor.

The alternative in Ultiamate is an easy editor where everything is done almost automatically. This editor does an excellent job and produces very fine videos quickly and with little effort on the part of the maker. The problem with this is that you can get the same features in PowerDirector Deluxe with a download of far fewer GBs and a lower price. Because the Ultimate version is so rich in features, it is a very big download. Why add so many GBs to Drive C, or which ever drive your programs are on, if you aren’t going to make use of those features?nnIf all I wanted to do was to take the video from camera and turn it into a video to post on YouTube, Vimeo, etc., then PowerDirector Deluxe would be my choice. However, because I have more control in the editing with AVS Video Editor but without the addition of features I never use, I will stick with what has proved effective for me.

In between Director Deluxe and Director Ultimate is Director Ultra. It is more like Ultimate than Deluxe, the main difference is that Ultimate lets you combine up to videos while with Ultra you work with just the one.

Whichever version you choose, you will get a top notch program with good support, including my tutorials and an actdive helpful, forum. Your choice depends on how you plan to use the program. There is not a big difference in price on Amazon, but there is big difference in the download size.