Review by 12XU

I’ve had issues with Corel products in the past: I’ve aways WANTED to like them, but they’ve always somehow missed the mark. VideoStudio Pro, though, I like quite a bit.

It walks a fine line quite well, packing in a ton of prosumer-level features like excellent stop-motion, motion tracking, variable speed controls and HTML5 support while staying fairly straightforward and easy to learn. So beginners can jump right in and make movies without fear of outgrowing the package too quickly.

I found the interface fairly clean and easy to navigate, though there were moments when it didn’t seem entirely intuitive. However, given the flexibility that VideoStudio Pro offers, this is really not a complaint as much as an observation; there has to be give and take to find balance here. You work in one of three modes: capture, edit, or share - I like this approach, as it keeps everything quite clear for beginners and more advanced users alike.

VideoStudio easily handles pretty much any format I’ve thrown at it, and it can even work with Ultra HD-4K, something that competing products in this price range cannot (good news for GoPro Hero3 Black owners!).

Clip organization is mediocre: a lack of tagging can hobble users’ ability to easily find what they’re looking for, but the rest of the package is quite good. Editing can be done in a basic drag-and-drop style for those looking to get something together quickly and easily, but far more advanced editing is available when you need it. Overall, I prefer the VideoStudio editing experience to Sony Vegas Platinum’s.

I personally dislike most transitions, but if you’re NOT like me you’ll be psyched: there are a ton of them. A really nice selection of effects is available as well (some work better than others, as one might expect), though an upgrade to VideoStudio Ultimate X6 nets a few more that approach real pro quality; the price difference is only a couple of bucks and I’d recommend looking at it.

As I said, I think Corel has struck a great balance here. Beginners can jump in and start editing quickly, while more advanced users can stretch their legs and do some very advanced things. If your budget is under a hundred bucks for a video editing package and you want something that you won’t hit the limits of too quickly (particularly if you’re able to shoot in 4K), it’s tough to go wrong with VideoStudio Pro X6.