Review by Brian R.

I’ve used a lot of different video editing packages, and this one is fairly standard. I like it a bit better than Pinnacle Studio or Elements, but it’s not as fast as something like Edius or Lightworks, particularly in terms of real-time previews and being able to actively edit video without having to constantly try to re-render the timeline.

The layout and controls are cleaner and a bit more intuitive than Pinnacle, though complete beginners won’t find it as easy as something like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. The out put and file formatting is also easier and pretty flexible with decent results. I did find it a bit odd in that using the arrow keys skipped clips rather than scrubbing the timeline, and cutting clips wasn’t as straightforward. Add to that that menu items don’t show the keyboard shortcuts, so you’ll need to refer to the manual to get up to speed.

For home movies, exporting youtube videos and the like, it’s fine. Transitions and menu items, DVD/BD formatting and all that make it an easy all-in-one package. Lightworks and Edius are much harder to learn, have less options, and are considerably more expensive if you want all the same features, however they offer better stability, performance and professional/semi-pro features.