Cyberlink PowerDirector 7

There isn't much new at the output stage, however. Disc authoring now includes support for 5.1 surround, and that's about the only additional feature. As before, you can write your videos back to DV or HDV tape, and encode to AVI, MPEG-1, 2 and 4, with full control over codec settings. The streaming options of WMV, RealVideo and QuickTime rely on presets, however. The ability to upload to Streamload's MediaMax service has been removed. But the Production Wizard will still link directly into your YouTube account, encoding and uploading straight to the Web.

You can write video back to a hard disk-based camcorder - but this only works if it's made by JVC and shoots in high definition. Also, when outputting, the SVRT smart rendering system now extends to MPEG-4 H.264, so if the file format is the same as the input, only changed portions will require rendering.

It's worth noting that PowerDirector comes in two versions - Ultra and Deluxe - and that only Ultra can create Blu-ray discs and write video back in high definition MPEG-4 formats, including AVCHD content on DVD. And the split means Ultra is now £10 more expensive than PowerDirector 6 used to be, but its ability to read and write every current camcorder video format make it worth the extra outlay.

And now that PowerDirector has the comprehensive editing abilities to back up its file support, it's really starting to feel like a mature video editing application.

Author: James Morris