Ulead VideoStudio 6

VideoStudio 6 looks very different to previous versions. The tacky 'boom box' look is gone, and the video monitor has been enlarged to provide an excellent preview screen, which can be expanded further to occupy most of the work area. Overall, VideoStudio looks far more businesslike.

While the capture settings in previous versions were awkward and potentially confusing for the beginner, version 6 is far more intuitive, with key options brought to the fore and easily explained. For capture via FireWire, VideoStudio provides full device control and, unlike most programs at this level, has a basic batch capture interface too. Unfortunately, batch lists can't be saved and must be used immediately or lost. Video from DV or analog sources can also be captured as VCD, SVCD or DVD-compliant MPEG files. MPEG-2 captured via FireWire was average, but results will depend greatly on the level of detail and movement in the source footage.

Editing can be done on a storyboard or timeline interface. The storyboard is a simple representation of video elements in sequence and makes no reference to audio or effects. It can, however, be expanded to occupy the entire working area, which is useful if you need a visual overview of a long sequence. The timeline interface has been blessed with a second overlay track, meaning that titles and insert edits can now be used at the same time. In total, there are two video tracks, a title track, and two additional tracks for audio.

Captured clips are displayed in a library as thumbnail icons with titles, and can be trimmed of unwanted tops and tails in the library itself, or after being added to the timeline. Scrubbing on the timeline is fluid, but if a DV camcorder is attached, video will be fed to it for viewing on a connected TV or video monitor rather than being displayed on the computer monitor itself.

Insert editing is a breeze, with a dedicated video overlay track, but there's still no easy way to cut audio and video at different times for more fluid editing. The library can also be used to house stills and colour mattes, as well as the program's 30 video filters.

VideoStudio also sports a huge array of transition effects, organised into style categories within the Effects library. In practice, only a handful is likely to be used with any regularity. As well as making insert editing easy, the video overlay track allows users to create picture-in-picture effects with movement and transparency. Users can also choose exactly where the inset picture or video will be placed in the frame, which is a first at entry level.

Titling tools are good, allowing control over font, size, justification, border and shadow. Titles are typed directly onto the Preview monitor and can also be animated. As a nice bonus, VideoStudio allows unrendered COOL 3D titles to be imported and used on the title overlay track. An Instant Preview option means effects can be viewed immediately, saving all rendering until the very end when the project is ready for output.

VideoStudio's audio tools allow commentary to be recorded directly to the timeline during playback, and music can be ripped directly from CD. Audio files can have their overall volume set and be given fades in and out, but there's no rubber banding to vary levels over time, as you'll find with Pinnacle Studio 7 (see Reviews, issue 84, p164).

VideoStudio allows video to be sent back to a DV-in-enabled camcorder via FireWire and, unlike MGI's VideoWave (version 5 reviewed issue 89, p145), this can be done directly from the timeline. VideoStudio also provides options to create a VCD, SVCD or DVD. In each case, video is encoded to the correct MPEG specification and exported to a simple authoring Wizard, closely resembling Ulead's standalone program DVD MovieFactory (see Reviews, issue 88, p190). The video file can be divided into chapters and it's possible to add an introductory video clip to the presentation. Menus are automatically laid out and based on a selection of simple style templates. Once all elements are compiled, the project is previewed and burned to CD or DVD. There's also a good export Wizard for creating streaming video files in Windows Media and RealVideo formats.