Labs

VideoStudio Plus couldn't be accused of lagging behind the competition in terms of features. This version offers comprehensive digital video camera support, including DV, DVD, HDV, AVCHD and JVC's proprietary GZ-HD7. Export is just as impressive, with direct uploads to YouTube and presets for iPod, PSP, Smartphone and AVCHD format on DVD media. The latter will play in Blu-ray players and PlayStation 3 consoles, making it an excellent choice for high-definition home video playback in the living room without requiring a Blu-ray writer drive.

The downside of AVCHD on DVD media is a lack of menus and a 40-minute capacity, but VideoStudio Plus can get around both of these limitations with its support for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. These use the same menu-design facilities as for DVD authoring, with elegant menu templates and impressive scope for customisation in a friendly, wizard-based interface. This is way ahead of the competition; Adobe Premiere Elements includes Blu-ray authoring and Pinnacle Studio can create menu-less HD DVD discs, but VideoStudio is the first

Version 11.5 improves on the AVCHD support added in version 11. You can now import Sony AVCHD cameras' files from the PC's hard disk as well as directly from the camera. AVCHD preview performance remains poor, though, struggling to play a single stream on a Core 2 Duo E6600-based PC, so it's virtually impossible to work directly with this processor-intensive format. A Smart Proxy feature converts files into less-demanding formats for editing, returning to the originals for the final render.

Up to seven video tracks are available for complex video montages, and effects settings can be varied over time using multiple keyframes. However, doing so is fiddly. The pop-up editor is cramped and shows only a single effect rather than any combinations of effects or other video layers.

The effects themselves don't look as classy as those in the best software here. Most are of the zany special effect variety, and the colour-correction effects produce crude, blocky colours at extreme settings. In VideoStudio, controls for a video clip disappear from view as soon as you adjust the timeline position. As a result, it can be slow and cumbersome to use, and isn't suitable for creative film-makers.

Even so, if you want to get high-definition footage on optical discs, it's the obvious choice. At this price, ambitious users could consider buying it purely for this purpose alongside a more capable package for editing.