With the price of simple camcorders falling to less than $100 and the inclusion of video recording capability in many still digital cameras, it’s now easier than ever to record video. Even better, you can have a lot of fun assembling those video clips into a movie that includes music, narrations, titles, special effects and more. To do this, you need a video editor, and we recommended one that allows you to start simply and grow into more sophisticated editing as you gain more experience.

One such editor is VideoStudio Pro X3 (Corel, www.corel.com, $99.99), a just released version offering renderings twice as fast as previous versions. The program includes three ways to archive and/or share videos: burn a DVD directly from your digital video camera, use the three-step Movie Wizard to quickly create a complete movie, or use the VideoStudio editor to fully control how your movie looks. The program can also create fun slide shows, and--best yet--supports HD from capture to burn, including burning Blu-ray discs.

First you need to capture your videos into your computer (the program helps with this job); for a quick edit, use the Movie Wizard and choose a design template for your selected video clips and burn your movie. The Movie Wizard module also offers a multiple overlays feature, which takes the first clip from your movie to automatically create a cool opening sequence, complete with music and motion.

For the maximum in editing flexibility, use VideoStudio Editor. Here you select the scenes you want and, if desired, choose a template. Then trim individual clips for time or content, select transitions, add sound (including narration), choose from a wealth of special effects, and add a title and end credits if you want. The Timeline display lets you trim audio to match the scene length and adjust the volume of music and narration separately. When done, burn your project as a DVD movie complete with menus, chapters and such.

A new feature for this version is the inclusion of SmartSound Moods and Quicktracks that offer easy selection and matching of background music and the ability to control individual musical layers. Don’t like the drums? Take them out or reduce their volume without affecting the other instruments. Another new feature allows direct online uploading of your productions to Facebook, YouTube and other online sharing sites or device appropriate transfer to your iPod, smart phone or other portable video devices.

There’s a learning curve associated with many of the features, but help is available from tool tips, online and web tutorials. You’ll need to spend some trial-and-error time to become comfortable using the advanced features, but you’ll have some great movies to show for it--so don’t give up.