Video Editing Programs Help You:

Get Your Stacks Of Videos Organized

And Easier To Share

Digital video cameras make it so easy to capture all the action, you’re likely to end up with way too much to sit and watch or share with friends and relatives. Enter the video editing program. Using these marvels, you can pick and choose the best parts, arrange them to make more sense, add narration, music, effects and more.

These programs also allow you to capture video or images directly from your camera or download clips from various media (including your hard drive). Then, after editing the clips and images for the look and feel you want, you can save your completed work on your hard drive and/or burn it to disk in various formats or download it to various portable players. Here’s a look:

MoviePlus X3 (Serif, www.serif.com, $79.99) is a full-featured video editor that comes with hand-holding help. The program opens by asking if you want to start a new project, work on a saved project or view the tutorials. If you choose to start or work on a project, you’ll find a "How To" pane that guides you, step by step, through many of the fundamentals of capturing, editing and saving your videos. This feature plus the 210-page printed manual make MoviePlus X3 especially easy to get you started on your editing career.

The screen display shows thumbnails of media clips available, a Storyboard pane to which you can drag and drop the clips, and a preview window to view clips or the entire project. From the storyboard pane it’s easy to rearrange or trim clips and set transitions and some simple effects. For more complex editing, switch to the Timeline mode, where you’ll add additional tracks of video, audio, text slides and more. In addition to the usual save and burn options, you can directly upload your video to your YouTube account to share with others.

Simple video projects are straightforward and made easy by using the "How-To" help. The more complex editing, however, will take time, trial and error and patience, even with the help available.

VideoStudio Pro X2 (Corel, www.corel.com, $79.99) offers 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.

The Movie Wizard let you select a design template to use for your selected clips to create a movie that’s ready to burn. The Movie Wizard module also offers some other great features. For example, by using the multiple overlays feature, Movie Wizard 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 the VideoStudio Editor. Select which scenes you want and choose a template (optional). Trim individual clips, add sound (including narration), choose from a wealth of special effects, and then 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.

There’s a learning curve associated with many of the features, but help is available in the form of tool tips, on-line help and a 220-page printed Manual. 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.

If you feel a bit on the lazy or unimaginative side, then muvee Reveal (Muvee Technologies, www.muvee.com, $99.99) provides "automatic" movie editing. This program lets you select the video clips, photos and music you want used and then choose a style that suits you (anywhere from plain vanilla to truly funky). The program then grinds away for a few minutes, doing its editing thing–-and out comes the finished creation. That easy, and way cool.

Included with the program are 10 styles, each of which uses a different look and feel for your final creation. Optional additional styles available.

Although you can use the program in fully automatic default mode, you are able to exert some control in the duration of the show and audio and video effects. You can also mark specific video clips or parts of clips that you want the program to keep or parts that must be excluded. The program works by using its own intelligent editor, created from interviews with many award-winning video editors.

Help is available from tool tips and online help that explains most of the features of the program and how to use them. Support from the company’s web site is especially good.

The Bottom Line:

So which program is best? Each has its own strengths, but in our opinion, MoviePlus X3 seems best for the beginner video editor who may need hand-holding help; VideoStudio Pro X2 provides advanced features useful for those wanting more and having some experience with editing, and muvee Reveal for those who don’t want to bother with all the fussing or don’t feel creative enough but still want a slick video for sharing.

A note of importance: these programs use heavy-duty computing, so pay attention to the program requirements to insure your computer fits the bill.