| User review:
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I've been using this for several weeks after bad experiences with ArcSoft Showbiz and Ulead VideoStudio. I find the interface to be simple and straightforward. I was up and editing very quickly. There are a few quirks but they are easy to live with. It uses only a timeline interface; I think adding a story-board mode would improve it, but I'm doing fine without it.
This editor has a rich feature set. For instance, you can apply video filters to individual clips, groups of clips, or you can just put it on the entire output. (Great for me, I can create one filter that compensates for the low saturation of my camera.) You can also create your own templates for filters, text, etc. It has a very intuitive way of changing the gamma on fades, too. SMS also has better audio capabilities than the other tools I've tried. And you can specify your own external audio editors, film capture tools, etc.
On large projects it can be slow to load, but it's pretty fast once it's going. (Ulead VideoStudio is maddeningly slow all the time.)
This tool uses MyDVD as the DVD authoring tool. It has some limitations but I've worked out a few tricks that keep me happy.
You can only capture as AVI, and when you "create a DVD" it generates AVI. So I use the honestech tool to batch-convert to mpegs (which causes some problems)and I generate mpg files and THEN go to MyDVD. Minor irritations.
Overall I recommend this highly. I downgraded it on Ease of Use because they have a moronic online registration that rarely works. You have to register both the product and the mpeg plug-in, so be ready to call Customer Service twice.
Documentation and tutorials are excellent. Well-integrated and thorough. |
