Others say...

"I was overwhelmed at first, but now I love this product"
As someone who has a lot of experience with still photography but not much with video, I was afraid that this program would be too much for me and, ultimately, not very useful. At the same time I wanted something that I could grow with. My fears were put to rest once I downloaded it onto my computer and opened it up. It was fairly friendly and easy to do just what I wanted to, which was basic editing of some video clips. I less than an hour I had my finished product.

I am now encouraged to explore this product further, I'm going to add some wipes and transitions to my edited video. I know that this one program will be enough for me for the immediate future.





"Great Value - Surprising Functionality and Quality "
VideoStudio lets you edit and create movies, slides shows, and DVDs in both SD (standard definition) and HD(high Definition) video. It comes in the box with a CD and printed manual (somewhat of a rarity these days).

The look and feel of VideoStudio is similiar to other editing software. You have tabs across the top that take you through the different steps of making a movie. You can capture your video, edit, add effects, preview, and save your finished movie. You can create a DVD with a single movie or create menus accessing multiple videos. It has a Movie Wizard that walks you through the process if you're new to this. With the wizard, you can start using the software without reading the manual. However, VideoStudio has a lot of features you won't even know about unless you thumb through the manual. Also, the help menu works very well and covers a large number of features.

I tested this on a Pentium 4 laptop and a Duo Core desktop. It installed easily and ran well on both. Keep in mind that editing video is one of the most processor intensive things you can do on a computer. The better the computer (lots of memory, hard disk space, and a fast processor), the faster it works. That said, editing was very fast on both computers... some lag time on some things but not really objectionable. The final step of "Sharing" is where you will need to wait (and it can take hours). Here, the Duo Core computer took about 1/3 of the time that the Pentium 4 one did. This is the step where all of the changes (edits , applied effects, etc) are applied and the final video is rendered and written out (either to disk or DVD). I have used other editing programs and this one is as fast or faster than most. It also writes out a smaller file than the other ones I've tried. While this is good because you can have a longer movie on the DVD, it usually comes at the cost of lower quality. On viewing the DVD, I was surprised to see the quality was fantastic! Also the sound stayed in sync with the video throughout the whole movie, something that other programs have had problems with.

In my opinion, this is one of the better (if not the best) inexpensive PC based video editing programs. It's gives a good balance of functionality, speed, and quality.

"Decent product, lousy support"
Corel's Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 is well integrated video editing product. It works well with most video media types, and can also export files in a variety of formats. The editing layout is very clear and intuitive, especially for a product of this level of sophistication. It is very easy to create high-quality video clips. Overall, this is a solid well-designed product.
My major problem with this software has nothing to do with the product itself, but with the customer support. I am used to customer support being pretty for software being pretty shabby, but I think I've reached a new low of frustration. The copy of the product came with no serial number, which made it impossible to install. Corel's website was not very helpful in that regard, and it was hard to find a place where questions and complaints could be addressed. When I found it, it required that I fill out a lengthy registration process, which, at the very end, asked for my serial number. I was eventually able to resolve this issue through some non-conventional means, but not after a lot of frustrating runaround. So if you are interesting into a video editing software, I would recommend that you go with one that has much better support, either from a better-known company or with a strong base of volunteers.


"HD with Slow PC??? Here is the solution"
I think this package should receive the highest praises solely on its ability to manage HD videos on slow computers. Trust me it's worth the price. Especially if you are struggling to put together a family vacation video with your slow machine (that you know you must replace, but don't have the time or the desire to do it yet).

Another good feature of this software is the ability to make edits to the video in real time that are later applied while rendering. Much better than the Pinnacle Studio I used in the past.

To be fair, I must say it does take a bit to convert. How `bit'? About 28MB per minute. If you can live with that, this is the product for you.


"Easy to use, but full-featured!"
I have used Ulead VideoStudio since version 3. The last Ulead released product was Version 11 Plus. Then came Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus. This latest incarnation, Corel VideoStudio Pro X2, is the first released solely under the Corel name and without Ulead anywhere on the box. But don't let that fool you. This is, for all intents and purposes, VideoStudio 12 (is the X in the title a roman numeral?).

As with each new version of VideoStudio throughout the years, this release sees a number of improved and/or added features incorporated into an already solid home video editing product. Most notable of these in the special effects section is the paint option, which allows you to freehand paint on your video (think Indiana Jones style maps to draw your route) and the ability to resize workspace windows individually. There are many more new features-- just read the Amazon product description above--but these are two that I particularly like.

VideoStudio has always been easy-to-use with a friendly, intuitive interface, and it's nice to see that Corel has not messed with that. If you are familiar with the VideoStudio of old, then you will have no trouble finding your way around this new version. Very little has changed. That said, however, if you already own VideoStudio 11 Plus or 11.5 Plus, then you might want to wait for the next version.