02.Results
What to buy
- Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 - $120
- Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 - $183
Software conflicts
Some video editing software can clash with other programs on your computer. We use a typical computer system and programs for testing and we didn't experience any problems. But if you're worried about software conflicts, many programs offer a free trial version for a limited time so you can try before you buy.
Results tables
| |
|
Features4 |
| Program/version (in rank order) |
Price1
($) |
Overall (%) |
Ease of use2
(%) |
Performance3
(%) |
Wizards |
Tutorials |
Number of video
tracks |
Number of audio
tracks |
Auto-chapter
creation |
Renders while
burning |
Chroma key |
Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0
www.adobe.com.au |
183 |
89 |
94 |
75 |
|
• |
99 |
99 |
• |
• |
• |
Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 Titanium
edition
www.pinnaclesys.com |
189 |
85 |
84 |
86 |
|
• |
2 |
2 |
• |
|
• |
Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus
www.ulead.com |
199 |
85 |
91 |
67 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
• |
• |
• |
Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum
edition
www.sonymediasoftware.com |
219 |
83 |
81 |
87 |
• |
• |
4 |
4 |
|
• |
• |
Roxio VideoWave (part of Easy Media Creator 9
suite)
www.roxio.com |
120 |
82 |
82 |
81 |
|
• |
1 |
2 |
• |
• |
• |
Apple iMovie HD and iDVD (part of iLife
06)
www.apple.com.au |
119 |
79 |
86 |
59 |
|
• |
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
Nero vision (part of 7 Premium
Reloaded)
www.nero.com |
178 |
77 |
74 |
86 |
• |
• |
1 |
3 |
• |
• |
|
| |
| Program/version (in rank order) |
Minimum system
requirements5 |
Extra software |
Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0
www.adobe.com.au |
1.3 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB HDD,
Directx9 capable graphics card, XP |
Nil |
Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 Titanium
edition
www.pinnaclesys.com |
1.4 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, Directx9 capable
graphics card with 64 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD (3 GB+ for bonus content), XP |
Pinnacle RTFX vol 1 and 2, Pinnacle Hollywood FX
vol 1, Pinnacle Premium pack vol 1 |
Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus
www.ulead.com |
Pentium 4 processor, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD (4 GB
for capture). XP |
Win DVD 7, Pocket DV Show MCE version, Cool 3D
3.0 special effects |
Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum
edition
www.sonymediasoftware.com |
800 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM, 200 MB HDD, XP |
Video and sound special effects |
Roxio VideoWave (part of Easy Media Creator 9
suite)
www.roxio.com |
1.4 GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD (+1 GB
HDD for every minute of video capture), XP |
Roxio 9 suite of programs |
Apple iMovie HD and iDVD (part of iLife
06)
www.apple.com.au |
Mac PowerPC G4 or Intel Core processor; 733 MHz
for iDVD, 256 MB RAM, OSX 10.3.9, iTunes 6.0.2, 10 GB HDD |
iTunes, iPhoto, iWeb and GarageBand |
Nero vision (part of 7 Premium
Reloaded)
www.nero.com |
800 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, Directx9 capable
graphics card, 600 MB HDD, XP |
Nero 7 suite of programs |
| |
Table notes
1 Price paid in February 2007
2 Ease of use (75% of Overall) how easy it was to perform a range of tasks including installation, inclusion of help files and instructions, default settings, capturing video, editing video and burning a DVD.
3 Performance (25%) how quickly the program rendered video and burned to DVD, and visual quality of video output.
4 Features:
Wizards— guide you through the editing process
Tutorials— to explain how the software works
Number of video tracks— is the number of video sources that can be overlaid
Number of audio tracks— is the number of sound effects, music, dialogue etc that can be overlaid onto the footage
Auto-chapter creation— creates separate chapters when it detects transitions in the edited video footage
Renders while burning— incorporates all the editing elements into a complete video file while writing to DVD
Chroma key — tool for super-imposing one image over another (see Special effects).
5 Minimum system requirements— as listed by the manufacturer. All programs require enough hard drive space for video capture, which can vary depending on the amount of video. High definition video requires significantly more hard drive space and graphics processing power.