Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 Ultimate review

VideoStudio has never been the most sophisticated editing software, but what it lacks in precise editing tools it makes up for with plentiful features.

This has never been truer than in this Ultimate package, which bundles VideoStudio with three other applications.

WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray is an excellent video-playback program that can play Blu-ray movies as well as AVCHD video on DVD discs. DVD Copy 6 Plus converts non-encrypted video content from and to a wide range of formats. Steinberg WaveLab LE 6 is an audio editor for preparing audio files for use in video productions. It chops up MP3s for use in a soundtrack, creates sound effects and helps record and edit voiceovers. Its online activation procedure is convoluted, but don't let that put you off if you need these features.

VideoStudio has various new features that increase its appeal for ambitious users. It's now possible to resize the screen layout to give more space for the preview, timeline or settings panel. Transitions are applied simply by overlapping clips on the timeline. Thankfully, there's an option to use a Dissolve transition each time, rather than a randomly selected transition as happens by default.

The effects editor finally shows a decent-sized preview while adjusting settings, although it's still not possible to preview multiple effects while editing their settings. A new Film Look effect manipulates colours and diffuses highlights to mimic the qualities of film. The results are excellent and, unlike similar features we've seen elsewhere, it's possible to adjust individual parameters rather than just picking from presets.

Creation theory

It's rare to find a new feature that allows something radically different from anything we've seen before, but the Painting Creator is just that. It's a simple painting program with a range of brush types such as Air Brush and Crayon, except it records brush strokes as an animation of the image being drawn. It's possible to undo erroneous brush strokes, but not to go back and edit saved drawings. We had to resort to a clumsy workaround to make the animation pause at the end. Still, it's a novel feature with lots of potential for fun.

VideoStudio is still far from being ideal for ambitious users. The video effects library is badly managed and many of the effects look tacky. Even the colour-correction tools are clumsy; reducing the saturation a little turned everything but the most vivid colours to greyscales. Object motion, which involves making a graphical object move around the screen, works reasonably for photos but is practically non-existent for video objects.

Preview performance of demanding HD formats is poor, making the preview and the software's controls unresponsive. VideoStudio gets around this with its excellent SmartProxy feature, which makes temporary, low-resolution files for faster, smoother preview performance. Default quality settings are unnecessarily low, but adjusting them to convert files to DV format gave excellent preview performance when working with demanding AVCHD footage.

Money trap

VideoStudio Pro X2 is a worthwhile update and the bundled HD-compatible video playback and conversion software is extremely useful. However, the price has risen; VideoStudio 11.5 Plus sold for under £40. An alternative version without the Ultimate suffix costs £50 including VAT from www.play.com. It lacks the additional applications, but does include an older version of WinDVD that can play AVCHD discs.