Sony Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0 review

For two years, Sonic Foundry's VideoFactory remained unchallenged in the Buyer Top 50 as our video editing package of choice.

It allowed you to edit video more quickly and with more precision than any other low-cost package. The program's sophisticated editing tools yielded professional-looking results and encouraged creativity.

As time went on, however, it couldn't compete with the features offered by new versions of Pinnacle Studio and Ulead VideoStudio. It lacked DVD authoring functions for turning edited video into DVD Video or Video CD discs. Also, while its rivals could capture from any source in MPEG-2 format, VideoFactory didn't support this without an optional plug-in.

Sony recently bought the rights to Sonic Foundry's software, and for a while, VideoFactory's future seemed uncertain. Luckily, it's back and better than ever, now going by the name of Screenblast Movie Studio. The recipe is simple, but with well-chosen ingredients: take one award-winning video editing application, add MPEG-2 support as standard and round it off with DVD authoring capabilities. This alone is enough to make Movie Studio an unbeatable package. That having been said, there are a few things about it that serve to temper our excitement.

One is that DVD authoring comes in the form of a separate application called Sonic MyDVD 4.5. This is by no means a bad bit of software, but it's pretty basic. You can choose a background image and music for your disc menus, set the button and text styles, and even create submenu pages and slideshows from photo collections. However, menu styles are set for the whole disc rather than per screen, and you you don't have the facility to change the size or placement of buttons. The result is easy to use, but it lacks the sophistication and class of Movie Studio itself.

Another slight disappointment is that Screenblast doesn't play back MPEG-2 files quite as smoothly DV AVI files, the format used by MiniDV cameras. MPEG-2 video previews are generally fine, but jerkiness is inclined to become more severe when previewing complex effects.

Moving around the timeline is also generally slower, as the program needs to generate thumbnails. In fairness, though, both these symptoms are only really noticeable because Movie Studio is incredibly good at handling DV AVI files. Its MPEG-2 playback performance still equals that of its rivals.

A few other improvements have been made, such as the inclusion of three, rather than two, video tracks. This means that it's now possible to have a main video clip on the screen, with another appearing in a window, as well as text over the top.

There's also a new button that switches the preview window to 100% resolution - a handy shortcut that previously required you to rearrange the various parts of the interface manually. The toolbar and file menu make a big deal of the Web publishing and the media library available on the Screenblast Web site - but strangely, this service is only available to US residents.

Movie Studio's DVD authoring still has room for improvement, but even so this is the best affordable video editor on the market. It's supremely easy to get to grips with, but provides scope for constructing complex video productions without getting bogged down in the technicalities. MPEG-2 support and DVD authoring broaden its appeal further still. But just bear in mind that when you get hooked, you'll need a bigger hard disk!