Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.0 Digital Video Decide Now

Company doesn't care about this product. I gave it two stars only because it is a nice piece of software in many ways. It appears the company is allowing it to die a slow death by not updating it.

I put a con first, then the review, as I believe buyers need to be very aware of this:

CON:
- ** No AVCHD support (shows a trend): The company clearly does not care about the success of this product, as they have released multiple versions of their lower line product, VideoStudio, which does support AVCHD. Not one patch or even plugin can be purchased to enable this in MediaStudio Pro. There are so many cameras now that shoot AVCHD that I can only assume Ulead/Corel could care less about the longevity of this product line. I have waited quite a while thinking they would get on the ball. Maybe they will eventually come out with a patch, BUT even if they do, it is too little to late for me. My gut tells me that they will do the same thing again when the video standards change, updating their lower line product, basically saying, "screw you," to those who bought the more expensive, more powerful program.

Review:

I started with MediaStudio Pro 5, and now am using version 8 (version 8 for about the last 2 1/2 years). It is pretty powerful for an upper end consumer package. You can do blue screens (actually any color), composites, etc.. The interface is simple once you spend a couple hours with it. If Ulead would continue spending time developing this product it could become a very nice piece of software. They however are not continuing development as far as I can see.

I am taking a video class at the University. In this class I am using Final Cut Pro (a professional grade product). Making the transition to Final Cut was pretty easy, as the interface is similar enough. Final Cut Pro however is a MUCH nicer product, supporting more keyboard shortcuts, more stable software, bigger video windows when applying effects, more tools, better audio tools, .....{the list goes on to more than I know}. Additionally, Final Cut has not crashed on me once yet! But, Final Cut Pro is $1000 and runs only on Mac.

Pros:
- Simple and powerful once you spend a couple hours with it.
- Multiple tracks for video and audio (starts with 7, and can add more)
- Lots of effects
- Able to do color key (blue screen)
- Able to do composites
- Able to do proxy editing (i.e. work on lower resolution footage to increase performance while editing, then program uses high resolution footage when doing the final render.)
- Compresses to many formats.
- Imports many formats

Cons:
- Crashes a bit more than I would prefer. This is not too big of a deal, just save a lot and restart the computer every hour or so.

- ** No AVCHD support: Even though they upgraded their lower line product, the company has not updated their more powerful, more expensive product, MediaStudio Pro. The company clearly does not care about the success of this product. I recommend against buying for this simple reason.

- Not compatible with Windows Vista (Not that I care about Windows Vista, but it is yet another sign that Ulead has no intention of supporting this product).

- No DVD burning software included.
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