Video Studio versus The Competition

[Silent Echoes]

I have been using Avid Cinema, and MGI Video Wave III on my 300 MHz, 224 Mb of RAM, Matrox Marvel G400, computer, and have been pleased. Now I know they are not going to continue Avid Cinema , and I am getting bored with Video Wave. It was suggested to me that I either get Media Studio Pro, or Ulead Video Studio 4. Now I love Avid because it does everything so fast, unlike Video Wave, which goes so slowly when you want to produce your video. Avid does it instantly, MGI can take hours. I was wondering what is Video Studio like versus the competition? Is it like Avid or MGI? Can it use that dual head display like Avid and MGI do? Where I can view it full screen on my TV with just a small window on my screen? Any advice and or guidance would be appreciated! Thanks!
-Silent Echoes

[dchip]

I don't own Video Studio but I suspect you will find it's ease of use to be similar to Avid Cinema. As for features, you will find it far superior. It has DV support in case you have firewire capture capability. I also think the Uleads "Smart rendering" is a step up as far as rendering speed goes. MPEG-2 support and other MPEG compression including VCD is built in. You can record voice-overs while previewing the video. Little things like that let you get even more creative while saving time.

Mainly, I wanted to pop your question back up to the top so one of the VS users here can answer your dual head question and give you some comments on Video Studios results. Ulead seems to do its homework real thorough, so I would be suprised if dual head is not supported.

[This_Idiot]

Hi Silent Echoes,

I believe that VS4 works fine with dual-head - I tested it with both an ADS Pyro DV board and a G200 Marvel with good results (way better than Avid), and I'm pretty sure that the good Doctor has trialled it alongside G400 kit with good results. I've just started digging into VideoWave3, and although impressed with the breadth of features that it offers (better than VS4), it looks as if it has some pretty major flaws which are damned annoying to say the least.

I'd recommend switching up to MediaStudio when you can afford it. You'll have a learning curve for sure, but then again you'll be joining the premier division of "amateur" editing. Basically, there ain't nowhere to go better unless you can afford thousands of dollars on a dedicated hardware/software editing suite.

Cheers

Chris
(This Idiot)

[Dr Mordrid]

If money is an issue going onto an auction site like Ebay will often get you a copy of MSPro5 very cheaply. The 5.x to 5.2 update is free on Uleads FTP site.

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

Yes and in my somewhat limited testing MSP5.2 seems to work better on my G200 Marvel than does the new 6.0. Thus I'd favor Doc's MSP 5.0 auction suggestion as the way to go.

I think you'll find VS4 about as boring as Videowave III.

--wally.