Corel Video Studio Pro Review
Posted by Kathleen Maher on March 25th 2011 | Discuss
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Corel has introduced their latest version of VideoStudio and this product displays the considerable effort that has gone into streamlining the interface on the frontside and under the hood, Corel has tuned the software to take advantage of GPUs and one of the major features of VideoStudio is the ability to export videos to almost any imaginable format. Transcoding is something GPUs pride themselves on and VideoStudio has done a good job. Exporting videos is painless.
But exporting comes at the end, VideoStudio has a new look right from the start. The interface is arranged around an easy One-Two-Three tab system: Capture-Edit-Share. Just from an aesthetic point of view, I have to say, I didn't really like the big bold tabs – I felt as though I was being treated like an idiot and I felt like I wouldn't have all the tools I'd need to make a decent looking movie, but I don't think my pride is all that important if software helps me get my job done and VideoStudio does that. I also found all the transitions and effects I needed. After putting together a couple of short videos, I'm still finding new tricks to try.
On the other hand, I could probably have used a few more transitions. All it has is dissolve, crossfade, side. Or, it might be more accurate to say I could have used more transitions to play with but generally I'm pretty conservative with transitions. The software does have plenty of crazy filters and some of these can work as transitions. It also includes a Pan filter that comes in handy when you're combining still images and video so that your still images don't just sit there. You can set the pan and highlight a key part of the image —the Ken Burns Effect named after the documentarist who has put it to such good effect for still images in a video.
It's always tricky to figure out how a video program thinks but Corel's Video Studio is one of the easiest to get the hang of. Like any user, I have allegiances and loyalties. I've been particularly fond of Vegas and no other program has come close to tempting me away until now. Video Studio doesn't have all the same bells and whistles but it's not supposed to. It's tailored to put all the tools you need the most right in front of you and danged if it doesn't do that.
I was all set to complain about the interface, I can't find the mark in and out keys, I can't find the trim feature, but then I did find them. Some things work a little differently than you expect, I came to appreciate that everything you need is right on the main program screen if you just look for it. Increasingly, I am finding this to be a particular strength of Corel. The company has been planting useful tool tips and descriptions of processes within its programs. As I say, at first I thought that as a longtime user of all kinds of software tools, I didn't need training wheels. Let's face it, it's kind of nice to have dad holding the bike up while you find the pedals.
This is a business that Corel can grow with lots of different formats and templates. The company has a web site where more content can be downloaded including fonts, audio, and effects. Right now, there is a lot that's available for free.
My biggest problem was with the titles feature. It seems as if the default is junky, flashy titles. However once I got something I liked, I found a nice copy and paste attribute feature. I used it to copy attributes from titles that I had gotten just right on to some frames that were mysteriously misbehaving. It's important to remember here, that as a reviewer, I've been fooling with this software for a short time so I'm pretty sure this isn't the right way to do things, but it's another example of how this software is accommodating.
The discussion of titles leads me to the ease with which elements can be overlaid and interleaved within the frame. Titles can be run over one part of the image and behind another object by positioning them in the timeline – it's dead simple and obvious but that's not the way it usually works in other software.
Audio can be as simple or as sophisticated as you want. Corel has included SmartSound technology and tracks which enables users to create somewhat customized tracks for their movies by picking styles and instruments adding them to the audio track. SmartSound cuts the music to exactly fit the video and it has quite a few options. You can also add your own music tracks and Corel has an audio mixer module that provides fine tune control for raising the volume, fading in and fading out etc.
Stop motion
Okay, let's stop fooling around and talk about my favorite feature – the new stop motion photography feature. By attaching a web camera to the computer it's possible to create animations using real-world objects like, oh, say stuffed animals or your favorite action figures. The feature is easy to use letting you set as many or as few images as you want to combine for an animation. It's a matter of setting the exposure time (and your patience).
This is the sort of thing that you just have to love software developers for. I'm reasonably certain that there has not been a groundswell of demand for this sort of thing from the end user community but I'm also certain that YouTube is going to see a raft of hilarious videos taking advantage of stop motion.
Additional content, training, and education
Corel provides lots of free, and for purchase, content and training videos online. The videos are okay but they're definitely not great. They seem little more than fast demos and are more useful for letting you know that something is possible rather than really getting down into the details of actually doing it – at least that's true of the videos I watched covering stop motion and the audio mixer. The trend towards providing education videos is very welcome and increasingly good hearted users are filling the gaps with their own how-to videos on YouTube and Google.
Pros
Video Studio is easy to use yet every basic necessity for a video production is easy to find on the home screen
Cons
It would be nice to see more transitions (though there is a lot of available content on Corel's Video Studio website) and titles seemed like the one aspect that wasn't as easy to handle as the other elements. When we went looking for additional SmartSound Tracks on the Corel site, we couldn't find anything except fairly expensive audio loops. (One audio loop was $23 per year when purchased for a web site. It's too high when most of us are looking for nice filler audio and can buy unlicensed tracks for much much less.
Price
VideoStudio Pro sells for $99.99 new and is available for $79.99 as an upgrade.
Summary
There is a whole lot more available in Video Studio. The truth is most people want to get the video out of their phones and cameras, edit it and then get it online or back into their phones. Video Studio is perfect for everyone on this front. It also adds a lot of more sophisticated features as people get more ambitious. While the video pro may wish for more tools and more control, there is more than enough here for video beginners all the way up to enthusiasts.
