Studio 11 Ultimate - superbly feature rich, incredibly stable.
After all the problems that have beset Studio over the years, as witnessed by the
numerous problems and complaints on the web forums, this Version is probably the
most stable, most reliable of them all. After the disastrous start to Version 10
- the first version to embody code derived from the Liquid stable, Studio has not
only settled down - it has proved itself to be the true leader of the pack.
At the time of writing this (September 2007), Studio has been released for quite
a few months, and is available in various ‘flavours’ (Basic, Plus and Ultimate),
so as a review, this is somewhat late to put it mildly. Nevertheless, there will
be newcomers to the hobby wanting to choose an editor worth its salt. Here’s why
I believe Studio is that editor.
First - what’s the difference between the
Basic, Plus and Ultimate versions?
All versions work with Windows Vista (and XP), and now sport a viewer that can be
scaled in size (provided the screen resolution is high enough) as well as being made
full screen - so there’s no longer a need to squint at the tiny on screen monitor
whilst editing. They can all export videos to iPods, Sony PSP or DivX, as well as
creating menued DVDs and recording back to tape or simply making videos suitable
for the web or emailing, and they all come with InstantDVD Recorder for instant transfer
from tape to DVD.
All versions offer the ability to capture from analog or digital sources (but of
course - you need to have the appropriate input capabilities - firewire and/or composite
- on your PC). They can all create a ‘smart movie’ for you - select the scenes
from your captured video, add music, select the type of movie you want to create
from an extensive choice range, then ‘push a button’ and let Studio create the video
for you, complete with transitions and so on. If you don’t like it - just push the
button for another attempt. Or, tinker with it yourself to make it more to your
liking. This feature is perfect for absolute newcomers to the hobby, but can also
be invaluable for, say, a very short ‘overview’ video of a wedding, or holiday, or
other family event. They all feature ‘tools’ - filters - to help clean up blemishes
and restore video and audio and provide some ‘special’ effects - which can be viewed’
in ‘real time’. In the past, one often had to wait while such special effects were
‘rendered’, but not now.
The bad news - Studio no longer comes with SmartSound - but there are two pieces
of good news to counter that. First, if you had SmartSound - from Version 10, say
- then Studio 11 will recognise that you have it and use it. (provided you haven’t
uninstalled it of course). And the second bit of good news, Studio now comes with
an alternative offering far more musical choices - ScoreFitter. ScoreFitter works
pretty much the same as SmartSound, the big difference being that, whereas SmartSound
uses real musical instruments, ScoreFitter is based on midi files. However, with
a decent sound card - a good wave-table or sound font, you probably won’t even notice
the difference.
Studio Plus is also capable of editing HDV and AVCHD (but make sure you have a PC
capable of handling these new hiugh quality formats!), and can burn an HD DVD from
standard discs. As long as you can play such discs back of course! They won’t play
in a ‘standard’ DVD player. Studio Plus also adds the capability to create Picture
in Picture and Chroma-keying effects - chroma-keying is where you shoot against a
pure colour (green or blue) background, then, in the editor, replace that single
colour background with a video or still of your choice. So you can put yourself in
front of the Eiffel Tower - or on the moon, for example. The Plus version also allows
many of the special effects to be ‘keyframed’ - which means the properties of the
effect can be controlled and changed throughout the clip.
Studio Ultimate does all of these things as well of course, but adds quite a lot
more into the editing pot. It has Dolby 5.1 encoding for a real ‘cinematic’ experience
with your movies, includes an extensive range of additional effects and filters
- including precision pan and zoom making it even easier to tidy up and get that
‘Hollywood’ touch into your movies. Among these effects are goodies from Prodad
- really advanced ‘plug-Ins’ that offer truly extensive and exciting creative possibilities.
Have a look at the demo below for just some ideas of the possibilities available
with the ProDad plug-ins - Adorage, Heroglyph and Vitascene
