It's not too much of a generalisation to lump video editing applications into two distinct product areas - low end applications offering wizard based editing and production, clearly seperated from more sophisticated, semi-professional applications offering enough features to create a Hollywood movie (well, almost). Despite a craze for minimalism in low end applications (Windows Movie Maker being a stirling example), Pure Motion's EditStudio bucks this trend. With "timeline" rather than story-board editing the default layout - the latter being synominous with budget applications - Edit Studio clearly marks its intentions. Advanced features typically restricted to packages twenty times the price (such as Picture in Picture) are also offered, So how does Edit Stuideo compare to its budget rivals... Price seems to be main selling point, but is this where the story ends? In typical Digital Director fashion, we judge this application from the beginner's eye.
The Edit Studio interface
Edit Studio's layout resembles almost every other editing application. To be honest, there's never been too much innovation in this particular area (besides the "tabbed" interfaces in the recent incarnations of Premiere and Vegas Video). As with all lower end editors, there's a step-by-step menu to lead the user through each process - from capture to DVD output. With each step clicked in turn the application space changes accordininglt. Although a standard feature on budget applications, it's a shrewd move to stick with tradition here, giving "noobs" a quick and easy reference point. Given it's Edit Studios realistic target market, it's a feature most users will appreciate.
An uncluttered interface's the order of the day here, with the timline mode particulary neatly arranged - and should the uniform layout prove too restricting, you can "undock" each area to create floating windows.
I was a little dissapointed to see the file explorer window only offering captured clips or imported clips, but there's an option to place generic clips in the global project file, enabling quick and easy access to regulary used clips in any project. Pure Motion have rather sensibly used the "Media Explorer" window to double as a transition and video effects library. Transitions can then be accessed just as easily as any media file.
Once installed, I'd expected Edit Studio to feature in the Windows XP pop-up dialogue box for DV camera connections. It wasn't. Not a biggy as I doubt many people make use of this feature. To capture from inside Edit Studio simply click on capture in the step-by-step menu above. This brings up a screen with the capture options (either DV or analogue). Unfortunately my installed WDM capture device on my graphics card wasn't picked up, but the DV capture device worked perfectly, providing a neat little interface. The options box also provides some newbie friendly features such as a Windows 9x preset which automatically creates 4GB chunks of data (some other application would just fall over and crash when reaching the FAT32 limit). You can also easily change the capture location, pixel aspect ratio, time limits and pre roll time (the time the camcorder takes to spool the tape and start capture - this might need to be increased on certain camcorders to enable capture). There's also the ubiquitous scene detection feature which can be based on picture changes or time and date stamp. All in all, everything you could ask for in video capture.
Once you've captured your video, it's time to start editing. Again, Pure Motion have followed the trend of budget applications and gone for the choice of storyboard or timeline based editing. Clicking on storyboard, brings up the "instomatic" solution to video editing. Simply drag and drop your clip from the captured folder in the media explorer window to the empty box in the main window. You can then drop transitions literally between clips. This makes "editing" as simple as it will ever be when used in conjunction with scene detection capture.
For the more adventurous, there's the oportunity to delve into timeline based editing. In my opinion, Pure Motion have made Edit Studio a real contender in this category. It's so simple to work out how to apply a range of effects. Right click on a video clip in the timeline and select transform to bring up speed options (including the much asked for reverse) and field options for example. Infact, it offers just about all the effects and transitions the newbie would ever need! Once you finished editing your master piece, it's time for the output...
Once again the newbie won't feel lost. Click on build and you're faced with 3 options: build an DV AVI, build and send back to your DV camcorder or build a disc playable in DVD players (DVD or (S)VCD). If you're feeling ambitious, you can even manually adjust the settings rather than opt for one of the presets. (In order to make use of the the later DVD settings, you'll need the MPEG plugin - a link is available from the software prompt).
Final Thoughts:
It would have been good to have seen a few more output options, but there's a free plugin available to output to WMV. Similary the extra cost of the MPEG plugin pushes the price up, but as the base price is so low, I see no reason to complain. Overall, I would happily reccomend this package over any other software to any video editing newbie.
Edit Studio's layout resembles almost every other editing application. To be honest, there's never been too much innovation in this particular area (besides the "tabbed" interfaces in the recent incarnations of Premiere and Vegas Video). As with all lower end editors, there's a step-by-step menu to lead the user through each process - from capture to DVD output. With each step clicked in turn the application space changes accordininglt. Although a standard feature on budget applications, it's a shrewd move to stick with tradition here, giving "noobs" a quick and easy reference point. Given it's Edit Studios realistic target market, it's a feature most users will appreciate.
