Customer Reviews

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate & VideoStudio Pro X2 Bundle [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have used adobe products in the past, full versions and essentials. The main difference Ive seen between this and them (the industries so called leaders) is useability. Anyone can sit down to Corel and use it. Very straight forward, and delievers alot of proffesinal quality features.

The biggest seller for me came from VideoStudio. Making full dvds with menus couldnt be easier. Ive made dics with mulitple layers of menus, just like real movie dvds and Ive only opened the manual a few times.

Paint Shop Pro Photo has a very nice layout and ease of use. Some more advanced users in photo editing will find a few missing features, or more likely a little less freedom to do some things. But for anyone who takes photos for fun, or as an ametuer hobby, this is more than powerfull enough.

Painter Essential Photo - takes pictures and turns them into paintings. A good easy to use program, but it will take time to master. Each photo will behave differently, so you have to "repaint" the photo many times to get the outcome you want. Still a nice throw in.

Recover- I dont know if this is even listed, but it comes with a memory card recovery program. So if you accidently delete, or in the case of my parents, format, your camera's memory card, you can still get your pictures. My dad accidently formatted his 4gb SD card with about 1gb of photos on it. I was able to not only pull off the 1gb of photos, but the program found another 2gb of photos they had deleted months earlier.

Length:: 0:36 Mins

The attached movie of my two favorite "critters" was created in under an hour as I learned to use several of the features in the Corel Video Studio using still photos. It shows overlaid titles, several transitions, panning features, and music.

This package includes Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate and Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 plus a 2G Flash drive to transfer your files.

I purchased this program to bring "photo and movie capability" to a recently purchased HP with Vista running. I previously used Mac's IMovie, Windows Movie Maker, and an earlier version of Adobe's Photoshop, so while not totally an amateur, I am most assuredly NOT a professional.

So, what I was looking for was a software that was EASY TO USE. I didn't want to spend hours, days, or months figuring this thing out. And, I didn't want to spend a fortune on software to do some simple stuff.

The first program I used was PaintShop Pro. I put the manual to the side and just opened the program to see what I could do. I was excited to discover that I really didn't need a manual to make all of the adjustments to the photos I enjoy using. What I liked best was that the program's effects browser used thumbnails of my photo to show me what the effects would do. VERY visual - don't have to guess or wait to see it rendered to say "what???" And yes, this has everything my older version of Photoshop had plus more. Just a lot easier to use.

Then, I opened VideoStudio Pro. Within a few seconds I was able to create everything (plus more) that I would normally use. From video editing my "Flip" videos and adding music,titles, and transitions, to exporting them onto a DVD, this program did it all. Again - I was able to do all of these things without a single reference to the manual.

While I purchased this product as a lightning deal and received it for less than the price of either product, after having a chance to use both products, I would willingly pay the full price. However, if all you need is one or the other, you can use the links above and save a little money by buying only one.

I've only used PSPPx2 Ultimate for a few weeks. I haven't tried the video half of the bundle yet. So, my comments need to be taken from the perspective of a relative greenie - FWIW. The program is relatively easy to use and has lots of neat features. Basic photo editing has been easy and fun with acceptable results. My initial complaints, however, are:

DISCLAIMER - I have not contacted Corel Support and maybe these issues are user induced but, IMHO, they are things that I would not have expected the program to do.

1. The program is quite slow - and before you bash my computer - I'm running the latest i7 processor with 6GB of Ram and 1.2TB of disk space. On really large files or big batch edits it runs slowly enough that things time out and freeze up.

2. It seems to have a propensity for demoting your color space. This is probably an attempt to remedy the slowness problem. For example, I opened a 9.8MB picture did some basic editing and it demoted it to 8-bit and saved it as a 1.9MB file. I set the compression as low as I could to get the quality as high as I could and I still ended up with a puny little file.

3. It doesn't like Nikon Raw (.NEF) files. If I convert a NEF file to JPEG in Capture NX, PSPPx2U won't open it. If I open the raw file in PPSPx2U and save it as a JPEG. Nothing will open it.

Again, there may be fixes for these issues that I haven't found yet but they are enough for me to mark the rating down to 3 stars if for no other reason than the frustration factor. In all fairness to Corel I'll be glad to update this review if I find there is a resolution to these issues.

This is a great product for the money! It does most of what Photoshop does, but for a lot less money. The video editing software (Video Studio Pro X2) is quite good. It has a regular editing mode (powerful, but requires some reading and practice) and an easy mode where the software helps you construct a movie in an easy format (something like a "wizard").

For the money, this is an excellent product.

I have an old Jasc Software version 9 and thought I would upgrade. Corel has bought them in the mean time but I never saw Jasc with an License Agreement that was as Orwellian as Corel! I have started the return of this product as I was horrified by the License Agreement. I for one happen to read these things and I hated what I read AND the way they laid it out. The lay out is that you read a long way through down till it begins referring to Germany and the UK thus you think your finished with your part. No. After that it comes back under General makes this statement-

"1.19.3 You hereby acknowledge and consent to Corel:
monitoring your Use of the Product,
authenticating and periodically verifying your licensing rights in the Product,
collecting, transmitting, using, and sharing with Corel's third party marketing partners, data relating to you and your Use of the Product for advertising, marketing, operational and other purposes,
accessing, utilizing and altering the existing functionality, including any default settings, of the computer system on which you Use the Product, and
receiving in-Product messages from Corel and its third party marketing partners,
all in accordance with Corel's Privacy Policy located at [...]."

Read it carefully. You agree to have Corel watch over your shoulder, allow data of you and your use to be shoveled out to Marketing, allow - probably by remote desktop - to taking over your computer and changing without telling you those settings you most likely fought hard to get set the way YOU wanted. And you don't know what they are going to change. Oh yeah after they get your data then you agree to have a SPAM lunch shoved down your throat. Nice huh.

I purchased this bundled software after a friend told me it was a great deal. I have previously used adobe and pinnacle software for my photo and video editing and find this to be a worthy purchase.
Adobe is powerful with inumerable available resources, but comes with a steep price tag. Paintshop offers more features for less money and the program seems more intuitive. I haven't had to search around nearly as long to find a needed command.

If you're running Windows 7, don't bother buying this. Great software, but does not work with Windows 7. Could get my movies edited and ready to burn, but the software could not render, nor burn to Blu-Ray. Tried Corel's patches. Tried running it in XP and Vista mode...forget it. Back to Amazon it goes and I'll but the new VideoStudio Pro-X3 for Windows 7.

I purchased this product as a "newbie" to movie making...I had created an digital image clip/story slide show set to music of approx. 27 minutes in length through my installed Windows movie maker but was disappointed in the resulting DVD quality. My desire was to create a viewable photo slide show, set to music that an elderly Uncle could view on his TV. I lost my mother last year and inherited all of the family photos...I thought it would make a unique and nice side Christmas gift...his being able to view photo's of himself, his sister-my mother and their now gone siblings...I Was told by a person "in the know" that I needed something that included DVD authoring within the program...not only for better quality photoslide viewing on a TV but just "easier" for me in the long run. After alot of research, for system requirements, ease of customer use...quality? I chose this dual program, thinking I would also upgrade my photo editing/recovery abilities. I have Windows XP and plenty of memory and RAM...installed easily. BUT the program is LITERALLY UNUSABLE TO ME and as an added "bonus"?
I cannot return it because its been opened. The program CONTINUOUSLY CRASHES!...I managed to fight my way through many, many error "detections" and crashes...I got all the desired images on the library and click dragged to the storyboard...put in desired transitions...but If I even think about clicking on any other editing or preview functions to check my progress? It "encounters a problem" and crashes. I have tried re-installing, opting within the program to "repair"...gone to the website and downloaded any "patches" they had available...nothing I do will make this program operate properly. The instruction manual seems to deal solely with capturing video images...not so much on digital images from cameras or from a picture library already stored on your system. To make matters REALLY funny? I even tried re-routing myself (MORE FRIGGIN TIME WASTED) through use of the also installed/included Corel Paint Shop Pro Ultimate Photo x2. Guess what? after applying all the desired photos? and trying to transition it all to the video maker? The Video maker doesn't even recognize its own "sister/companion" program! All images appear as blank/black or it tells me the format isn't supported. NICE TOUCH!
I have attempted to call "customer support" several times...I can buy more crap...but no assistance on how to make what I've already bought function. I managed to not only miss the deadline for being able to send this as my intended gift to my Uncle but I have totally wasted my money on a product I will ultimately have to un-install. The program is highly reviewed by PC Mag and other computer folks...but the program constantly crashing is NOT an isolated problem...have seen mention of it all over the web when I was attempting to find my own help in answer to Corels lack of. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PRODUCT. Hours of frustration, NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT. Piece of garbage.

I bought this product to use with the new Canon HD camcorder I recently got. Although I'm still on a learning curve, the program seems to work well and do every it's supposed to do.

What they don't tell you is how long it takes you to burn a DVD or process a video for YOUTUBE... IT TAKES HOURS!!! To cut this time, you need to a faster processor and more RAM than is recommended on the Corel package. I'm using a dual core with 2 gb of RAM. you should at least have a QUAD and 4+ gb of RAM!

Those who have used video editing software before will find Video Studio Pro X2 powerful yet intuitive. The novice might seem overwhelmed at first but will find Corel easy to learn very quickly. There are video instructions on the software disc which explain each powerful feature. Corel also includes detailed printed documentation manuals (for both Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 & Video Studio Pro x2)for quick and easy reference. Printed manuals is something not usually found these days. The software is loaded with features to numerous to mention here but believe me you can do almost any type of editing with it. Just use your imagination. You can render projects in either standard or high definition very quickly. You will need a computer capable of handling the program properly. I'm using one with Intel Pent dual core quad processing at 2.66 and it works extremely well. I can render a standard definition 40 minute project (including burning to disc)in about 45 minutes. High Def takes about 1-1/2 hrs.
I have not really fully tested Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 yet-but my preliminary findings rate this product high as well.
In conclusion the bundle is well worth the investment. You will not be disappointed. Get this one.