Customer Reviews

Screenblast Movie Studio

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a great piece of software. It offers many clips, titles, fades, and the such. There's just one problem. On the box it says "burn your movie onto a CD and play in most DVD playes". That's what made me buy this software. I own a Sony Digital Studio and can make all the DVD's I want to. I wanted to make VCD's for some of the less important things because CD's are so cheap. So I bought this software thinking I'd be all set. I installed the software and clicked "make movie" and then it tells me that I need a plug-in (that I have to buy) to make a VCD. What?!?!?! I just spent [a lot] for some software that says it makes VCD's and I have to shell out another [significant amount] to actually make it work. This, needless to say, irks me.

I shopped around for a video editing program, and this one looked pretty good. Good reviews and so on. Nothing on the box or other product literature suggests that as packaged this product will NOT import or export MPEG Video (the industry and internet standard). There is no mention of video plugins in the manual, on the box, or on the screenblast website, but when you try to import or save a *.mpg file the program asks for your Credit Card number ... to "unlock" the MPEG plugin. ... I'm just waiting for more surprises. one star.

If you're looking for special effects at an unbelievable price, you can't go wrong with Screenblast Movie Studio. Before purchasing this product, I used Pinnacle Studio 8 exclusively. While I like Studio 8 alot when it works, it is riddled with bugs and very unstable (it's constantly crashing). Screenblast Movie Studio has NEVER crashed on me.

The features I really like about Screenblast Movie Studio that Pinnacle Studio 8 does not have (without buying their Hollywood FX upgrade):

*two video editing tracks
*chroma keying (works great with good lighting)
*masking
*transparencies (you can overlay two clips and change the "transparency" of one to get a "ghost" effect)
*zoom in and out
*basic "animation" abilities (using zoom and fly path features)

After playing with Pinnacle Studio for a year, I was ready for more, and this package gave it to me.

This package does the basics just fine (I bought of copy of this for my father rather than Studio 8), and it also have some awesome special effects features that will not disappoint.

I purchased the product hoping to burn family videos to DVD. I found that you had to purchase the MPEG add on to do so. I also wanted the ability to add menus to the DVD so it doesn't play like an old fashioned video tape...the product doesn't do that. I found that this product does not offer any more functionality more than Windows Movie Maker which is available for free download from the MicroSoft site. I'm sending the product back.

This software is pretty good. It's a bit more complicated than Apple's iMovie and a little clunky, but does everything you could want for a good price. I'm quite put off myself that you have to pay extra to make video CD's, but overall it is a good product.

The product lacks some of the features that I love with Pinnacle Studio 8. The DVD tools in Pinnacle Studio 8. Having used Pinnacle 7 & * pretty extensively, I was curious about this product based on feedback I had received.
authoring in MovieStudio (MS) is lacking, compared to the awesome
If DVD & VCD authoring and making basic videos is your thing, don't stop at MS. Use Pinnacle 8. For basic video editing and creating videos from pictures, it does not get much easier.

However, once your imaginations starts to run wild, you are going to need something more power. I bought MS for that reason, realizing that I will still use Pinnacle 8 for DVD authoring.

Pinnacle 7/8 provides only a single Video track. Splicing in video is possible, but much more painstaking than having multiple tracks (like most decent video editing tools.) MS has two tracks, but even on a single track you can overall (and blend) multiple video tracks! Pretty neat in concept.

Cool features:
* Chroma keyer: pretty much the big winner for me. This allows you to make solid color backgrounds (though not limited to backgrounds) to become transparent in a video (or image) that is to be overlaid unto another track. (Now you can be in a scene with out having ever been there.)

* Much better collections of transitions and video filters out of the box then Pinnacle 8. (MS has 23 dissolve type transitions versus the single one in Pinnacle Studio 7/8). Although lacking 3-D object type transitions, the collection quality is on par with the Pinnacle Hollywood Effects add-on (non-pro version.)

* While Pinnacle 8 is one of the easiest to use editors out there (that I have tried), I prefer the general layout of WS. There seems to be less wasted space.

From the video editing side, I am hard pressed to see what Pinnacle can do that does not seem possible in WS. (I can definitely see the other way.)

As for DVD/VCD authoring, I will not waste my time trying to do it in WS. Now, if you do not have Pinnacle 8, then what I might suggest you consider is to get MS plus a stand-alone DVD authoring kit. Both Pinnacle and Ulead have great packages.

I am interested in seeing how well the codec in WS works. The rendering process in Pinnacle is among the slowest!!

There's more, but I will stop here until I log more time in WS.

Hope this is helpful.

The Movie Studio is super easy to use and is a lot of fun. Also, the wizards are very helpful. I uploaded photos from my summer vacation and created a living, breathing, slide show with great transitions and effects; making my movie seem like a real Hollywood movie. I highly recommend this product!

I bought this product because the box says "Burn your videos onto CDs for playback in most DVD players." When tried to do this, a window pops up telling me I have to buy a ... plug-in for MPEG1 or MPEG2. I am very upset. The box also advertises downloading free video clips. If you try to do tis, you are solicited to buy more software. There is nothing "free" about his product.

This program is really easy to use. In just a few minutes I had dragged-and-dropped my photos into the timeline, added trasitions, music and a title -- and made a really cool slideshow. Also, this program allows me to pan/crop my still images so that it looks like my still image has motion. This is the perfect complement to owning a digital camera.

No mention of the fact that you will have to pay an additional $... to get an MPEG plug-in until you try to use the program (which by the way both my Sony Digital Camcorder and my Sony Digital Camera spit out in the MPEG format - but their software won't work with it).

You had best compare this to similar products that run around a $... because once they're done with you at Screenblast that's what you'll have into it!