Not Quite Adobe Premier ElementsDecember 24, 2008 Mr. Hm Bennett(London) This product has excellent support for all sorts of different videocam formats which it handles with ease and utter reliability.
It also writes blue ray discs (if you have a blue ray disc writer) as well, in a whole range of formats.
I was a little disappointed in the price hike over the previous version and the dark and depressing user interface which seems to slavishly copy Adobe products in look and feel. It is however, dead easy to use and only lacks the most esoteric of high-end fuctionality despite its relatively low price.
However I got a new Sony Laptop with the latest Premiere Elements included and I now never use this. The Adobe product just feels better.
That, for me, is a very telling fact.
I don't think the minimal price difference makes this a sensible buying option in the face of the competition.
East as ABC, 123.December 21, 2008 L. Hutchinson(Newcastle Upon Tyne, Britain) It would be very nice for me to write a very long review about this product but to be honest all you need to know is that this is all you could possibly need to make a homemade video: very easy editing, simple layout so it is easy to follow, very simple to add music, voiceover and so on. So if all you need is some software in order to create a polished and professional looking video, DVD and so on in a very simple way then here you are!
Recomended all round package that is really quite goodNovember 22, 2008 R. Hallett(UK) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm impressed with this software package. The editing capability is straight-forward to use. The pre-sets that can be applied, are extremely useful and really spot on in my opinion. The menu layouts seem appropriate and logical; the learning curve to get into the software is around an hour I thought. Great value considering the benefits and the overall value of the package. Worth considering if it is on a short-list and cost is a factor, anyone making the purchase really will not be disappointed. Recommended.
A lot of features but your system needs to be up to spec as it's very resource hungryNovember 15, 2008 Silverfrog(Leeds UK) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Power Director 7 Ultra is a comprehensive software tool that will give you lots of options to edit your video/images into a really good looking DVD. I used to use Nero Express for several years to make amateur DVD's including my wedding and honeymoon. However this software has far more customization options from effects, making menus, visual effects, transition effects and sound. You need to ensure that you're system is fast enough to use it to it's full effect though otherwise it runs really slowly.
My system is running Intel Celeron 2.8Ghz with 1.18Ghz RAM and the software starts up really slowly. The software took a good half a minute to load up and even very simple, low demanding project took a while to create. The recommended spec varies depending upon what type of movie source you use (ranges from Pentium 2 450 MHz/AMD Athlon 500MHz to Pentium 2.4GHz/AMD Athlon XP).
Drag and drop worked well to add images from the library and movies when added are converted to a compatible format. Pictures can be made into a slideshow with interesting display formats, like in picture frames moving in and out in 3D or as a photograph flip book. Creation of the menu was a little difficult and takes a while to get your head around.
All in all a software full of potential but the learning curve is steep and your system needs to be up to spec. The software is aimed more at the movie buff who wants to create good quality DVD's. I wasn't able to try the Blu-ray disc feature as I'm not able to create these type of discs.
Jack-of-all-trades video editorNovember 4, 2008 Paul B(UK) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Power Director 7 Ultra is the latest version of a long running series of video editing software. Having used several of the previous entries in the series, I was quite happy to test out the latest.
The new version adds more effects, more options for burning and High Definition support, including burning to Blu-ray. Not having a Blu-ray recorder in my PC, I was unable to test this out, but if it works as well as the rest of the software then it should be worth the purchase for any HD users.
The video editing itself is very easy to get to grips with, despite not having a manual included in the box (a seemingly frequent occurrence with software these days). If your video camera supports USB2.0 or Firewire then Power Director can be used to import the video ready to edit. From here you can cut and paste the video and lay it across a timeline, then add music and sound effects.
There are plenty of built in effects, from layering and blue screen to titles and intros. They all work very well after a bit of practice, but this is where some will find Power Director fails them. Though I mentioned that the editing itself is fairly easy, once you come to add effects, music and try to piece together a professional looking video, you'll find that the software suddenly requires a much steeper learning curve.
However, sticking with Power Director's many options will finally produce something which looks much more professional and developed. There are better pieces of software on the market and this does occasionally let you down when something doesn't quite work the way you think it should, but Power Director does work well as a Jack-of-all-trades video producer.
