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Camped out at the end of one of your local computer store's aisles--where it's likely to snare impulse buyers--a simple all-in-one video editing/DVD application such as Pinnacle Systems' $49 Pinnacle Expression or Roxio's $80 VideoWave Movie Creator may catch your eye. If it does, my advice is to keep on walking: In trying to make things easier, the vendors have eviscerated these products.

Take One

I tested a shipping version of Movie Creator--and found its interface likely to confuse both experienced and novice users. It consists of five separate but related tools: one for capturing video, three for generating a movie, and one for exporting to DVD or videotape. To jump between these tools, however, you must first save your project and back out to the main screen.

Movie Creator's CineMagic, one of the movie-generation apps, is straightforward. You point to a video file and an audio file, and select a style; the program then generates a finished video. But the application inexplicably requires that the video be twice the length of the audio, or it will refuse to work--a requirement that I've never encountered. Worse, it won't allow you to trim the video to fit; for that, you must use StoryLine Editor (discussed below).

In addition, CineMagic won't let you preview a style before you choose it, so you must process the entire clip, then abandon it if you don't like it. Finally, if you remove a file from the library, the program will ask if you want to delete it from your hard drive as well--and the default is Yes. Goodbye, file.

Movie Creator's StoryLine Editor--the best of its movie applications--worked more like a traditional low-end video editor with a storyboard interface. It let me trim audio and video, as well as add transitions, text, and effects. Although it offered a good selection of transitions, it lacked fade-ins and fade-outs, and overall was too limited.

Take Two

The shipping version of Pinnacle Expression I tested was a bit more intuitive than Movie Creator--you click on one of three icons (clearly labeled 1, 2, and 3) at the top of the screen to capture, edit, or export. In the editing section, though, if you customize one of the templates and then decide to scroll through the options again, your previous template disappears.

Expression has even fewer editing tools than Movie Creator--to keep things simple, according to Pinnacle. Nevertheless, the program makes you take multiple steps to accomplish some basic tasks. For example, to trim a video clip, you must play it to the desired starting or end point, split it into two clips, and then delete one. And the buttons offered to perform these tasks are unlabeled icons, so sometimes it takes a second for you to remember what they do.

One nice feature: You can set the application to adjust its video export settings automatically to the highest quality that fits your recording media.

It's a Wrap

About all either of these applications can do well is a slide show. Drop in a bunch of still images, and each program quickly makes a high-quality slide show with simple but effective transitions.

Beyond that, this kiosk-level software will rapidly bore even novice video auteurs. For a little more money, you can buy a true video editor (such as Pinnacle's $100 Studio 8) that does a far better job and is much less frustrating to users of all skill levels.

SUMMARY

Pinnacle Expression Pinnacle Systems. Reasonably integrated tools, but too few of them. List: $49

SUMMARY

Roxio VideoWave Movie Creator Roxio. Okay for slide shows, but video tools are much too awkward. List: $80

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