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Consumers are gaining access to video-production features and tools that were previously only available to professionals. One of the latest examples of this trickle-down technology is Ulead's VideoStudio 7, an update to a competitively priced package that offers complicated functions behind a simplified interface.

Ulead touts the product's user-friendly interface and commands, real-time preview function, and text-handling tools.

VideoStudio 7 is available at three price levels. The boxed product costs $100, while a downloadable version is $10 cheaper. You can also upgrade from earlier versions of the product at a cost of $45 by download and $50 for a boxed product.

Main Functions

A key difference between this product and its competition is the viewing area, which takes up about a third of the screen area (and is expandable to a full-screen view.

"We have the largest preview window in the industry," says Travis White, product manager. "This makes for a more pleasurable experience, and people don't have to squint in order to see their titles."

Ulead also points to its interface, designed to be easy for amateur cinematographers.

"We have a unique interface that walks the user through the process," White says. "The tabs across the top can be addressed sequentially, or they can address the functions in their own order. Users also have the flexibility of easily switchable storyboard and timeline views."

VideoStudio 7 users also can mark several sequences from a videotape and "batch capture" them into a single file. It can preview clips in real time to an attached television set, and add special effects in real time. Like Ulead's still photography programs, it provides versatile text-handling tools, White notes.

"We let you type titles directly onscreen and extend them over several video clips," White says.

Also, users can burn a CD or DVD directly from the program without needing to use any extra software.

Assessing the Pack

Although some video-editing programs are bundled with systems or offered free, VideoStudio 7's more sophisticated features will prompt users to pay for it, White says.

Microsoft offers the free Movie Maker program that does many of the same things, but that is just an introduction to such functions, he says.

"The Microsoft program is a toy," White says. "We love it. It gets people interested in editing video, but the program wears out pretty quickly."

Despite a convergence of features, White sees a vastly different market for programs like VideoStudio and the high-end packages.

"Technology will always trickle down," White says. "But the consumer and professional products will always be differentiated by the amount of control that you give to the user. Consumer programs make the features available, but make the options limited so the user doesn't freak out."

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