MediaStudio Pro 5.2: Do-all Digital Video Kit

Product: MediaStudio Pro 5.2
From: Ulead www.ulead.com
Version tested: 5.2 (tested on Win95 and Win98) A trial version is available for download.
Pros: CG, audio, video and capture suite for Windows 95/NT with device control, MPEG input, editing and output, MOV and AVI support.
Cons: QuickTime for Windows (QTW) not supported under NT. Note: free 5.2 upgrade is required for compatibility with QTW 3.0 or later. Version 5.0 of MediaStudio Pro 5.0x only supported the 16-bit QTW. No direct support for digital video (DV), as found in version 6.0 and later versions.

Media Studio Pro is a formidable competitor to Adobe Premiere, sharing many of that product's professional-quality strengths, and exceeding its capabilities in a number of areas. Here are some of the features we liked best about Media Studio Pro 5.0.

Audio Editor
Pros: Very fast pitch transposer. Basic signal processing functions include echo, reverb, waveform invert, reverse, offset, fade, normalize and (gate type) noise reduction.
Cons: audio editor doesn't zoom in to view individual samples.

GC Infinity (Character Generator)
Pros: excellent animation and envelope functions. Easy to use; soft shadows, multicolor text. Uses standard Windows fonts. Supports custom Kerning and Leading.
Cons: None noted.

Video Capture
Pros: The capture utility supports most of the popular video capture cards, including units from Miro, FAST, Intel, Hauppage and others. (But why aren't the ATI or Matrox cards listed?)
Cons: none noted.

Video Editor
Pros: (optional) instant previews, data rate analysis and video frame-rate conversion features. EDL support. Interface and features are very similar to those of Adobe Premiere 4.2.
Cons: installation did not place sample files in location specified by the default settings, hence, the samples did not work correctly. Choosing a directory other than the default breaks links to all applications in the suite (bogus!), in which case they must be relinked by browsing to the correct directory for each file.

Video Paint
Pros: decent 2D video animation tool, with animated effects like pool ripples, lightning, fire, and many painterly effects. Provides some capabilities of advanced tools like Adobe After Effects and Fractal Painter 5.
Cons: none noted.

Video Wizard
Automates the capture process. (Requires capture card.)

For Further Reading:

• QuickTime 3 and QuickTime 4
• AVI-FAQ - Frequently asked questions about Video for Windows.