There was a time when Pinnacle dominated the PC video-editing market. But, after its initial success with the DV500, the advent of sophisticated realtime editing seemed to leave the company behind. While it was a good product, the company’s Pro-ONE arrived when competitive products from Matrox and Canopus had been available for some time. The Pinnacle Edition PRO 5 is an entirely different matter.

Great real-time performance, particularly with high definition footage. But the EDIUS Pro software still needs a few more features to usurp the competition.

There was a time when semi-professional video editors and home-video enthusiasts had little choice but Adobe Premiere. Back then, video capture and output depended on proprietary hardware, which often only worked with its bundled software.

A new interface, smart albums, guided editing and photo merging keep Photoshop Elements ahead of the pack

The menu setup panel is where DVD menu layouts are customised with thumbnails, backgrounds and music.

There’s so much to like about this package that it might just be worth switching operating systems to get hold of it.

PowerDirector 3 is the latest version of CyberLink’s DV editing application aimed at home video enthusiasts. It has been radically overhauled since the previous version 2.5, and includes many new features as well as a revamped interface. On the capture front, a new quick-scan option enables fast pre-capture preview of an entire 60-minute DV tape in just six minutes. There’s also a new title editor, Picture-in-Picture (PiP) motion effects can be easily added, a three-track audio mixer provides real-time mixing during playback, and you can now record voiceover narration during timeline playback of a project.

Video editing can make or break those home movies of your latest adventure or that important business presentation. Until recently you only had the choice of some expensive professional, or some fairly crude software packages, but over recent years Ulead has put video editing within the reach of most video camera users, and at a reasonable price.

Editing performance with HDV remains sluggish, but DV-editing ability is formidable.

New image editing tools and a more powerful library mode makes Lightroom 2 compelling. It's also compatible with Vista 64-bit.

Modern photo management software that offers surprising power, especially considering it’s free.

As it focuses more on the new user, beginners will find this release easy to get to grips with.

Excellent features and performance, but it’s pricey and you need a suitably powerful PC to make the most of it.

Canopus first made its name providing top-notch 3Dfx cards. Realising the deadly competitiveness and pace of that market, however, Canopus has moved on and repositioned itself as a company specialising in video editing.

Cleverly extends Photoshop Elements’ appeal to both digital photo novices and the more experienced

An excellent release that reworks Photoshop’s core colour-correction capabilities, making them even more powerful

Best-of-breed photo management, editing and sharing with great usability and value.

HDV support and seven video tracks make this a massive upgrade, but only for the plus version.

There is a growing demand for a decent all-in-one digital imaging pack that covers everything from organising your photographs to editing your videos and eventually burning them onto DVD. Ulead has attempted to provide it by bundling four of its core programs into a single package and there are few more comprehensive digital imaging suites than StudioQuartet. While the price tag is out of the range of many home users, the enthusiast will save up for it and provide themselves with everything they need to create multimedia projects.

Packed with features and closer to Adobe Premiere Elements, CyberLink PowerDirector 8 is close, but still not close enough.