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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Find out why your AVCHD camcorder has been given a breath of fresh air and which company to thank.

One beautiful camera, with one awful flaw.

With the free products on our new cover DVD, you need never buy software again. So why do we still keep paying?

HD editing finally heads to the desktop in this major update to a favourite consumer editing package.

With its limited editing features, it would be hard to see anyone choosing PowerDirector 5 over the Adobe, Pinnacle or Ulead competition.

Vegas has a huge array of editing features for the money, plus powerful bundled DVD authoring.

A photo editing software. This photo editing software includes advanced, intuitive, editing tools t...

Not content with dominating the semi-professional end of video editing, Matrox has reworked its 'Power of X' technology for a more humble audience.

AVCHD support and some useful new effects keep this as the leading entry-level video editor.