Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 [OLD VERSION]

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3 responses to “Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 [OLD VERSION]”

1. 

   R. L. Hodges

   January 16, 2014

   111 of 116 people found the following review helpful

   
   Best of Breed – Well, COULD Be., March 30, 2011

   By 

   R. L. Hodges (Layton, UT, United States) –
   
     

   This review is from: Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 [OLD VERSION] (Software)

   Better than anything else out there in my opinion, including Adobe’s completely overly complex and overpriced products. The interface is simple, good-looking, and even fun. This is the kind of hobby software you wish for.

   Know that if you are going to be editing HD movies, have the hottest quad processor and as much RAM as you can manage. I’ve got an AMD quad clocked to 4GHz, 8GB of RAM, and dual nVidia 9600s in SLI, which easily handles everything I throw at it, including high-power games that make PS3 and XBox consoles look and feel like cheap smartphones. But when I edit HD, it gives my machine a serious workout. Thankfully, VSX4 has a brilliant way to relax this if you need it by way of using proxy files.

   Also know that this software, as great as it is, is several products combined. For example, DVD MovieFactory is no longer bundled with the software – they actually incorporated it right into the software (they didn’t even change the menus one single bit).

   Thank heavens, the crashy bugs are largely worked out now. I have yet to have this software crash on me. Also has some really super fun playtoy things to amuse yourself with, like 3D, time lapse, and stop-motion, which work surprisingly well, allowing you to make up for any features your camcorder may not have built-in. This kind of software can take the drudgery out of video editing and actually turn a chore into a hobby. I am now having just as much fun (if not more) editing my video as I previously did watching it.

   Rendering times could have been MUCH better in this software, the result of 32-bit software. VSX4 just doesn’t work my machine very hard. If it was 64-bit, it would be a dream.

   Converting 2D video to 3D is the only “candy” feature I have played with. Not spectacular, but it works and adds some fun depth to some otherwise boring video (3D depth is adjustable). Fun to toy around with but not take too seriously. If it wasn’t shot in 3D from the beginning, don’t expect much from a 2D to 3D conversion in terms of what you see in the movie theaters. If you don’t try to take it too seriously, you’ll have some fun with it (and maybe a few headaches from the red/blue glasses). VSX4 DOES support side-by-side color 3D, which requires special video hardware to watch, like a 3D TV and the shutter glasses. My gear arrives next week, so I’ll play around with it some more, really looking forward to full-color side-by-side 3D. It’s like Christmas.

   Something that I absolutely LOVE about this software that needs to be mentioned that PowerDirector doesn’t have: being able to add/remove DVD/Blu-ray chapter marker points right on the timeline as you edit. Then, when you finally get around to opening up the “Share” section of the program, which allows you to build the menus for your DVDs and Blu-Rays (and do the burn), your chapter markers are already there, and all you have to do is worry about the visuals of the menus themselves – the chapter marker work you did on the timeline itself is already done and saved. NICE. Even better, you can do more chapter marker editing while in the menu creation process in case you missed anything. NICER.

   Another thing I love is the WYSIWYG preview/work window you’re using to work on your video. It is playing working in high res HD – not the heavily pixelated version of the video you see in PowerDirector. PD9 probably has a function somewhere to enable HD viewing/working, but VSX4 comes up that way as default. Note that viewing/editing in HD slows the software down quite painfully – looks nice but this is where the 32bit aspect of the software really comes back to bite you hard, severely, and non-stop.

   Highly recommended. With all the bugs of previous versions, the software was virtually worthless – it was as “crash-happy” as PowerDirector. Now it’s actually worth paying for. 4 out of 5 stars because, well, Adobe Production Suite CS5 it ain’t.

   * UPDATE *

   After finally getting around to moving on to creating Blue-Rays from DVDs, I have some new information, both good and bad.

   The Good:

   This software is solid as a rock. It NEVER crashes. I have never lost any work due to a crash, and it performs reliably no matter how badly it chokes on what I feed it.

   The Bad:

   Performance: It chokes on what I feed it. Working with HD video brings this 32-bit software to its knees. It does not bring your computer to its knees – just the VSX4 software itself. Yeah, I know, I can throw it into proxy mode AS A BAND-AID DUE TO LIMITATIONS OF THIS 32-BIT SOFTWARE, but with a system like mine, that shouldn’t even have to be considered. VSX4 is VERY sluggish when working with HD. It won’t crash on you, but you’ll be continually waiting (after hitting playback buttons, dragging jog bars, working with effects and transitions, mode shifts, etc) for the software to…

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2. 

   thorsty

   January 16, 2014

   85 of 89 people found the following review helpful

   
   VSP Pro x4: Massive bug-fixes and new features, March 11, 2011

   By 

   thorsty –

   This review is from: Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 [OLD VERSION] (Software)

   Corel Visual Studio Pro x4

   The new release of Visual Studio Pro, x4, fixes most of the bugs from earlier versions as well as offering new features such as 3-D, time-lapse and stop-action effects, and the option to zip projects. I have little use for the new features but the bug-fixes are a huge improvement in the program.

   VSP x3 seemed to work better with high-end systems. I have an 1-7 930 processor overclocked to 4 GHz with a GTX460 video card, blu-ray burner, and 12 GB of RAM and have experienced none of the crashes that others using older equipment report. Pro x3 occasionally would freeze up during rendering, but VSP Pro x4 has yet to crash or freeze on my system.

   The biggest drawback to Pro x3 was that it came packaged with DVD Movie Factory 2010: a separate, highly-defective program necessary for creating and burning DVDs that almost never worked without freezing. Not completely oblivious to this disaster, Corel responded by offering DVD Movie Factory 7 SE for free and DVD Movie Factory 7 (full version) for sale on their web site. Neither of these programs imports the chapters you set up in Visual Studio, so you have to set your chapter points all over again when you create your DVD–which rather obviates the purpose of setting up chapter points in VSP, what? The full version of DVD Movie Factory 7, while offering more menu and theme options, produced AVCHD DVDs with little slips in them. (The SE version produced them without the slips.)

   Pro x4 has addressed these issues by incorporating the DVD factory into the Visual Studio program itself (as they had done with earlier versions.) Your chapter points are now retained, AVCHDs don’t slip, and you don’t freeze up when creating DVDs. However, there are a few less menu options available than with the full version of DVD Movie Factory 7 and the screens you work with are no longer full-screen, so you can’t see as clearly. On the pro side, comparable blu-ray disks consume less disk space in Pro x4.

   Visual Studio Pro offers flexibility with libraries that is missing from the other video editing programs I’ve seen. In particular, the program allows you drag a clip from the library to the timeline (or storyboard), edit it, and then drag the edited version back into the library for later use. You can then access both the original and the edited clip in this or another project. As I find this feature essential and have not seen it elsewhere, VSP is the only editor that works for me. Others who have tested VSP against the competition find that rendering times are fastest with VSP. Generally the interfaces are user-friendly, although some customizing of the filters is neither intuitive or adequately explained. You learn by experimenting. One tip: when you are trimming a clip, click on the digital time display (either the frames or seconds–they call it the timecode) and then use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to advance or reverse the clip. This moves you through the clip as fast as you can click, whereas the right and left arrow buttons produce a delayed response unless you click them slowly. The scrubber is imprecise and best used for obtaining a general location.

   Earlier versions of VSP would occasionally mishandle very short clips: reduce them to microsecond flashes that were overlayed. I have tested Pro x4 and found that this problem, too, has been fixed. I also noticed that in earlier versions if you chose higher rendering settings than those native to your clips, the resulting video file would appear with extra noise. With Pro x4, the quality of the clips actually improves when you render with a higher resolution: definition is slightly sharper with noise reduced and colors look cleaner. The improvement isn’t enough to mistake them for HD, but it’s noticeable nonetheless. In addition, the “take a snapshot” bug (where the snapshot is distorted) has been fixed.

   I don’t have a 3-D TV, nor do I have use for time-lapse or stop-action so obviously I can’t report on the these new features. However, Pro x4 has exterminated many of the bugs from previous versions and now earns recommendation without reservation especially for those using high-end systems.

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3. 

   Ed

   January 16, 2014

   46 of 50 people found the following review helpful

   
   Turn Your Blah Videos Into Something Worth Sharing, March 28, 2011

   By 

   Ed (San Francisco Bay Area) –
   
     

   This review is from: Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 [OLD VERSION] (Software)

   VideoStudio Pro X4 is the latest release of Corel’s consumer video editing software application. The previous version, X3, wasn’t exactly well received by Amazon.com users. Indeed, I myself had a hard enough time with X3 that I uninstalled it within 30 minutes of installing it. When I found out that X4 was being released, I wanted to give it a more thorough look and Corel was kind enough to send me a review license. After using it for about a week, I’m happy to say that it’s been fun and a pleasure to edit videos with VideoStudio Pro X4.

   PROS:
   – Performs well (even w/Core2 Duo processors)
   – Short learning curve for basic functions
   – Fair number of transition, title, filter, and media samples
   – Easy to use and configurable layout
   – Multi-monitor support
   – Decent set of tutorials
   – Great sharing options

   CONS:
   – More contextual help would make it even easier to learn
   – A little sluggish at times
   – Cumbersome previewing of media

   The question I get asked the most by people who have home videos is, “How can I put my videos on a DVD so I can share it with others?” That’s a good question. With the popularity of the pocket camcorder, like the Flip, people have made countless video clips. Unfortunately, most of those clips have been imprisoned on the camcorders themselves or if lucky, made their way to a computer. Getting those videos onto a DVD to send to grandparents or friends have been more challenging. VideoStudio Pro X4 (VSPX4) is one way to get those videos onto DVD, but why stop there? You can also use it to upload it to YouTube or Facebook. Before you do that though, how about sprucing up that video first by putting a title graphic on and adding a soundtrack? With VSPX4, it isn’t as hard to do as you might think it is.

   CAPTURE
   VSPX4 is separated into three distinct functions-Capture, Edit, and Share. Capture is the first of those and allows you to easily import videos from a variety of sources. If you already have your videos on your computer, then you can actually skip this part. As a matter of fact, when you first launch VSPX4, it goes straight into Edit, the second and most robust function.

   EDIT
   If all you want to do is get your video clips onto a DVD or upload them to YouTube, you can pretty much just add them into the “Project” and then go to Share and have at it. However, if you wanted to be a little more creative, you can really spruce up that video collection here.

   The default layout of the Edit step works well. It’s broken down into three sections. On the top left, you have the video screen. On the top right, is your collection of media, filters, transitions, etc. The entire bottom half of the layout is the timeline (or storyboard view). This is where you insert all the videos, effects, and audio. It’s pretty intuitive. The timeline reads from left to right and there are multiple rows of “Tracks.” Tracks consist of the main video track, title tracks, overlay tracks, voice track and music tracks.

   Adding elements to these tracks allow you to customize each track and then match them up to work with the entire project. It’s amazingly easy to add your own music as a soundtrack or cool effects to express your creative side. While I appreciated having easy access to the media and samples, I found it very cumbersome to preview them to see or hear what they were. For example, VSPX4 comes with 25 sound effect clips named, S1 to S25. In order to hear what those sounds were, I had to select them on the top right side of the screen with my mouse, then go all the way back over to the video screen on the left and hit play. Doing that for every clip got annoying. It would have been better to allow the clips to be double-clicked for automatic preview, or right click on them to present a “preview” selection that would automatically play them.

   In general however, I thought that manipulating videos was relatively easy and fun. There were some more advanced things that I wanted to do that weren’t easy to figure out at first, like Multi-Trim but I eventually figured it out. I liked the voice over feature because when I do video reviews, I can just film the review, split the audio out of it, then plug in a mic and narrate the video while watching it. This is a huge time saver for me because rather than having to perform multiple takes to get the right one, I can just do it once and use VSPX4 to perfect it.

   SHARE
   The last function of VideoStudio Pro X4 is the share function. This allows you to create a video file, audio file, disc, export to a mobile device, export to a DV camcorder, or upload to Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, or Flickr. Sharing couldn’t be easier. Ok, it could be a little bit easier. There are a lot of options for creating different types of video files and contextual help here would have been nice to help people figure out which type would work…

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