Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus

Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus works with a wide range of popular video formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, Windows Media, and QuickTime. You can input either WAV or MP3 files to use as a soundtrack, and it'll even play back MIDI files (although these need to be converted to WAV files before you burn the finished CD). If you don't have the raw video files already stored on your PC, Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus makes it easy to pull them in from an analog or digital camcorder. However, your PC will need to have either a DV card or connections for the RCA cables used by most analog camcorders.

Magix has acquired a reputation for producing cheap, powerful music-sequencing programs, where instruments are recorded on individual tracks laid across the screen like lanes in a swimming pool. Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus uses the same kind of interface, except that you use one track for the video itself, another for effects, another for the soundtrack, a fourth for background music, and other tracks for borders, titles, and so on. There are 32 tracks in all. The program has a built-in synthesizer for producing ambient and dance music, and a clever song wizard that lets you pick a style (including reggae, jazz, or classical), select your instruments, and then create a musical soundtrack. You can alter the volume of individual audio tracks (using a proper onscreen mixer), and there's a wide range of preset effects for adjusting EQ and reverb, reducing background noise, and so on.

The video editing facilities in Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus are fantastic. Not only can you trim the length of individual scenes but you can also adjust their brightness, color, contrast, and sharpness. When you apply a special effect, there are a bewildering number of settings to tweak so you can get the effect just right. The program also includes a wide range of high-quality transitions, scrolling text for titles, and end credits (you can also overlay text on top of video).

Once the movie's finished, you can save it in the formats mentioned above so it's suitable for playing back on a PC, attaching to an e-mail, or broadcasting from a Web site. It's also possible to record back out to either a DV cassette or standard VHS, although this is covered a bit sketchily in the user's guide. Alternatively, click the Make CD/DVD tab at the top of the screen and you're suddenly in a proper authoring program where you can create an opening menu with background graphics, chapters, and so on, just like a commercial DVD. A CD cover and label design program is even included.

In the nicest possible way, this program is a bit of a monster, but if you've got a powerful enough PC (the minimum recommended configuration is a 400 MHz Pentium II with 128 MB memory), then it's hard to think of a video editing job that Video Deluxe 2.0 Plus couldn't tackle. --Rob Beattie, Amazon.co.uk