Screenblast Movie Studio

At the heart of the package is Screenblast VideoFactory Deluxe, an all-encompassing application that takes you through every step of the movie-making process within a single, convenient interface. You'll begin your cinematic masterpiece by assembling raw components in VideoFactory's Media Pool window. Here, the program stores and displays each element of your movie--be it a video clip, audio clip, or still photo--in a handy virtual gathering spot, regardless of its format and without actually relocating it from its original position on your hard drive.

To fit the various pieces together, merely drag-and-drop each item to its appropriate spot in the program's intuitive timeline window, where five individual tracks wait to be filled. At any time during the process you can reposition or crossfade your elements, add audio effects such as delay and reverb, drop in sophisticated text overlays, record new sounds, or employ a dazzling array of sophisticated scene transitions and backdrops.

Movie Studio features easy, two-step camcorder footage captures and integrated CD burning, but does not support DVD authoring. And, although the retail package doesn't include nearly as many professional video or audio clips as Nova Development's similarly Vegas-like Video Explosion Deluxe, the Screenblast Web site is filled with an ever-growing downloadable assortment of goodies.

A near-professional grade AV production package without the high-end price, Screenblast Movie Studio is highly recommended. --Gordon Goble

Amazon.com Product Description
Screenblast Movie Studio is a powerful, easy-to-use video editing software suite from one of Hollywood's leading studios. Capture, edit, enhance, and share your digital video or still photos. Make movies with hundreds of video clips, special effects, border treatments, and illustrations. It's everything you need to turn your videos into memorable movies in minutes.

Create movies, slide shows, music videos, corporate presentations, and more. Integrated tutorials guide you through every step of the process. Add effects and transitions, and use "green screen" techniques. Video clips, illustrations, borders, title cards, and more are included on the CD-ROM in the box. Share your movies on your own personal Web page at www.screenblast.com/yourname, or burn home movies onto CDs for playback in most DVD players.

The features I really like about Screenblast Movie Studio that Pinnacle Studio 8 does not have (without buying their Hollywood FX upgrade):

*two video editing tracks
*chroma keying (works great with good lighting)
*masking
*transparencies (you can overlay two clips and change the "transparency" of one to get a "ghost" effect)
*zoom in and out
*basic "animation" abilities (using zoom and fly path features)

After playing with Pinnacle Studio for a year, I was ready for more, and this package gave it to me.

This package does the basics just fine (I bought of copy of this for my father rather than Studio 8), and it also have some awesome special effects features that will not disappoint.


depends on what you want ... great tools for power users   July 3, 2003
The product lacks some of the features that I love with Pinnacle Studio 8. The DVD tools in Pinnacle Studio 8. Having used Pinnacle 7 & * pretty extensively, I was curious about this product based on feedback I had received.
authoring in MovieStudio (MS) is lacking, compared to the awesome
If DVD & VCD authoring and making basic videos is your thing, don't stop at MS. Use Pinnacle 8. For basic video editing and creating videos from pictures, it does not get much easier.

However, once your imaginations starts to run wild, you are going to need something more power. I bought MS for that reason, realizing that I will still use Pinnacle 8 for DVD authoring.

Pinnacle 7/8 provides only a single Video track. Splicing in video is possible, but much more painstaking than having multiple tracks (like most decent video editing tools.) MS has two tracks, but even on a single track you can overall (and blend) multiple video tracks! Pretty neat in concept.

Cool features:
* Chroma keyer: pretty much the big winner for me. This allows you to make solid color backgrounds (though not limited to backgrounds) to become transparent in a video (or image) that is to be overlaid unto another track. (Now you can be in a scene with out having ever been there.)

* Much better collections of transitions and video filters out of the box then Pinnacle 8. (MS has 23 dissolve type transitions versus the single one in Pinnacle Studio 7/8). Although lacking 3-D object type transitions, the collection quality is on par with the Pinnacle Hollywood Effects add-on (non-pro version.)

* While Pinnacle 8 is one of the easiest to use editors out there (that I have tried), I prefer the general layout of WS. There seems to be less wasted space.

From the video editing side, I am hard pressed to see what Pinnacle can do that does not seem possible in WS. (I can definitely see the other way.)

As for DVD/VCD authoring, I will not waste my time trying to do it in WS. Now, if you do not have Pinnacle 8, then what I might suggest you consider is to get MS plus a stand-alone DVD authoring kit. Both Pinnacle and Ulead have great packages.

I am interested in seeing how well the codec in WS works. The rendering process in Pinnacle is among the slowest!!

There's more, but I will stop here until I log more time in WS.

Hope this is helpful.


Save your money...download Windows Movie Maker   June 27, 2003
J. H. King (Grove City, Ohio)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I purchased the product hoping to burn family videos to DVD. I found that you had to purchase the MPEG add on to do so. I also wanted the ability to add menus to the DVD so it doesn't play like an old fashioned video tape...the product doesn't do that. I found that this product does not offer any more functionality more than Windows Movie Maker which is available for free download from the MicroSoft site. I'm sending the product back.


MPEG for another $...   June 13, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

No mention of the fact that you will have to pay an additional $... to get an MPEG plug-in until you try to use the program (which by the way both my Sony Digital Camcorder and my Sony Digital Camera spit out in the MPEG format - but their software won't work with it).

You had best compare this to similar products that run around a $... because once they're done with you at Screenblast that's what you'll have into it!