Consumer Video-Editing Heavyweights Go Toe-to-Toe

PC Mag By Jan Ozer There's never been a better time to start turning those forgotten memories into enjoyable home movies. Most new PCs come with a DVD burner (or you can add one for $50), and the latest builds of two consumer-friendly video-editing heavyweights deliver more video-editing and DVD-authoring power than ever. The differences between these two packages show their dissimilar roots. Pinnacle Studio Plus has long been a leading consumer app, and the new Version 10 delivers the software's hallmark ease of use along with incrementally more power. Relative newcomer Adobe Premiere Elements 2.o, on the other hand, is essentially a scaled-down version of the company's pro-level Adobe Premiere application, with DVD authoring added. It delivers power heretofore unseen in a $99 package. Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 delivers 95 percent of the power of Adobe Premiere Pro plus DVD authoring at a fraction of the price. But the interface may be challenging for beginners and lacks some of Pinnacle Studio's home-movie-oriented features. (br clear=all>

Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 is an easy-to-use program with a comprehensive feature set and great options for home video makers. Our only reservation: We had trouble getting it to load and run on several of our PCs.