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CNET editors' rating:
4.5 stars
Outstanding
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 65 reviews
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Product summary
CNET Editors' ChoiceJun 02
The good: Excellent value; includes professional tools such as automatic cross-fades and precise timeline editing; oodles of ready-made content and special effects; thorough audio control; real-time preview; fully interactive tutorials.
The bad: Complex interface; no enclosed FireWire card.
The bottom line: Thanks to its pro-level tools and affordable price, Video Explosion Deluxe is perfect for any amateur PC moviemaker willing to brave the complicated interface.
Specifications: License qty: 1 user; License type: Complete package; Min Operating system: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000; ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/30/2002
- Updated on:03/03/2003
Everyone into the Pool
To install Video Explosion, merely pop the first of its four discs into your CD drive and follow the instructions. Its interface confines key utilities to a single, icon-based window that should look familiar to Vegas Video users (Video Explosion borrows technology from Vegas developer Sonic Foundry) but may overwhelm others. You'll find pull-down menus and a toolbar across the top of the screen, a track information area and a timeline view where you view and edit video below that, a video preview and a Media Pool window at the bottom (more on this later), and plenty of cryptic commands and buttons throughout. Fortunately, Video Explosion features pop-up text assistants and no fewer than 30 exceptional tutorials to help you get acquainted.
We love the Media Pool, a handy window that lets you access and group all of the elements you plan to use in your movie, regardless of format. Once you've assembled the items, you can listen to audio clips and preview stills and video clips before integrating them in your project's timeline. Plus, through various tabs at the top of the Media Pool window, you can select special effects such as scene transitions, text and backdrops, and video modifications such as Gaussian blur, or antique film, then drag and drop them onto the timeline. Such convenience!
Becoming Steven Spielberg
Once you know your way around, you'll find Video Explosion enjoyable and addictive. The package includes 200-plus MP3 music clips, 1,000-plus quickie sound effects, 750 backgrounds and photos, 100 animation sequences, 250 video clips, and scores of top-notch screen transitions--so many, you'll hardly need your own video.
If you do decide to import video, just plug in a DV camcorder, which you can control right from the program. When you're ready to edit, a five-track (two video, three audio) timeline allows pinpoint editing control. You can zoom in and edit frame by frame, create picture-in-picture and superimposed effects, and specify automatic audio and video cross-fades simply by dragging and overlapping clips. The Audio FX button lets you pan and crop audio tracks and spruce them up with reverb, bass and treble adjustments, and much more. Continue reading
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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 65 reviews
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