Video Studio 10 verus Media Pro 8

lenni · Post by **lenni** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:03 pm

Hi, I currently use VS9 and am considering either upgrading to VS10 or spending more money and getting Media Pro 8. Is Media Pro 8 that much better than VS10. I am a semi professional user so if Media Pro is that much better I don't mind spending the money. Thanks Lenni

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:46 pm

That question can only be answered by yourself. For the keen amateur videographer, VS may be all that's needed. It allows for pretty much everything one would want to do to his/her videos. If in your previous activities, you found yourself wanting other features, not available with VS, it might be time to move on and get a more advanced editor.

Personally, I don't consider myself a pro, not even a semi pro but I found VS (VS 5 is the only one I ever used) to be rather rudimentary for what I wanted. After I finished one project in VS, I downloaded the trial version of MSP 6.5, had a brief look and decided to buy it. I never looked back. I'm now on MSP 7 but had no need yet to go the extra step to upgrade to MSP 8.

I also believe the difference between VS and MSP has somewhat shrunk over the years.

I would download the trial versions of both, VS 10 and MSP 8, and do a small project in both. That would give you an idea.

The major difference, AFAIKT, is in the different work flow and the number of video/audio tracks. With MSP 7 there was also the inclusion of CGI Infinity and Video Paint which, sadly, have been excluded from MSP 8 and now need to be bought separately.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:38 pm

There is a short thread here comparing the two products:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=14376
That thread includes a couple of sample videos by Tobie Openshaw - (Ulead Employee) that show what can be achieved by the two products.

It includes a small feeble attempt by myself

jday · Post by **jday** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:33 am

Although far from a professional, I find (like a post above) that VS just isn't enough for even what I want to do. I also tried MSP and love it. I currently use MSP 8 and was amazed that there wasn't really that much of a learning curve for a product of this caliber. I really like the unlimited video and audio tracks. Although you can achieve most of the same things in VS, you would have to do it in steps. With limited video tracks you would have to do intermediate renders to avi (or mpg if that's what you're using) and then import that avi as a single track into a new project to add more overlays.

However, if you are not in a hurry, you might want to wait a few months and see if there is a new version of MSP announced. It seems that Ulead uses VS to try out new features before implementing them in MSP sometimes. Since the latest VS has been out a few months, maybe (hopefully) the MSP guys at Ulead are hard at work making the product even better.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:43 am

That may be the case but MSP 8 hasn't been out that long either. I would never bend over to have the latest from any software vendor. It's better to wait until the bugs are ironed out.

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:46 am

The life cycle for MSP is >2 years/major version. MSP8 has been out for ~7 or 8 months. LONG time to wait!

(NB this is my opinion and does not reflect Ulead policy)

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:56 pm

Service Pack 1 was only released a couple of weeks ago.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:44 pm

Hi Lenni

I class myself at the still getting on the learning curve end of this video editing lark. I started with VS 5, then went up to 8 before moving over to MSP 7 (now V eight). I liked VS but it always seemed to fall a bit short for what I wanted to do. I moved over to MSP quite easily and the additional flexibility is, for me, very good as I am using for both person and business reasons.

So it depends on what you need it for, as some have said above. VS10 is very close to MSP these days and if you want to edit straight forward home videos, then VS10 will be more than fair enough. However if you really want to experiment with video editing or do some work that maybe goes beyond personal home movies, etc, I would fully recommend MSP8 as great value for money.

jday · Post by **jday** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:22 pm

I must be going crazy in my old age. As mentioned by several posters above, MSP 8 hasn't been out that long and SP1 is fairly recent. My problem is that I've got too many different programs and dealing with too many different issues and cannot keep them straight.

In my response above I was actuallly thinking about an update of DWS2 since the latest release of DVD Movie Factory. I'll try my best to keep my information straight.

Actually, I think I'm not thinking straight because I'm so anxious waiting for my new system (will be dedicated to video editing/graphics) to arrive tomorrow.