video studio vs media studio?

stannmaple · Post by **stannmaple** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:54 pm

This is something I've been wondering for a while and can't find an answer anywhere. What is the difference between video studio and media studio? Thanks.
Dann

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:28 pm

The best person to answer this would be Steve (sjj1805) You may want to PM him regarding this.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:34 pm

I too am sure Steve will jump in on this. But essentially, think of it being like Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro. The latter is at the professional and prosumer end of the market (and the price reflects it). Elements, on the other hand, is a cut down version of Pro -- it will do a lot of things Pro does, but not everything. And there are differences in the work flow used.

In other words, Media Studio Pro is a more sophisticated and complex version of Video Studio, and will do quite a few more things. It has, for instance, for some time now, had multiple video and audio tracks, whereas multiple overlay tracks have only just appeared in VS10. If you are familiar with using VS, then the switchover to MSP is relatively smooth, though as usual there is a bit of a learning curve. However, it is nowhere near as steep as going, say, from VS to Premiere Pro since the MSP interface and work flow is not dissimilar from that used in VS.

PeterMilliken · Post by **PeterMilliken** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:28 pm

Ken's right - look at the features of each product to see the differences. As a broadbrush, you can say that MSP is the big daddy and VS is the child - growing towards it but never quite getting there.

On a philosophical level, I have started to ask myself the question - why stay with VS? Would it be better to buy into the MSP camp?

I have been with VS since VS 8 first came out - at that time MSP was at MSP 7. Somewhere between VS 8 and VS 9, ULead released MSP 8.

Each release of VS tends to see a current 'feature' of MSP being added i.e. multiple video tracks in VS 10 - MSP has them as standard. VS 9 added chroma support - MSP had it. HD support was added in VS 10 (I think there was an optional module for VS 9), MSP has it (or it was added via a patch).

ULead release VS more frequently than MSP. So if you are a VS user and you take each upgrade of VS then you end up forking out a pretty piece of cash. At this moment, MSP is available as an upgrade for $199 USD - this is approximately equivalent in price to 3 - 4 VS upgrades.

Since VS and MSP releases are not synced, it is difficult to draw a direct (price) comparison (of upgrades) but I believe it would be fair to say that ULead release about 3 versions of VS to each MSP (very subjective here - somebody who has been around longer would have a better metric, but this is the impression I have formed since first purchasing VS

.

So I am starting to think it might be "cheaper" to just jump onto the MSP bandwagon - the price might end up a little more expensive but I get ALL of the features in one big rush rather than waiting for ULead to "drop" a new one (found in MSP that is) into each new release of VS - purely as a "tempter" to keep everybody on the upgrade path

ULead have a very obvious marketting policy - and problem - how to get people to keep sending them money for an application that is reasonably "mature" - their solution is to make VS upgrades add the new features i.e. support for HDV, but they also add a single "teaser" feature from MSP (multiple video tracks in VS 10) - just to make it attractive enough for people to say "Wow, it's worth my $50 ($60 now) USD to upgrade".

Now might be a good time to upgrade to MSP for me - I have a copy of MSP 7 (VE) from the front cover of a computer magazine and MSP (upgrade) is $199 USD at the moment. The upgrade to VS 10 (I am at VS 9) is $59 USD - so seems a good time to jump tracks. Of course to qualify for the $199 you need a previous version of MSP (it is $299 for VS owners to upgrade), but like all ULead products if you look really hard you can find a SE/VE version for next to nothing (I got my MSP 7 VE from the cover disk of "Australian PC User" magazine - June 2006 edition).

Just my thoughts...

Peter

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:02 pm

I got my first copy of VS 5 bundled with my fire wire card, used it once and found it to be too rudimentary for what I wanted. I upgraded that straight away to MSP 6.5 Directors Cut and used that for a year or so. I'm not sure when I made the switch to MSP 7 but I never looked back. Meanwhile I got bundled versions of VS 7 and VS 8 but never even installed these.

With MSP one can have up to 99 video and audio tracks and the work flow is different to VS. MSP is aimed at the prosumer as Ken already pointed out. VS is aimed at the keen amateur who does not need the added features of MSP.

As suggested before, it’s best to compare the two on the web site and decide which one to get based on the features provided/needed.

stannmaple · Post by **stannmaple** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:38 pm

The reason I asked is because I have video studio and am really enjoying it. I was just wondering if Media Studio was better. Sounds like it might be good for me in the future. I have one other question. I realize this is a Ulead forum, so the opinions are going to be a bit biased, but how does media studio compare to professional level programs like Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress and Adobe Premier? Thanks.
Dann

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:19 am

The best answer (other than downloading the Free Trials) is to watch two sample videos produced by
Tobie Openshaw
MarCom Dept
Ulead System Taiwan

They can be found in this post:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 7725#67725

Put simply, most things that can be done in VideoStudio can also be done in MediaStudio but not the other way round. It appears that Ulead sometimes tests things out in VideoStudio before implementing them into MediaStudio.

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:25 am

I haven't used Avid Express Pro, or Final Cut Pro, and have toyed with an older version of Adobe Premier.

But to start with I do know the learning curve for MSP8 is not as steep as that for Adobe Premier.

Now another comparison is pricing,

Ulead Media Studio Pro 8 full version: $399
Adobe Premier Pro: $899
Final Cut Pro: $1,695

That's as far as I can take a comparison. I would suggest going to each site and reading about the respect software, to include the system requirements, look at the User Interfaces (there generally are screenshots). Visit forums of each and read about any problems the people may or may not be having.

Then if so inclined and they provide a trial or demo version, try each one out. One thing that I do know, is looking a something on a website, a flash demo is totally different then having the program on your computer and trying to figure out how to do things with it. I've tried several programs out, and it seems easy when you see someone else doing it.

Ron P.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:53 am

And don't forget to look in on their support forums (if they have any). That would give you an idea of the level of support you can expect or need.