Sony isn’t necessarily the first name you might associate with video editing but, with Vegas Movie Studio+DVD, the electronics manufacturer is clearly aiming to take on the Adobes and the Pinnacles of this world.

Let’s get one thing straight from the off. Though Movie Studio+DVD is a cut-down version of Sony’s Vegas+DVD Production Suite, it’s certainly no Mickey Mouse video-editing program. It may lack the sophisticated features of its bigger brother (such as multi-layer editing and advanced colour correction), but it’s not the simplest of applications to get your head around, either.

Sony tries its hardest to soften the blow. Launch Movie Studio and you’ll be presented with some animated interactive tutorials, for example. The program also comes with a decent printed instruction manual – something of a rarity these days. It’s ringbound too, making it easy to refer to whilst at the desktop.

Nevertheless, home movie-editing novices will be in for quite a shock. There are no easy-peasy automated editing options and no simple storyboard-type construction area. Instead, Vegas provides an extremely powerful framework for editing video built around the same sort of timeline-based approach used by professionals.

It’s not a bad way of working and Vegas is undeniably smooth and quick. We tested it on a notebook computer as well as a desktop and found that the software was just as stable and almost as fast on the portable computer.

The program’s biggest advantages (such as keyframeable effects and Firewire preview output) are likely to be lost on the average home user, however. And, at the same time, enthusiasts and semi-pros will be disappointed by limiting factors such as the lack of support for high-definition (HDV) camcorders and there only being three layers of video to play with (compared to Adobe Premie re’s limitless video layers).

If you can take the time to learn how to use it, it’s actually a very solid program. The DVD Architect Studio disc-authoring application that comes with it (hence the ‘+DVD’ bit of the title) is equally as competent but, sadly, similarly complex. If all you want is to cut the boring bits out of your holiday videos, you’d be better off looking elsewhere.

Also consider
Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 Plus
Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 Plus is a comprehensive video editor at a very competitive price, but takes time to learn

Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus
Ulead Video Studio 10 Plus is a good home video editor and fully high-definition ready

Adobe Premiere Elements 3
Adobe's home movie star gets a makeover

All video-editing software reviews

You can also try our download of Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD.