Cyberlink DVD Suite 7 Pro video-editing software

Cyberlink has thrown everything but the kitchen sink into its DVD Suite package. The end result is a bit messy, but at least it provides good value.

This suite consists of almost a dozen different programs that can do everything from printing CD labels to backing up your important data or video-editing work. Fortunately, to make some sense of this hotch-potch of software is a tool called Powerstarter that organises the programs according to what they do.

The Clicking the Powerstarter icon displays buttons with titles such as Audio, Copy And Backup and Photos And Video. So clicking Copy And Backup displays options for backing up files onto an external hard disk, or retrieving old files from the external disk and copying them back onto your computer. Selecting a particular task will then launch the required program. As users become more experienced they can launch each program individually using the Start Menu.

There’s an assortment of programs that back up files in various ways. As well as making up copies of files on an external hard disk, you can burn them to CD or DVD, create audio CDs, and copy DVDs (as long as they’re not commercial releases).

However, the core of the suite consists of two main programs – Powerdirector and Powerproducer. Powerdirector is an easy-to-use video-editing program that was recently updated to version 7.

This latest edition includes new options such as the ability to convert video projects into the special H.264 format that is used by portable devices such as the iPod and Playstation Portable. It also includes new templates that simplify the creation of picture-in-picture effects where a small video clip is superimposed over a larger image.

Powerdirector worked well, although some of its special effects options can look a bit amateurish compared to more sophisticated editing programs such as Adobe’s Premiere Elements, so it’s really best suited to relatively simple home movie projects.

When you’ve finished editing your movie projects you can use Powerproducer to burn them to DVDs. Like Powerdirector, Powerproducer is quite easy to use, so it’s a good choice for beginners who have never created their own DVDs before. However, it has a good selection of templates to help you use advanced features such as animated DVD menus.

The only real problem with the DVD Suite is that Cyberlink has thrown all these programs into a box without providing a decent manual for any of them. The help files built into each program tended to simply list features without explaining how to use them properly.

There are some tutorials on the Cyberlink website, but the beginners at whom these programs are aimed at really need a nice, simple manual to help them get started – especially with a suite such as this that includes such a wide range of different features and tools.