The AVS4you software suite is a large collection of programs falling into four categories – video, audio, graphics and miscellaneous. The package download was 275MB but the updates took another 500 odd MBs. Magazine space dictates I limit this review to only one area.

Not to pussy foot around, for the price, AVS Video Editor looks to be the best ‘first’ editor that I have ever seen. On opening, this program looks pretty mainstream as it has one main video track with one overlay track as well as tracks for text, audio mixing and voice over. There are few choices to be made at the start, as the program automatically recognises NTSC or PAL format when placed on the timeline. All you really have to do is select between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.

The process of editing is simplified by following a series of tabs, along the lines of ‘follow the bouncing ball’ progression. It allows the usual timeline or storyboard views then takes a somewhat different approach to inserting effects/filters and transitions which is both novel and highly visual. There is a separate effects ‘track’ on the timeline into which these modifications are added, from where they can be slid into position and lengthened or shortened from a time perspective to suit ‘artistic need’. And there is a bucket load of effects and transitions to satisfy the busiest of editing mindsets.

AVS Editor doesn’t seem to allow detailed control using keyframes, but it does permit easy animation of still images using pre-drawn paths, called ‘trajectories’. Coloured backgrounds including black are selected from a large collection of solid colours and dragged onto the overlay track for uses such as ‘fade to or from’. Any non-video visual assets – as in pictures or colour swatches – cannot be inserted in the main video track and must go into the overlay track.

The timeline can be zoomed using the standard slider or by dragging on the ruler, and surprisingly, for this level of editor, the preview monitor can be moved onto a second monitor to free up viewing real estate if you have that luxury.

Output to DVD is a bit more problematic but maybe my assumptions based on prior experience with DVD output were the cause of the difficulty. Certainly, I didn’t find this section to be that intuitive or flexible and while there are lots of graphic possibilities, text input into menus is limited to the names of the chapters and main title.

Like a lot of programs there is a good deal of gold to be found under the right mouse button and many functions can be found hiding there.

Other parts of the AVS video collection are handy and practical. Just two examples are

Video Converter, which solves the problem of converting video between formats as needed for uploading to Vimeo or YouTube.

Video Remaker performs limited edits on already compressed formats, fusing the remnants into one without further compression. Unexpectedly it also will capture video from the screen, which is great for tutorial creation.

For someone on a limited budget who is looking to get ‘into’ editing in standard or high definition, with output to DVD, this has to be one of the best places to start.

But wait! There’s more!

In the AVS audio collection, you find the means to record, edit, format convert and make ringtones (!!!) from an audio source of your choice.

The Audio Editor looks to have everything the video editor would wish for in such an auxiliary program of this type. Sound is edited and saved in the format in which it is opened. If you wish to alter this to another format, no sweat! Simply open up Audio Converter, import the file, make your choice and hit the button! And so it goes on…

If you think I am waxing lyrical about this package, you’re right and I make no apologies for it.

Go check out www.avs4you.com. And check it out for yourself. It is definitely worth a look.

Vendor:                                  Online Media Technologies Pty Ltd

                                                Ph (44) 208 144 3359

Online outlet                         AVS4YOU http://www.avs4you.com/

Price:                                      $70 - on special

AusCam Ratings

Performance:                         7

Documentation:                    Online – more like FAQs

Features:                                9

Installation:                             8

Value:                                   10

Help:                                      7

We liked:                                The price, the number and range of components to the suite, the visual approach to filters and transitions

We didn’t like:                       There could always be more video tracks; the total package download is out of date and updates are twice as large as the initial download.

By Frank McLeod

Dr Frank McLeod is a specialist physician who in his ‘day job' works in the area of Addiction Medicine. Frank reckons he ‘dribbled' into video as a way to get information across to his patients and their families in an accessible way that avoided information overload. From there, the monster just grew. With a long-time interest in things technical and gadgetry of all kinds, he had been writing tech review-type-articles on a casual basis for a medical publication for some time, when an introduction to David Hague led to his continuing this level of activity in the field of video.

Frank says that one of the parts he likes best about his involvement with Australasian Camcorder is the opportunity to play with other people's toys. The downside, he says, is having to give them back at the end of ‘playtime' that precedes publication of the resulting review.

"I suppose I want to present information from the non-professional point of view, which is not difficult, given that I am the only amateur punter in the camp," he says. With a strong commitment to the amateur video club movement, he is the Secretary of his local video club. In part because of this, and with a long time history as an avid DIY-er behind him, Frank has an interest in the do-it-yourself construction of devices for the amateur videographer and strongly wishes to continue this type of contribution as part of his future involvement with auscam