[why people favor MediaStudio Pro over Premiere]

10. Easier to use

9. Wizards

8. Air-tight integration

7. 3D moving paths

6. More transitions, effects and filters

5. Better data rate control

4. Vectorscope and waveform monitors

3. Keyframe control

2. SmartRender

AND...
the number one reason why people favor MediaStudio Pro over Premiere is...

1. MediaStudio Pro gives you all this plus a dedicated video painting tool, and a dedicated character generator, and... it costs less!



10. Easier to use
Without a doubt, MediaStudio Pro is a winner in the area of usability and ease of use. Much of this is because MediaStudio Pro follows certain conventions, design and interface elements common to many Windows programs, such as Microsoft Office. Premiere, on the other hand, is distinctly Mac-based, and as such still has a long way to go before being called a true Windows-compatible program. This Mac heritage explains why Premiere has no toolbars or a status bar, and further reinforces its ‘menu-hot key’ approach to video editing as opposed to the visual ‘pick-and-apply’ approach of MediaStudio Pro. Premiere does, however, allow users to customize hot keys, but MediaStudio Pro goes one step further by providing a Menu Command Palette where users can customize their commands as well as set a cache area for regularly used commands.
Premiere’s lack of standardization also means you get no F1 context-sensitive support for menus, and dialog boxes without Help buttons or tabs, all of which are standard fare with MediaStudio Pro and other Office-compatible products. And what about MediaStudio Pro’s 99 levels of undo versus Premiere’s 1? (When was the last time you saw a program with only 1 level of Undo?) And to top it off, MediaStudio Pro has previews everywhere, including graphical thumbnails for every effect, filter and transition.
For the new user, a program which follows standard conventions and behavior is a big plus as it creates a familiar environment in which to learn, and as such gets people creating and producing faster without any steep learning curves. MediaStudio Pro’s graphical approach to video editing also makes it more appealing to visually orientated users, such as the creative types, as opposed to Premiere’s process-orientated approach for the more logical left brainer’s out there.


9. Wizards
To make MediaStudio Pro even more user-friendly, we designed it with Wizards for creating video projects as well as capturing video. These are the two most important areas of any video project, and ones filled with a host of new terms, concepts and demands that scare many new users. By providing Wizards, MediaStudio Pro has made it clear that we support not just the professional, high-end user, but also the first-time user just getting started in video.

8. Air-tight integration
MediaStudio Pro always provides more value for a consumer’s dollar than any other program in its class. With this release, MediaStudio Pro adds additional programs and better integration to make the whole MediaStudio Pro experience as seamless as possible. Not only can you access all programs from within each other, all files are dynamically linked, meaning changes in one are immediately updated in the other. Video Editor can also import the raw uncompressed and unrendered work files of Video Paint and CG Infinity directly into a video project. As such you get unmatched quality and crystal clear alpha channeling to produce truly broadcast quality results.

7. 3D moving paths
No video production is ever complete without the use of some sort of moving path. Premiere users can move along in the 2D world, adding in some distortion and perspective, but they never get to dance with the third dimension. MediaStudio Pro users do, as they have since version 2.5! This gives MediaStudio Pro users more tools for being creative, and opens up new avenues where they can truly get the most out of their work.

6. More transitions, filters and effects
Video editors need variety and power. MediaStudio Pro delivers by providing more transitions, filters and effects that Premiere can shake a stick at. You get over 110 transitions alone, complete with Direct 3D powered transitions such as flying cubes and fold-a-ways – the kind of transitions that Premiere relies on its plug-in vendors to provide. With MediaStudio Pro you get it all – and we don’t ask you to go and buy additional tools to get the job done. MediaStudio Pro also allows you to customize every aspect of a transition, filter or effect’s behavior, and save those for future use. You can even change the default settings so that they always apply the same way each and every time. All of which is absolutely essential for working consistently across projects!

5. Better data rate control
For those users creating video for the Internet or CD-ROM, data rate is everything. Too high and you’ll drop frames. Both Premiere and MediaStudio Pro provide a way to analyze your files to take a look inside and see what your data rate is. While Premiere is happy to just let you look, MediaStudio Pro allows you to actually tweak the keyframes of your compression scheme. You can add and remove keyframes anywhere within the video and when done, create a Keyframe file which you load into Video Editor for the next render. This time the video follows the keyframe settings that you specify, not those of some arbitrary compression scheme, giving you better quality at lower data rates.

4. Vectorscope and waveform monitors
MediaStudio Pro now provides a built-in vectorscope and waveform monitor. These are particularly important to professional videographers as they allow them to properly calibrate their video to their PC, ensuring optimum color reproduction and fidelity. Without them, it is next to impossible to try and correct the color differences between the recorded video and that which is eventually digitized. As for Premiere, they have nothing.

3. Keyframe controls
MediaStudio Pro now incorporates keyframe control over every aspect of a filter, transition, effect, moving path or compression scheme. What this means is that users can directly change, edit and control the behavior of each frame within a clip, on a frame by frame basis, rather than clip by clip as Premiere does. For example, when you want a particular filter or transition to be applied differently over a clip, you don’t need to create multiple clips for each change, just specify keyframes within the clip itself.

2. SmartRender
Smart Render is a milestone in non-linear desktop video editing as it finally brings the performance and quality found in expensive high-end systems to the desktop. It works on the premise of ‘changes-only’ rendering, so that when a user previews a project or creates a final video sequence, MediaStudio Pro only renders those portions of the project different from the original file. This not only saves time but also ensures quality as unchanged clips do not undergo any unnecessary compression. Premiere comes close to MediaStudio Pro’s Smart Render, but its only good for as long as you keep your file open. Once closed your previews are history. That’s fine if you never need to go back in an edit your work. But as we all know, no job is ever finished, and changes, tweaks and edits are a natural part of the design process, all of which make MediaStudio Pro the professional’s choice.

1. MediaStudio Pro gives you all this plus a dedicated video painting tool, and a dedicated character generator, and... it costs less!
What else can we say. To better appreciate these new tools, see their respective sections in the features page.