Stories by James Morris

Create polished home videos for free

We explain how to turn your raw video footage into a presentable production using Windows Live Essentials Movie Maker, a free download for Windows 7.

Avid Media Composer 3.5

When Avid released version 3 of Media Composer in mid-2008, it clearly intended to head off competition from the likes of Apple Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium. A much keener price and a huge software bundle showed the co...

Avid Media Composer 3.0

Avid Media Composer remains the standard package for the higher end of professional digital video editing. In the past, even the software-only version came with an astronomical price to match its professional image. This has prevented the application...

JVC GY-HD201E

Unlike Canon and Sony, JVC differentiates considerably between its consumer and professional ranges, and leaves no middle ground. Compared to other high-definition camcorders we've tested recently, the GY-HD201E felt the most like TV studio equipment...

Sony Vegas Pro 8

Although it hasn't managed to topple video-editing incumbents such as Adobe Premiere Pro just yet, Sony's Vegas is developing nicely. Version 8 doesn't look that different to the previous iteration when first loaded, now officially compatible with Wi...

Beam me up

How to achieve two of the most common special effects in the editor's arsenal.

Getting it white

How many times have you shot a video that ended up looking off-colour?

Panasonic NV-GS180

Panasonic's use of three-CCD (charge-coupled device) technology in consumer-grade camcorders has clearly been a success. The number of models available has been growing steadily. But with so many options now, Panasonic's own range is starting to comp...

Canon MVX4i

The digital stills capability of camcorders is finally starting to be more than just a gimmick; a number of manufacturers are now exceeding the 3 megapixel level with their premium models. But Canon has been relatively slow to bring its camcorders up...

Two of a kind

The latest updates of the DIVX and Quicktime codecs have turned up within a few weeks of each other. Can they really change the way we watch video on our PC's?