Bring the power of video to your entire classroom, school or campus

New! Now there's an easier, faster and more affordable way for schools, colleges and universities to harness the learning potential of video. Corel® VideoStudio® Essentials X4 distills the creative potential of VideoStudio® Pro X6 into a comprehensive video editor that's less complex and easier to learn, especially for those new to video editing.

Corel® VideoStudio® Essentials X4 has been designed for education establishments that want to widely deploy video editing software, but can't afford the high costs traditionally associated with video production.

Whether you're looking to provide an easy, creative and fast-running step-up from Microsoft® Windows® Movie Maker, or simply trying to add highly creative video-editing software at the lowest-possible cost, VideoStudio® Essentials X4 fits the bill. And when a class needs more advanced features like Blu-ray™ Disc™ authoring, high-speed AVCHD™ editing, or advanced picture-in-picture effects, Corel makes it easy to add seats of VideoStudio® Pro X6 for a complete video-editing solution.

What is VideoStudio® Essentials X4?

VideoStudio® Essentials X4 is an affordable, licence version of Corel's popular VideoStudio® Pro X6. VideoStudio® Essentials X4 comprises the vast majority of VideoStudio® Pro's rich feature set, including timeline and storyboard video editing, Stop Motion Animation, Time Lapse effects and much more.

VideoStudio® Essentials provides a simplified, easier-to-use video-editing experience allowing schools, colleges and universities to site licence this powerful multi-track video editor at very low cost with no usage reporting requirements.

How does VideoStudio® Essentials X4 compare with VideoStudio® Pro X6?

VideoStudio® Essentials X4 continues the tradition of easy, fast and creative video editing with a simplified approach that makes creative movie making even easier, faster and more affordable for education.

VideoStudio® Essentials is also highly compatible with VideoStudio® Pro X6 allowing users to take projects from Pro to Essentials and back very easily. Essentials features translate with perfect compatibility to Pro— but exclusive-to-Pro features or project elements may not be supported in Essentials.

You can check the table below for detail:

VideoStudio® Essentials' storyboard view and high-performance editing capabilities make it an ideal match for digital story-telling (DST) programs.

See DST expert Kent Manning discuss the value of DST in the classroom on photovideolife.com

Video Format Support

Traditionally, video editing had a reputation for high complexity, high costs and highly inflexible deployment rules— often due to the burden of expensive third-party codecs. The result was higher costs for education and fewer students exposed to video.

VideoStudio® Essentials X4 dramatically slashes the cost of adopting video software by avoiding costly video formats and taking advantage of the formats on your PCs, whether it's those included in Windows®, other installed applications, or loaded from free, open source codec packs. The following matrix describes the formats supported natively by VideoStudio® Essentials. Other formats can easily be supported at your choosing with the addition of third-party codec packs, or by upgrading to VideoStudio Pro X6.

Is VideoStudio® Essentials X4 compatible with my camera?

VideoStudio® Essentials X4 is compatible with many cameras, but support for specific cameras depends on the codecs installed on your PC.

What are codecs?

Codecs are software codes that lets your computer interact with your camera. VideoStudio® Pro X4 comes with a wide array of codecs and will automatically work with most cameras, removing the guesswork from camera support. VideoStudio® Essentials doesn't include all of these cost-bearing codecs, instead working with free codecs plus the codecs you already have on your PC.

Upon installation, VideoStudio® Essentials X4 will support the same formats installed on your computer. On Windows® 7 Premium or Professional operating systems, that means you'll be able to work with a very wide range of cameras and formats. Other common Windows operating systems, such as Windows 7 Basic, offer fewer codecs. Usually you'll find that your copy of Windows, and thus VideoStudio® Essentials, can support .wmv, .avi, .wm, .asf, .wtv, .dvr-ms, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe, .m1v, .mp2, .mpv2, and .vob.

How can I test the compatibility of my camera?

• Try playing your file in Windows Media® Player. VideoStudio® Essentials X4 will generally support the same formats. If your media file plays in WMP, expect it to play in VideoStudio® Essentials X4
  
• If you find your computer doesn't have the appropriate codecs, you have a number of options, including:
• installing codecs or codec-bearing software that came bundled with your camera
• upgrading to VideoStudio® Pro X6 (pricing starts at £19.99 ex VAT for a single licence and falls from there by volume)
• Loading royalty-free open source codec packs available online, such as VLC or FFshow