One package that I'm particularly enjoying is CyberLink's PowerDirector 5 Premium Edition, which lets you very easily edit and manipulate your home videos. Any package that lets me so effortlessly create exciting videos is a winner in my book. I don't have a lot of extra time to devote to fine-tuning effects and edits, so the more automated customizations, the better. For example, with the product's Magic tools, you can perform all kinds of quick manipulations: Magic Cut intuitively cuts longer videos into short clips; Magic Music customizes your soundtrack; Magic Clean fixes your color and brightness levels; and Magic Fix corrects blurriness and wobbliness.

Setup was extremely straightforward. I was impressed by the overall intuitiveness of CyberLink's solution. The interface isn't a chaos of confusing buttons but rather an elegant palette from which to easily perform your capturing, editing, and burning. The Magic tools were incredibly easy to learn to use. My wife and I both had fun zooming in and out of images, correcting flaws, and chopping our long videos into effectively edited montages. We added titles and special effects, and imported some background music to come up with a quick, attractive video to share with friends and family.

I really value PowerDirector's ability to work with HD widescreen video, considering the features of my camera. I also appreciate that I can use the product to easily upload video to our Web site and (if we were to want to do so) to a video iPod or even YouTube. The software also lets you burn your videos to DVD by using one of the package's many style templates.

I urge you PC users to check out PowerDirector 5 Premium Edition, which rivals the simplicity and ease of use of the Mac iMovie solution.

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