Video editing used to be the preserve of TV professionals in £100,000 editing suites. Then Adobe and Matrox introduced the hardware and software to make semi-professional PC DV editing systems available at around £4,000.

Since then, advances in standard graphics adapters and inexpensive video software have brought the basic tools down to under £100 on a modern PC. Ulead has been one of the main players in establishing this price level and version 6 of its entry-level VideoStudio enables you to prepare a DVD, or its smaller CD Video (CDV) cousin, from start to finish.

The main screen of VideoStudio 6 has been completely redesigned and is now a model of simplicity and logical layout. At the top centre is the preview screen, which plays back your video at any point during the edit, so you can check any changes you make. Controls, in traditional video recorder style, are laid out underneath this screen in a gentle arc.

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To the right of the preview screen is a library of video clips; those supplied with the program and those you import from your own collection. You can drag and drop the thumbnails of these to the preview window to view them, or to the timeline or storyboard to add them to your edit.

The timeline and storyboard lie along the bottom of the screen and represent different views of the video you're creating; you can switch between them at any time. This is where you define the cuts, transitions, effects and titling you use. Finally, to the left of the preview screen is a palette of controls for the tool you're currently using. This changes automatically as you move from task to task.

The main innovations in VideoStudio 6 are at the two ends of the editing process. You can now import sections of digital video (DV) directly from a camcorder, through any IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port on your PC. VideoStudio converts them as they're imported to the MPEG format needed to save them on DVD or CDV.

During this conversion, the program can automatically split the incoming video into separate scenes, by detecting when the content of a frame differs dramatically from the one before. It will then save each scene as a separate file, to make editing easier.

At the other end of the process, when you've finished editing, VideoStudio can now handle the preparation of your finished disc. This doesn't just mean controlling your CD-R or DVD-R recorder, though it does this very well, but the process of adding menu screens and offering the kind of view-by-scene options you usually find on DVD movies.

VideoStudio 6 is also available in a Combo pack, priced at £79 inc. VAT, which includes an IEEE 1394 card, Ulead's Cool 3D 3.0 SE for 3D graphics, Photo Express 4.0 for stills in a custom edition and a disk of video and photo samples. That's even better value.

VideoStudio 6 is better designed and more capable than previous versions and provides an excellent route into DV editing. It's easy to use, but also provides quite sophisticated controls for the more hands-on editor.