muveeNow

muveeNow is all about automating the movie-making process. The user simply selects the videos and photos that should appear in the movie, specifies a background soundtrack, chooses one of muveeNow’s eight default styles, and adds a few personal touches such as a movie title and select key scenes. The software does the rest. Among other things, muveeNow breaks the clips into attention-grabbing scenes, applies special effects, and synchronizes the video with the audio. The results are quite impressive, and users can output the finished movie to disc, a storage drive, the Web, or email.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that this is all muveeNow does. Although many users will gladly forgo customization in the name of convenience, were disappointed that we could not perform even such basic editing tasks as cutting unwanted footage or inserting selected transitions. We were even ore disappointed when we discovered that at least one of the predefined styles inserted flashy self-references to muvee, the company. That just seems wrong.

The program also has one of the most annoying installation routines we’ve ever experienced. First, it presumptuously pinned a muveeNow shortcut to the Start menu and installed a muveeNow hyperlink in our Favorites folder. Reputable programs, in our opinion, ask permission before installing shortcuts anywhere other than the Programs menu. Second, upon discovering that Apple QuickTime was not installed on our system, the installer instructed us to download and install it ourselves. Quality programs, in our opinion, integrate all required software with the installer. It took us a half-hour to complete the muveeNow installation and clean up our Start menu.

muveeNow promises users an easy movie making experience. And it delivers. But the program’s limited functionality and adwarelike self-promotion makes the low price seem like not so much of a bargain. Until the software developer cleans up its act and its software we would have a hard time ecommending muveeNow.

After testing several of the most popular video-editing programs currently available, we had no problem choosing a winner. Corel DVD MovieFactory 5 stood apart from the others for its ease of use, ample editing capabilities, and low price. For that, it earns our Smart Choice distinction.

Even though it graded lower for usability, Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 also earns respect for offering professional-grade features at a consumer-grade price.