Premiere Elements 8 adds file organising and keywording, plus greater integration with Photoshop Elements, while making it much easier to edit and use videos in style.

Organiser has comprehensive and easy keywording, Smart Tags, Smart Trim, Smart Fix simplify editing

Most tutorials, new content only for Plus members, Instant Movie doesn't always order clips logically

A nice selection of Flash and Acrobat tutorials, categorised by the level of difficulty and the type of activity, is accessible within the interface, though the tutorials are not context-sensitive. However, only a few are available to the general user

Unlike Adobe Premiere Elements, Pinnacle is more rooted in traditional video editing methods used to produce professional-quality movies. Pinnacle offers deeper features for import, customisation, and export that will likely make it significantly more ...

Good free online tutorials, wide range of export options, Project Bin, effects copying

May be difficult for novices to learn, no Motion Tracking feature

Unfortunately, our favourite new Pinnacle Studio feature isn't included with Pinnacle Studio HD 14. Motion Tracking - the comparatively easy-to-use, but powerful feature for animated text effects - is available only in the more-expensive Ultimate and ...

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 delivers Photoshop's imaging power to consumers and hobbyist photographers in an easy, accessible tabbed interface.

Keywording is much easier and comprehensive; Organizer can now import, sort and keyword video

PhotoMerge manual exposure tool requires finesse

In the Create tab, Photoshop Elements 8 offers additional and more creative templates and content in an intuitive interface, for making photo books, photo calendars, greeting cards, photo stamps, photo prints, photo collages, and sharable slide shows. ...

PowerDirector 8 Ultra is a powerful video editor, and its interface is stylish and friendly--when you work with it in full-screen mode.

Powerful for the price, easy to use

Interface makes multitasking tough, occasional crashes

PowerDirector 8's excellent price-to-power ratio is undeniable, so if you aren't bothered by having to work in full-screen mode, go for it.

Want to watch YouTube without all the overhead of a browser? DeskTube (free) lets you do just that. DeskTube is, as you might guess, a desktop app which connects to YouTube and shows you videos.

Free, support for several social-networking sites and services

A bit shaky

Overall, DeskTube is a great idea which is still being perfected. DeskTube is under very active and ongoing development, so I suspect most of its issues will be sorted out in time.

QuarkXPress 8 was a fairly thorough restructuring of the venerable DTP application. This update, free to registered users of version 8, is mainly concerned with addressing bugs and sorting out the workflow. However there are some new capabilities, ...

DF enhancements including layer export options and native transparency support, Scaling and Spelling enhancements, improved content tools, XML import, free upgrade

Some bugs still evident (acknowledged by Quark), real-time previews and more interactive tools would be welcome, full price version relatively expensive

QuarkXPress 8.1 is an essential upgrade for users of version 8. Small, but significant, touches like XML Import may also prompt new users to invest in the old publishing warhorse.

Already a well specified modelling tool, modo gets stronger in animation and particularly rendering with the 401 release. There's now a preset library, packed with models, textures, environments and materials.

Great new features for rendering and animation

Fairly pricey, power-hungry, some crashes on PPC version

The latest enhancements turn modo into an even better all-round tool, though it does come at a fairly hefty price.

Anime Studio Pro 6 is a professional animation tool that can create broadcast-quality animations complete with visual effects. Available in two versions, Debut and Pro, it offers a low-cost entry to the world of animation and a useful alternative to ...

Powerful, affordable, supports 3D elements, bundled library of assets, lip-synching

Studio 6 Debut edition offers many of the same features for a fraction of the price

Anime Studio Pro 6 offers a full suite of animation tools allowing new users and old alike to quickly create compelling animations. Don't be put off by the 'Anime' bit of the title; it is capable of creating every style of cartoon animation and it ...

Free

Limited functionality

For free it's hard to complain, but PC Inspector is not a panacea for file recovery that the Web site might lead you to believe. Still, we'd give it a shot; if it works you just saved $40 or so.

Huge number of effects ; powerful set of controls

Unbearably slow to use ; poor compositional tools ; image import bug

The clumsily named Photo/Graphic Edges 7.0 Platinum Edition (PGE 7.0) - is a powerful but heavily flawed plug-in for adding borders and frames to images.