Aside from the virgin’s blood, all of that stuff is hard to come by, so fortunately Hercules have bunged everything you need into one box.
Sometimes getting all the necessary components together to edit your home movies demands a full moon, a week of ritualistically flogging oneself with a faggot of birchwood twigs, and a chalice of virgin’s blood. Aside from the virgin’s blood, all of that stuff is hard to come by, so fortunately Hercules have bunged everything you need into one box.
The DV Action! Pro, comprising of a three-port FireWire PCI capture card, the ShuttlePRO editing controller and MediaStudio Pro 6.5, provides all you need to start cutting your movies in digital and then output to DVD. MediaStudio is a solid editing suite with 99 video and audio tracks and a bundle of capturing features. It has a great range of effects and with plug-in software like Adorage and Cool 3D included you’ll be star-wiping your way to Industrial Light and Magic. The interface is busy with buttons and windows which are a bit daunting, but does provide the essential features on screen for you. A manual is provided for the package, which is as thick as a NRL club sandwich but is little help in advanced editing techniques. All of the necessary features are here for some excellent results, but MediaStudio is not a replacement for suites like Adobe Premiere. It lacks the intuitive operation that any creative process demands. The ShuttlePRO unfortunately doesn’t alleviate this condition. It does all it’s told to do flawlessly; you can customise functions and features replacement button labels, but despite all this and its cool black ergonomic design, one never really becomes ‘one’ with the shuttle. Much demand is still on the keyboard and mouse for basic operation, making reaching for the ShuttlePRO cumbersome at times. Jogging frame-by-frame was superb when fine cutting, but shuttling was slow. We were expecting to whiz along the timeline like roller-skating on golf balls, but were instead treated to a Valium donkey ride.
Hercules has done a decent job in putting together a package that delivers the essential needs for home-editing enthusiasts. DV capturing and editing was never so easily addressed in one bundle, and the price is good if you are already impressed with MediaStudio or have a penchant for shuttles.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012