VideoSpin

Pinnacle Studio is far from our favourite video editing application, but Pinnacle's VideoSpin, a new, free editor based on Studio, does a pretty darn good job.

Although it doesn't match the sophistication of paid-for applications, Pinnacle VideoSpin does let you perform basic edits and output movies for use online. Pinnacle VideoSpin has some strict limitations. The application works only with files on your hard drive. You can't edit audio, except for levels.

Since Pinnacle VideoSpin has no video effects, you can't brighten dark movies. Unless you purchase add-ons, you can export files only to AVI, Flash, Real or Mpeg1 format; you can't exchange files with Studio, either.

The interface size is fixed, so you can't view Pinnacle VideoSpin full-screen, and you must put up with advertisements rotating in the top-middle of the interface.

Pinnacle VideoSpin provides a surprising number of video transitions and, although it has merely a handful of title templates, you can customise them to your heart's content. It has several cheesy sound effects, and you can import audio files for use as a soundtrack.

When you're done, you can use Pinnacle VideoSpin to upload your movies directly to YouTube or to Yahoo Video easily. Alternatively you can output files in DivX, Mpeg2 or Mpeg4 format to your hard drive, albeit only for 15 days; after that you can purchase the set of codecs for a few bucks.