With Sony’s annoying reliance on proprietary software solutions, many camcorder users have complained that such formats like AVCHD are almost impossible to edit with their existing software. This has prompted a race to create plugins to handle the Sony format and it seems that Ulead has broken the tape with Ulead VideoStudio 11. Other features of VideoStudio include Vista support, HD DVD authoring and Dolby® Digital 5.1 surround sound.

New users can rely on VideoStudio’s Movie Wizard which helps to select from various themes and can also “auto-edit” a professional looking opening sequence. In addition, it can also perform the famous Ken Burns effect of Panning & Zooming on still photos for photo montages and slide shows.

Special filters include color correcting and tone filters, an auto-correct feature for adjusting video recorded in poor light conditions, and even the ability to clean up digital noise or blocky compression artifacts from poor encoding mishaps. The MPEG Optimizer analyzes the bitrates of all clips on the timeline, and can re-render them for the best quality and speed.

There is also MPEG-4 and H.264 support for creating video for media players like Apple’s iPod®, Sony’s PSP™, even Smartphones, and other portable devices.

All that for under $100 USD.

Interested users can download a demo copy at ulead.com.