There are so many video editors out there, from the expensive high-end professional options, to the free ad-laden basic ones, and everything in between.
Ashampoo’s Windows-only Movie Studio Pro 3 is never going to compete against the likes of Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro - while it's a competent tool, it's not up there with the best video editing software I've tested.
But that's not really the point of software like this. It's not trying to become the go-to for full-time creative professionals in the movie industry. But for those who need to quickly edit videos for social media, or anyone just starting out, it's an affordable entry-point into the world of post-production.
So, with that in mind, I took a look at where Movie Studio Pro 3 fits into the landscape and your workflow.
Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro 3: Pricing & plans
- Incredibly well-priced
- Windows only
It’s unusual for a software package these days to restrict themselves to a single platform, in this case PC users, but if you’re going to curtail your own market, at least it makes some sense to aim for the one with the biggest share of the pie. So if you’re running something other than a Windows machine, you’ll have to find a solution to your video editing needs elsewhere.
As it stands, Movie Studio Pro is compatible with Windows 7 and above, right up to Windows 11. You’ll need at least an Intel Core i3 or comparable processor, and 8GB of RAM, but as always with this type of software, the more powerful your machine, the better it’ll run.
Cost-wise, it’s advertised as being worth $60 / £50 which doesn’t sound too bad, but Ashampoo regularly offer steep discounts; as of this writing, you could grab it for only $18 / £15. Not only that, but you’re also able to download a copy of the software and try it out free for a generous 30 days.
If you already own a previous version of Movie Studio Pro, the upgrade cost is the same discounted price.
So yeah, it’s not free, but the cost of entry is so low, that should not be an impediment to you getting the software.
Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro 3: Basic Trimming
- ‘Cut Commercials’ lets you trim multiple parts of chosen clips
- Very easy and intuitive to use
Launch Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro, and you’ll be faced with various options as to how to proceed.
You can open an existing project of course (if you have one), create one from scratch, or use the software’s ‘Wizard’ to, supposedly, speed up the creation process, but the one I thought we’d look at first is intriguingly labelled ‘Cut Commercials’.
Its purpose is to simply trim sections of a chosen clip. This is ideal if all you need is to top and tail some footage, but it also allows you to cut out multiple sections inside the clip itself (hence the ‘Cut Commercials’ moniker).
None of this is automatic. You have to scroll through the footage and manually select each section, but doing this is incredibly easy, even if what you’re removing isn’t a commercial.
Once you’ve selected all that needs to be removed, you then have a choice of resolution, format and quality, all with big friendly buttons.
So far so good. If the rest of the interface is as easy to use and understand, we have a fun and useful video editor on our hands.
Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro 3: Using the Wizard
- Easy to insert animated intros and transitions between clips
- Not especially useful as a whole
Next, I’m off to see the Wizard, Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro’s Theme Wizard to be precise.
Clicking on that option brings up two more: a ‘Simple’ or ‘Expert’ mode, but that doesn’t alter what the Wizard will do for you - it simply determines the type of interface you’ll be left with once it has done its job.
You get to choose from one of dozens of themes, add a title, select the clips you’d like to use, and put them in the order you’d like them to appear in. Movie Studio Pro will then combine the lot into a short movie, add transitions between each clip, and that’s pretty much the extent of its prowess. It doesn’t even trim the footage. Just puts the whole thing into the timeline. Talk about a rough edit!
I was expecting a Wizard to do more for me than just insert an animated intro and put transitions between clips. Maybe I was expecting too much.
It’s up to you to trim those clips, perhaps change those transitions, and maybe even add a musical score. What the Wizard did is little different than what you could’ve done yourself in a couple of minutes.
It’s barely a time saver, and when you consider all the editing you have to do afterwards, it probably ends up taking up more of your time than if you’d never bothered to use the Wizard in the first place.
Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro 3: Editing process
- All the basic options are available here
- ‘Simple’ mode feels too restrictive for experienced video editors
Cutting a movie yourself is where a video editor should show its true colors. Here again, just like for the Wizard option, we’re offered ‘Simple’ and ‘Expert’ modes.
As you’d expect, ‘Simple’ has some restrictions applied to it to try and make the process easier for beginners, but I found it more frustrating than helpful, truth be told.
For instance, why could I only trim a clip in the timeline by opening a special window? It actually adds a layer of complexity that is not needed for what should be a simple, and all too often used, process.
Frustrations aside, you have easy access to your clips, effects, transitions, animations, and even those themes we saw in the Wizard section, meaning you can build an edit pretty quickly.
If you need to move to ‘Expert’ mode, it’s easy to do so from your ‘Simple’ project: there’s a handy button just for that, effortlessly upgrading your interface to Movie Studio Pro’s highest heights of editing complexity.
Be aware, though, that I couldn’t find a way to move my project back to the simpler editing paradigm. Unlike DaVinci Resolve’s editing levels, once you’ve upgraded, you’ve upgraded for good.
As you’d expect, ‘Expert’ offers you more options. For one thing, the effects, transitions, titles, animations, etc, are all on their separate tracks in the timeline, making it easy to select them, alter them, and move them around. ‘Expert’ even allows you to trim a clip within the timeline itself (hooray).
There is one thing I found quite limiting in either mode: the inability to preview a clip prior to adding it to the project. Sure you can see a thumbnail of it, but it would be good to actually play said clip, and maybe even apply some in and out points to it, for instance.
But no. It can only be seen once it’s added to the timeline. Different apps do things in different ways of course, but I found this particularly restrictive. On the plus side, if you liked the cutting options available in ‘Cut Commercials’, they’re only an icon click away in either mode.
Overall, the options you’re offered are good, you can fine tune an edit, and add enough effects, titles, even subtitles, and more, to make your project look good, but I don’t think the software deserves its ‘Pro’ moniker.
There are other packages that offer you many more options, charge even less for it, and they don’t call themselves ‘Pro’.
On the flip side, proper ‘Pro’ video editors can and are intimidating for novice users. Think of this app as a good step up from the software that usually comes bundled with your machine, and viewed from that perspective, it definitely has a place and a purpose.
Should I buy Ashampoo Movie Studio Pro 3?
Buy it if…
You’re looking for some video editing capabilities beyond what your bundled software offers, you want something that’s easy to use, which doesn’t cost much.
Don’t buy it if…
You’re searching for software that’s more responsive, with more pro tools than this supposedly ‘pro’ software has.
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