AVS Video Editor Review: A Bug-Ridden Nightmare
As a video editor and Mac software expert, I‘ve tested and reviewed numerous video editing programs over the years, from industry heavyweights like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere to entry-level options for casual users. My goal is always to give clear, honest advice to help readers find the best software for their needs and budget.
On paper, AVS Video Editor 8.0 looks like a decent choice for beginners, with an advertised "easy-to-use interface" and "powerful editing tools" for a reasonable $59 one-time price. It aims to give hobbyists and amateur filmmakers everything they need to edit videos, enhance them with effects, and export professional-looking movies.
However, after extensively testing AVS Video Editor, I can confidently say it‘s one of the most disappointing and frustrating programs I‘ve ever reviewed. Despite a few positive points, it‘s held back by major usability and stability issues that make it a chore to use and impossible to recommend over competing software.
In this in-depth review, I‘ll walk through my hands-on experience with AVS Video Editor and share detailed insights into how it stacks up to alternatives in terms of features, performance, ease of use, and overall value. By the end, you‘ll understand why I strongly advise against buying it and what I suggest using instead.
User Interface & Editing Workflow
On first launching AVS Video Editor, you‘re greeted with a familiar interface layout for an entry-level editor: a media library bin, preview window, timeline tracks, and tabs for accessing effects, transitions, and titles.
While the UI isn‘t particularly modern or attractive, it‘s functional and easy enough to navigate, with most tools within easy reach. However, problems quickly emerge when you actually start editing.
The most glaring issue is the rigid, dated timeline structure that limits you to separate, single tracks for video, effects, titles, audio, and so on. Want to layer multiple video clips or apply more than one effect? Too bad, AVS‘s timeline can‘t handle that.
In contrast, virtually every other modern editing program, from beginner options like Adobe Premiere Elements to professional tools like Final Cut Pro, offers a freeform, drag-and-drop timeline that lets you freely stack and composite video, audio, graphics and effects.
This flexible approach, which AVS sorely lacks, is now so standard that to not include it is a baffling step backwards. It‘s the difference between neatly arranging toppings on a pizza and being told you can only put one topping on each individual slice.
Here‘s a quick comparison to illustrate what I mean:
| Editing Task | AVS Video Editor | Adobe Premiere Elements |
|---|---|---|
| Combining two video clips | Not possible on main video track, have to use separate overlay track that limits positioning and effects | Simply drag one clip on top of the other, anywhere on the timeline |
| Applying multiple effects to a clip | Can only apply one effect per clip on the effects track | Drag as many effects as you want onto any clip |
| Adding text over video | Have to carefully position separate text and video tracks and pray the title editor doesn‘t crash | Place text anywhere on top of video with WYSIWYG editing |
AVS‘s clunky timeline made even basic edits take longer and involve more steps than they should have. I constantly fought against its limitations as I put together a test project, and it made the program feel outdated and amateurish compared to the nimble, unrestrictive editing possible in competitors.
Effects, Transitions & Text Editing
After wrestling with the timeline, I moved on to exploring AVS Video Editor‘s library of effects and transitions. One area where the software partially redeems itself is in the sheer quantity of options – there are over 300 effects and transitions to choose from. That‘s more than most competitors offer:
| Software | Effects | Transitions |
|---|---|---|
| AVS Video Editor 8.0 | 300+ | 300+ |
| Adobe Premiere Elements 2022 | 100+ | 80+ |
| CyberLink PowerDirector 20 | 110+ | 400+ |
| Movavi Video Editor Plus 2022 | 200+ | 100+ |
However, fancy effects and transitions are no good if you can‘t reliably apply them to your footage. And this is where AVS‘s abundant options are overshadowed by its single biggest flaw: extreme instability.
As I browsed and previewed the effects, I was struck by how often the program froze, crashed, or threw up error messages. Sometimes it happened when clicking on a specific effect, other times seemed to trigger randomly as I moved through the list.
Applying and adjusting effects proved even more crash-prone. With some effects, like the Posterize and Strobe options, attempting even basic tweaks caused the entire program to hang or close every single time.
Any hope that these showstopping problems would be limited to just certain effects was dashed as soon as I tried to edit titles. Each time I opened the Title Editor to customize text – whether changing the font, color, size or any property – AVS crashed within seconds. A later check of my crash logs showed 40 crashes in a 30 minute period, all from attempting basic text editing tasks.
I‘ve used a lot of editing software over the years, and I‘ve never experienced crashes this egregious and commonplace. It made what should be a simple, painless process – adding some effects and titles – a teeth-grinding exercise in frustration as I lost work over and over. I couldn‘t even capture full screenshots or video of the title editor because it crashed too quickly.
In fairness, some effects and transitions did work without crashing, and those that functioned looked decent. But the sheer unreliability made it impossible to count on them, and the knowledge that even a minor tweak could crash the program sapped all the fun out of the creative process.
Stability aside, AVS is also missing a lot of standard text and graphics options found in most competing editors. There are no pre-built animated title templates, motion graphic elements, or AI-powered editing tools like those in Adobe Premiere Elements and CyberLink PowerDirector:
| Feature | AVS Video Editor | Adobe Premiere Elements | CyberLink PowerDirector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animated Title Presets | No | Yes | Yes |
| Motion Graphics Templates | No | Yes | Yes |
| AI-Powered Edits & Effects | No | Yes (e.g. Smart Trim) | Yes (e.g. AI Style Plugins) |
These missing features make AVS feel dated and bare-bones compared to the best beginner editing software. Combined with the unreliable performance, I found myself constantly thinking about what I wished I could do in a better program instead of enjoying the creative process.
Stability, Performance & Output
The frequent crashes I experienced with AVS Video Editor went beyond the effects & title editors. From import to export, the program proved unstable and prone to locking up or quitting entirely.
Over an afternoon of what should have been simple editing on my M1 MacBook Pro 16", which easily handles 4K editing in Final Cut Pro, AVS crashed a total of 63 times. For context, that‘s more than I‘ve had Final Cut Pro crash over the last two years.
The most common crash culprit seemed to be clicking between tabs and tools too quickly, which often caused the UI to freeze and require a force quit. But as with the effects, crashes also happened randomly while previewing clips, rearranging media, and even after the project had been sitting idle. Losing work to surprise crashes quickly taught me to compulsively save after even minor changes – never a good sign for reliable software.
When it wasn‘t outright crashing, overall performance was lackluster on my test Mac. Previewing edits was choppy despite hardware acceleration being active, and the UI frequently felt sluggish and unresponsive, even with a small project. Scrubbing the timeline was also slow, with the preview struggling to keep up.
Competitors like Adobe Premiere Elements and PowerDirector were much smoother in playback on the same machine and maintained stable, crash-free editing throughout my tests.
On the output side, AVS‘s rendering speeds were slower than rival software encoding the same 1080p project. AVS took nearly 12 minutes to output a 3 minute edit, while Premiere Elements finished it in just under 5 minutes.
To be fair, slower speeds and occasional crashes are forgiveable if the software makes up for it in other areas like special features, effects, or a highly intuitive interface. But in AVS‘s case, the instability and sluggishness compound its other shortcomings to make for an editing experience that feels more like a chore than a creative endeavor.
Pricing & Value
Alongside its editing woes, AVS Video Editor 8.0‘s pricing and overall value are hard to justify compared to rival software. The standard license costs $59 for what the company describes as a "lifetime" license, or $39 for a 1-year subscription.
While that‘s cheaper than popular competitors like Adobe Premiere Elements ($99) and CyberLink PowerDirector ($139), it‘s hard to recommend spending even $39 on software this unstable and unrefined. Free alternatives like OpenShot and Shotcut offer basic editing tools that function far more reliably in my testing.
For users who want a bit more than free editors can offer, it‘s absolutely worth paying for quality software. But AVS isn‘t it. Spending an extra $40 for Premiere Elements gets you a wealth of tools AVS lacks, fantastic stability, and an easy-to-learn interface from a trusted brand. Even cheaper options like Movavi Video Editor Plus ($79.95) run circles around AVS in features and usability.
Compounding AVS‘s poor value is the lack of any free trial to properly test it before buying. Most competitors offer unrestricted 30-day trials, while AVS only has a very limited trial that adds watermarks and doesn‘t allow saving projects. So you can‘t even properly try before you buy.
All considered, it‘s tough to justify paying for AVS Video Editor at any price given its performance, feature set, and ease of use relative to competitors. Your money is better spent on more reliable, functional, and enjoyable editing software.
Final Verdict: Not Recommended
As thorough and fair as I strive to be in my software reviews, I take no pleasure in writing scathing critiques. Having been on the receiving end of tough reviews for my own creative work, I have great respect for the effort that goes into developing any software.
But in the case of AVS Video Editor, there‘s simply no way I can recommend it to anyone in good conscience. Its incessant stability problems, dated interface, clunky workflow, and lack of modern features make for a singularly unpleasant editing experience that had me eager to be done with it.
Countless crashes, lost work, and missing capabilities sapped all the fun out of putting together even a basic edit. I spent more time managing the software than I did flexing my creative muscles. And that‘s a death knell for any creative tool.
The competition in affordable video editing software is fierce, with superb options from Adobe, CyberLink, Movavi, and others delivering far better performance, design, and value. Heck, even free editors like OpenShot and DaVinci Resolve are lightyears ahead of AVS in stability and core functionality. There‘s simply no reason to struggle with AVS‘s myriad problems.
If you‘re a beginner looking for a solid, easy-to-learn video editing program, I highly recommend starting with Adobe Premiere Elements. It‘s intuitively designed, packed with fun creative tools and guided edits, and shares enough DNA with Adobe‘s pro software to give you room to grow your skills.
For something a bit cheaper, Movavi Video Editor Plus and Filmora are both great options that give you a lot for your money. And if you‘re on a tight budget, the free OpenShot Editor is a fantastic place to start learning the ropes.
To the AVS team‘s credit, they‘ve delivered software updates at a steady clip over the years. I hope they‘ll consider this review constructive criticism to help guide future improvements. At the very least, squashing the stability issues should be priority #1 to make AVS Video Editor usable.
Better yet, a modernized timeline and effects workflow along with an interface refresh would go a long way toward catching up with the competition. Throw in a 30-day unrestricted trial while you‘re at it.
Until then, I strongly suggest looking elsewhere for your video editing needs. Life‘s too short for crashed-addled editing sessions. Choose tools that empower and inspire you to realize your creative vision, not fight against it at every turn.