Photo Video DVD is a compilation pack of utilities that brings together three Ulead applications and three from X-oom. These six programs are provided on three individual CD-ROMs. Two are given over to the Ulead programs and a single one hosts the three from X-oom.

Which pretty much sums up the package, for the real jewels here all come adorned with the Ulead logo. And whilst the software is a generation or two behind the current releases, there's still a lot to admire.

Ulead PhotoImpact XL is a title we've sort of covered fairly recently as part of a GSP software budget round up. We say sort of because that was a slightly stripped down SE version, but our overriding thoughts still stand. It's a very able and surprisingly powerful imaging application that allows you to edit, manage and share digital photos. It falls down slightly through its cluttered interface, which hides the considerable power and functionality that resides within it.

Moving on to VideoStudio 7. The Pinnacle Studio series is, for our money, still the more user-friendly home movie editing package, but that doesn't mean that VideoStudio 7 should be sniffed at. Again, there's a lot on offer here, as the program does allow you to import, edit and output your masterpieces, keeping the long delays traditionally associated with such a project to a minimum. Later versions of the software do offer some tangible improvements, and again, it's not as fluid or intuitive as Pinnacle's offering, but VideoStudio 7 is still eminently capable.

As is DVD MovieFactory 2, which overlaps part of the functionality of VideoStudio 7. It's a program that claims to be the easiest way to burn home movies onto CD and DVD, and certainly it goes about its work competently. It's more of a luxury application than anything else, but it does easily cut through any technical barriers that may have stopped people tackling such a project.

And then it's on to the X-oom software, which is where the package starts to falter. Movie Clone 3, for instance, is an application that reckons it can help you backup your DVD movies onto blank DVDs and CDs. Unsurprisingly, to comply with copyright law, it won't back up protected discs. It does warn you about this in the small print hidden on one of the side panels of the box, but we'd argue that it renders the package moot for the overwhelming majority of users. It didn't help that it crashed our test PC twice during our attempts to backup a perfectly legal DVD. Ho-hum.

Photos On TV is a little more successful. It's an application that helps you compile a multimedia photo disc for playing back on your TV set (DVD burning functions are built into the program), and it's easy enough to bring in your images, add effects and such like. It's not the most intuitive program by a long chalk, though, and occasionally you do feel that you're having a mild battle with the software. But it's a competent and effective tool once you get over that.

Finally the X-oom DVD Player, which is no real rival for the likes of WinDVD and PowerDVD. It's okay though, and can happily deal with numerous formats and options. Yet the output was nowhere near as crisp as its competitors, with visual quality particularly disappointing. Don't get us wrong, it's not devastatingly bad, just totally ordinary in an area of the market that has some sparkling applications up against it.

That's the applications done with, now there are just one or two more grumbles to get through. Particularly on the X-oom titles, there's an unwelcome push to get you to register your products, which we didn't particularly appreciate. Nor, after installing everything the three discs threw at us, did we appreciate being lumbered with outdated versions of the likes of Quicktime. It would be a good idea to proof-read the box copy too.

On the bright side, the documentation is excellent and you do get some value for money out of the package. It may be better to cherry-pick the Ulead apps, though, as that's where the quality lies.

A real mixed bag of multimedia titles which, when bundled together, offers decent value for money. You're may be better off just picking the one or two programs you really need, though, and buying them separately.