Come version fourteen, you have to suspect that there's not too much else you can add to a program to fundamentally alter the way it works, and the way you interface with it.

That proves to be the case with Magix Movie Edit 14 Pro, which - in spite of being polished, user-friendly, and laden down with documentation - doesn't have much in the way of surprises up its sleeve. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends, we suspect, on how many other video editing packages you have sitting on your shelf.

Loading the program - after a comparably long installation - lands you at a conventional screen whereby you can bring in an existing project or start a new one. From there it's fairly straightforward to get down to work.

Getting footage into the PC is as simple as hitting the Record button and then selecting from a visually clear menu as to your choice of source (all the usual options are supported). You can also copy from a CD or DVD (copyright-dependent), import an existing file, or head over to the TV & Media Center and watch some digital telly, potentially grabbing material while you're at it.

It's worth stopping before we go much further to commend Magix on the clarity of its menus; for a less experienced user in particular, you're likely to have little doubt as to what everything does, so well is everything labelled.

Granted, when things get busy the main working screen can clutter up as a project evolves, but real beginners can take a way out and allow the computer to compile an edit, replete with backing music, for you. More advanced users also can toggle more sophisticated options, and this is a tidy way of covering many bases.

Once your footage is in place, the editing tools are fairly standard. You have a couple of different ways to view the editing timeline and you can call on the library of effects and transitions to help you beef up your footage.

In our tests it was intuitive and quite quick to use, and while we didn't feel it was offering anything radically different over previous versions and the competition, there's little doubt that video editing is a mature and user-friendly art on a PC these days.

Once completed, the output options are again familiar. You can spit your footage out onto a disc, a file or online, and again, the program is perfectly comfortable doing its job whichever you go for.

Still, Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 does have one or two slight issues. It seemed to leave quite a few different programs on our PC, which we weren't too keen on. And more troubling, it still doesn't do enough to dissuade us from the slightly more expensive, but better, Adobe Premiere Elements and Pinnacle Studio.

It's a fine piece of software in its own right, and certainly has price on its side, but it's not the best in its field.

A mature, professional and easy-to-use package, that still doesn't have quite enough punch to displace the better alternatives.