1. Outside The Box

Obviously, Creative's designers did not emphasize beauty above functionality when they designed the Video Editor. But the system is certainly not ugly, either, and its capabilities more than compensate for what the Video Editor lacks in design.

The Video Editor comprises a small plastic box with a silver metallic top and base panels, and the rest of the unit is finished in shiny black. Both the front and rear bristle with various sockets and there are controls and indicators on the front panel.

The Video Editor is also a powerful piece of hardware that certainly does not work without electricity and requires a hefty amount of juice- especially the European model.

Inside the box, the Video Editor combines the Audigy 2ZS soundcard (USB version) and a video capture system. The soundcard, of course, provides the video system's audio channels, but other than that, the audio and video components operate independently.

Creative Labs soundcard users will feel at home since the Video Editor's sound capabilities and controls offer virtually identical functionality compared to a standard Audigy 2ZS. Like the rest of the Audigy 2 range, the unit comes with an infra-red remote control, which definitely adds to the unit's convenience factor.