Curious about opinions on Pinnacle Studio Plus 9

[Buz2b]

Just getting into some video editing, dvd authoring, etc, etc. I have seen both good and bad about Pinnacle studio plus 9 version. I've seen several instances of problems installing, or system crashes.
Can anyone share their impressions of this proggy; it's benefits, pros and cons, etc? I always appreciate the feedback from users here. TIA!

 

[Buz2b]

Umm, Ok. Any ideas or opinions folks? Wow, I thought that there'd be at least a few that either had good or bad experiences to share.
Ok, let me put this a different way. Is there any one program that users can recommend to do their video editing with Windows XP?

 

[sbuckler]

Used the various versions of pinnacle for years. Each new version comes out as alpha software however give it a year and it starts to work quite well (that is apart from V8 which took about 1.5 years to put your video onto DVD correctly - it's main feature). V9 is fairly stable now. It's getting pretty expensive as well - lots of *features* cost extra to unlock (and it has a tendency to forget you've unlocked them causing endless hours of grief).

I use pinnacle because I always have and when I got the original pinnacle DV software it was the best. However if I was to start again now I'd say avoid it, there are lots of other options - unless you love beta testing give your money to a company that can actually write working software!

 

[mechBgon]

I haven't used Pinnacle but I've picked up the Adobe Premiere Elements / Adobe Photoshop Elements combo pack and it's proving to be pretty stable. My usage pattern is entry-level so far, but I'm thinking about some more advanced uses when I have the time to learn the techniques. As a bundle they are about $130, which I didn't think was too bad for Adobe software.

Note: Premiere Elements only accepts Firewire input. You can route analog to it by connecting your VCR to a Firewire-equipped camcorder, then connecting the camcorder to the PC via Firewire, but not directly.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I haven't used Pinnacle but I've picked up the Adobe Premiere Elements / Adobe Photoshop Elements combo pack and it's proving to be pretty stable. My usage pattern is entry-level so far, but I'm thinking about some more advanced uses when I have the time to learn the techniques. As a bundle they are about $130, which I didn't think was too bad for Adobe software.

Note: Premiere Elements only accepts Firewire input. You can route analog to it by connecting your VCR to a Firewire-equipped camcorder, then connecting the camcorder to the PC via Firewire, but not directly.

Hmm, I don't know squat about Premier Elements but it might be worth checking into. I do have firewire on both the lappy and desktop so that wouldn't be a problem. Does it work with video capture cards also? Dumb question but so is my level of knowledge in this.
sbuckler, so what are the shortcomings or problems of v9 so far? I've heard a bit about installation problems and some crashing but nothing solid or consistant. Thanks!

 

[jmarkos]

Pinnacle has a good forum area where you will read love /hate relations for their products. I use studio 9 for building slideshows and importing family video. I've not had any pbms with it and it fairly easy to learn/use. Another program i use is Roxio. It stable and fairly easy to use also. Do you have a burner that came with software? That should give you an idea of what features your looking for.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: jmarkos
Pinnacle has a good forum area where you will read love /hate relations for their products. I use studio 9 for building slideshows and importing family video. I've not had any pbms with it and it fairly easy to learn/use. Another program i use is Roxio. It stable and fairly easy to use also. Do you have a burner that came with software? That should give you an idea of what features your looking for.

No, the burner was purchased OEM; not retail w/software. I'll take a look at the Pinnacle forums though, thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Buz2b

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I haven't used Pinnacle but I've picked up the Adobe Premiere Elements / Adobe Photoshop Elements combo pack and it's proving to be pretty stable. My usage pattern is entry-level so far, but I'm thinking about some more advanced uses when I have the time to learn the techniques. As a bundle they are about $130, which I didn't think was too bad for Adobe software.

Note: Premiere Elements only accepts Firewire input. You can route analog to it by connecting your VCR to a Firewire-equipped camcorder, then connecting the camcorder to the PC via Firewire, but not directly.

Hmm, I don't know squat about Premier Elements but it might be worth checking into. I do have firewire on both the lappy and desktop so that wouldn't be a problem. Does it work with video capture cards also? Dumb question but so is my level of knowledge in this.
sbuckler, so what are the shortcomings or problems of v9 so far? I've heard a bit about installation problems and some crashing but nothing solid or consistant. Thanks!

Premiere Elements will only import from Firewire. If you use a video-capture card to capture analog video, and then save it as a movie file, then you could import the file into Premiere Elements, but direct capture from an analog video-capture card isn't going to work.

 

[snidy1]

I gave up on Pinnacle. Although V9 is more stable than previouse versions, I don't like the way they make you pay for the extras. It's a resource hog. It's slow. Tech support sucks. And most of all, Vegas Movie studio does everything plus more than Pinnacle even if I paid to unlock every extra plug-in. And Vegas is very stable and faster. It's only $80.
Pinnacle might be a bit easier to learn, but after you get used to Vegas, it's way cooler. I'm thinking about moving up to Vegas 6 now. I tried the demo. It's pretty expensive though, but I like it a lot more than Premier pro.

 

[Todd33]

If I had to buy again (I bought Pinnacle 8->9->9 plus) I'd try Adobe. It's the same price. Pinnacle software feels very buggy, it crashes a lot too.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Premiere Elements will only import from Firewire. If you use a video-capture card to capture analog video, and then save it as a movie file, then you could import the file into Premiere Elements, but direct capture from an analog video-capture card isn't going to work.

[/quote]

That would work for me. I am just getting into the video capture card and need a better way to edit and create DVD's with it. So far I'm just using the capture card for Satellite TV programs, etc but want to start taking stuff off the DVR and putting them onto DVD's.

snidy1, thanks, I'll also look into Vegas Movie Studio. I appreciate the suggestion.

Todd33, thanks for the feedback on Pinnacle. I've heard some about the crashing.

 

[warcrow]

I starting poking around with video editing a few years ago and got Studio 7. I then upgraded to 8 (for a small fee) and then lastly....decided to make the leap to a more powerful editing program....Liquid Edition 5.5.

My personal experince? All 3 programs were buggy (7 being the most buggy). LE 5.5 wasnt too bad, but I had real troubles with getting the program to make DVDs that would work in most DVD players. It was frustrating, especailly when you work on a friends wedding for 3 months and turn out a DVD that wouldnt play smoothly in his DVD player. The wife and I finally decided to invest (splurge!) and get a Mac and pick up Final Cut Pro as well. It was a heafty investment, but I'll tell you that I've made roughly 5 DVDs and not a single one has had trouble playing in multiple DVD players.

I know I went a little off the subject, but I feel you should have fair warning. I would say, for it's price, Studio 9 is pretty good...but expect issues technically with the app.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: warcrow
I starting poking around with video editing a few years ago and got Studio 7. I then upgraded to 8 (for a small fee) and then lastly....decided to make the leap to a more powerful editing program....Liquid Edition 5.5.

My personal experince? All 3 programs were buggy (7 being the most buggy). LE 5.5 wasnt too bad, but I had real troubles with getting the program to make DVDs that would work in most DVD players. It was frustrating, especailly when you work on a friends wedding for 3 months and turn out a DVD that wouldnt play smoothly in his DVD player. The wife and I finally decided to invest (splurge!) and get a Mac and pick up Final Cut Pro as well. It was a heafty investment, but I'll tell you that I've made roughly 5 DVDs and not a single one has had trouble playing in multiple DVD players.

I know I went a little off the subject, but I feel you should have fair warning. I would say, for it's price, Studio 9 is pretty good...but expect issues technically with the app.

Heh, you know, I did actually consider getting a powerbook when starting all this but already had the video capture card on the desktop and just bought a new lappy from Dell. I didn't think the wife would go for a higher end powerbook after all that though. She's a hell of a lady but I think that this would have pushed the tolerance meter a bit far. LOL! Thanks though.