Scorching Scalding Boiling Hot!! Pinnacle Studio 7.0 $9.99 after $25 MIR at Best Buy!!

[John P]

Wow!! I just bought this software with a firewire card from mwave for $85.99 + shipping. I have seen this as low as $69.99 at CompUSA in the past. This is Pinnacle's latest version of their video editing software. You can take home video and make real cool music videos, etc.... They are basically giving it away, sheesh.....


Linky:
Pinnacle Studio 7.0 at Best Buy

Pick yourself up a copy of Pinnacle Express (it was on sale at CompUSA for $19.99 last week - probably not anymore) and a cheap firewire card and you have a full video editing studio and can burn to SVCD with a regular CD-Burner for less than $50.

According to Pinnacle's web site this software will work with any video capture device:
"It works with your existing Firewire port, webcam or capture card to import your movies to edit and add special effects. "

 

[John P]

Hmmmm, not many videophiles out there?

I couldn't believe the price when I saw it in the flyer. I had to go online to make sure it was version 7.0 and not an older or neutered version or a printing error. I had been shopping around for the best price or waiting for a sale on this software for months since I upgraded to Win XP (I had the older version Studio 1.0 that would not work with XP) and settled for the Mwave $85.99 version, so this price is a steal. If you're not a videophile and especially if you have kids you should give a try at making some videos with this software, it's really a lot of fun. Especially for $9.99!!

 

[Delbert]

JP
I once got a copy of Studio DV version 6 with a Pinnacle DV card. Looked lame. What is so good about version 7?
I have been useing Adobe Premiere since version 4.1. so I may just be spoiled.

 

[John P]

Delbert,
I think we are taking apples and oranges here, $200+ for Adobe Premiere vs $9.99 for Studio. I have not tried Adobe Premiere, just Studio 1.xx and 7.0, Ulead Video Factory and a trial version of Ulead DVD Factory. I find the Studio products much easier to work with than the Ulead, but I didn't spend that much time getting to know the Ulead products all that well.

For novice home users like myself the Studio product seems to be more than adequate, especially when deciding whether to spend $9.99 on Studio 7.0 or $200+ on Adobe Premiere. Studio allows you to capture the video in fairly high quality AVI format, bring in music soundtracks, clip the video clips to whatever length you want to fit on the music timeline, and add transitions and titles. You can then play the movie back to your camera or encode it to MPEG2 or whatever. I noticed I get much better quality MPEG2's when I use something like TMPGEnc, but hey, that's a free download. I can't imagine that Adobe Premiere would add much value for what I need to do, make SVCD's and music videos from my digital camcorder.

What exactly did you not like about Pinnacle Studio? Was it version 1.xx you used? I think they went straight from version 1.xx to version 7.0. What do you like about Adobe Premiere? - what does it do that Studio 7.0 and TMPGEnc doesn't? Just curious...........

I use Pinnacle Express to produce SVCD's with menus, the MPEG's it encodes seem to be on par with those that TMPGEnc creates. I can't notice any differences when I replace the Pinnacle Express MPEG's with the TMPGEnc ones and then burn it to SVCD vs the Pinnacle Express encoded ones. Plus, I only paid $19.99 for it.

 

[GotComputers]

Okay, well, *I* for one think this is great!

I've been using Pinnacle Express, and I think this will make a nice upgrade for $10!

 

[RU482]

What's the diff between Pinnacle express and Pinacle Studio 7.0

Basically, I want to know, will this software allow me to use the video in funtionality of my PC to make VCD's from my kids VHS movies? I am sooo ready to get rid of VCR's forever

 

[RU482]

If you want to try it out before laying down any cash (or taking the time to drive to best buy ) , you can download the trial version here...23.3MB

 

[John P]

redly 1,

To store VHS on SVCD's you would need to capture all the video to your hard drive and then burn it to SVCD's. I wouldn't think it would be all that practical since a SVCD only holds about 34 minutes of video. I have messed with VCD's, you can fit a full hour per CD, but the quality was horrible. Plus, files can only be stored in about 18 minute chunks, since most versions of windows have a 1.8GB file size limit.

The more practical way would be to record the VHS tapes to Mini DV tapes on a digital camcorder (Most digital camcorders have analog inputs). Then you could store the DV tapes and be done with VHS.

Pinncle Studio 7.0 allows you to capture video, edit and sort whatever clips you want, add music, transitions and titles. Then play back the movie to a tape or several file formats, AVI, MPEG, etc.... You cannot burn an SVCD with Studio.

Pinnacle Express allows you to capture video also, and has some very basic editing functions - nothing near what Studio allows. However, Pinnacle Express allows you to create menus - very similar to a DVD menus - and burn the video to VCD or SVCD on a normal CD-Burner or to DVD on a DVD-Burner. Plus, any good Anandtecher has piles of free after rebate CD-R's laying around.

I find it much more convenient to send my parents SVCD's rather than VHS tapes from my kids sporting events. I bought them the $49 after rebate Apex 3201 from CompUSA a while back to watch them on. Now they won't have piles of VHS tapes with 30-60 minutes of video on each one I just make a menu with each games highlights and make the SVCD menu and CD Label background from captured stills from the tape. Pretty slick process once you've done it a few times.

 

[FredFlinstone]

Can I use this with my ATI All in WOnder card to watch/record TV shows ?

Freddie

 

[John P]

Hmmm, I suppose you could use it to capture the TV show as an AVI. But the files would be huge. So, practically, no. You could use it to capture short segements of tv shows to use in homemade music videos, perhaps interspersed with home video segments. Hmmm, not a bad idea, first show a segment of Bonds or Sosa hitting a home run, then one of my son, all in slow motion.... hehe.......

 

[badluck]

Can I use this with my ATI All in WOnder card to watch/record TV shows ?

Why don't you use the ATI MMC software that comes with your card to watch and record TV? I do everyday. You do not have to save it as a .avi file, resulting in a huge file (which is about 280mb per 1 minute encoded). Using the ATI MMC (multi-media center) you can go into Setup and then choose Mpeg-1 or even Mpeg-2. To replay the Mpeg-2 shows using Windows Media Player or even ATI's Video Player you need to get a codec that comes with software such as PowerDVD. If you decide to encode to Mpeg-1, it will be about 10mb for each minute recorded.....

Then, you can use Pinnacle's software (if you bought it) to edit out commercials or edit video......

 

[yinanchen]

FYI, this software is pc magzine editor's choice. review here

 

[huesmann]

Yeah, unfortunately, most SVCDs don't FF and REW too well.

 

[John P]

huesmann,
I made a quick SVCD with Pinnacle Express (I prefer to use Studio 7 to capture- then import the avi file into Express) after my son's baseball game yesterday (it's a very simple process-capture video, choose avi files for SVCD, pick menu style, encode and burn-everything is synced fine and the quality rivals mpegs endoded by TMPGEnc).

The fast forward, rewind, and slow motion with the SVCD all worked flawlessly on my Apex 3201 dvd player. I even had the SVCD paused and "stepped" through my son's swing and watched several other plays that way - lotsa fun

 

[StayPuff]

Wow -- excellent deal on that package. I've been waiting for something like this and will pick one up later on today. I got a Sony TRV25 3 weeks ago to shoot movies of my 7 week old twins.

I've done some captures using scentalyzer (sp?) into .avi files already (using my free firewire card -- thanks AT) because I VirtualDub froze up on me. Are there any tricks to using VirtualDub that I might not be aware of? It seems to be very popular.

 

[huesmann]

Which is better, Studio 7 or Studio Deluxe?

 

[Stevem627]

I have found you can FF and REW on SVCD's fine if you have th right burner. I have tried some burners and couldn't do FF and REW without going out of sync, but with y Lite On's it works fine. So it seems to be effected by the burner.

Also, I make SVCD backups of my DVD's and get whatever time I need on a CD...up to an hour looks fine on my 53" HDTV.

 

[StayPuff]

Originally posted by: huesmann
Which is better, Studio 7 or Studio Deluxe?

Check out the product comparison Here, on Pinnacle's website.

The Deluxe contains Analog AND Digital Capture Hardware as well as the version 7.0 software. The package at BB is software only so you will need either a firewire card for digital capture or something else for analog capture.

 

[stukincalifornia]

When using Studio 7 with another firewire card, does Studio integrate the transfer to and from the camcorder or do you have to use other software to do that?

 

[StayPuff]

Originally posted by: stukincalifornia
When using Studio 7 with another firewire card, does Studio integrate the transfer to and from the camcorder or do you have to use other software to do that?

I'm assuming it's integrated. From their website:

SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS:
Input formats:

• Capture from OHCI Compliant 1394 port
  Captures 1 hour of DV video in only 360 MB of disk space at preview quality using SmartCapture. After video is captured and edited at preview quality Studio automatically recaptures just the footage needed to make your movie at full DV quality. (The amount of disk space required for full DV quality recapture is 14,000 MB per hour)
  Capture from DirectShow compatible capture devices including TV tuners, USB capture devices and USB video cameras/Webcams

Import:

• Video: AVI
  Audio: WAV, MP3
  Graphic: BMP, JPG, PCT, TGA, TIF, WMF

Output formats:

• Output to DV tape (requires OHCI Compliant 1394 port and DV or Digital8 Camcorder with DV Input port)
  MPEG1 & MPEG2
  AVI
  RealVideo8
  Windows Media Format

 

[FatPat]

I'll be picking up Pinnacle Studio 7.0 , now to get a deal on a copy of Pinnacle Express .

 

[John P]

Which is better, Studio 7 or Studio Deluxe?

Pinnacle Deluxe is basically Studio 7.0 + Pinnacle Express + Analog/Digital capture card + breakout box. Express is available at Newegg for $41 shipped. I found an additional $25 MIR if you purchase Studio 7.0 + Express here:

Additional Rebate

When using Studio 7 with another firewire card, does Studio integrate the transfer to and from the camcorder or do you have to use other software to do

Studio integrates it. Just stop the camera where you want Studio to start capturing. Then click on "start capture" in Studio, name the file, hit enter, "start" again, and Studio starts your camera for you and captures until you hit the "stop" button in Studio.

 

[StayPuff]

So Pinnacle Express allows me to make VCDs, SVCDs, and DVDs? I would have thought that Studio would do that for me -- but I guess not.

Whoops -- says it right there on the weblink I provided a few messages up.

Couldn't a tool like VCDEasy be used to make these xCDs after I use Stidio 7 to edit them? Why else might I want Studio 7 + Express?

 

[John P]

Couldn't a tool like VCDEasy be used to make these xCDs after I use Stidio 7 to edit them? Why else might I want Studio 7 + Express?

From what I understand the two programs are similar. If I get a chance this evening I will check out VCDEasy and give a comparison.

 

[John P]

I took a quick look at VCDEasy. It does not seem to have the menu authoring capability that Pinnacle Express has, which is the main reason I bought it. Pinnacle Express has a much more robust graphical interface, which makes it easier to use. There are a couple of reviews:

Pinnacle Express review at Sparky's World

Review at ActiveWin


Click on "Express Tour" to see what the software can do.

Like I said before, CompUSA had Pinnacle Express on sale for $19.99 from 5/26-6/1. If you just want to buy it to "play" with wait until it's on sale again or try the prior rebate link (I found it when I was looking at pricegrabber.com - I can't vouch for it). Otherwise, try VCDEasy and see if it does what you need.