Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection V14

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Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Pinnacle Systems EAN: 0613570225836 Feature: Take control of your video with professional strength editing tools Format: CD-ROM Is Autographed: 0 Is Memorabilia: 0 Label: Pinnacle Systems Manufacturer: Pinnacle Systems Model: 82101006371 Platform: Windows Vista Publisher: Pinnacle Systems Release Date: 2009-10-15 Studio: Pinnacle Systems
Features Take control of your video with professional strength editing tools Capture, edit and burn. The complete native HD solution NEW theme-based editing for easy, quick multi-track compositing Share and archive your creations on DVD, YouTube, and more Includes pro video tools: -Boris Graffiti, Magic Bullet Looks, proDAD VitaScene, Bonus: Green Sheet
Related Items Class on Demand: Complete Training for Pinnacle Studio (version 14): Pinnacle Educational Tutorial Training DVD Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Version 12 [OLD VERSION] Roxio Creator 2010 Pro Roxio Creator 2010 Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 (1 PC)
Editorial Reviews: Raise the bar with the ultimate tools to tell your story. Place your subject anywhere with the Chroma-key green screen included in the box. Add impact with a complete set of dynamic plug-ins. Now with a simpler interface and Avid professional film making technology, edit clear high definition video with new effects, motion timing. Dolby Digital 5.1 Then, share your masterpiece on DVD, the web and YouTube.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Would be great...if it worked. Too many problems. Comment: I have been messing around with this program for a couple of weeks. I had no trouble installing it on a Dell XPS 3 GHz with 2GB Ram running XP. Good Green screen is really nice. If you get the lighting right you can make some really fun films. We made some with our kids in their favorite movies (but we ended up using different software to do this) The interface will be familiar to anyone who has worked with video editing. Full size printed manual, a rarity these days. Bad Does not recognize the .mod format from our camcorder. I know this is a rather strange format (it is actually a version of mpeg4) but Corel Videostudio has no trouble pulling it in. I have to convert the files for Pinnacle to be able to import them. It also seems to get confused between the still images taken on the camcorder and the video. Ugly Takes FOREVER to render, when it does manage to do so without crashing. Glitches, does not want to import sometimes, dies suddenly, hangs, will not "see" the video you are trying to import, crashes the whole computer at times and generally drives you crazy with trying to get it to function. I am giving it 1 star because although the features are there, and it would be an excellent program if it worked, it just does not function. Too many failures make it too frustrating to use. Customer Rating:* Summary: Comprehensive Review of the top 7 video editing software titles Comment: Sorry about the formatting, Amazon is removing all my spaces when I publish even though it looks fine in the editor. Computer Specs: Intel Core2 Duo @ 1.86 GHz 2 GB RAM 256 MB Video 32 bit Windows Vista My test: Added 2 videos. Added image stabilization to one 3D transition between them. Rendered the project. AVCHD in and MPG2 out (both in full HD, 19201440, Dolby 5.1 if available) Video length 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Overall Review: ** Corel Video Studio Pro X3 * Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 * Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9 1/2 Adobe Premiere Elements 8 Magix Edit Pro 15 * Roxio Creator 2010 * Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14 Package Options: My reviews are against the top versions of each product line. You will find that most of the differences between the top versions and the base are Blu-ray export options, and some add some extra sound options. See for yourself the option that suits you at the manufacturer's website in their respective product comparison guides. Windows 7: All seemed to work for me in windows 7, 64 bit with 4 GB RAM. I didn't do any tests with it b/c I wanted to use an older machine that would come closer to representing the average computer. This includes Roxio 2009, but not 2010 for reasons stated below. Final Opinion: If you want something super easy to use, then I would go with Cyberlink PowerDirector 8. If you want something with a bit more power that you can grow into, I would go with Corel Video Studio Pro X3. Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro plus 9 may very well be good, but I see no reason to purchase it with the power of the Corel package. If you are a masochist, go with Adobe, Magix, Roxio, or Pinnacle. DETAILS: Adobe Premiere Elements 8 65 min render time Pros: You can search effects Layout was good but not great Interface was pretty straightforward Cons: Virtually locked my system Slow and temporarily froze frequently Output menu was cumbersome Corel Video Studio Pro X3 19 min render time Pros: Great Output menu Very fast Easy to use user interface Proxy editing* Autofit for timeline Cons: No search function for effects Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 30 min render time Pros: Output menu was nice Very nice and easy to use layout Cons: No Blu-ray output Magix Edit Pro 15 41 min Render time Pros: Simple Cons: Poor user interface Oversimplified (Too simple I think for most people) Very Cumbersome to use and add effects Output options were confusing and cumbersome Extremely limited options for PC output (which is what many will be doing) A couple of lock ups Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14 Pros: Nice little finished project to see what can be done Nice interface for editing Cons: ONLY SOFTWARE that I was not able to import a video Locked up my system many times and left errant process running at 80% CPU Took 50 seconds just to load the import video TAB When I selected videos to import and hit start import, absolutely nothing happened Tried one of their movies and went to help to find stabilization and it crashed on me b/c I didn't have enough memory No Blu-ray output Cons on install on windows 7 computer: Failure on export of file on all formats I actually tried Pinnacle about 10 years ago and had absolutely nothing but problems. Spent many days downloading patches just to get it to work. Then, like a moron, I did an entire project and when I went to burn it, the burn failed every time. I see a decade later, I still can't export a file. Roxio Creator 2010 Pros: ----- Cons: They don't allow a trial download. I contacted them asking them if I could download a trial and even noted that I was a current customer. I personally like the 2009 Roxio. It was a nice "all-purpose" program. They told me that I had to buy it. I was offered a money back guarantee, but to do so, I had to send in a letter of destruction. This is way too much effort on my end to see if your software works for me. I find it ridiculous in this day and age that you can't have a trial version of something, especially when EVERY ONE of your competitors does. In addition, this is how they were treating an existing customer! You throw in all the compatibility issues that can occur in software in general and video software in particular, and that leaves me to think they have nothing to hide. As icing on the cake, the following sentence was in their reply. "Creator 2010 does support AVCHD software and hasn't been know to have any issues thus far!" I replied to them about this OUTRIGHT LIE! First, you can read the compatibility issues on Amazon. Second, as a person that writes programs, there is no such thing as bug free software, especially video editing software. Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9 14 minute render time (NO ANTI-SHAKE IN RENDER, see below) Pros: Computer stayed pretty responsive during render Savable packages of effects How to guide is nice Cons: Couldn't search effects Very, very cumbersome to use Couldn't find stabilization The render time approximation stayed at around 1 minute or 2 left the entire time Here is my issue with Sony Vegas. I have compared its features with many of the other programs and they are all very similar. Now, when compared with Corel Video Studio Pro X3 and Cyberlink PowerDirector, they are virtually identical. I personally think Sony leaves their software cumbersome so that it "looks/seems" more powerful. I was definitely most disappointed in this product because it was the one that I was looking the most forward to using. When I say that it is cumbersome to use, it doesn't mean that it can't be used. Let me give an example. I am a programmer, and in something like excel, I like the ability to write my own code to create functions and tools that it doesn't offer or to tweak ones that it does. HOWEVER, when I want to enter numbers in boxes, I just want to enter numbers in boxes. I don't want to click in a box, go to a menu or right click, select some gadget and then enter a number. It is ok for complicated things to be complicated, but simple things should not only be simple, but also INTUITIVE. The main thing that I saw that you could do in Sony Vegas that you couldn't do in the others is change your transitions (both audio and video) ramp as far as how quickly they come in and go out. I am not talking about changing the time, but how your out video accelerates out and how you in video accelerates in during that time. It is a cool feature, but something that 99% of people will only not use, but won't care about either. Another thing, the image stabilizer should be easy to do, and it may be. However, I did a search in help for stabilize, stabilizer, sta, shake, anti, etc. and could not find out how to do this very simple thing. This worries me greatly that if this isn't readily available in the help docs, then much of the other stuff probably isn't either. A note on proxy editing. Proxy editing is basically you working on a very low def version of your file, but when it comes time to actually render your output, the original file is used. Some view this as a crutch because they say you should be able to optimize the software to work with the high def video. My opinion is that if I can work faster, then I will work faster. Who cares what my resolution is while I am editing. If you have the fastest software out there for HD, and you can do your edits in very low def and it is even faster still, then why would you not want that? Customer Rating:* Summary: Love it; Powerful program but slight learning curve; need fast computer Comment: I tried so many programs and none worked that well for converting and making dvd's and other video files of hundreds of hours of AVCHD HD footage taken with a Canon camcorder. I built a PC using the following parts just for video editing: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Quad Core with oversized heatsink and fan 4GB DDR3 RAM Nvidia 4650 1GB video card 3TB of total HD space All in a full-sized tower I used Corel Videostudio, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and some other ones not worth mentioning. I was almost going to buy Apple's Final Cut but that was a lot of money. There is a slight learning curve and it's been a trial and error process for me. One of the nice things is that if you exit the program without saving your work, it will ask you if you want to continue with what you were working the next time you start the program. Another nice thing is that there is an on-line tutorial that shows you what you can do with the program. [...] You use to be able to download a trial version but not now. I like the program but it is not flawless since I did have to re-install it once and it does freeze up occasionally but I am happy with it. Check out the tutorial and decide for yourself. I wish I could tell you more about the program but I am new to it. Customer Rating: Summary: Useless for processing analog (VHS) tapes Comment: I've been converting VHS tapes to DVDs using Pinnacle Studio 12, which lets you set the number of minutes for the import step, so you can start importing and go away. It's very handy when processing 4- and 6-hour tapes. For some odd reason, this feature is missing in Pinnacle 14, so you have to stop the tape manually. I wish I had known. Customer support for this product is a horrible. The company claims 48-hour response time, but the response to my first inquiry took much longer, after which they asked for screen shots. The next response had no text, just the usual "We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 5 days." I re-sent my reply with screen shots, and finally they responded with the truth: "You have to manually start and stop the recording." I've experienced other failures with Pinnacle 14, and given the miserable customer support, I won't waste my time submitting them. I'm going back to using Pinnacle 12, which seems relatively stable. Customer Rating: Summary: Fully Loaded Video Editing Comment: Having started with Movie Maker, and discovering it was woefully inadequate for my needs, I switched to Adobe Premiere for my video editing. I decided it would give Pinnacle Studio Ultimate a try. When I first opened the box, I was delighted to find a green screen. It was a lot of fun to use with our digital recorder and allowed me to use some fun editing techniques only used by the professionals. I installed the program on my computer which runs XP. I did not really have any problems, but from what I understand some computers take an issue with this program. I think you may have to read the requirements to make sure your computer has everything it needs. The video capturing is much like Movie Maker that it slices the file into small parts. It puts them back seamlessly, but the slicing up of parts has never been a favorite feature of mine, regardless of the software. I have read somewhere Pinnacle does this by comparing the changes in light in the video, but I have never really examined it enough to look for an answer. The actual editing is on a timescale or storyboard view, which is the format used by all video editors I have worked with. The interface used for this editing is fairly intuitive, however I have spent hours editing video and already have a firm background in the use of a timeline. There is a manual, which is fairly detailed, but I prefer to learn on the job, Google my question or visit forums to find an answer. There are scrubbers both in the movie preview window and at the bottom of the timeline, this is helpful during reviewing the video and makes the process fairly easy. There are plenty of keyboard shortcuts to help speed up the process, but I usually keep a key on hand to help me remember. Most of the actual process is drag and drop. You can also add text and DVD menus, which is a common feature of other video editing software. There are plenty of transitions and effects, which tend to look amateurish to me, but to each his own. Pinnacle provides something Premiere does not, a custom music program called ScoreFitter, which will generate music to fit the sound beat of your clips. It reminds me reminds of a great software program on the web called Animoto. There are also sound effects, but it's the sort of thing I won't ever mess with, but I'm sure they work well for what they are intended for. There is a feature which I think most people would love to use, but does not live up to expectations- the use of still videos and transitions to make a slide show, but in video format. The pixilation problem makes this feature useless, I will continue to stick with Animoto, although it is an online program I have to pay $25 a year for, it gives me the results I'm looking for. I would not count on using customer service should there be any problems as you only get one call. The others will have to be paid for. As with any program which involves graphics and videos, it takes up a lot of system resources, so be prepared for a wait while things are rendering. I did have it crash a couple of times, but that could be my fault for not allowing it to finish a process before I tried to do something else. Some may find the many different aspects of video editing confusing and blame it on the program, when in fact editing itself does take time to learn. Either way, the program worked well for me, but there are still many features I need to learn about before I am able to use the program in its entirety. More Reviews