Pinnacle DVD proggie

[mijman]

I've seen a (relatively) new DVDR/VCD authoring program on the market. It's called Pinnacle DVDR Express, I think. Has anyone tried this? Is it any good? It says on the box that it is also for VCDs.

[EricB]

Go to the website http://www.pinnaclesys.com and check out the user forum. Doesn't sound good. I think the Ulead product is probably superior for the same price.

[teche_sat]

I have used the Pinnacle Express software for about two months and it is a great program for first time users to make VCDs or SVCDs. If you have a DVD-R, then it will create DVDs as well. I have been using it to copy/capture the DV video from a Sony Digital-8 camcorder with excellent results. The SVCD video limit is set at 30 minutes, and the bitrates cannot be changed. The program does allow for importing your own images and audio for use with menus or slide shows. Limited but creative editing can be done, and it is a SIMPLE process of 1. Capture 2. Edit 3. Create/Burn.

On the downside, there are a few noticeable artifacts in the finished product in fast motion scenes, but they are not visible in slow pan or stationary video. Processing an edited 30 minute DV AVI project to a completed 30 minute SVCD takes about 2.5 to 3 hours on a 1.0 ghz Athlon.

Currently there is a v1.02 patch on pinnaclesys.com, and a v1.03 patch is promised soon with many bugfixes and improvements.

[TAllee]

I cannot seem to get Pinnacle Express DVD to work in any consistent successful manner.

Only been able to get 1 disc done out of close to 2 dozen, and it hesitates between chapters.

Pretty disappointed in it, so tried to go to Easy CD creator, and not having much luck (can get it to burn, just not play). And Best Buy's refund policy doesn't allow me to return it to exchange - only for same titles.

Bummer.
Thomas

[teche_sat]

Using Pinnacle Express, ALL of the SVCDs I have attempted to create so far from a saved project have come out just fine. They were all made with DV video from a Digital-8 camcorder fed to the PC via an ADS 1394DV firewire card. I saved the 3.6mb/sec source videos in 15 minute increments to stay under the 4 gig file size limit of Windows 98. (My hard drive is an IBM Deskstar 60GXP/60 Gig). I then edited the video segments together to fit the 30 minute SVCD size limit under Pinnacle Express. I did not use the computer while it was processing the video to SVCD. The finished SVCDs all played well on an APEX AD-600A, APEX AD-500W, APEX AD-3201, and a Pioneer DV-434. The "pause" between chapters when playing back an SVCD is more noticeable on some DVD players than others.