As good as Pinnacle

[Vaseman]

I am really new at video so please excuse if this is an old topic.

Is there an editor as good as Pinnacle ? --- Except that it should work.

[minidv2dvd]

hehe. vegas studio platinum might fit your description.

[jagabo]

Also Ulead Video Studio.

[fitch.j]

Adobe Premiere Pro ?
AVID?
Final Cut Pro ?

All 'better' than pinnacle, depending on what your criteria. With question as open as that i could quite easily just answer "Yes"

[filmboss80]

As "good" as Pinnacle? LOL -- your standards sure are low.

[Persistence]

The question, and the answers, resemble what happens if the subject is a political party, religion, sports team, or ice cream flavor. Or consider this: is "Harry Potter" the best book every written? Is Hannah Montana the best musician ever? Millions will answer "yes." So, gee, how could anyone disagree?

What WOULD be useful is a user's tally or poll of the respective merits of the competing NLEs functionality, system requirements, stability, format support, difficulty, flexibility, and openness to upgrades or innovation. The quality of the respective user forums is also relevant. Some software review sites compile lists that purport to compare the products, but they are compiled by people who are comparing marketing brochures, not individuals who have actually delved into each product's features and flukes.

Ideally, each product would be tested against a "benchmark" video project: mixed format content (samples of all recent videocam formats), and a battery of effects, and then tested in terms of rendering speed and quality. This could also include a test of the files or discs on generic or name brand playback devices.

This would have to be a volunteer venture, since no review site is ever going to pay anyone enough to learn and test the products thoroughly. Usually, the reviewer gets a maximum $500 or so, which means that the entire research cycle could last no more than 50 hours before the net return falls to minimum wage. A quick and dirty is all you generally get.

Of all the NLEs, Windows Movie Maker has the virtue of being bundled with the OS, which also provides a basic DVD creator. Most of the people who gripe about the other products should probably never have bought them, and might just as well have worked with the Windows basics. Were there a fee, those too would get complaints. Most of the complainers are simply impatient and reluctant to learn. Editing has to be learned like the piano, or tax return preparation, and naturally jilts those who thought it was little more than shouting at actors through a megaphone.

Is it not more or less true that NONE of the major NLEs really leave any owner of an AVCHD videocam owner happy, even if they use a quad core, if the task consists of a 2.5 hour BD project with complex overlays, stabilizations, fancy custom menus, still animations, and a target audience that expects what Madison Avenue or Hollywood require $ millions to achieve?

On the other hand, if the objective is to "rip" broadcast or protected disc content, and "smart render" it in minutes to a HDD or disc, or upload a simple clip to You-Tube, the most simple freebie ware is probably the most efficient?

I don't envy the NLE publishers. They can't possibly make money from providing the latter, whose ceiling price could not exceed $30, while at the same time catering to needs of the serious hobbyist or small professional, who is also finicky about price and very cantakerous about details. Finally, if 1920x1080 60p video becomes "standard" by late 2010, and something else the year after, PC power and software performance will always lag the demands of the format. That may be "good news" for PC vendors, but puts the NLE publishers in an ugly squeeze: keep system requirements low enough to make it salable to the masses, but also claim "support" for the latest and fanciest videocams or DSLRs that hit the market.

They can't win. I suspect that none is making any money on a stand-alone NLE product basis. Most of the engineers, if they still have jobs, probably wished they'd gone to dental school.

My of Pinnacle are pretty "fair 'n balanced." https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Pinnacle_Studio It has its problems, but what I read at other product forums suggest that no hop from the frying pan to the pot or the fire makes life any easier. If Avid tanks in 2010, and makes Studio users all orphans, that might require a change, but by then changes in camera hardware and formats will make mush of most existing NLEs or PCs anyway, IMHO.

[Vaseman]

Thanks for the comments, I knew the subject was loaded (if that is possible). I hoped for, and think think I received, responses from x-Pinnacle users. I thought it would save a lot of research.

My experience is that Pinnacle offered everything I need, being the amateur that I am.

My problem was that after hours of editing a four to six hour burn would just fail. Sometimes the capture would just kick out in the middle. These are just the most common problems for me, but I think almost every possible failure happened sooner or later.

Going to their forums was little help because I just found lots of people having the same problems, but no answers. I should have visited there "before" I bought. I do that with almost everything I buy on line now.

Thanks again for the advice

[jagabo]

I agree that Pinnacle Studio has the features that most home users want and is pretty easy to use. Unfortunately, the software is so full of bugs you can never complete anything more than a simple project. With each new version they add more functions and features but the software never becomes stable. I gave up on it years ago.

[edDV]

...
My problem was that after hours of editing a four to six hour burn would just fail. Sometimes the capture would just kick out in the middle. These are just the most common problems for me, but I think almost every possible failure happened sooner or later.

Going to their forums was little help because I just found lots of people having the same problems, but no answers. I should have visited there "before" I bought. I do that with almost everything I buy on line now.

That sounds the same as my experience with Pinnacle Studio version 3 through 9 (~2000-2007). I kept trying to help them even though I was using Premiere.

I left convinced they had no intention to fix stability issues.

[sanlyn]

I am really new at video so please excuse if this is an old topic.

Is there an editor as good as Pinnacle ? --- Except that it should work.

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tme3.html

[zoobie]

Cnet User Reviews
Amazon User Reviews
Looks like a swift kick in the ass would be as good as Pinnacle...

[Vaseman]

Zoobie's links are certainly telling.
Sanlyn's Link to TMPGEnc is new to me and is in my price range.

I think this thread has helped me a lot. Hopefully it'll save some other NB's like me from the frustrations.

Thanks to all again.

[lordsmurf]

Pinnacle Studio 12 can be okay. But Premiere Elements is better.

[deadrats]

I am really new at video so please excuse if this is an old topic.

Is there an editor as good as Pinnacle ? --- Except that it should work.

ROTFLMAO!!!

[lordhutt]

Pinnacle Studio 12 can be okay. But Premiere Elements is better.

Actually looking to buy something myself and was considering Pinnacle 12 Ultimate.

I have a Sony HD camcorder so need something that will work well with AVCHD...the Pinnacle specifically mentions this format.
Have they improved enough over the years or would you recommend something different considering the files I will be working with?

[jagabo]

considering Pinnacle 12 Ultimate... Have they improved enough over the years...?

Pinnacle Studio got worse and worse (in terms of stability) over the years. v12 may have improved as the company was bought by Avid a year or so ago -- enough time for them to fix some of the major bugs. I wouldn't risk it though.

[fitch.j]

Pinnacle 12 is meant to be horrific. I'd do a bit of research first. Premiere Elements would be a much more solid choice.

[fjmr]

Pinnacle Studio 12 Ultimate is very good.
What You have to have is a nice PC with a Quad Core and lot of memory lets say 8GB
12 ultimate is fully of transitions and other functions and nice and usefull features.
If you have the right PC and right OS it can be a nice tool for amateur editions specially for navigating through the captures scenes.
So I love studio ultimate and is right to say for me it is better than the other ones I have like Nero, Movie Factory, Cyberlink and Ulead studio 11.5.
lordhutt
I should complement that it works nice for doing AVCHD and I have done quite a lot of AVCHD Discs (more than a Hundred) with material filmed with my Sony minidv HCR 5 camcorder and captured and edited and burnt to a DVD AVCHD with Pinnacle.

That is all. 8) 8)

[lordhutt]

Heh...did not even realize this until fitch.j mentioned Premiere Elements again.
I have it!!! I bought Photoshop/Premiere Elements back in May and forgot about it....Actually at the time I bought it specifically for the Photoshop Elements part.
A lot of shit going on in my life right now and I never even got a chance to screw around with it yet!
Someone else was actually asking me about Pinnacle and AVCHD files...and since I knew I needed something myself (or thought I did)...then I saw this thread....

Anyway, as soon as I wake up here and snap back into reality I will give Elements a shot and go from there.

Thanks for the replies!

on a side note, in Pinnacles defense...which I really know nothing about...zoobie wrote

Cnet User Reviews
Amazon User Reviews
Looks like a swift kick in the ass would be as good as Pinnacle...

Those reviews are based on version 10....here is a link to version 12 reviews which still might not be the greatest but far superior to version 10
http://www.amazon.com/Pinnacle-Studio-Ultimate-Version-12/product-reviews/B001AMSZSQ/r...owViewpoints=1

[pepegot1]

Try VideoStudio X2 PRO

[ZQX]

Try Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus