Pinnacle Studio 8 or Media Studio Pro 7? cant decide!

[logitechman]

I have been using Pinnacle Studio 8 for about a year and a half now until I decided to give Media Studio Pro 7 a try a couple of days back.

I like studio8 as it is, except it doesn't calculate the size of the rendered video properly and ends up using something like 3.7gb on a full dvd-r disc (actual burning capacity of 4.3 gb). Basically, studio8 limits me to about 54mins to actual DV video on a dvd-r...

I recently upgarded my dvd burner to a Pioneer A06 and in the package, I got DVD Movie Factory 2 along with Media Studio 7 so I decided to give these nice looking apps a shot.

Heres what I have done and am trying to do:
Captured the movie from my DVD Camcorder (Sony TRV17)
-The length of the file is 1 hour and 4 mins with size of 13ish gigs.

When I try to burn this file using Pinnacle studio 8, it only allows me to burn 54 mins of the video on a single dvd-r but the quality is awesome!! the problem is that it doesn't use the whole disc, uses only about 3.7gb.

Now, when I insert this same file (the 13gb dv avi file) In Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 (the dvd-authoring program), it shows that I have much more room left for video.. which is great except when I burn it, I can notice the difference in quality, the colors are not quite the same and the sharpness that I have in the original dv video is gone...

So, here are my questions for the pro users of studio8 or mediastudio/moviefactory users:

1) Is it possible to fit more than 54 mins of dv video on a dvd-r disc using studio 8?
2) Is it possible for MediaStudio / MovieFactory to create a dvd with matching quality as Pinnacle Studio8?

I really like Media Studio because of the dv scan function and it also has more features / ease of use but the loss quality is a major factor, which I can't ignore.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!
thx!
-lm

[BobK]

> 1) Is it possible to fit more than 54 mins of dv video on a dvd-r disc using studio 8?

Yes. You can fit slightly over 2 hours of video on a DVD-R with Studio 8. You just have to change the bitrate. In Make Disk, click options and click custom. Then set the bit rate to get however much time you need. I haven't used Studio 8 for a while, but I think the range it accepts is between 3000 and 6000.

[donpedro]

1) Is it possible to fit more than 54 mins of dv video on a dvd-r disc using studio 8?

Yes, it is... I use for example custom setup of 7000kBits/s for 77min video.

I really like Media Studio because of the dv scan function and it also has more features

What is DV SCAN ?

I like studio8 as it is, except it doesn't calculate the size of the rendered video properly and ends up using something like 3.7gb on a full dvd-r disc (actual burning capacity of 4.3 gb).

Which version do you use ? Here is part from my post

Options used to create (Make Disc) DVD
-video with menus ~77min
-Settings (DVD format, Custom 7000 kBits/sec, MPEG audio, Create disk content but don't burn)
-final DVD total size 4,219,652 KB

[logitechman]

If I lower the bit-rate, wont that lower the dvd quality?

donpedro: how does it look with 7000 bitrate? any noticable difference in the dv quality and the final dvd after you burn?

DV Scan scans the avi file and creates clips by some how figuring out when the record button was pressed. For example: if I shoot a movie of my house and then my school.. I can get Media Studio to scan the dv cassette when capturing or from the avi file and it automatically puts them in different clips, making editing much more easier.

and I am using version 8.0.75.. I have never updated it, I will go check their site for patches if there are any.

[CubDukat]

No contest. MSP7.

MSP7 can render audio in AC-3, and the last version of Pinnacle Studio I used had severe audio sync issues and Pinnacle has horrible customer support.

In Studio's favor, however, everything is in one program--unlike MSP, which is scattered all over the place over six separate modules. And Ulead's tech support is only marginally better than Pinnacle's. And in order to burn DVDs, you need a seperate app: the supplied DVD Movie Factory, which doesn't support AC-3.

Still, the nod goes to MSP7--for the AC-3 alone.

[logitechman]

I just updated Pinnacle Stuidio to the latest version 8.10 and I realized it does have the DV Scan option in the capture window.

Maybe it just showed up because of the new update and it works much faster and smoother!

Also, the dvd size went up to 59 minutes from 54... I think I'll enjoy making dvds of these 12 dv cassettes I have sitting here now!

I still have one question: I got these huge dv files - 13ish gb each and I dont have these on the original cassettes.. When I open these in Media Studio 7, it clips them appropriately by time and date they were shot at but from what I can see in Studio, its only possible at time of capture..
Is there any way I can clip them by time and date in Studio and not have to deal with Media Studio at all?

[donpedro]

No contest. MSP7.

MSP7 can render audio in AC-3, and the last version of Pinnacle Studio I used had severe audio sync issues and Pinnacle has horrible customer support.

In Studio's favor, however, everything is in one program--unlike MSP, which is scattered all over the place over six separate modules. And Ulead's tech support is only marginally better than Pinnacle's. And in order to burn DVDs, you need a seperate app: the supplied DVD Movie Factory, which doesn't support AC-3.

Still, the nod goes to MSP7--for the AC-3 alone.

Don't you need to buy AC-3 extra ? How much is it ?

I just checked Ulead web site:

Ulead® MediaStudio Pro 7 = $495
Pinnacle Studio version 8 = $99

[donpedro]

If I lower the bit-rate, wont that lower the dvd quality?

Yes it will.... in any program

donpedro: how does it look with 7000 bitrate? any noticable difference in the dv quality and the final dvd after you burn?

To me it looks great.

DV Scan scans the avi file and creates clips by some how figuring out when the record button was pressed. For example: if I shoot a movie of my house and then my school.. I can get Media Studio to scan the dv cassette when capturing or from the avi file and it automatically puts them in different clips, making editing much more easier.

This function was there from Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio 7 and also in version 8. It was there always when you capture from DV camcorder.

and I am using version 8.0.75.. I have never updated it, I will go check their site for patches if there are any.

When you do that, just read their forum before you upgrade. A lot can be fixed with new version but it is possible that you will get new errors. BTW: This was reason why it didn't use full disk. It was bug in one of the first versions.

[donpedro]

I still have one question: I got these huge dv files - 13ish gb each and I dont have these on the original cassettes.. When I open these in Media Studio 7, it clips them appropriately by time and date they were shot at but from what I can see in Studio, its only possible at time of capture..
Is there any way I can clip them by time and date in Studio and not have to deal with Media Studio at all?

I don't have PS8 in front of me but I recall that you could do it aftewards too. Check Help in PS8. You would be sorprised how much you can learn from it

[donpedro]

Don't you need to buy AC-3 extra ? How much is it ?

I just checked Ulead web site:

Ulead® MediaStudio Pro 7 = $495
Pinnacle Studio version 8 = $99

Now I see that AC-3 is included... too bad about the price. And also... You have to have expensive (I think) DVD Authoring software that will support AC-3 too, as an extra cost.....

[Specialist]

Pinnacle Studio 8 should be compared to Ulead's consumer-level program called Ulead VideoStudio 7.

Pinnacle Studio 8 is a consumer-level application.

Ulead's VideoStudio is a consumer-level application.

Ulead has compiled a chart that shows some of the differences between the two:

http://www.ulead.com/vs/compare.htm

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.01 is a professional-level application.

That is why Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.01 costs more.

Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 will output very high quality.

The key is to choose the correct project settings within Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[logitechman]

I read about Pinnacle Studio 8 on the pinnacle forums and it pretty much has all the features I was looking for.

Thanks for all the help!

Just burned a dvd last night but it still used only 4.00gigs instead of 4.3.. any ideas y?

[donpedro]

Play with bitrate.

[Will Hay]

Yeah, increase your bitrate settings by circa. 7%.
Will