don't buy Pinnacle Studio 11!

[rcguy1]

Don't invest your hard earned money in a bug ridden video editing software program like Pinnacle Studio 11! I tried Studio 7, 9 and 11 and all have numerous bugs with as many headaches as you can imagine. Pinnacle has been releases their editing software for years this way. I will not waste another dollar on Pinnacle. And it's not my computer. Q6600, (4) gigs of memory, 9600GT video card and (2) 500 gig hard drives. Pinnacle also treats their customers like software thieves with many activation keys--- that also don't work. Also you get a bear bones buggy program that don't work but they expect you to purchase more frills that also don't work. Stay clear of this product.

[jagabo]

I played around with Pinnacle Studio versions 6, 7, 8 and numerous updates in between. The product was easy to use and had a lot of promise. But new features would add new severe bugs faster than the old ones would get fixed. I thought Avid would clean the program up after purchasing Pinnacle. I guess they're focusing their attention on DRM and continuing with the buggy tradition.

[zoobie]

I don't see how they can sell this thing without a demo...
but rather the customers pure faith in marketing
that alone should have been a warning
11 was supposed to be best...but how is one to know without purchasing?
maybe you can dump it on eBay...but it's just more karma by passing along a headache

PS - A comparable editor would be Uleads VS11+....cheap on eBay (around $30)

[rallytbk]

jagabo,

I have been using Pinnacle Studio for years and the one thing I learned about the product is that configuring your PC for video editing is a pain in the butt. This product won't work straight out the box, but it's not the products fault. Any computer you use for video editing/capture/burning should be a dedicated unit.

Pinnacle's customer service can't and won't customize your PC for video editing. Every computer manufacture from NEC, DELL, Gateway and others have their problems... it would take a visit from a tech to format, reinstall and configure windows with Pinnacle Studio to put you in a position you want to be.

Sounds extreme? Ask anybody else doing the above. They would agree with their experiences.

[jagabo]

jagabo,

I have been using Pinnacle Studio for years and the one thing I learned about the product is that configuring your PC for video editing is a pain in the butt. This product won't work straight out the box, but it's not the products fault. Any computer you use for video editing/capture/burning should be a dedicated unit.

Pinnacle's customer service can't and won't customize your PC for video editing. Every computer manufacture from NEC, DELL, Gateway and others have their problems... it would take a visit from a tech to format, reinstall and configure windows with Pinnacle Studio to put you in a position you want to be.

Sounds extreme? Ask anybody else doing the above. They would agree with their experiences.

I have been in the computer industry, both hardware and software, for nearly 30 years. The last time I bought a pre-built computer was in 1984. No wait, I bought a Commodore Amiga a year or two later. I have worked on everyting from big-iron to small micro controllers. I have built, configured, upgraded, and repaired hundreds of Windows systems, had my own software (as in writing my own) and hardware (as in manufacturing my own devices) companies. So I know a little bit about computers.

I've used dozens of other commercial and open source video products and find few are anywhere near as problematic as Pinnacle Studio -- at least versions 6 through 8 that I had direct experience with. From everything I read 9 through 11 haven't improved much.

[zoobie]

yep...just install any editor on it's own HDD with minimal drivers to see how buggy it really is

I need to transcend to real pro software with some of these guys...broadcast stuff...but even then, with high tech, not without problems

every consumer editor I've tried is bugware "pro"
now that I think about it, I think Pinnacle did me a favor

[jagabo]

I found Ulead Video Studio had far fewer problems than Pinnacle Studio. But it wasn't as elegant and powerful at the time.

[dun4cheap]

I have tried numerous editors from Arsoft Showbiz, ulead Video and Media Sutido, Pinnacle 8,9,10,11, Vegas etc. They all have their problems. I currently use Avid/Pinnacle Liquid and on rare occassions I use Studio 11. More times than many a lot of day to day systems are not designed for Pinnacle Studio or Liquid. On Board Video/Sound for one thing is a no no right off the top. So this effect a high percentage of people. I find most of the times many users are just over taxing their setup.

Anyhow, for a basic editing system you need at least 2 large hard drives (I recommend 3, I like to keep my system drive separate from my render and capture drives), 1 or 2 gig of ram, a decent Directx9 video card PCIe for HD with atleast 512meg of ram, an audio card that supports ASIO and at minimal a Duel Core or Core2 processor and this is just for starters. Studio still gets a little sluggish at times, but my Liquid even with multiple layers of HD is pretty smooth.

By the way, you need to keep your system well cooled as well. I usually always have the side of my case off.

[thecoalman]

Any computer you use for video editing/capture/burning should be a dedicated unit.

Sorry but I disagree, the product is piece of crap is why it doesn't work. You don't see anywhere near the amount of complaints about other products. I installed Pinnacle 7 if I remeber correctly on my current machine years ago and it promplty crashed, numerous times. I've been using other products since without any issues and i use my machine for everything including a local web server, graphics, gaming... you name it.

[MJPollard]

Any computer you use for video editing/capture/burning should be a dedicated unit.

Which is why Sony Vegas, right out of the box, worked flawlessly for me on the same system over which Pinnacle Studio 8 constantly crapped and puked.

Buggy software is buggy software. Excuses, unreasonable workarounds (particularly for software aimed at the consumer), and blaming the consumer don't cut it. It's why Pinnacle got its well-deserved reputation, and should serve as an object lesson for others in the business...

EDIT: Sorry for the incorrect quote, jagabo! I've fixed the attribution to the correct person.

[jagabo]

Any computer you use for video editing/capture/burning should be a dedicated unit.

Hey! I didn't say that! LOL

[rallytbk]

jagabo,

Wow small world... 1984+ were great years.
I still own an original commodore 64, Amiga 500 with Digiview and an alterimage genlock. yada, yada, yada (still use them for small projects) and in all my years in this field I fought with all my computers to get them to do what I wanted them to do.

rcguy1,

You are going to have to also fight with your computer... to start - Turn off all the added features (Start/control Panel/system/system properties/advanced/performance) on settings.

Buy/install a second dedicated hard drive for video. Buy/install more ram, yada, yada...

[dun4cheap]

I think comparing vegas to studio is in the wrong class to begin with. Vegas would be compared to Liquid.

[dun4cheap]

Studio 8 is at least 5 years old, antique in the computer industry. Studio itself is one of the top selling consumer editors on the market. While it is a consumer product there are a lot of people that use it to do professional work. Once again, I rarely use it anymore because I do a lot of multi cam and HD timelines so I use Liquid as my dedicated editor which makes Studio, Ulead and other software look like baby toys in comparison.

Lastly, to compare Vegas to Studio is like comparing a Camry to a Carolla.

[edDV]

I think comparing vegas to studio is in the wrong class to begin with. Vegas would be compared to Liquid.

Not Vegas Movie Studio which competes head to head.

Pinnacle relied on acquisitions for the low end. There are no genetic links between Studio, Liquid, etc. They were all products developed elsewhere* and the original software writers are now on a beach or in other companies. Pinnacle (now Avid) has no clue how to fix these products. They need a total rewrite.

Vegas Movie Studio and Premiere Elements are feature reduced versions of stable (Vegas Pro) or relatively stable (Premiere Pro) products. You can complain about missing features but the core products are mostly stable.


System analysts defensively refer to such products as unsupportable "spaghetti code" in need of ground up rewrite for professional support. Note to managers... They always say that regardless of the quality of the code, but for Pinnacle Systems, every version of Studio since acquisition has failed to correct fundamental stability issues. Avid should invest in a rewrite.

[MJPollard]

Except that I was comparing Vegas and Studio with regards to reliability and "working out of the box," not their features. What does it say when Vegas, which is undeniably a more complex and feature-rich application than Studio, can work out of the box on the same system that Studio had so much trouble? Blaming the system (or the user, for that matter) is nothing more than an attempt to avoid the responsibility for one's own buggy software, which Pinnacle did for years. No amount of spin is going to alter that fact.

And yes, Studio 8 is ancient, but nothing I've read since then about versions 9, 10, or 11 has lead me to believe that those versions are much of an improvement, reliability-wise, over their predecessors. I'll never claim that Vegas (or any other non-Pinnacle app, for that matter) is the height of perfection, but I'd put money on its record of reliability over Pinnacle's any day of the week.

[jagabo]

Lastly, to compare Vegas to Studio is like comparing a Camry to a Carolla.

They both should be road worthy. If the engines fell out every time you drove one neither would be acceptable.

And there is a low cost consumer version of Vegas, Vegas Movie Studio. I bet it has far fewer bugs than Pinnacle Studio.

[MJPollard]

Lastly, to compare Vegas to Studio is like comparing a Camry to a Carolla.

They both should be road worthy. If the engines fell out every time you drove one neither would be acceptable.

And there is a low cost consumer version of Vegas, Vegas Movie Studio. I bet it has far fewer bugs than Pinnacle Studio.

It should be at least as reliable as Vegas Pro, as VMS is essentially "Vegas with some parts not included".

And unlike Pinnacle, I don't think that the phrase "reformat your drive and reinstall your operating system" is the first item on the list for Sony's support team, either.

[dun4cheap]

Studio 11 is road worthy. There are users that have problems with it, chances are their systems don't meet the minimum requirements. Granted Pinnacle does not have the greatest track record neither does Sony, Ulead or many other companies. Pinnacle has out sold more copies of Studio than any other consumer editor.

With that said, I am not a pinnacle fan boy, I won't disagree that Studio 8 and Studio 10 were jokes. Studio 9 one of their better releases and unfortunately 9.5 never saw the light of day. Studio 11 though with the propper hardware and setups runs considerably well out of the box.

EdTv, as for the Vegas reference, Vegas Video was not mentioned, neither was specified, so when referring to Vegas I will continue to think we are referring to the pro-sumer version and not the ole Sony Movie Blaster AKA Sony Vegas Video.

So to the user that is saying not to buy Studio 11.

Can you tell us what your system specs are? (I suspect your system does not meet all the system requirements). It is flat out unreasonable to think that any software particularly Video Editing software no matter if its Liquid, Media Composer, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas, Sony Vegas Video, Arcsoft Show Bix, Magix Movie Editor should run well on an under performing system that does not meet the minimum specs.

Lastly, on the vehicle comparison I mentioned, both vehicles would be road worthy if they meet their system requirements. But if the carolla had a donut on the front right tire instead of the fully specifications under normal conditions would you feel comfortable driving it a 100 miles down the road at 65MPH. (I sure wouldn't) so why would you run your video editing software on anything less than the minimum requirements.

[edDV]

...

EdTv, as for the Vegas reference, Vegas Video was not mentioned, neither was specified, so when referring to Vegas I will continue to think we are referring to the pro-sumer version and not the ole Sony Movie Blaster AKA Sony Vegas Video.

So to the user that is saying not to buy Studio 11.

Can you tell us what your system specs are?

I don't know about this "Sony Movie Blaster". What is that? Was that the Win98 product that was never updated for XP? Sony Movie Studio has always been a feature reduced version of the Sonic Foundry Vegas product even before Sony acquired the line from Sonic Foundry.

Pinnacle Studio has had fairly low published (and recommended) system requirement specs. I've tried Versions 6, 8, 9 and 10 always with systems that far exceed the minimum spec. Back in the version 8 days I spent a fair amount of time on the Pinnacle Studio support site helping to test the many update trial balloons that Pinnacle offered. My real work continued on Adobe Premiere which Pinnacle also offered at the time.

It was rare that problems discussed in the Pinnacle Studio support forums were traced to inadequate system hardware. Most of the people there had more than adequate computers.

Current Pinnacle Studio system requirements. Nothing special here.
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+...ltimate+11.htm
Studio 11 XP: Intel® Pentium® or AMD® Athlon® 1.8 GHz or higher (2.4 GHz recommended), 512MB RAM
Studio 11 Vista: Intel® Pentium® HT or AMD® Athlon® 2.4 GHz or 1.6 GHz Dual core required, 512MB RAM (1GB recommended)

Studio 11 Plus and Ultimate are similar except for

"Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.4 GHz or higher required for 1440x1080 AVCHD editing; Intel® Core™2 Quad 2.66 GHz or higher required for 1920x1080 AVCHD editing"

"512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended) - 1 GB required for HD and/or Windows Vista (2 GB recommended)
1.5 GB required for AVCHD (2 GB required on Windows Vista)"

[kdc300z]

I have Pinnacle 12 Ultimate and have no problems whatsoever, my computer is older as well, Pentium 4, cheap ati card, cheap sound card, 1 gb ram...seriously no problems as of yet.

[edDV]

I have Pinnacle 12 Ultimate and have no problems whatsoever, my computer is older as well, Pentium 4, cheap ati card, cheap sound card, 1 gb ram...seriously no problems as of yet.

I might try it next time Fry's does the 4 rebate for free deal.