Rendering with Pinnacle Studio 8

[halhost]

I have successfully edited a movie using still photos, video clips captured through a firewire port, and music tracks. I like the way the final project looks! The problem occurs when I "create a disc" for use on a DVD disc. I have tried both "burning directly to the disc" and "to the hard drive" and in both methods it renders anywhere from 20% to 60% of the project and then just stalls. I have installed the 8.5 patch from pinnacle's support page, but it didn't resovle the problem. Is my machine too old to handle the program? I have seen suggestions to render as an AVI project first. Is this the only solution?

[ktnwin]

You just had bad luck with PS8 like many others. Some are lucky to get it to work all the times (I am) , some other don't.
However, there are known bugs. If you put chapter point at a transition, PS8 will hang !!! Check to see if you did this.
Luckily there are many other software to choose from
A good one (easy, simple, quick) is neoDVD Plus(capture, encode, burn)
Or you can try TMPGEnc to encode, DVDlab to author, Nero to burn.

[Redd]

I have seen suggestions to render as an AVI project first. Is this the only solution?

Usually yes. But you need to remove the menu/s first. Then render to a avi file and close your project. Reopen and re-insert into the timeline. Add your menu/s and chapter points. Then go directly to make disk. There will be no loss of video quality. Have you also tried the Pinnacle forum at: http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read_forums.asp?WebboardID=1&SectionID=143&lng=1&Produ...DocTypesID=181

[MrPinche]

Halhost- I had the same problem with ps8. My will render 20% and it will hang. I tried the rendering to avi and that worked but it got old fast, so finally I gave up on the program and moved to vegas video. The interface is not as friendly and the learning curve is higher but the results are much better.

[DaveS]

I also had problems w/ s8, and mine (xp sp1 clean) worked better than others based on the pinnacle forums. I didn't have problems rendering but my menus would get corrupted and I got tired of rebuilding them each time. I also moved to vegas+dvd architect, but that was $$ and took all my allowance for a while.

if it works for you, and especially since you are in the middle of a project, try to render to avi to get your project out of s8. then author with something else - dvd lab maybe one option, and you can read the reviews on other products /sw.

my 2c is to get the project out of s8 then run as fast as you can away from s8 - if you can figure out how to use it in a way that works for you great and stick w/ it...

[Redd]

try to render to avi to get your project out of s8. then author with something else

Why? Studio 8 will render and burn just fine. If you don't like Studio 8, use something else from the start.

Comparing Studio 8 with Sonic Foundry Vegas 4 is like apples and oranges. There're not in the same league. I use Studio 8 and I like it, but I also use Media Studio Pro 6.5. Again not in the same league with Studio 8 so I don't try and compare them. But for what Studio 8 is, it works well...when it works.

[ktnwin]

Studio 8 will render and burn just fine

I don't quite agree to that. Studio 8 sometimes create coasters (I got 3 with PS8).

Studio 8 also take forever to encode / compile compare to neoDVD (near real-time encoding, also encode audio to AC3 which save lot of space for video).

I only use PS8 to capture to AVI and edit, then either save it back to DV tape or to AVI, then use neoDVD to encode/author/burn DVD. The later never fail on me.

[DaveS]

I would suggest we leave this topic alone at this point - it's bordering on bantering of opinions rather than a more objective exchange of info to help move some discussion along (in fact I think one of my posts was deleted? not sure but I don't see it here)