New Video Editing/DVD Authoring Software

[rodhudson]

Hello. I've used various Versions of Pinnacle Editing Software for many years now, including the old lanc based hardware systems, then Studios 7,8,9,10, and Edition. I'm now on Studio 10.8, and have finally had enough with their support team, and their policy of releasing half-tested updates, and letting the user do their own testing and problem solving. I won't go into details, as I'm sure you've heard it all before, and I've read enough Anti-Pinnacle posts on here to know that ! So....what can anyone recommend ? I'm very used to the Pinnacle way of editing, and I can't afford the very best, but have to take advice. as it can take several months to become 'au fait' with new packages. I don't mind that, but would prefer not to totally waste my time with rubbish. Is the Sony stuff any good ? I'd just be grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced several different packages, and get the benefit of their knowledge. Cheers.

[fredfillis]

As a newb to NLE's I had a look at trial versions of the Adobe products and the Sony. Despite my familiarity with Photoshop, I found Sony's products easier to use (for me). So, I started with Sony Vegas Movie Studio + DVD Platinum. After 6 months or so, I've moved up to the "Pro" version.

I've been very happy with my choice. Products are stable and capable.

If you're looking for books about Vegas, for example, they are as rare as rocking horse poop. I think I found one in Borders / Barnes & Noble as compared to 10-15 for the Adobe products (Premiere and After-Effects).

There is a lot of info online however, and a number of useful forums. VASST has some nice tutorials (for a price).

BTW, I had a fool around with Pinnacle and Ulead products, and liked neither.

Good luck.

[thecoalman]

Try Ulead Video Studio.

[Timeless Moments]

In know Pinnacle has had it's share of problems, but when it works it's a dream. Now the new version 11 has been patched to 11.1.1 and so far it seems to be working well. In our studio we use V 10.7 (10.8 was only for Vista really) on two PCs, 11.1.1 on another and Avid Liquid on all three. If you want to move up but retain some of the Studio way of working then I suggest you try Liquid, there is a 30 day trial download on their site too so you've nothin to lose.

Cheers

Ian

[Marvingj]

Ulead Video Studio is very easy & pretty good results.

[rodhudson]

Hi Ian. Thanks for the input. I agree that when Pinnacle works with no problems, then it's great, but problems also seem to appear with updates, and as they are always updating, it becomes a pain. 10.8 IS mainly for Vista, but has one thing for XP2 users, that is extremely important. The ability to handle the Graphical scene transformations, be it standard 2D, Hollywood Fx, or whatever,because if you are using Geforce 8000 series PCI-E card with a P35 type Motherboard, and an Intel Quad CPU, then 10.7 can't handle it. You have to update to 10.8, even if using XP. I'm afraid Pinnacle cost me a great deal of money to find that out, as their Support staff didn't seem to know either, and it really is the last straw in what has become, over the years, a considerable haystack! I have got Edition, although an older version. My problem is less with Pinnacle Software, and more with their Support staff, and Software testing procedures before release. So I'm going to give something else a try. But thanks for your post. It is appreciated, as I'd like all the input and feedback I can get. ROD

[thecoalman]

Have you considered moving uo to some of the pro-sumer apps? Premeire , Vegas , Ulead Media Studio Pro to name 3.

If you've been doing video for that long you must be ready for some challenges. I know it only took me about a month to decide that the all-in-ones were just not capable for what I wanted to do.

[edDV]

My connection with Pinnacle started with their acquired DC-30plus card (from Miro of Germany) running Adobe Premiere 4.1 software. In those days Premiere software and Pinnacle drivers were buggy but smoothed out by Versions 5 and 6.5. I also tried their acquired Pinnacle Studio product but it was a buggy mess until v9 and still seems unstable.

When I tried Vegas I was amazed at it's stability vs. Premiere. Premiere was always twitchy when pushed. Vegas has been as solid as Sound Forge, their first product.

[Timeless Moments]

I think the real problem with Studio is that it is very sensitive to the other apps you have running. If you take a look at the page protection faults it generates as an app it is quite staggering. However, it does work, for sure. I am using 3 systems, A D940 twin core procesor, an E6600 Core Duo and an E6700 Core Duo. Now all have NVidia graphics and 2 Gb RAM + massive storage. The D940 is a workhorse and actually has a lot of stuff on it, Office, Outlook, the odd episode of Half life etc, and sometimes, on this system 10.7 would crash when pushed. So far, V11.0 has never crashed. On the other Core Duo machines I am still running 10.7 (waiting to find out if 11 is going to be as stable as it appears to be) and very occassionally it will crash to desktop, but I mean only after being on for 48 hrs or more and rendering a project with 5+ menus, 90 minutes long, smartsound, transitions, PnP, Keyframes and the works (so really pushing it). This is on the E6600. The E6700 has never crashed with Studio. Neither of these machines have any other app running except Zone Alarm, Max Registry checker and Avast virus checker. Over the last 4 years we have built a solid customer base and we transfer around 10,000 ft cine and about 250 hrs video footage to DVD per month, the vast majority on Studio. So it works so well in fact that I have had the confidence to base my business around it. Sure we have Avid Liquid, and if some corporate fat cat wants all the bells and whistles then we can use that, but for the average transfer Studio is fine, and we put in a lot more effort than most other companies believe me.

So I guess I would say that if you can have a fairly dedicated system for your NLE then 10.7 is fine, although 11 seems to be stable on most platforms.

I have never used their support because I heard it was a waste of time. However their forum is brilliant, full of extremely knowledgable people from whom I am indebted and have learnt a lot.

Have Fun
Ian