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  1. Just bought Pinnacle Studio 8 and I love it so far. The most obvious addition is that you can make amazing menus for your projects and burn them directly to CD. The first menu I made has my video showing behind the buttons. I've never made a cd menu with anything but white letters on a black background. This looks completely profesional. You can even make menus with moving video thumbnails for each scene.

    If you have not used Pinnacle Studio before I suggest you try it. I believe you can download the demo version. This program can capture, edit mpg1 and mpg2 add music transitions etc etc.

    I can't speak as a real videophile but as someone who wants to get good results quickly I recommend this program.
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  2. We're actually looking for a low-cost VCD authoring app that makes nice menus, so we'll check Studio 8 out.

    BTW, do you know if it allows background music during the menus, lets you customize the menus (e.g., thumbnail layout, graphics, etc), AND if it can create VCDs with already created MPEG1 files w/out recompressing them? I know that might be a lot to ask if you're just learning the program's ins and outs, but it would be great if you know any of these.

    Thanks,
    CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  3. Background music during menus...no problem. It even will generate the music for you. You can decide between different styles, moods, and instruments. You can buy more music choices but for my needs it comes with plenty.

    You get a bunch of menu templates. Some are generic others have themes (Birthday, Soccer, Wedding...). You can edit them (kind of like a word document( and save the result as a new template. You can customize all the buttons. You can have moving video (of your choice) behind the menu or behind each button.

    Not sure about making vcd from mpg without reencodeing. I'll try to let you know.
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  4. I'd love to try this software! Does anyone know where to download the demo/trial version? I'd even buy it right now if I could download it instead of having Pinnacle mail the software to me.
    I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
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  5. I don't see a demo at the site:

    http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage.asp?Product_ID=577&Langue_ID=7

    Still you can read all about the product.

    You may want to do like I did and use Kazzaa or some similar program to download Pinacle Studio 7 and try it. The main difference between 7 and 8 as far as I can see is the VCD/SVCD/DVD menus.
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  6. Where is the demo
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  7. Member
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    I have Studio 7, and it's wonderful at capturing DV, editing, titles etc., but I don't think the mpeg encoding is as good as TMPG. Maybe they improved it in version 8???
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  8. I CAnt DOWnload THe p 8 or 7 studio anywhere

    i want to check out p studio also
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  9. Originally Posted by presto
    Background music during menus...no problem...You get a bunch of menu templates. Some are generic others have themes (Birthday, Soccer, Wedding...)... Not sure about making vcd from mpg without reencodeing. I'll try to let you know.
    Presto, thanks for the feedback! BTW, you mentioned being able to edit the templates-- do you know if you can actually drag/move/place clip thumbnails around for better placement? That was my main problem with Dazzle's DVD Complete (I think that's the title)-- they didn't allow you to do too much with the clip layout on the menu, and the scripting language they said would be coming for that hasn't arrived yet.

    Also let me know about the MPEG1 import if/when you get a chance to try it.

    Thanks,
    CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  10. You seem to be able to drag around buttons and things. It's just like a word document or a what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML editor. I've had a little trouble with editing the menus though. It seems like you have to edit the menu BEFORE you start making your chapter links. Otherwise the links get all messed up. It seems to work fine if you do all your menu editing first. All I've done is to change the words on the template but the buttons etc are definitely resizeable and can be dragged around.

    I'm making a vcd right now from mpg source and it seems to be reencoding the mpg. It going about twice real time speed I think.

    Everyone, I'm sorry that I mentioned a Demo and there doesn't seem to be one. I definitely got Studio 7 off of Kazza. Also Studio 7 is selling very cheaply on Ebay right now. You could pick it up for less than 20.00 (I think). Then if you want to go to Studio 8 you would just need the upgrade not the full program.
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  11. I've tried to make a star trek CD and everytime the audio cuts out completely at some point. I recorded from TV and the mpg plays perfectly. Used Pinnacle to cut out commercials and add menu. The clips all have sound in the DVD preview in Pinnacle Studio 8. Then I make the CD and when I play it the sound just ends. On one CD it is during the first clip and in the next CD it is in the fifth clip!

    It's always something. Here I am really excited about this new program and suddenly I've got a problem that I have never had before. AAARRGH!
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  12. I guess I had a bad mpg on that Star Trek Project.

    I gave up on that and went to my next project which worked great. I captured a VHS instructional video and burned it onto two CD's with great menus. Pinacle Studio automatically finds the scene changes for you making it very easy to create your chapters (it splits at every new camera shot so you have to group them into your scenes but it is a lot easier than just scrolling along looking for where you want to break up the video).

    The resulting SVCD does not look as good as I would like. For my instructional videos it is fine. The video moves smoothly and voice is in sync but it is not very sharp. Someone watching would probably think it was second or third generation VHS copy. I hope I can improve this as I learn the program but I captured at the "Best Setting" and burned the video at 98% quality (I think it chose that automatically to fit it on the CD)
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  13. Originally Posted by presto
    I'm making a vcd right now from mpg source and it seems to be reencoding the mpg. It going about twice real time speed I think.
    Presto, thanks again for all the good first-hand feedback. From your note, it looks like Studio 8 is automatically re-encoding-- is there anyway you can check to see if there's a setting or something that disables this? That would be the deal-breaker for me since we need to use ProCoder to produce our MPEGs.

    Thanks!

    -CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  14. Member
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    Hi:

    could someone confirm an earlier post... does S8 improves on S7 rendering of mpeg?

    I'd produced some mpeg1(VCD)/mpeg2(SVCD) files out of digital photo stills... ie... photo album with titles/transitions/music(.wav)...

    The video aspect of the resultant VCDs/SVCDs (burned using Nero 5.5.9.0), were always fuzzy/soft focus.

    Had better results with Ulead PictureShow but Ulead does not have the added advantage of having more than one wave file and no transitions. Likewise, Roxio Videowave 5 also has limitations audio. Otherwise, both Ulead & Roxio have better video resolution when played back on TV.

    Thank you.
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  15. Sorry I took so long to get back to this. Major computer problems (unrelated to this thread).

    I don't see any settings to keep Studio 8 from reencoding. Go to their website and see if you can email them for a definitive answer.

    To really comment on the quality of the encoding I guess I should try to capture and burn from a pristine source and then judge the level of degradation. The things I have done from so so source material have come out ok but there is definitely a reduction in quality. I hope I can figure out how to improve this before I try to save cherished family video on CD. For the instructional videos I am transfering the quality is fine.
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  16. Member
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    This is the only info I can find on their site that hints of being able to bypass their encoding process:

    Question
    "How does Studio 8 MPEG compare to TMPGenc?"

    Answer
    "Based on user feedback, Studio 8 MPEG quality compares favorably with TMPGenc."

    "TMPGenc is a dedicated MPEG encoder and as such their developers can focus 100% on MPEG encoding. Studio 8 is a full featured video editing and disk authoring application that includes MPEG encoding. We have worked to improve our MPEG quality since Studio 1.x and will continue improve it where possible. Most likely TMPGenc will also most likely continue to improve on their encoding. Users always have the option to use the TMPGenc encoder with Studio 8."

    I got this from their FAQ page for Studio 8:

    http://pinnaclesys.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/pinnaclesys.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?&p_pro...&ProductID=454
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  17. Member
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    Presto said:
    "This program can capture, edit mpg1 and mpg2 add music transitions etc etc."
    Edit mpeg2???
    I don't have a bad attitude...
    Life has a bad attitude!
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  18. Here is more info from the FAQ:

    The main new features in Studio 8 are:

    Video Authoring
    - "Make Disc" tab for burning to disk
    - Presets for VCD, SVCD, DVD
    - Improved MPEG quality
    - Capture/Import
    - Import and edit MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files
    - Transcode from DV to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 at capture

    Video Editing
    - Edit MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files on the timeline
    - Background rendering for Hollywood FX
    - Improved user interface for TitleDeko
    - Ripple transitions (allows you to add a transition to multiple clips)


    DVD/VCD/SVCD Authoring*:
    - Seamless Editing and Authoring on the timeline
    - Automatically create menus and chapters and based on scenes
    - Motion menu buttons
    - Motion menu backgrounds
    - Background music on menus
    - Unlimited menus
    - Linked/nested menus
    - Return to menu links
    - Edit/create menus in TitleDeko

    Note:
    * Requires a CD or DVD burner
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  19. Based on user feedback, Studio 8 MPEG quality compares favorably with TMPGenc
    LOL....if you look at this answer and the following text they are basically saying its not as good. I found a site where the did a review of all encoders and TMPG beat ECC which is $1950.

    I don't see any settings to keep Studio 8 from reencoding.
    Are you sure as that is terrible. Everytime you rerender an mpeg you lose quality and this would also prevent you from making high quality Mpegs with TMPG and using them in the VCD.

    Is there any way to make the menu and export it out to another application?

    Re-encoding is a deal breaker for me as that automatically reduces every VCD's quality it makes.
    Not only am I perfect but I'm Canadian too!
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  20. Same here-- we need to use ProCoder and re-encoding in S8 just won't work for us. Here's what Pinnacle support wrote back to me:

    08/14/2002 12:42 PM
    Studio 8 will not be able to import uncompressed MPEG files, on release it will not be able to import MPEG files, however, there is a patch coming that will allow it to import MPEG 1 files.

    Sounds like a "no" for MPEG2/DVD, with MPEG1/VCD coming later. Not really good enough for me right now, so we'll probably look at something else.

    -CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  21. Member
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    "Studio 8 will not be able to import uncompressed MPEG files, on release it will not be able to import MPEG files"
    So hows it edit mpeg 2 then? And who ever heard of "uncompressed mpeg"???
    I don't have a bad attitude...
    Life has a bad attitude!
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  22. I didn't get that either-- sounds like a mixed response and I wonder just how accurate it is. But if it really is inaccurate, it makes me also wonder just how reliable Pinnacle's Tech Support would be if/when I actually purchased one of their products and had a problem.

    -CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  23. I really don't get that because It handles mpg1 and mpg2 just fine.
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  24. The ability to make custom motion menus may be what's worth the upgrade. You can always use any authoring program (VCDimager would be free) to make a disc with the Studio produced motion menus and content MPEGs encoded with your encoded of choice (like TMPGenc or Procoder or whatever).

    I just wish the 7 to 8 upgrade wasn't $60
    Panasonic DMR-ES45VS, keep those discs a burnin'
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  25. Member
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    "I just wish the 7 to 8 upgrade wasn't $60"
    Especially considering that I only paid $10 after rebate for 7.
    Oh well, guess I wait and find it on the Internet in a couple of months.
    I don't have a bad attitude...
    Life has a bad attitude!
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  26. Originally Posted by kitty
    The ability to make custom motion menus may be what's worth the upgrade. You can always use any authoring program (VCDimager would be free) to make a disc with the Studio produced motion menus and content MPEGs encoded with your encoded of choice (like TMPGenc or Procoder or whatever).
    That's a good point-- but right now S8 supposedly can't import MPEG1s (if I read Pinnacle's support correctly).

    -CV
    _______________________
    Chris Van Nest
    Host/Executive Producer
    Trekken, LLC
    http://www.trekken.tv/
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  27. Like many things it seems they have a kick ass feature in an otherwise shoddy product.
    Not only am I perfect but I'm Canadian too!
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  28. I just saw something interesting on the Pinacle Studio 8 discusion board:

    >S8 won't rerender MPEGs if ...

    1) The MPEG's are not edited
    2) The MPEG's are in the output format
    3) All menu's are before the MPEGs
    Signature: <

    That was posted, I believe, by one of the moderators. It will be good news if true. I can take mpgs of TV shows or movies captured with ATI Multimedia Center, Remove commercials with TMPGenc and then add menus and chapters with Pinacle Studio 8 without the loss of quality that comes with reencoding and mpg.
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  29. could you test this, since you have it, and let us know.
    Not only am I perfect but I'm Canadian too!
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  30. I recorded a TV show using ATI Multimedia Center on the Super VCD setting. I then imported it into S8, added a menu and a couple of chapter points but did no editing. I then told S8 to make a disk in SVCD format.

    Studio 8 rendered only the menu and then went straight to compile. So the post was correct about that.

    The problem is that the resulting CD did not work properly. Audio was off by a second or two. The menu itself looked lousy compared to other svcds I had burned with S8 (The text on the menu was sort of jumping a bit). And the video seemed to start very slowly and have no sound for a moment and then suddenly get normal.

    I'm going to post to the Studio 8 Discussion board about this and do a few more tests.
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