Using Pinnacle Studio 8

By Jason Meserve, NetworkWorld.com, 12/19/03

I just finished (at 4 this morning) my first major project using Pinnacle Systems Studio 8 editing tool and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. The occasion was our annual Network World Holiday Video where just about the entire staff wishes each other a "happy holidays" on camera. I ended up with 111 different scenes stitched together to create the nearly 11 minute video. The video was shot in and around the office the past few weeks using a Canon XL1 DV camera. Studio easily sucked in all the tape and used the time codes to dice it up into different scenes. I used the storyboard feature to get a rough layout of all the clips then went into timeline editing to cut things down to the right lengths and add transitions. Another nice features was the CD Audio tool that lets you pull in background music direct from a CD. The only real negative is there's only one video track, so adding B-roll over another clip while keeping the original audio is a pain at best. I heard there's a new version coming out early next year, so maybe they'll be an extra video track to make life easier. Overall though, Pinnacle Studio is an excellent editing tool and well worth the $99 (MSRP) price.

Bonus: Here's a clip from the video that I like to call "Luddite Santa". (Windows Media Player, 300k)

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Comments

I'm using Pinnacle for a few months now. I haven't encountered this yet and maybe the solution is a simple one. When editing scenes to drag and drop into the story board, there are only 14 slots. What if there are more than fourteen scenes, say 25 or 50. How do you add more slots into the story board?

Thanks.
Girish

My pinnacle,has really caused some problems with my drivers,"register errors"corrupt my cd and dvd drives constantly,any ideas??

I am bitterly disappointed in Pinnacle Studio 8. It has paralyzed me as a movie maker and I can no longer use it. It won't record sound, says its cancelled real time code. My system specs are way in excess of what it needs. Only 1 in 7 attempts at rendering succeeds and that for only about 11 minutes. I am afraid I have to turf it out the window. Where these positive raves about it come from is a mystery to me.

What's the best way to set up a cd format for recording my film when i burned my movie (film) on the cd burner it became mosaic and grainy. what is the best way for the best quality picture when copying 8mm film from my camera to my computer, and the best way to burn it on a video cd?
sinceraly,
Paul

I have just purchased Pinnacle studio 8 and for the life of me I cannot burn to disc. I have the latest PC with top grahpics and DVD burner, but no it won't have it!!!!

Does anyone have the same problem or am I doing anything wrong?

Pleased to hear you.

I recently purchased Pinnacle Studio 8 and I haven't had many problems with it up to now. But now for some reason on one of my first projects that I am going back too burn a few more copies to DVD. When it renders about a minute into the the burning process it skips almost all the way to the end of the project. I end up with a DVD where 80% is missing. What's up with this?? Any ideas anyone?

I recently acquired Studio 8, and rendered about two hundred of our wedding photos, along with our selected music tracks, a sound effects track and really professional looking transitions...
While I wasn't able to burn a vcd from studio, I happen to have Nero Express so it was easy to burn from there!!!

I too am having trouble burning to disk with Studio 8. The write process terminates after about 200MB and the disk is closed. The closed disk is not readable. The DVD that I am using is a ASUS DRW-0402P/D which makes DVD successfully from the "Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE" application that shipped with the DVD. Is there a driver upgrade of do I need to follow Jimbo's example & get Nero Express and burn from there?

I have a project that is quite large including mutiple menus. I have noticed that one of my transitions holds the rendering process indefintely. When i remove that transition it renders through the entire project...then...I have yet to be able to succesfuly burn a DVD from the rendered project. I have a quality Sony dvdrw +/- burner...using Sony dvd-r media. It goes through the write process but then when i go to play it, it won't...and it won't even open as a folder.

Hello guys, I was wonderin why I can not capture any video into my pinnacle...I have a firewire card installed to my motherboard so its not pci...but however when I connect the camcorder to the cpu, windows Xp recognizes it but when I get ready to capture it to pinnacle, pinnacle says "Cannot Initialize Capture from Capture source or something like that?@!#!$....."

Any Help Would Be Greatly Appreciated

I have captured 1hr and 20 minutes of analog using Studio 8. Every thing works fine until I try to render it will hangup on some scenes and give me this message video frame rate out of sequence.
Can anyone help.

Pinnacle 8 has got to be the worst program ever! Would not burn to disc, the audio tranfers just plain stink! What a waste of money The entire program is headed for the dumpster!

This program absolutely sucks. It is completely filled with bugs that will absolutely ruin your day. Sometimes I'll get lucky and get through a whole 3 minute project without something going awry. I have a Pentium 4 with a huge amount of RAM, so it's not my computer. This program is simply horrible. Only 1 video track. No effects to add on top of video, only transitions. The transitions are fairly good and I like how it burns and exports. But those are the only two things that impress me. Windows MovieMaker at least has effects that you can apply and their transitions are just as good. Save your hundred bucks and download MovieMaker for free. You'll be happy you did. Or better yet, save a couple hundred more and get Premiere Pro. Studio 8 is a program for cheap looking video. If you really enjoy that cheap crappy video look, then get this program and waste a hundred bucks. If you want something that looks nice, go Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.

i havent been able to get as far with pinnacle 8 as the other guys who are struggling- i seem to have problems with the footage jumping when changing from a 'still' back to 'rolling footage' even with the use of transitions. im using pentium4 & have plenty of disk space- any help or ideas would be appreciated

I have been working with Studio 8 since October 2003 and other one short test DVD have not successfully been able to create a DVD movie despite countless hours. My system far exceeds the requisite minimums stated by Pinnacle.

I am ready to throw in the towel. It seems Pinnacle 9 is getting similar reviews.

I have been working with Studio 8 since October 2003 and other one short test DVD have not successfully been able to create a DVD movie despite countless hours. My system far exceeds the requisite minimums stated by Pinnacle.

I am ready to throw in the towel. It seems Pinnacle 9 is getting similar reviews.

I have been working with Studio 8 since October 2003 and other one short test DVD have not successfully been able to create a DVD movie despite countless hours. My system far exceeds the requisite minimums stated by Pinnacle.

I am ready to throw in the towel. It seems Pinnacle 9 is getting similar reviews.

Pinnacle Studio 8.0 is really horrible. I use P4 computer (2.6G CPU ,80G HDD, 512M memory, 3D AGP), too far beyond what Studio needs. I edit only 5 min video, with 4 or 5 transitions and background music. but it stops from rendering several times. I'm afraid of throwing my computer through the window.

I have just bought a dvd burner with studio 8 as the included software, and was looking forward to preserving hours of precious home video on dvd. 3 wasted discs later, and having the read the numerous reviews of disgruntled customers, I am not sure whether to persevere or buy something else. Can anyone reccommend something that actually does what it claims to do please?

Crap springs to mind.
For the life of me i cannot get any original sound. It will not have it what ever i try.Please help me or advise of a better software i could use

I guessI shouldn't have listened to clerks and friends about Studio 8 and Pinnacle products in general.

Have you tried to get tech support or email answers? Almost impossible; because their products SUCK. PERIOD.

I amusing version 7 SE and the problem I used to have was playing a movie back onto digital tape for storage after creating it. From some of the comments on this site the solution to my problem may be of use to them.I removed the studio program off the drive that had the operating system on it and eureaka no more problem. Windows was making calls to the drive to do its housekeeping and the data rate was dropping at the same time for the same period as the call lasted? I think

Sounds like a class action law suite against Pinnacle would be appropriate for this non- performing time waster.

I have had success with digital video to VCD using Studio 8. Now have DVD burner and rendering movies for burning takes all day and more. Is it just the additional quality needed for DVD? Anyone else having the same?

I must be very blessed with my Studio 8. I have been using it since the beginning of this year, and to date I have captured from VHS, DVD, and DV camera, thru RCA and thru USB2, and Firewire. I have been able to render a sport highlight tape that was a little over an hour, and burn it as a DVD, in addition I printed it out as a SVHS. It took less than an hour to render the entire project, with audio, titles, transitions, etc. And it took 18 minutes to burn each DVD. I have been very satisfied with this product. Inputing audio from a burned CD was a little difficult at first, but was able to figure that out. Am now using this Studio 8 in my home business, and very satisfied.

im using a pinnacle 8............i uninstalled it and then when i install it again it has a problem in lisence registration i reinstall again and again and again but still not working

can somebody help me with it???

I had the same problem with pinnacle 8 uninstallation. You need to get Studio8LicenseFix, and if that doesn't work you should try the 'CleanStudioLicense' from Pinnacle support web site.

Studio 8 and upgrades to Studio 8 Ver 12 has been the most frusting program I have ever used. Its editing features are excellent - I believe the "advertised" capability if it worked would do everything I need to do - so easy to learn and understand. The problem - Studio has a mind of its own. Sometimes it won't open. It hangs up repeatedly, goes through a 2 hour rendering/compling sequesce then tells me something is bad. Right now I looked back at a very simple 5 minute DVD program, one jump, the page as all white and I will have to start over. I have reloaded the program an estimated 15 times over the last four months. Nothing works consistently. By dogged determination I have gotten a few projects finished - I have waisted untold hours - good thing I am retired. When I do MPEG or AVI disks they will not work on anything -Windows media player, Real Player, My DVD/CD players - can anyone help?
I would love to bury it with Studio 9, however, the above comments say that is a disaster.
My video computer (1 Gig Ram-Dual 200Gig HDs, 3.05 Gig processor) certainly should not be a problem.

Studio 8 and upgrades to Studio 8 Ver 12 has been the most frusting program I have ever used. Its editing features are excellent - I believe the "advertised" capability if it worked would do everything I need to do - so easy to learn and understand. The problem - Studio has a mind of its own. Sometimes it won't open. It hangs up repeatedly, goes through a 2 hour rendering/compling sequesce then tells me something is bad. Right now I looked back at a very simple 5 minute DVD program, one jump, the page as all white and I will have to start over. I have reloaded the program an estimated 15 times over the last four months. Nothing works consistently. By dogged determination I have gotten a few projects finished - I have waisted untold hours - good thing I am retired. When I do MPEG or AVI disks they will not work on anything -Windows media player, Real Player, My DVD/CD players - can anyone help?
I would love to bury it with Studio 9, however, the above comments say that is a disaster.
My video computer (1 Gig Ram-Dual 200Gig HDs, 3.05 Gig processor) certainly should not be a problem.

I too am having BIg time problems with Studio 8. I can burn it on a cd but it won't play in my dvd.
I know my dvd is compatible because I have another program that works but I liked the transitions on Studio 8 plus the voice recorder. I guess I'm gonna have to go back to my original program. Thanks for all the advice.It's called Jasc Photo Editing

I am using Pinnacle 8 , can anybody tell me what dropped frames mean? The programme is always going wrong can it be my computer that's not fast enough.
Can anybody Help Please!!!

My pinnacle studio 8 ***WILL NOT CAPTURE*** and i have the correct fire wire and everything and when i click capture on the program a message comes up and says "Pinnacle studio cannot initialize the DV cature device blah blah blah and have ask best buy and circut city but they couldnt help me. please tell me whats the matter with it or what you know what to do to fix it!!!

I created an MPEG of the video. First off it did not complete. I mean I created an MPEG file. The creation process just froze. I pressed cancel, and the MPEG was created. I did not see a button to create disc. I had to cancel the process when I saw that the two gray bars were at the fullest. I tried to click disk then click DVD compatible but that just stops rendering. I never get error, but the process just freezes. Before I get ready to burn to a DVD then I think I should figure why if I created an MPEG or DISC mode that the process freezes. It does not freeze the application. I able to cancel and see the MPEG, but the disc process does nothing. It just stays on rendering. I have left my PC on for 24 hrs in this process and nothing was produced. I did click Don’t burn to CD.
Is there any patches I need to for this process. I mean I capture the video, Edited it, and I cannot produce a DVD. I do not know!

Any ideas or should explain further? On the bright side I have only wasted one DVD!

Thanks

O

I have been using studio 8 for 18 months and must agree with most negative comments. Have burned 3 vcd's and 3 dvd's not bad for 18 mths work.worst program that I have come across.Wont render most of the time just shuts the pc down or freezes ,try getting back up service ha ha.quick to grab your money and praise the product but thats about all.will be trying another product thanks for nothing pinnacle

Pinnacle Studio 8 just does not work. Well only when it wants to. It continues to lock up on me and I've yet to figure out why. I cannot capture from an RCA cable and If I go around and try with the firewire it freezes up my computer. Oh I can't forget the burning of CD's or DVDs or lack of burning.This is the worst editing system we have had. And to think that the Commodor Toaster System is better.

I sympathise with comments above. I have suffered long with Pinnacle - DV+ and Studio8.8. But I have overcome most of the problems. See if my history helps.

I used DV+ successfully on Win 98SE. Then upgraded to Win XP Home & everything went wrong. I didn't have a DVD burner on that system, nor dis DV+ suppot this. I tried to sort out graphics/sound cards & other incompatibles, but eventually gave up, upgraded to Studio8.8 and bought the latest computer with fast processor, hard disc, fire wire, graphics & sound card. This is now my dedicated editor, which I use only for video and music; leaving the 'old' system for everyday processing, publishing, exel etc. I added a fast, large 120GB slave disc for video capturing only.

With the new system I have used Studio 8.8 to produce some excellent, complicated edits, with mixed audio tracks, added music, titling, transitions, titling, stills - the largest at 1hr 5 mins which had a lot of short clips in the edit. No problem exporting this as a DV tape straight back to camera/recorder. These master DV tapes can then be copied on VHS analogue by recording directly into video recorder. So far, so good.

However, I have been unable to burn the completed movies to DVD, like many other people - see the internet via Google to read all problems & suggested tips. There I learn that the download 8.12.7 fro Pinnacle (again via Google search) should right that problem, so, having downloaded that I am waiting to see if the rendering that is now going onwill result in a successful DVD. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I think I can give you guys some help in getting to grips with Studio - which is a fantastic & user friendly editing system when its going well - & apart from the no-burn - it does produce some excellent results.

1. make sure you download all the latest drivers/patches for your OS, Studio programme and hardware - especially graphics & sound cards; and follow the Pinnacle instructions about how these relate to each other in systems set-up.

2. Have two large capacity, fast rev. hard discs - 72000 minimum. They should both be formatted to the same system. Use FAT only if that's the only one on offer with your OS. Win 2000 & later will let you use NTFS. It is quicker.

3. On one hard disc have the OS, Studio programme & and all your other stuff. Keep the other disc only for capturing video and storing edited footage. In the Studio Capturing mode, set the capture disc to this dedicated slave disc - I call mine Edit Disc D.

4. Before you open Studio - every time - close down all other programmes & those running in the background: task scheduler; antivirus etc. - you can get a download (via Googele search to do this for you, if you don't know how. Disable LAN & internet connection if you're on broadband. Run defrag. & scan disc on both discs. If you can avoid switching off the computer between sessions on the Studio editing, that will cut down the number of times you have to do this preparation. But you can't omit it or you will have hanging/freezing/slow working problems.

5. If your etit has a lot of elements to it, you might find the programme slowing down in the middle of the edit, in which case save, close down & run scan disc & defrag. again.

Good luck! Remember that rendering is a slow process - particularly for Mpeg & DVD, so go and find something else to do. It's a pain to sit & watch it & life's too short.

Hope there are things here that help. I really think the end product is worth all the hassle of preparing. Once you've got the system working, it's easy & produces exellent results.

Margaret

Hey, Margaret, I did everythng u did six months ago back when i was foolish enough to think i could get Studio 8 to work correctly: the fast HDs (one master for systems and app, one slave for capturing), close everything when preparing to capture, defrag before capture, yada...Guess what? COMPLETE FAILURE. Well, not complete -- sometimes the thing would actually work. But 10% of the time ain't for squat.

Gimme a product that works, Pinnacle, and how dare you insult us with this cheap, junk of a program. This is fraud, and i second there should be a class action suit against these jerks. Are we gonna stand for this? I'll never get my money back, i know, but i'd love to see them go down...thieves...Tell the world...

I am trying to create a movie with Studio 8. It is a 20 min movie with about 42 scenes. There are transitions between scenes. Now I am trying to add titles. I have painfully created 8 titles. When I try to add a new title, an existing title replaces the new title before I have finished creating it. Sometimes the PC crashes after that happens. I have a 2.8 GHz P4 with 1 GB RAM and 160 GB hard drive. I have downloaded the latest Studio 8 update. I would like to upgrade to Studio9, but I live in Peru, and, amazingly, Pinnacle does not offer an option to buy a downloadable upgrade.

This movie is really important. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your help.

Marcial

Studio 8 is pure crap.
For Mothers Day, my wife and I were going to give our Mothers a copy of of our wedding on DVD.
So I've spent the last 3 weeks editing, tweaking, cropping - you name it! I even redid our 'first dance' so the original CD music rose up and the original audio faded out.
I STARTED attempting to burn to DVD on Friday...... it's now Sunday..... and I got up at 7am on SATURDAY to work on it...... I haven't slept in over 24 hours trying to get this damn thing done.

DVD authoring and making home movies should be fun - not a headache like this pathetic program is.

You're all right - tech sucks - it MUST be my new CPU which I bought 4 weeks ago... yeah right.
I even called the CPU store that i bought it from - the reply I got was 'Just download the updates'..... DID THAT...... still sucks.

The funny thing is, I actually burned one off the DAY I got this CPU.... it wasn't as advanced as this one, but it worked..... now nothing will.
Stupid Pinnacle. I want my wasted days back.

I've just finished editing my first project. It took me 1 hour to render about 45 scenes, but after that was done, Pinnacle Studio 8 started rendering from the begining again. I didn't know what to do, so I canceled rendering, than repeat all steps, and again after rendering been completed, it started again from the first scene without propting me with any messages indicating that rendering is done or smth. I have know idea, what can I do? If anybody knows, please, help.

This I agree is the worst piece of software to ever infect my computer. Unlike all of you it not only crashed on the system it crashed my pc. While rendering it locked up with only a hard reset as an option I hit the button and poof now my system won't startup past the win2k screen Thank you pinnacle for trashing my time and my system.

Well, I purchased Studio 8 and installed the product. The software is outstanding from a visual standpoint. Geez, I thought I had a jewel that would take me to new heights as a video DVD/CD director and producer. Wrong. I was soon in the pits of despair with most of the others posting here. The platform is extremely unstable, to say the least. When I thought I had the program under control it seemed to develop a mind of its own. No new variables were introduced by me. So, I decided to put it aside for awhile and rest. Perhaps I was the root cause of the problems I encountered. I read all the manuals and Help files and went through the mental gymnastics I thought would help me conquer this sucker. Two months later I began afresh. Thee weeks later I uninstalled the program in pure unadulterated frustration. Pinnacle is nothing less than garbage. I would ask for help, but this isn’t a user issue...this is a product credibility problem, period. Well, I now feel better having vented my anger and also knowing that others have shared my experience. BTW, my puter system is high-end Dell with all the bells and whistles. I have found no software and/or hardware that couldn’t be installed and run successfully and with very little effort, albeit sometimes a bit of tweaking was necessary. Anyone have an enemy who might enjoy a present from me….Studio 8 delivered free, no strings attached (yeah, sure)…LOL. Thanks to all of you for the candid input.

Pinnacle 8 is a waste of time. I have got a new computer, yes with ALL the bells and whistles, still not much consistency with Pinnacle 8 ATI.
CRAP CRAP CRAP

I've been using Pinnacle's software since it was called Studio DV. No problems at all. I created a 2 hr video from 10 Digital8 tapes. This was 4 years ago too.

I know it seems dumb, but I just bought Pinnacle Studio 8 SE and cannnot find the product number. I entered the serial number and it would not work. I do not know where to look for the product number. Can someone help me, please? I would really appreciate it!

I totally agree about Studio 8 being the biggest pile of crap evryone has ever come across. It looks great but I cannot get it to stay open for more than 1 - 2 mins when editing a video. Only saving grace is that I live in Bangkok and it cost me $2!. As does Premiere Pro and everything else so I'll be ditching it soon.

Hello, just been reading everyones comments about studio 8. I bought it as well thinking great go home and burn off my dv camera to cdvd to watch on my dvd player.......
Shit i can't get it to render at all, the pc is sitting idle for half an hour and still nothing.
The manual is shit, doesn't tell you diddlee squat.
Anyone now how to set it up to get it working

I have a Gateway with plenty of power to handle my Studio 8 program but I do not have a DVD burner. I have a nice 13 minute slideshow with music and need to convert it to DVD.
Does anyone have any idea which DVD burner will work with this system. And...what is the best method of saving the slideshow to a DVD?
Absolutely no help from the online help and the tutorial doesn't work when I run it.

I am glad there are so many of you having the same problems I have had. You can successfully burn a video after capturing and editing with Studio 8 but only if it is 10 minutes long.

I am thru wasting time with it. Too bad they don't have a money back if not satisfied program.
I may try the Premier Pro next. More money but I want to transfer all my 8mm movies to DVD after editing them.

grrr.... i try to add an mp3 to it, and when i try to play the video it tells me the mp3 failed to load... what the hell!

This is the first time I try to do a serious job with S8 (more than minute project). Same as you all, I'm trying to set my 2004 June vacation photos & video clips to edit (with transitions, music mix, ect.) and everytime I try to keep adding stuff to my project, the systems hangs and sometimes restart the PC. This never happened before. I did all the stuff to keep my PC running fine, but still not working. Mine (S8) came as a bundle with the DVD burner so was not that expensive. But this long hours without a happy ending really sucks!!! My PC is not a state of the art machine, but apparently that is not the problem or updates to install. It's S8 it self!!!
Any new really working editing program to choose??? How about a class action suit? Let me know!!!
Rafi

I've used Pinnacle for years starting off with Studio DC10. That was a dream compared to this nightmare called Studio 8.

Studio 8 has to be the slowest rendering software in existence. Let me spell it out...

...I finished editing a project yesterday (about 1pm) it's now 1pm (24 hours later) and the damn thing is still rendering...

My project is approx' 30mins in length but do I have to wait 30days to complete rendering.

I need to use another program can anyone recommend something exceptional, exciting, great transitions, great effects but above all GIVE TO BLOODY RENDER

Cheers Moryano

Studio 8 is great.. never had a problem once put a patch in I found somewhere on the net.

Jerod

when i first got pinnicle, i completed work, but i don' know how i did. i did not freeze and i made 2 dvds.. then i got xp and i made two video cds that only my dvd player can play and i made one dvd with so much trouble..with freezing and shut down.. also....now the voice is off and i tried to solve my problem.
i got another hard drive to store and make movies and i shut everything down and i either crash or i freeze when rendering .

i like the movie box capture tool, but what is a easy program to edit old cam corder movies. i want to get rid of some clips and rearrange other clips and i do not understand most computer lingo.

i got pinnicle, for the drag and drop... now i would love to drop it ...can anyone tell me what i should use that can let me edit scenes in and out.. also include me in on the action law suit.

swittich...

I've just started using S8 and I am trying to convert my 8mm home movies to DVD. I had no problem so far Dragging and Dropping clips, adding transitions or titles. I am ready to attempt burning a DVD but I have a problem with the size. It shows that the video is approx. 29 minutes long and over 6640MB. I know a typical DVD holds 4.7 GB and over 2 hours of video. Can anyone tell me why my ratio of minutes to MB are so drastic? Is there some sort of compression I have to do before I burn the DVD? Thanks in advance.

Pinnacle products are CRAP, CRAP, CRAP. Get it? RUBBISH!..don't waste you money on them. They are ripoff merchants who don't care about the consumer, especially the semi-pro and home user. Go and buy a CANOPUS product instead.

pinnacle studio 8 has been good at making very brief streaming video files for my web page...but when it comes to burning a DVD or VCD...no way! after capturing a 1-hour or less video...it freezes somewhere between 5-10 minutes of rendering...my only choice is to turn the computer off then back on..and sometimes i have really bad luck and it freezes on "detecting scenes from video file". my computer has a 1.67 GHZ processor (AMD) and has 512 MB of RAM. i know i have an old machine but according to the package's system requirements...my machine should be able to handle it.

Pinnacle Studio8 has been a disaster for me. I installed the software on my Pentium 500. Install goes very slow... It installs too many things.. too many tools... Then finally I connected Viedo. It captured something ok. Created a *.wav file. When I tried to go to the tools config format option... the PC hanged every time. Anything on the configuration it hanged.

Compared to this I recall installing Hauppague WINTV about 10 years ago. A simple one diskette install. And everything worked rigtaway!

What a difference now. Dump all the rubbish from a CD and fill up the pc and then nothing works.

I have Studio 8 and I have never been able to get it to produce a DVD and yes the rendering times are atrocious this one is for the bin full stop!

Hi folks!
I got a little chuckle out of reading the comments and problems you all ran into because I too was pulling my hair out for a while with Pinnacle studio 8. However since I always figure the answer is usually just beyond my level of expertise (or my level of patience) I try to walk away and come back to it and use mostly "technical common sense" to solve all my Studio 8 problems. To date there is none I have not solved and there have been some doozies (lasting a couple of weeks sometimes) since I complicate things by using an external hardrive to store my wedding videos. I also move files from folder to folder sometimes or least I used to. What a nightmare! (yes I'm a videographer)
The video is captured from about 3-4 hours of VHS tape to the program and stored in the xtrnal HD (F:/ drive, previously C:/) and I edit it in the timeline adding titles and CD tracks.
It was hell for a while since I would edit about a 30-45 minutes with a lot of L & J cuts and VOs (its gotta look pro). All would be fine until it was rendered then there would be missing audio in parts or no audio depending on where the edit problems were. It usually consisted of things like bad time code edit points and other things that required really close attention to detail.
Sometimes if it was a software problem re-installing the program would help but lots of times I would have to get comfortable with going into the editlist and checking for video that was maybe edited down to 1 frame or less and was causing problems. (A real pain in the ass let me tell you!) But best solution would start with working from the point where the problem began.
The equipment can't be smarter than the user can it?...Of course not so sit your ass down and figure it out unless you have money to go out and buy a $600 Adobe or even better Pinnacle Liquid Edition... hey why not learn about your PC system while you're at it...it does help when you need to troubleshoot any software!
For under $300 (or whatever you got off with paying) take the time to learn about troubleshooting your pC system. My PC is a 1.5GHz AMD Athlon so speed obviously was not the culprit.
Thanks for reading this and I hope I did not offend your sensitivities. My Studio 8 came with Hollywood FX plus and although I havent needed to overdo my videos with fancy wipes (per Videomaker magazine "Don't overdo it") its nice to have the extra stuff just in case.Wait till I get time to edit wipes and effects!
Have fun and get technically sharp ...it will be piece of cake after that!
PS.
I output my rendered video to tape/standalone DVD burner (Panasonic) and the end result using this system is an immaculate video especially considering I used a 455 VHS camcorder to record with. HA! Only a pro can tell the difference. Its great!
Nice work if you can get it!
Alex

I can only capture about 14 minutes of dv film and then it stops capturing and everything freezes so I don't know what to do with the blasted thing

I have this problem with Pinnacle Studio 8. It keeps giving me error whenever I click on the tab "1 Capture".

Program Error
"studio.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program.
An error log is being created."

If the render hangs after some minutes, make sure your file system supports files bigger than 2GB. I switched to NTFS format for all my drives to avoid forgetting about this landmine.

Try the Support Knowledge Base on the Pinnacle website if you get stuck on a problem.

Also, watch out for those defective Pirated copies, they're not released software.

I have Pinnacle version 9.1.2 (latest) and while it brought the video in from the SVHS machine and I was able to do all the editing OK. I like the editing portion of it, but when I went to create the final mpeg file for a DVD, it did about 49 minutes of a 51 minute mpeg original, and then stopped and told me about not having enough memory. It did this twice. I increased my virtual memory to 4094 meg. (Maximum allowed with windows XP) I have a 2.66 gig processor and 1 gig of ram, and other people are having problems with a similar set up. Will try to make the video again in the morning and see if it will work. I would not recommend Pinnacle 9 to anyone, since even though it seems to turn out a pretty good product, it is a pain in the *ss to use. I have finally gotten pretty good with the editing, so hope that they have some new fixes to solve some of the problems. It really isn't very stable!!!!!!

i bought pinnacle dc10 with studio 8 software and tried to capture my old video from vhs tape to vcd but i noticed that make movie rendering it take 24hrs to finish and the results was not good (blured and stopping when playing)my pc spec is more than to the pinncle required. is there any tips or solution to solve this problem?

nani

i bought pinnacle dc10 with studio 8 software and tried to capture my old video from vhs tape to vcd but i noticed that make movie rendering it take 24hrs to finish and the results was not good (blured and stopping when playing)my pc spec is more than to the pinncle required. is there any tips or solution to solve this problem?

posted by nani oct 21,2004

Pinnacle Studio 8 is the biggest tease I've ever come across in computer software. I have version 8.12.7 that came with my ATI AIW 9600XT. I bought the card for a brand new HP system with 200GB HD and DVD burner.
I've used different versions of Studio including SE versions (don't even think of buying anything labeled "SE" - just because it costs $10 at a place like Best Buy because it's stripped down and buggy). The capture and editing is simple to understand. But their products are BUGGY. Over time you actually start to learn what things will cause errors and crashes and you subconsciously avoid them. But now with Studio 8...
I let my 2 hr project render overnight. I chose to save it to my hard drive thinking that the extra step will reduce the chance of creating a coaster. I was somewhat discouraged by the fact that my DVD was going to be reduced to 41% quality in order to make it fit but I just wanted to see a "draft" of my project. If it worked then I would split it into 2 DVDs to improve the quality. I burned the DVD and viewed it on my TV with my DVD player and it worked! Kind of. The project was separated into 5 chapters and only one of them and the DVD menu had audio. All of the audio is included in the folder Pinnacle created but the DVD is missing most of it. I tried burning another copy and it was missing the same audio parts.
I am about to tryout Magix Movie Edit Pro 2004 because I've used Magix's Audio Cleaning Lab for years and love it. I'm also giving Canopus Let's Edit a try.
One of the weirdest things PS8 does is mentioned in another post. When I try to edit a title, it replaces my work with a previous title I've done. So every time I make a change I "Save As" then when it slaps an old title on my screen, I reopen the title I was working on and proceed. The need for this one "workaround" serves as an example that it is not your configuration that is the problem - THIS IS POORLY CODED SOFTWARE! PS8 has a pretty face (GUI) and her bosom (features) is ample, with her promises (supposed benefits) she entices you to pay the price for dinner but when you get to the bedroom you realize that it's all makeup, padding and lies. When you see her coming RUN the opposite direction.

I am using Pinnacle studio 9 (latest version) on a computer with very good specs. I did my first project which is about 1 Hr 40 mins of video. I cut of the orginal sound tract and added background music in some parts of my project. After completeing the project and when preview on the computer the background music is playing. But after creating the DVD the back ground music is not there. Can some one please help me or give any sugestions. Thank you.

i have been doing an amateur movie project with some friends and these 2 weeks been busy to edit the movie.what came lately was that i am equally dissapointed with some people who posted comments before me. all of a sudden, after i thought that i was finished editing the clips, and all of the shots are completely put on the story board,the movie couldnot be played.eventually,it damaged my window installer and it kept hanging there without any clear explanation.it says 'not responding.' quite annoying since i was actually about to put some background music. i am dissapointed with this product.i think i would have to uninstall it tonight.replace it with a new movie editing program.

Three questions:
1. After rendering and compiling for DVD burning, Studio 8 will not "burn".
2. Any way to change the AVI drive location in "create movie"?
3. Can I burn a DVD (using Nero, eg) using the compiled files stored on my hard drive?

I love PS8 for editing. I create the MPEG (after loading movies & stills, transitions, audio track, etc.) but than I just Roxio DVD builder to create the menu and drop in each MPEG as one movie.

I wish PS8 would burn DVDs in half the time and 90% more reliable! Does ANYONE suggest that PS9 upgrade will correct the write to disk???

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