Disaster burning to DVD using Pinnacle Studio

dstoverden

I have been using Pinnacle Studio 9.0.0 and have had disastrous results. I am not alone as Pinnacle's own message board is full of a variety of issues.

I do not purport to be an expert. More like a struggling newbie. But I have about 150 hours trying to learn the software. Does anyone on this message board have any experience with that software?

The major issue is that the latest version 9.4.3 when rendering hangs up.
The second issue is that if a DVD is actually burned, it will not play on my three year old player. DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW are probably my problem. I understand the RWs are not widely accepted, where -R and+R are. Any comments? Confused

Rob · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:58 pm Post subject:

Hi

I have had similar problems with Studio 7 & 8. After several different PC's and versions of Pinnacle I gave up and bought a MAC. Its great, no crashing it just works.

If you have a friend with a MAC get them to show you iMovie which comes with OSx. Is does not have some more advanced features of Pinnacle, but it works. I bought a copy of Final Cut Express which has all the features and more of Pinnacle.

I know this is not a cheap option Sad

, (£300 second hand G3). But it was the conclusion I eventually came to, sorry I can't be of any more help.

Rob

Dean Spiegel · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:41 pm Post subject: Crash!, BoOM!, bANg!

Pinncale Movie Box USB Version 9 user here....I have been using this Hard/Software for a couple of years now and have to admit that I to experience the CrasHIng! I have a Sony Vaio Media Center multi billion GiGaWaTt system. And the Pinnacle software still crashes....With the desktop I also received Adobe Premier Video Software...I have yet to use it, but have been told that it is the most reliable program to use....So I will give it a try....Studio is very user friendly and I like that , but it's time for a change. I will keep you'all updated...

dstoverden · Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:44 pm Post subject: Finally burning DVDs

Finally I am able to burn DVDs.What has been so confusing about Pinnacle Studio 9 is 1.) the difficulty in understanding the screen menu selections. In several instances there are five areas where one can click on what appears to be the correct route to burning a DVD. 2. The inability to determine what file format should be selected and why. The format changes from AVI to MPEG. 3. The confusion over burning to files first rather than burning directly to DVD. and finally the limits of each individual computer and external hard drive (suggested by most). Windows XP SP2, 40 gbyts hd, 2.25 mhz, 256 meg ddr ram, firewire connections from camera to computer, USB 2.0 to hard drive with 80 gbyt memory. Another difficulty is how much of each video to render compile and burn to disc. and to what disc format. I have reverted to DVD+R. The +RWs or -RWs do not work on my home DVD player.

Pinnacle is not straight forward.

Dean Spiegel

...any thoughts on what software offers the most, yet is easy to use? I use Pinnacle studio...it is user friendly, yet has many issues....

ffchaser · Junior Editor Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 8

I like Ulead Mediastudio Pro 7, file format selection is relatively straightforward. Although you do not get direct DVD authoring ability, but that is better left to a third party program.

Brit-Mark · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:06 pm Post subject:

I use studio 8-9,I was having problems with my studio 9.
So i unistalled service pack 2 and it worked fine.
Just wondered if anyone else as had the same problem.

Dean Spiegel

What does the Pinnacle Studio software have in common with an empty milk carton?

They are both slowely rotting in my local land fill! Confused

I have switched to Sony Vegas 6.0 and what a difference...a whole lot more to offer and knock on wood....I haven't had a single crash ....yet! But so far so good. It is alittle more complex than studio 9, but is easy to figure out....400 pages in the manual.....and you will need it!

ffchaser · Junior Editor Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 8

I'm using Final Cut Pro 4.5 now, the interface is relatively cleaner than I expected. And its quite a faster monster at exporting to DV, which is a good thing. Feature-wise, its quite a full featured editor. The chroma-key function has pretty good tolerance for gradients.

But there are lots of quirks about it. Especially the ripple editing which I'm trying to disable as its screwing up my timeline sequences whenever I press Del. And its not as stable as I thought originally. Crashes about 1 in 15 times when I export stuff.

Overall, its much better than the likes of Ulead or Pinnacle. No wonder almost half of Hollywood is using it in pre and even post-production.

Dean Spiegel · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:41 pm Post subject: I have gone to Vegas!

...well I just got back from my first trip to VEGAS It was a nice trip I didn't have a crash once... no lock ups.....a nice smooth flight. So my 1st project went really well, up to the rendering portion of the trip.

onetruemedia · Junior Editor Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

Shameless plug, but I really think it will help! Try www.OneTrueMedia.com. No frustrating software downloads. You can easily edit your video and share it. We can also convert your videos (no matter what format) to DVD. Check it out!

LokiZ · Junior Editor Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 4

I run a Dell dimension 8400, 2 gig of ram, 250 gig sata drive (enough for about 16 hours of video unless I encode it to Mepeg on the fly which is then about 80 hours of video) The hardware is for Studio AV DV (on the back not in the fron t like movie box) And the soft is pinnacle studio 9.4.3. plus.

With my system I don’t see pinnacle studio crashes. My system runs xp professional service pack 2.

I use it for both video and slide shows due to its versitality and ease of use. I started out with Studio version 1, so if you want to whine about nine….oh my.

As far as 31 hour render times sounds like a system issue to me. Also you can work to reduce your final render times by breaking up the project into smaller parts. Just render your different parts to dvd quality mpegs and then once done tack them all together. Less chance of wasting your precious time with a 90% complete project that you have to start over if you have a crash.

As far as burnning problems Have not seen them on this system. When I used 9.0.0 to record back to tape in win 98 SE I saw problems but I don't blame pinnacle for my using an outdated OS.

Graeme · Junior Editor Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 2

After three years of trying to come to terms with Pinnacle -Version 7 through to 10 - I have to say that it is unmitigated rubbish. Their so called support team is crap. I suggest you switch to uLead or - even better- Premiere Elements 2. The latter has not yet crashed on me - which is a darn sight more than anyone can say about Pinnacle.