Pinnacle Studio vs ULead VideoStudio

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

There seems to be a lot of discussion about these two products. Experience
has taught me to listen to users' reports on line: Pinnacle Studio 8 is so
bug-ridden that it's unusable.

It came bundled with my Canon DV camera, bought late last year. It seemed
fine for capturing MPEG video, which I could then copy to writable CDs.

There were no printed instructions and I could have done with a bit more
guidance on data rates and maintaining quality. In my initial project, the
quality was rubbish, because the software didn't automatically maintain the
same bit rate after editing. The first bug...?

I dutifully installed the update to Studio 8 before trying a slightly more
complex (but still simple) project. I had some footage from a weekend away.
All I wanted to do was to split it into four sections, add some titles and
some music. No scene editing was involved. I merrily created the project and
spent an hour or two on the titles and fading out the last scene.

When I tried to add music from CD, I could preview the first track from CD.
It then appeared in the timeline but wouldn't play back in preview. All I
got was the original soundtrack. I tried to add another audio track at a
different point. This time I got the message "Capturing..." on screen and
there was a pause. I realised this should have also happened with the first
track, before it appeared in the timeline. However, when I clicked on
Preview, the software crashed: "Studio has caused an error and will be
closed..."

I tried to run the program again. Pinnacle automatically reloaded my last
project and immediately crashed again. I restarted the computer and tried
again. The same thing happened. Clearly my work had gone. So why did
Pinnacle keep trying to reload an obviously corrupted project?

On line support was basically useless, giving the elegant suggestions that I
should restart the PC, then reinstall Studio, then reinstall Windows!
Looking for advice from users, I discovered a review site where 80% of users
had thumbed down the later Studio Version 9, saying that it was riddled with
bugs.

I needed an alternative, so I binned Pinnacle Studio and bought ULead
VideoStudio 8. I had read a few good reviews and, so far, so good. I've
tried most of the things I wanted to do with the Pinnacle software and Ulead
hasn't yet crashed on me.

I'm astonished that Pinnacle seems to get away with selling a product that
is so obviously unsatisfactory. Has anyone reading this actually found the
Pinnacle product usable for more complex projects?

--
John H, Gateshead (UK)
john@saltwell.demon.co.uk

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Sat, 31 Jul 2004 08:30:44 +0100, "John Hudson"
<john@saltwell.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>There seems to be a lot of discussion about these two products. Experience
>has taught me to listen to users' reports on line: Pinnacle Studio 8 is so
>bug-ridden that it's unusable.
>
>It came bundled with my Canon DV camera, bought late last year. It seemed
>fine for capturing MPEG video, which I could then copy to writable CDs.
>
>There were no printed instructions and I could have done with a bit more
>guidance on data rates and maintaining quality. In my initial project, the
>quality was rubbish, because the software didn't automatically maintain the
>same bit rate after editing. The first bug...?
>
>I dutifully installed the update to Studio 8 before trying a slightly more
>complex (but still simple) project. I had some footage from a weekend away.
>All I wanted to do was to split it into four sections, add some titles and
>some music. No scene editing was involved. I merrily created the project and
>spent an hour or two on the titles and fading out the last scene.
>
>When I tried to add music from CD, I could preview the first track from CD.
>It then appeared in the timeline but wouldn't play back in preview. All I
>got was the original soundtrack. I tried to add another audio track at a
>different point. This time I got the message "Capturing..." on screen and
>there was a pause. I realised this should have also happened with the first
>track, before it appeared in the timeline. However, when I clicked on
>Preview, the software crashed: "Studio has caused an error and will be
>closed..."

First thing -- it is a bug of course -- don't try to add music from
CD directly. Rip it to audio first. Sure, Studio should do that, but
as you noticed, it doesn't always work.

Studio 9 is supposedly much better, especially for mpeg/mpeg2
rendering.

>I tried to run the program again. Pinnacle automatically reloaded my last
>project and immediately crashed again. I restarted the computer and tried
>again. The same thing happened. Clearly my work had gone. So why did
>Pinnacle keep trying to reload an obviously corrupted project?
>
>On line support was basically useless, giving the elegant suggestions that I
>should restart the PC, then reinstall Studio, then reinstall Windows!
>Looking for advice from users, I discovered a review site where 80% of users
>had thumbed down the later Studio Version 9, saying that it was riddled with
>bugs.
>
>I needed an alternative, so I binned Pinnacle Studio and bought ULead
>VideoStudio 8. I had read a few good reviews and, so far, so good. I've
>tried most of the things I wanted to do with the Pinnacle software and Ulead
>hasn't yet crashed on me.
>
>I'm astonished that Pinnacle seems to get away with selling a product that
>is so obviously unsatisfactory. Has anyone reading this actually found the
>Pinnacle product usable for more complex projects?

A lot of people have found it workable. I quit using it as of
version 7 (prior to DVD support), due to switching up to Premiere. It
still is a nice app for quick edits, but I've become pretty good at
using Premiere to do things.

The thing has gone downhill with the upgrade versions, but in its
earlier incarnations it was much more stable. Much of what remains
still is; you could use it to edit only, using something else to
author DVDs or burn CDs with, and it might work well for you.

Unfortunately, nobody knows why it doesn't work on some systems,
while it does work without these bugs on others. It isn't as though
the program never works on any system.

Pinnacle tech support is pretty useless, and the development is in
Germany, I believe, which is a barrier for any direct connection
between the programmers and the users in the USA, UK, or other English
speaking countries.

--
*-__Jeffery Jones__________| *Starfire* |____________________-*
** Muskego WI Access Channel 14/25 <http://www.execpc.com/~jeffsj/mach7/>
*Starfire Design Studio* <http://www.starfiredesign.com/>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

John Hudson <john@saltwell.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cefhqi$3l3$1$830fa17d@news.demon.co.uk...
> There seems to be a lot of discussion about these two products. Experience
> has taught me to listen to users' reports on line: Pinnacle Studio 8 is so
> bug-ridden that it's unusable.

John,

For the last few weeks, I've been using Ulead Video Studio 8 - bought from
PC World, complete with proper printed manual (but it seems to miss out many
items I'd like to know about), and guidance DVD. I started with 6SE which
came bundled with my FireWire card.
My system is an Athlon 1000MHz, Win98SE, 2 x 40GB & 1 x 80GB HDDs, 256MB
RAM, NEC DVD writer.

I've had total failure (hard PC crashes after a mere 1 minute) when trying
to add a CD sourced soundtrack to film captured from my Sony TRV22 in 12 bit
audio mode. Changing to 16 bit audio capture on the camera, things have
been better and I've had success with medium length trial combinations
adding same CD tracks to the film, say 5 -10 minutes of success.
However, when trying to edit a 35 minute film, with very modest addition of
titles, no extra audio track but some changes to audio level etc., I ran
into hard crashes again, and have the feeling that I need much more spare
HDD space than is obvious. I'm currently cleaning my drives and hope that
I'll get better stability as a result.
FireWire capture to my DMA enabled HDDs has been trouble free.

Pinnacle Studio 9 is reported by some magazine reviews as being stable, but
who knows...

M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK

 

[Doc]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"John Hudson" <john@saltwell.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cefhqi$3l3$1$830fa17d@news.demon.co.uk...
> There seems to be a lot of discussion about these two products. Experience
> has taught me to listen to users' reports on line: Pinnacle Studio 8 is so
> bug-ridden that it's unusable.


I for one have been having chronic problems. I've got a project that I'm
ready to burn to DVD and so far have yet to have a successful DVD burn on a
short 35-second test project. I also can't get it to output to VHS tape.
Pinnacle's suggestions have not cured the problem so far. From the names and
sometimes fractured English, I sense that they're outsourced overseas
somewhere.

> I'm astonished that Pinnacle seems to get away with selling a product that
> is so obviously unsatisfactory.

I've been wondering the same thing, how the hell do these people stay in
business? Their product seems like a good idea on the surface, very
intuitive interface, but so far it won't do what it's supposed to do.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Malcolm Stewart" <malcolm_stewart@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>John Hudson <john@saltwell.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:cefhqi$3l3$1$830fa17d@news.demon.co.uk...
>> There seems to be a lot of discussion about these two products. Experience
>> has taught me to listen to users' reports on line: Pinnacle Studio 8 is so
>> bug-ridden that it's unusable.
>
>John,
>
>For the last few weeks, I've been using Ulead Video Studio 8 - bought from
>PC World, complete with proper printed manual (but it seems to miss out many
>items I'd like to know about), and guidance DVD. I started with 6SE which
>came bundled with my FireWire card.
>My system is an Athlon 1000MHz, Win98SE, 2 x 40GB & 1 x 80GB HDDs, 256MB
>RAM, NEC DVD writer.
>
>I've had total failure (hard PC crashes after a mere 1 minute) when trying
>to add a CD sourced soundtrack to film captured from my Sony TRV22 in 12 bit
>audio mode. Changing to 16 bit audio capture on the camera, things have
>been better and I've had success with medium length trial combinations
>adding same CD tracks to the film, say 5 -10 minutes of success.
>However, when trying to edit a 35 minute film, with very modest addition of
>titles, no extra audio track but some changes to audio level etc., I ran
>into hard crashes again, and have the feeling that I need much more spare
>HDD space than is obvious. I'm currently cleaning my drives and hope that
>I'll get better stability as a result.
>FireWire capture to my DMA enabled HDDs has been trouble free.
>
>Pinnacle Studio 9 is reported by some magazine reviews as being stable, but
>who knows...
>
>M Stewart
>Milton Keynes, UK
>

That is interesting, I have this problem with AVI files downloaded
from a Sony DCR-TRV60E. I tried all the stock suggestions from support
to no avail. Does anyone here own a Sony camcorder that produces OK
avi files ?