Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: I think that this product is one of the best products for video editing I have ever used. I have tried some other products such as Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0, but Pinnacle keeps outsmarting them. There are so many more better transitions in this software than any other software in this price range. The people who do not agree with me are probably having some problems with their computer system because it is definetely not the software. I have had Pinnacle Studio when it came with my HP computer. I fell in love with it. It was so easy to use, that I bought the upgrade. Everytime I buy an upgrade or add-on, the software seems to get better and better. I would really recommend this software to anyone who has a computer that is good in condition and has a lot of memory.
Rating: 
Summary: 9.12 has been rock solid
Review: I will admit that when I bought this program as an upgrade to Studio 7 I was looking for DVD authoring mainly and disappointed by the crash crash crash of the interface even when patched to 9.08. The version in the box by the way was 9.04. I waited patiently (only 3 weeks) and then pinnacle came out with the update to take the product to 9.12. Since I've patched to 9.12 I have had no issues with Studio 9. It works as advertised. I mainly use it to make instructional video's, the two to five minute variety and it works nicely. Personally I'm thinking of upgrading to Liquid Edition 5.5. I think with the currently patched software, Studio 9 will not dissapoint 80 - 85% of the DV home user market. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Very easy to use but doesn't work in many areas...
Review: I won't go into all the problems as others here have done a fine job venting their frustrations with Studio 9. I will just tell you that Studio 9 had enough quirks and bugs that I gave up on it and removed it, even if it has a very easy to learn interface and cool features. So what? What good is it if you curse at the program when it goes off and does something strange. It's not my system either...
The most frustrating is that the video output gets out of sync with the clips in the timeline window. Try adding or cutting when the video you see has no relation to the position bar in the timeline. Which is right; the timeline bar or the video output? Who knows... Why bother....?
I now use Adobe Premiere, which came free with my Sony R-Series system, and Sony Movie Studio + DVD, based on the widely popular VEGAS software. Adobe Premiere is GREAT but harder to learn, plus the transitions don't "preview" themselves. Sony Movie Studio (Vegas Light) is AWESOME but doesn't work well with my converted 8mm films. Perfect with DV though.
There you have it... be warned.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Use
Review: I've seen a lot of reviews here where people have said they've had trouble. I've had none. This product worked well, right out of the box. It was so easy to use that I was able to capture video from by camcorder, compile a video and burn it to CD in about 40 minutes, never having done any of those things before. That impressed me. Since then, I've bought a DVD writer, and this software has burned those discs perfectly, too. The only downside I've seen, having now used this product for about two months, is that it's very, very slow on my machine (which is only a 1GHz processor).The upside, though, is that every aspect of this product has worked perfectly, and that's saying a lot. Video capture, manipulation and recording are tricky things. If you're system is like mine, assembled from parts, you never know what might pop up as incompatible. So I've been very pleased with how smoothly the product has worked. Most impressive are the extremely powerful editing features. You can do a lot of slicing and dicing of captured video, and do it very easily, even if you have no training or experience. That's what sells this product for me. On that basis, I'd recommend it. However, noting the number of reviews by people who experience problems, I can't help but note that it's a good idea to buy from a vendor with a friendly return policy. Fortunately, I won't need to make use of that feature. Overall, a good product that's powerful and easy to use.
Rating: 
Summary: Has more bugs than a roach motel!!
Review: Let's face it!! Mike Tyson OFF his medication is MORE stable than studio 9!! I give a 3 star rating only because of the ease of use. What a shame. It seems, at first, to be such a good video editor. But, after a short while..........BOOM!! Crash!! Constant program errors causes program to shut down thus losing all your edited work (unless you save your work every 30 seconds or so). Installed patch...... same crap!! It's not my PC. I have a very powerful Gateway PC, fully loaded, only a month old. I really hope they fix this problem!!
Rating:
Summary: Has more bugs than a roach motel!!
Review: Let's face it!!! Mike Tyson off his medication is MORE stable than this piece of dung!!! Though it is easy to use, you better save your work every, let's say, 30 seconds or so! Constant program errors cause program to shut down. Worst $$$ I ever spent!! I should have listen to the masses and tried NERO 6. And NO!!! It's not my PC! I have a very powerful Gateway, brand new, fully loaded. Everything else seems to work except Pinnacle Studio 9. The program is more unstable even AFTER I downloaded the patch from Pinnacle web site. What a shame! It seems like such a user friendly product, but has a lot of bugs. The only reason I give it 3 stars is because the ease of use. Other than that....1 STAR!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Completely useless- Crashes computer and fails to render
Review: My bad experience with Pinnacle Systems Studio 9 started when I found out it was crippled, right out of the box. You can not create MPEG-2 videos until you activate it over the Internet.
The advertised "over 200 scene transitions" it claims are false. You can not use most of them unless you upgrade. Rendering a 55 minute DVD video was an overnight job which would crash my computer about half way through. When I repeatedly deleted scenes it was unable to render, it finally finished with no error messages. But, the video was useless. The opening menu was completely black except for the button outlines. The audio was broken and choppy throughout. And, there was no video at all. It was 100% black for about the first 40 minutes of the movie. This is a useless product. Do not buy it. I have since switched to Ulead VideoStudio 8, which I strongly recommend. It runs twice as fast, works fine with 512M of RAM, and rendered everything perfectly the first time I used it. Unlike Pinnacle's product, it is not crippled, and all of the advertised transitions are functional.
Rating:
Summary: Grrrrrrrrrr...don't buy even if it's $5!
Review: My husband and I looked high and low for a video editing program that would support quicktime. We have a KODAK digital camera that records video in quicktime, which WINDOWS MOVIE maker doesn't support. My husband researched (all night) the net and was leaning towards POWER DIRECTOR 3 (CyberLink). Before we made a purchase (that if we didn't like we couldn't return) he called the network guy at his company. He recommended THIS PINNACLE DISASTER. We installed it, and then immediately installed "THE PATCH". A huge file in itself. It still wouldn't work. If you have a KODAK digital camera. Or if the digital camera you own saves it's video files as quicktime, don't buy this program. My husband WAS able to return the PINNACLE DISASTER (he convinced them the box hadn't been opened) and in turn he bought the POWER DIRECTOR 3. It worked great! AND it supports quicktime movies.
Rating:
Summary: Best editor out there
Review: Pinnacle has a winner here!!!!!! A full feature set of tools for the novice to the pro at your disposal. Starting with SMARTMOVIE: 3 step movie making, to the ability to color correct old distorted footage. This is a must have for anyone who is thinking about turning their Home Video's into memories they can cherish forever. Thanks Pinnacle!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Much Improved over Studio 8
Review: Pinnacle Studio 9 is a vast improvement over previous versions There are a lot of nice features and its ease of use is currently unmatched. It is more stable and faster than ever before. Studio 9 is easy to install. Basically, put in the requested disks, wait and you are done. Some systems may need to reboot afterwards but after that, you are ready to roll. Capturing, editing and rendering are all simple to do and you can have a lot of fun doing so. Making cuts and edits were surprisingly simple and the effects that you can add are truly impressive. Rendering is still slow but it seem about 25% faster than Studio 7 or 8. An hour of video rendered for DVD took nearly 5.5 hours to render. That may be kind of slow compared to higher end systems but if you have the time, it is worth it. The end product looks very nice. I capture with Pinnacles' AV/DV PCI card. It does a good job but if I capture video recorded on slower tape speeds, I sometimes have audio sync issues and I have yet to find out if it is the card or the software. Pinnacle's support is fair but featues a great, mostly user supported, webboard. However, you may be scared from purchasing this software because of all of the issues people have. This is a great program with a lot of good features and special effects. You will need to make sure you turn off all of those "cute" programs like screen savers, mouse enhancements, backgrounds and other memory resident programs to make sure you do not crash. You will be quite surprised as the stability of this version compared to past versions.
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