Rating: 
Summary: Nice interface, but...
Review: PS8 doesn't seem to want to import DivX files, which is a fatal flaw for those of us who download material in the DivX (AVI) format off the Internet.I have had luck with Movie Factory 2 so far, but their technical support is nonexistent as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Tjhe very best software!
Review: This is one of the easiest to use video editing packages you could want to find. It is powerful for its very low price. If you do any level of video editing this is the software you need. All other packages could learn from this one as to how to design video editing software. Even Pinnacles Meditation could learn from this package.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Home users
Review: This software is the easiest and fastest to learn and fastest to use. It has features of much higher priced professional video editing packages. The documentation is great. User interface the BEST! Easy to use. Yes, you can use it without ever opening the documentation. You can get professional results. SmartSound music backgrounds that come with the package are also easy to use and sound GREAT. This is the package for home users and you can not beat the price. There are only a few bugs left in this software as it is a mature package. You must follow the rules though and turn off everything in the background using ctl, alt, delete and removing everything except Explorer and System Tray. Defragment your hard drive and you will eliminate most troubles that plague others that don't do these simple things before running Studio 8. I wish it had at least one more video and audio track available. But then no one would ever buy upgraded packages if it had everything. Buy this one if you want an easy to use video editor for HOME use. It is not for making commercial videos. I'm now using Edition DV as well.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea; poor execution - and worse tech support!
Review: Studio 8 has much to recommend it conceptually. It is one of the most comprehensive video capture, editing, and burning programs, and it offers a user-friendly approach to all of these jobs. That is, it would be user-friendly if it worked reliably, but it is the "buggiest" program I have ever owned. One has only to read the "forum" on Pinnacle's Web pages to discover some of the many flaws in the program. The version 8.0 that I purchased about a month ago has a new Beta revision that is numbered 8.5.20. I am still using 8.5.18, which I would not consider ready for Beta testing. The audio capabilities of this program were one of my reasons for purchasing it; however, the version I am using was presented with a disclaimer acknowledging that audio was disabled in the new version, and this most recent Beta version does not purport to correct the problem.
In the process of creating a one hour DVD, I experience - on average - 6 crashes. There are few internal error messages, however, that might suggest corrections.
And worst of all, there is no voice support. There is, ostensibly, an e-mail support system. I received one response from them. That response was not useful, arrived too late in any case. The first response from their support pages, as well as the e-mail I received, is a string of suggestions about problems with other programs, the system, or the user. For a program in this price range and with this many bugs to offer no options - not even paid - for voice support is inexcusable.
I strongly advise that no one purchase this program until these problems have been addressed.
Rating: 
Summary: US version won't do PAL video
Review: Beware anyone whose video camera records in PAL format. The version of Studio 8 sold in the U.S. does not support PAL. You won't see anything about this in the product literature. Only after trying to capture PAL video will you search the knowledge base and find out. The KB contains an item asking where you can buy the PAL version, and it doesn't even answer the question! We bought Studio 8, and then took a vacation. Our au pair, who is from France and who has a recent Sony DV camera purchase in Europe, taped the whole vacation. When we got back, we tried to capture the video. No luck. Now we're searching for the European version, which apparently handles both formats.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Potential but Very Flawed
Review: After using products from ULead, Sonic, Microsoft (MovieMaker 2), and now Pinnacle (Studio 8 with updated patches) I have come to the conclusion that there are no options for affordable and reliable DV editing at this point. Studio 8 is the best in terms of features, but is unpredictably buggy (especially at the rendering and burning stages). I have completed ~10 full DVD projects to date, and have experienced every type of bug: audio drift, rendering freeze, compiling freeze, etc. For very simple projects, you may have a successful final burned DVD 75% of the time. Not good enough. If you have the money and are looking for a reliable product, I would suggest looking at Premiere (although I don't have experience with it). If you have an even higher budget, don't waste your time here - look at Avid DVExpress. As a video amateur, I'm still waiting for a consistently stable program for DV editing and DVD authoring.
Rating:
Summary: No Rendering, Worse Support
Review: When I purchased an HP 2ghz P4 with a 200GB drive last year, I did it with the intention of editing video from my DV camera. So I was delighted to see that Pinnacle Studo was bundled with the PC. As I put together together several 10-15 minute videos, I was pleased to see I could easily import photos and mix them with video clips as well as insert music and transtions. The interface was a snap to use--easy to understand and very flexible. After a month of noodling around with these videos, I was finally ready to render them to MPEG to burn them on a DVD. That's when things literally came crashing to a halt. Despite using a PC that's more than powerful enough for the job, every time I tried to render to MPEG, Studio would hang. After years of being taught by the likes of Microsoft how to be self-sufficient when it comes to working around software issues that should have been fixed during beta testing, I went online to the Pinnacle web site to see what they'd suggest. After not being able to download a manual (corrupt zip file), I browsed the "Knowledge" area of the support section. No luck. I then dutifully submitted an email question to Support and waited. The reply was sad--links to four Knowledge postings having nothing to do with my problem and a suggestion that I look for help on their public message board. When I did I was stunned. The "Make Movie" rendering problem I was having that missing in action in the support area of their web site was generating hundreds of postings on their message board! Evidently, this is a huge problem for Pinnacle and one that they haven't been able to effectively address. Meanwhile, as I browsed the messages I saw dozens of other postings from frustrated users on issues ranging from DVD burning mishaps to issues with adding music. The bottom line is that creating movies with this product is a pleasure. It's fast, easy, powerful and fun. But if you can't get the videos out of your PC onto a DVD or tape, it's useless. Too bad. There's a real need for a flexible, inexpensive PC-based video editing solution like this. But for now, the only place you'll find editing software that's cheap, powerful, easy to use, and RELIABLE is iLife on the Apple MacIntosh platform.
Rating:
Summary: Studio Deluxe Version 8 Garbage
Review: I purchased the Studio Deluxe Version 8 with capture card, blue box, etc. I have a VPX computer with Win Xp, Intel IV 2.2 GHz CPU, 512 K Ram, Radeon 9000 Pro Video, 80Gb WDD HD and Sony DRU500 Internal DVD Recorder. My computer is only a few months old and worked like a clock until I tried to install this piece of garbage. I followed Pinnacles directions to the letter and when it said to reboot I did. The system displayed the Win Xp logo screen, then went blank, then the logo screen over and over for as long as I wanted to watch it. I tried several time to re-install with the same results. I got the computer to reboot by disabling the added 1394 driver Pinnacle installed. I was then able to start Studio 8 and it looked quite impressive. You can manipulate and edit the included "Photo Shoot sample" very easily so I gave it one star. But then I tried to connect a VCR to the blue box and found out Studio is looking for a camera input and won't recognize a VCR. That is what I bought it for; to transfer my tapes to DVD. I went to device manager to check my hardware only to find out the Media Manager Driver was not working, nor the 1394 driver or the Emuzed driver. In fact every time I start up Windows tells me I need to install a new driver "Emuzed" then tries to install it and the installation fails. I should have been wary when the book said that Windows will say the drivers are unsigned but to disregard and install them anyway. I checked Pinnacles site and they are no help in that they don't address the problem at all. When I went to the users forum I found I was only one of many having the same kind of problems with Pinnacles product and the other users were getting no answers either. I can only believe that the few good reviews this product has been given have been written by employees of Pinnacle. Save you money and your computer.
Rating:
Summary: Be careful - Studio 8 might not work
Review: After successfully using versions 6 and 7 of this program, I bought Studio 8 but was severely disappointed. One of the primary features, the title program, will not work. I tried every tip Pinnacle's tech help suggested, but none solved the problem. Pinnacle's response was, in effect, "it's your fault." Before you buy the program, make sure you can return it for a refund if not satisfied.
Rating:
Summary: Great Potential, Poor product!
Review: As with others here, it has a great design, and features, but is very very buggy, and overly slow. It often hangs, repeatedly, and gets things wrong; requiring a start over. Their customer support is very poor, and not helpful. Their huge customer forums are possibly helpful, but they must not monitor them, as they are full of bug reports!
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