pinnacle studio ultimate version 11

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-08
Stick with WMM or upgrade to Adobe
As a user of Widows Media Maker, it was difficult not to get excited when I saw this product: high-def, accepts all sorts of files, Ken Burns, and green screen! Yeah! And my excitement lasted through the first week, as I played around with the chroma key and proDAD. The user interface was simple and intuitive, as well. However, once I tried to string a video together, it became apparent that my excitement had been unwarranted.

About that dazzling array of accepted source files: yes indeed, the product does work with them, but only on a very long time frame. If you're editing, say, a 10-minute H.264, be prepared to spend hours if you have background rendering turned on. If you don't have it turned on, then I hope you've memorized all the points in file you want to cut and know exactly how the effects will appear, because you won't know how it looks until you've written the video file. Also, you cannot combine two snippets from different sources, or even non-continuous snippets from the same source, like you might want to after cutting an unnecessary scene. Another source of disappointment: no timing markers, a feature that would let you tap out markers across the time line, which is great when you're working with cuts to music. There are only a couple tracks for video and audio, as well.

But all those stunning effects are worth it, right? Unfortunately, you have to buy most of the effects; the "ultimate" version does come with a few transitions and such, but mostly the the ridiculously simple and the simply ridiculous. If you want a wipe from the other side of the screen, you have to cough up. That said, proDAD is worth its weight in gold. Although adjusting custom settings and key frames isn't quite as intuitive as the rest of the product, the affects are gorgeous.

Customer service is a joke; the forums are full of lovely people who try to help you along, but if you're having difficulties accessing the extra features promised with the "ultimate" version, you're out of luck. I was tossed back and forth between different departments and websites (which often required a different account than the others I'd already set up) until I just stopped hearing from them. Help is only really available on a peer-to-peer basis in the forums.

OVERALL: There are a lot of annoying ticks (like the inability to merge clips), but most can be worked around with a little creativity and lot of patience. The user interface is easy to use. On the other hand, even with a quarter of my hard drive free and 200 Gigs of RAM (on XP), the system is painfully slow, and not much less prone to crashing than WMM. proDAD excepted, the effects aren't jaw-dropping, and the fact that you have to pay for the goodies is annoying at best. Customer service is nonexistent. It's usable, but those who need something more advanced than WMM should check out whether their requirements can be better met by Ulead Studio, Sony Vegas, or Adobe Premiere before buying this product.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-23
Frustration not a listed feature of Studio 11
Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate

The software is not bad, once you get past the registration and activation process.

Be very careful about the spelling of the url to register and activate.

There is a web site with a url only one letter different in spelling that your browser may grab instead of the real Pinnacle site.

You will want http://www.pinnaclesys.com/hfxbonus/ not http://www.pinnacalesys.com/hfxbonus/.

Note the extra "a" before the "l" in Pinnacle in the bad site URL. Both sites are apparently real Pinnacle sites so why are they so close in URL name with one being the wrong spelling of Pinnacle?

I do not understand why they do not shut the second site down so it does not interfere with the registration and activation process. Perhaps they really want customers to become extremely frustrated.

Communication with Pinnacle is also frustrating. Once you are a registered user of the software, you must register several different passwords to access different parts of the customer service web site.

You will want to be prepared to read a great deal if you want to get help with a problem and be willing to simply read more if they send you a reply to a request for help. They will refer you back to the web site for the answer to your question so you will have to read a lot of stuff that does not help until YOU figure out what the REAL answer to you question is.

Directions in some of the email responses from Pinnacle will be incorrect. For example, you will be told that your "passport" number to re-access your activation keys will be in the Help menu under "About". It is in fact not under "About" but in the drop down menu just above "About" so if you are frustrated and in a hurry you may miss it.

If you start to order software from the Pinnacle site but decide you do not want it, even if you cancel the process before paying for it, it will still be ordered. You can then access information about the order and see the order on the screen but you cannot access any process to alter or cancel the order. You must us a different website entry to access this feature or call the sales line.

The greatest frustration is that there are a lot of transitions and effects in the software that will not be activated even upon registration and activation of the Ultimate version. It is not clear which features are parts of the Ultimate version and some are extras that you must pay for in addition to the software cost. There is no indication in the interface which features cost extra or how to activate them.

The manual omits some key words in the index so you have to use the help search in the interface.

Be aware that in addition to the hard drive space needed for the software and "extras" that the software uses a huge amount of hard drive for auxiliary files of rendered effects and transitions.

So, have at least one 500 GB+ hard drive available for video files and the auxiliary files. Put the software on one drive and your video files on another to speed up rendering time.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-23
Beware
Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware! I can't say it enough.

This is the first review I have ever posted, because I need to warn everyone not to buy this.

Only buy this product if you want crashes, frustration, to reinstall your entire system, poor customer support, and to waste a lot of time, lose a lot of work.

I have spent over a week of work time trying to get this to work, as a solo business owner this has cost me a lot, in both time and money, trying to produce a DVD for students.

Pinnacle should not be allowed to sell this product, and they should be embarressed to do so.

It won't even uninstall properly, after running all the uninstall programs, (inculding one you have to download) it leaves 43.5MB of files and data on your pc. Hah! try and delete those if you can!

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-18
Sticking with what I know
A few years back I reviewed Pinnacle Studio 9, which I was very satisfied with...however, in my review I noted that although the computer I was using was not a very well thought out purchase (Celeron Processor), Pinnacle Studio 9 ran very well.

I finally upgraded to an Intel Quad Core processor (Q9300), with 3GB of RAM. I stuck with Pinnacle, because I was already familiar with the interface, and was reluctant to learn a new program, especially since Pinnacle has been so good in the past.

All the great tools are still there and easy to use - I haven't even cracked the manual, as the new functions are very intuitive. Using this new Quad Core processor with the software is like slicing butter with a hot knife. The new SmartMovie and Scorefitter tools are fantastic - right out of the box I created a slide show incorporating over 80 slides, complete with effects, transitions and music in less that 15 minutes. I've done some minor video editing, and was amazed at how quickly the video came together - I was used to waiting several minutes each time I added a transition or video effect...that's not the case now. I've been using the new program for a week now, and I have yet to experience a program hang or crash.

I can say that I'm fairly satisfied with this latest release. I initially had some trouble capturing video using Pinnacle; however, I came up with a satisfactory work around. This was the only problem I've come across, and considering that most video editing software seem to have its own glitches and idiosyncrasies, it's not a deal breaker for me.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-17
DO NOT PURCHASE ANY PINNACLE PRODUCT
I work in television and have for over 20 years. I wanted a solid software to video edit at home for a new web network featuring broadcast programs. I read a number of reviews at several well-respected sites and they all gave Pinnacle high marks. All I can guess is someone is being paid off for these good reviews.
The software crashes constantly and the english-challenged support, when you can get them without paying extra after your first visit, simply reads from guide books and gives you standard answers with no technical knowledge whatsoever. They will ALWAYS blame your video card, audio card, lack of memory, you name it. They insisted a recent issue was all of the above, and when I read off the values on my system, the kid had no idea where to turn. He indicated rebooting the computer would help and told me there was nothing more he could do. Reboot, still crashes.
I absolutely implore you to not purchase one single product from Pinnacle. Also, when they say certain items are included with a purchase, they are flat out lying. They give you an access code to get TO the features, but then it's an additional charge and it's not just a few dollars.
Let me repeat myself. PLEASE do not purchase anything from Pinnacle no matter how many positive reviews you read from consumer sites. You will regret the purchase, you won't see your money again, you will receive horrible support, and you will be stuck. I cannot wait to purchase a MAC with Final Cut Pro or IMovie, neither of which ever crashes. Even Power Director is better than this piece of flotsam.

List Price: $19.99
Lowest Price: $18.28

New Items Remaining: 22

List Price: $14.95
Lowest Price: $8.25

New Items Remaining: 25

List Price: $249.99
Lowest Price: $73.23

New Items Remaining: 21

List Price: $29.99
Lowest Price: $2.99

New Items Remaining: 61

List Price: $88.95