Anybody ever render hour+ dvd on Pinnacle Studio 9?

[TheMalteseJob]

I will soon have to, and i'm dreading it. Has anybody ever actually managed to do this? I will never use pinnacle again... it is the most unreliable program ever. Its given me nothing but problems from the start.

[angusware]

cool.

[Theshapecool]

I use Pinnacle all the time, its basic video editing wich is all you need unless your in for a bunch of shitty special effects. I'm cutting a feature film on it right now, but as for dvd, just use DVD Architect, thats the best you can get.
Pinnacle is not made for dvds, thats something they threw on for kicks.

[Zacatac927]

I use Pinnacle all the time, its basic video editing wich is all you need unless your in for a bunch of shitty special effects. I'm cutting a feature film on it right now, but as for dvd, just use DVD Architect, thats the best you can get.
Pinnacle is not made for dvds, thats something they threw on for kicks.

A feature film on Pinnacle? Gosh

[UFProductions]

Like Theshapecool said, if all you're looking for is the ability to cut footage then Pinnacle is just as good as anything else out there. I have rendered a one hour and fifteen minute video to DVD and VCD with Pinnacle. It wasn't any trouble other than just a lot of waiting. I'm pretty sure it took longer to complete than the actual length of the video, but all you need is the time to let the program work.

[Theshapecool]

Yeah well first rule of film making if your a REAL film maker is this: Get everything humanly possible done infront of your camera lens. Dont do effects in editing, sorry to dissapoint everyone but they dont look real and often look awful. I only use editing for cutting, pasting and colour correction. Any blue screen I do on another program and I hardly ever need to do that, as for sound editing I use acid pro. So yeah, get it all done practically, leave all that CG bollocks in hollywood where it belongs.

Cutting on Pinnacle has the limitations of what cutting on film has. It worked for film makers for decades so its working for me!

I've had people ask me if I filmed on 35mm before due to simple editing so I'm happy

[Jdogg_Entertainment]

Adobe is a little better than Pinnacle but they are both perfectly fine programs and work for what we want to do with them. But if you want to be more like the movies any of Final Cut Pro programs are the way to go.

[kene555]

Yeah well first rule of film making if your a REAL film maker is this: Get everything humanly possible done infront of your camera lens. Dont do effects in editing, sorry to dissapoint everyone but they dont look real and often look awful.

The only problem with this is: if you do the effect and it turns out like cr**, you're stuck with what you've got and you have to redo the whole scene again. I've fallen into this trap over and over...
If you have limited time for filming, most will be used up prepping for the effects. Use a computer for effects A) if you don't have the time or skill to do it live or B) if you have learned enough to do it realistically digitally. Otherwise, stick to live effects, but you're going to have to use what you've got, so make it good.

If you put the time and effort into effects, they WILL look decent.

As for Pinnacle, I had version 9 and it always crashed during making the DVD. If possible, output the video as an .avi or .wmv and burn it with a program made seperately for DVD authoring.

[UFProductions]

Only thing I don't like about Pinnacle is the lack of support for the Magic Bullet plugin. I've tried out every major program and still find myself reverting to Pinnace for it's ease of use.

[kene555]

Windows Movie Maker is easy to use, great for quick and basic editing, and is a lot less hard on system resources. More stable, too.

[TheMalteseJob]

wow, lots of replies. Yeah, i don't use any special effects offered on pinnacle... other than the picture in picture sometimes, and the subtitles. What scares me is that eve when I render 7 minutes of the film, it crashes more often than not, hence my fear of such a huge rendering. At the moment I can't even render this once scene because it keeps inexplicably locking up half way through... Imagine with about 1hr30 of film...

[TheMalteseJob]

"As for Pinnacle, I had version 9 and it always crashed during making the DVD. If possible, output the video as an .avi or .wmv and burn it with a program made seperately for DVD authoring"

Good idea. If all else fails, I'll try that. But damn, I don't recommend pinnacle to anyone doing a long project... Btw, do you know if the version 9 files can be opened on Pinnacle 10?

[kene555]

If I was you, I would look around and see if you can trade in Pinnacle for another program. Some companies will give you a discount for switching. I would go for Premiere Elements or something like that, if you're working with Pinnacle.

Pinnacle was the first editing program I bought, version 9. It came with a Dazzle thing-y that captured video and audio. It would never capture the audio, even when I spent 2 months wading through Pinnacle's "support" site and got it repaired, and installed it on two different computers. Pinnacle just isn't a very stable program, and you would be better off with Premiere Elements. It has all the features of Pinnacle (editing, audio, effects, DVD templates, etc), and is much more stable. Runs for about the same price, too.

Version 9 files should be able to open on 10, it would be stupid to offer upgrades and not have backwards compatibility.

[TheMalteseJob]

"Version 9 files should be able to open on 10, it would be stupid to offer upgrades and not have backwards compatibility."

Yeah, but this is pinnacle we're talkin about :p.

But if I were to use Premiere Elements, would that mean I'd have to edit the film from scratch? cos at this point, that's not an option

[UFProductions]

Yeah Studio 9 (and 8 for that matter) will open in 10. I've never had stability problems with Pinnacle, and the Firewire card I got with 9 served me well for three years (until I got a new PC that already had a Firewire card). I guess I'm just lucky... or I follow the install instuctions religiously and close all backgrounf apps. =P

[kene555]

If you were to use Premiere Elements, you would have to start from scratch, its how software companies work. If products from rival companies were compatible with each other, like editing programs, then you could swithch back and forth. This would lose money for the company, so yeah...

The only wasy you could get away with transferring your work would be to output at highest quality what you have in the timeline now, as one big file, then import that and everything into Premiere. All the individual clips and audio you had in Pinnacle would be one big file, but you could cut them apart again...
I seriously recommend getting Premiere after you finish your movie. You will save so much time with the added stability and quicker burning times.