You've been framed (Pinnacle Systems Studio DVplus)

Member Name: cjkace

Product:	Pinnacle Systems Studio DVplus
Date:	25/02/02 (1494 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: DV In and Out, Analogue out, very cheap and affordable considering it's power

Disadvantages: not for pro users

Are you interested in home video editing on your PC? Own a digital video camcorder? Want to output your creations to VHS tapes so all the family can look and laugh?

If you own a decent specification PC then this is an affordable PCI video editing card that will turn your video footage into good quality home movies. Pinnacle have been around for quite some time and they produce many high-end professional video editing cards, and over the last few years have also produced some top quality home solutions at very reasonable prices, and the DV Plus is the top of their home video range.

Installation

The card itself is a PCI card and slots easily into any spare slot in your PC. It's then just a matter of connecting the small audio loop cable to your sound cards line-in, attach your digital video camcorder via the Firewire slot, and then connect the analogue out cables to your video machine using either s-video or composite. Once you are happy with this, install the supplied drivers and software (supplied with Pinnacle Studio 7) and away you go. Having installed this card in my mother-in-laws PC, I was impressed with the software installation, as it is very easy for the uninitiated, loading all the relevant drivers.

It is recommended that you have a high-end system for video editing (900Mhz plus, 7200RPM hard disk as big as possible and loads of memory).

Software

The video software that is supplied is Pinnacle's Studio 7 which has been winning quite a few rave reviews from PC magazines due to it's ease of use, coupled with extensive feature set. When you load the software there are three tabs at the top of your screen - Capture,Edit and Make Movie. The tabs are pretty self explanatory. When you open the capture screen it queries the camera, and once satisfied you can then start to capture video, rewinding and fast forwarding via this screen, as the software also controls the camera via the firewire interface.
Once you have captured footage (it automatically detects scene changes) you then move onto the edit screen. This presents a storyline, where you drag and drop your captured footage into the storyline, adding any transistions, effects etc between the scenes. Once satisfied with your movie you the click the make movie tab and are presented with various options. You can save your movie back to your camera (if your camera allows recording via firewire) output to VHS, save as an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 for burning onto CD, create Real movies and Windows Media movies for putting on websites. When you've made your choices, you leave it alone, go make a cuppa and return to your newly created masterpiece!

Sounds too easy?

Believe me it is that simple. even if you do have any problems the manual is very extensive and there is a tutorial on the CD to guide you through your first steps.

In Use

Having set it up for my mother-in-law and had half an hour messing around with it, I left her too it. Two days later she gave me a video tape which contained a half hour movie of my daughter (she's five) from birth, through first birthday etc. I was very impressed with the quality of both the picture and sound, bearing in mind it was on VHS. Fortunately she had saved the movie file onto her hard disk as MPEG-2 so I burnt it onto cd as a Super VCD and the quality was even better. For someone like my mother-in-law to be able to get to grips with the software and card in two days just shows how user friendly it is, as she had difficulty setting her DVD player up to her TV!

Features

The card has Firewire in/out, analogue video out via S-Video or composite and audio out. It can make VHS and DV tapes, create Video CDs and controls your camera via the Firewire cable.

The software also comes with HollywoodFX transitions and effects as well as Title Deko for adding fancy titles to your movies.

NOTE - It does not support anal
ogue video capturing. If you don't have a digital video camera then you will need the Pinnacle Studio DC10+.

Value

This card is currently selling for around £152 including VAT at dabs.com, which is an incredible price when you consider that the software is retailing for £79.99 on it's own without any hardware whatsoever. If you are looking for a good quality video editing solution but don't want to take out a second mortgage then this card should be top of your list.

Summing Up

A great card, user friendly software for a very reasonable price. With the cost of digital video cameras having halved in the last six months there's never really been a better time to create your own home video studio. With good product support via it's website and forums, Pinnacle have created what must be one of the best home video editing solutions.

Cheers - Craig

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