Move over Spielberg (Pinnacle Studio 9)

Member Name: Donf18

Product:	Pinnacle Studio 9
Date:	10/06/07 (342 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A fantastic program for the DIY video maker

Disadvantages: A bit pricey for some perhaps

In the high tech world of digital photography and video there are a multitude of programs one can use to produce a quality product fit to be viewed and shown with pride. They do however come at a price in this instance that is in the region of £49.99 which is a lot if you are only going to create one or two DVD’s for show. If you however intend to make a good few indeed a yearly one of holidays or such you could do far worse than purchase Pinnacle Studio 9. Pinnacle have been producing high quality easy to use software in this field for a good number of years and have in fact got further updates of this particular program which have added benefits but again at an added cost. Studio 9 will guide you through the steps to produce a good quality DVD with special effects titling and of course your own special video.

In order to use the software to it’s full advantage it you will require the following items to help you on your quest.

1. A video to edit and perfect
2. The means to transfer this video to your computer. A USB link from your camera, A TV card which accepts your camera lead.
3. Windows Media Player or similar program to show of your product on a PC. If you create a DVD instead of a VCD you can of course play it through a DVD player
4. Some blank DVD on which to transfer your finished product.

The installation of Pinnacle Studio to your PC is simplicity itself. Simply insert the CD into your CD drive and follow on screen instructions. Once installed and icon will be left on your desktop, double clicking this will start the program and you quest to produce a video masterpiece.

If you intend to add music to your project this is a good time to transfer this to your PC in the usual manner. That is by placing the CD containing the music into your CD drive and ripping the music onto your hard drive. Windows Media Player can assist you in this matter and in fact catalogue all your videos and music for easy location later on.

So you have the basic video, the music what next. Using the easy to use menu system in Pinnacle import you video to the project pane which holds all clips and music you intend to use in the project. The menu system is a simple click and drop system with the added option of getting detailed help at any time. On the right hand side of the screen you will see a preview pane which will do just that preview the project so far on any piece already completed or edited. At any time you can delete selections by highlighting them and right clicking. A small menu will appear with options one of which will be delete. At all times there is a storyboard pane at the bottom of the screen which helps you keep track of additions you have made to the project, such as music tracks, video tracks, narrations, and transitions.

The preview pane has a basic set of controls, Play Pause Stop Fast forward all of which use the standard symbols now associated with these functions.

You can now create a title scene using the various effects and backgrounds supplied with Studio 9 or supply your own background if you prefer. The choices here include Fly in Titles, Normal Scroll Titles, and Fade in Titles, the colours can be changed and when you are finally pleased with your efforts simply click where you wish the title to be i.e. At the beginning, Overlay ( visible over your chosen intro clip ) or at the end.
This step done it is time to play around with your video to get the desired product. Again the simple menu system will help you through the process. Here you can add one none or numerous effects to improve and enhance your video. This includes such options as Sepia ( making it look older than it is ) Fade-In/Out.

At any time you can play your project to see how each effect and addition is working out and obviously any failures can easily be deleted or edited. The easiest way of doing things is to use the now standard method of drag and drop. Clicking on items you have placed in the project pane will highlight them from here they can be dragged to the storyboard and dropped into their appropriate position, don’t worry they cannot be dropped into an inappropriate section , that is you cannot drop an sound clip into the video section of the storyboard. It all might sound a bit complicated but if you practice with a bit of gash video you can experiment with effects and transitions to see the output they provide. Transitions are simply little objects that provide a special effect between frames in your video some of them are actually quite impressive and once added do certainly enhance any project.

The help option is of great benefit but I’m a hands on guy and prefer to experiment and find things out for myself, there is a printable manual on the CD, but everything really is so simple I haven’t even glanced at this yet. As with most programs of this nature first efforts aren’t always as good as we might have hoped, this is NOT the programs fault this is mine for not reading more of the help. I could spend hours playing with this software and now after only a few attempts can produce very decent DVD’s of which I am indeed quite proud. I intend to use this program soon to edit and produce a wedding video for a work colleague who was quirt impressed with a little effort I churned out in five minutes. Spending more time and effort on your project will definitely show in the final product, but a quick run through and addition of effects will still give you some great results.

As I said in the beginning the cost is quite high but not if you consider how many quality projects you can produce using this absolutely fantastic piece of software. Making lots of DVD’s and editing lots of video will undoubtedly make the user more proficient with the software this in turn will lead to a better product and in turn more use of the software all in all a good learning circle in which you produce better and better DVD’s.

Summary: A superb piece of kit

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