Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/30/2003, 8:29 PM
I would say that a large percentage of people on this forum (including myself) and ex-Pinnacle users. I’ve posted comparisons of Pinnacle Studio 7/8 and Video Factory (the predecessor to Screenblast Movie Studio 3) in this thread. I’ve never heard of anyone going back to Studio so I’d say you’re in good company if you cut your losses with Pinnacle and switch. You’ll find Movie Studio quite impressing and stable.

~jr
ADinelt wrote on 12/30/2003, 8:37 PM
I whole heartedly agree with JohnnyRoy.

I also was a Studio 8 user. The software came with my DC10plus analog capture card. Along with you and many other users, Studio 8 would crash, not work, corrupt files, etc., etc., etc.

I came to this forum and based on the comparisons, comments from other users in this forum and the ability to download a trial version of Video Factory 2.0c, I was quickly convinced of the value and stability of this product. And now that you can download a trial version of Screenblast 3.0, it couldn't get any better!

You should download a copy of the trial version of 3.0 and give it a try. You will never look back again!

Thanks...
Al
mmreed wrote on 12/30/2003, 8:38 PM
Moving from Pinnacle to Movie Studio is the BEST move you can make.

I did it and am so happy I did. Pinnacle gave me nothing but headaches, crashes, and out of synch issues. I tossed my Pinnacle Deluxe card in the closet and installed a Canopus ADVC1394 card, uninstalled Studio8 and installed Movie Studio - it was the best move I ever made. I now capture insynch movies with no app crashes or lockups.

Movie Studio has chromakey and picture in picture - 2 powerful features Studio cannot do.

The only weakness in Movie Studio is the DVD authoring - it uses myDVD. You will want to upgrade to the better Sonic app or use another app such as Ulead if you do intricate DVD chapter points. other than that I have no complaints.
Sony MS is wonderful!
jack221 wrote on 12/30/2003, 9:26 PM
I just made the move to Movie Studie from Pinnacle and I'm very happy I did. Unfortunately I took the interim step of trying Movie Edit Pro 2004 - perhaps a promising product but too unreliable and quirky to make it usable. After experiencing rendering quality issues in MEP2004 I decided to go back to Pinnacle and was quickly reminded why I switched in the first place. Too many times I spent hours on a project in Pinnacle Studio only to have the dreaded "red boxes" appear or something else happen to trash the entire effort.
mmreed wrote on 12/30/2003, 9:29 PM
I think we could fill this forums drive space with Pinnacle horror stories <grin>
tdmalek wrote on 1/1/2004, 4:18 PM
Is that why "Burn it to DVD" is grayed out in the trial version I am using? Because I dont have myDVD? I thought the trial was time limited yet fully functional but it will not let me create a DVD. Also, does MS have the ability to just create the VOB/BUP/IFO files like S8?
NaperRick wrote on 1/2/2004, 8:19 AM
The "purchased" version of MS3 includes a copy of myDVD which is linked to from MS3 when you create a DVD. DVD creation is not fully integrated in MS3 - when you create a DVD MS3 creates an AVI-DV file and passes it to myDVD if you so choose. It's pretty painless and works fine. The only real problem is that you can create chapter points in either MS3 or myDVD for a single AVI file. You can create multiple AVI's and bring them into myDVD and it will automatically create chapter icons for each file. myDVD, of course, creates the proper DVD formatted files (e.g. VOB, IFO, etc).
As others have mentioned, if you need more sophisticated DVD creation you might want to use something other than myDVD - for simple DVD's myDVD works great. IN all cases, MS3 is a real great product, no matter how you create your DVD's.

Rick
mountcon wrote on 1/2/2004, 11:58 AM
mscherotter, whatever you do, don't move to Pinnacle Studio 8. I can't comment on Movie Studio as I am not a user (yet), but I can tell you that Pinnacle Studio 8 is a disaster. I've tried to work with it for four months and have had very little success. I went through many hours following tech support's suggestions (many of which were just plain ridiculous) and nothing worked. My PC far exceeds the system requirements. Finally, they just quit responding altogether and have offered to refund my money (I'll believe it when I see it). I'm giving up and moving on to something else - perhaps Movie Studio. I'm researching it through the forum. In fact, if you want to check out Pinnacle for yourself, just read through their forum (http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read_forums.asp?WebboardID=1&ForumID=704&SectionID=143&lng=1). I would suggest the Beta forum and the General forum. You'll see for yourself that Studio 8 is a fake.
Shaz wrote on 1/2/2004, 12:13 PM
In the interest of fairness, I should state that I never really had problems doing things with S8. I made 2 1/2 hr. DVDs that were in sync, etc. But I know that many have had problems with it. The Pinnacle message boards is kind of a hit-and-miss between people complaining about all kinds of problems and people like me saying it works fine. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

But from what I can tell of MS (I've installed the demo but haven't had a chance to work with it yet), it has some better features than S8 (multiple video tracks, PIP, etc.), so that should tip the scales in its favor, regardless of whether you might have problems with S8 or not.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 1/2/2004, 12:13 PM
Actually, in fairness, Pinnacle Studio 7/8 is a fine product with a very easy to use interface.

The problem is that it either works or it doesn't on each computer -- and, if it doesn't, there just doesn't seem to be anything you can do to make it work.

I was one of the fortunate few. It worked well on computer, even if occasionally I found myself dealing with some strange glitch in the ouput that left me with a red frame when it was supposed to be black or sound that driftred out of sync. Annoying, but usually fixable to replacing the segment.

On the other hand, MS3 works on virtually any PC (though occasionally small tweak needs to made to the installation), and capture and output -- the two toughest drags on any software -- work flawlessly on my two-year-old 1.3 gig machine.

But the real joy is how this program continually surprises me. Every time I think I've mastered every trick it was capable of, I find a new way to combine or adjust the effects to create something completely new.

So I still keep Studio around, sitting on my hard drive just in case. But it's been months since I even opened it.