I installed the pinnacle board included with Studio Deluve on a new system (Windows XP) along with the required drivers. During installation received error messages that the Pinnacle drivers were not XP compatible and could corrupt system. Instructions from Pinnacle said disregard the message, things will be fine. Bad Advice.

Somehow this installation corrupted the video drivers (and other nonvideo drivers) and it was necessary to reinstall the system. Spent the weekend on the phone with Sony Tech support (three of the four guys I spoke with were great - one was not too supportive) and finally was up and running again. Major loss was two years of digital photos which were only about 50% backed up.

Needless to say I am not a big Pinnacle fan. I have an external Dazzle Box was installed and works okay - at least there are no significant problems.

Yes, just capture using the pinnacle capture program, save as an .AVI and drop it on your Vegas timeline. I do this all the time, it works GREAT!

Ed V.

I dont even use the Pinnacle Box, today I spoke with them about returning the bundle.I know that they SUCK!!! Ah well, at least I didn't pay too much for it.

I'm using the Pinnacle Moviebox DV. Works great with Vegas cause it gives me firewire previewing on tv and it captures from and to analogue sources!

grtz
Mark

@ mark30,
Do you mean,Options,Preferences,Video Device & then choose the Pinnacle Box?
Can I capture with Vegas using the Pinnacle Box instead of capturing with Pinnacle capture software?
I'm asking simply because there is Pinnacle Driver install that installs just the hardware & I don't need the Pinnacle Studio installed in this way.
Tnx. up front,
AudioIvan

The Canopus ADVC-100 is supurb. I changed from the Pinnacle breakout box to that. Best decision I made.

With regard to capturing with the Pinnacle hardware, Scenealyzer (www.scenalyzer.com) works just fine with the Studio 8 breakout box. No issues at all. Works perfectly. It's a $33 or program. If you want to stay with the Pinnacle hardware, this is definitely the way to go. Dowload the demo first to make sure it works on your system. You can have everything up and running tonight.

With regard to corrupted Studio 8 hardware drivers, yes. This is a real pain. I back up my partions with Powerquest's Drive Image, so I could restore the whole drive as needed. This is definietly an issue which was never fixed.

That's why I moved to Vegas + DVD along with the Canopus ADVC-100.

I now have an absolutely perfect video editing system. No problems at all ever. I can now concentrate on making DVD's instead of testing the Pinnacle patch-of-the-week.

mark30,

And using Pinnacle Moviebox DV, can you capture perfectly through VV ?
I am crazy to buy a A/Dconverter.

> Does anyone know if I can do analog capturing with the breakout box from pinnacle studio deluxe v.8?

Short answer: You can’t and this is by design! Been there, done that, have the scars to prove it.

I have the Pinnacle Deluxe capture card and, while the firewire port is standard, the analog capture is proprietary and will only work with Pinnacle software (Studio and Edition) and Scenalyzer and then it will only capture with Scenalyzer and not print-to-tape because Pinnacle refused to give Andreas the information to do this. The only reason they allowed him to capture is because their own software had audio sync problems when capturing and they refer people to Scenalyzer to fix their problem (at an additional cost to their customers!) Others and myself have requested that Pinnacle create DirectShow drivers so that the Deluxe card could be used with other software and they replied that they have no intention or interest in their hardware working with other software because they have their own software solutions.

I think I can safely state that Pinnacle makes proprietary hardware that only works with their software and I would not recommend anyone buy hardware under those circumstances because it limits your choices in the future. (I’m a big believer on open standards)

> Somehow this installation corrupted the video drivers (and other nonvideo drivers) and it was necessary to reinstall the system

I thought it was just me but I see others are having trouble too. I recently upgraded my WinMe system to WinXP Home and XP complained about the Pinnacle drivers not being signed. The Pinnacle Deluxe card is listed as XP compatible yet there are no WHQL certified drivers for it. I blame Microsoft for that. Their XP hardware list is meaningless if they don’t require vendors certify their drivers. I requested WHQL drivers from Pinnacle and they would not respond. They really could care less about their customers.

Anyway, when I put the Pinnacle Deluxe card in the system I was experiencing random lockups. If I take the card out, the lockups stop. I took the card out for 22 days and had no lockups. I put it back in and the system locked up with 10 minutes. I moved it to other PCI slots and the lockups changed to reboots but the system was still unstable. I removed the card and it’s been a week now with no lockups. I think I can say with a high degree of confidence that it’s the Deluxe card and its drivers that are the cause of the lockups. I now have beta drivers to try, which I haven’t tested yet, but I have very little confidence that it will fix things.

I could not recommend Pinnacle hardware to anyone. I wish the idiots that review these products would mention that this hardware is proprietary when they give it their editor’s choice awards. I wish I had a Canopus ADVC-100. Anyone want to buy a slightly used Pinnacle Deluxe card with breakout box? ;-)

~jr

The main reason I stopped using my Pro-One is because the Pinnacle Dv codec is so bad (artifacting,etc.). That is why I suggest using the advc-100. Canapus codec from analog is very good.

I have been using the Canopus ADVC-1394 for about 1 1/2 years now for IEEE-1394 DV capture from a D8 camera. I used it at first with Studio 7 to capture analog from my old Hi8 before I discovered Vegas. I had very good capture in Studio 7 , Using the "DV Cam capture" for capturing from the Hi8.
The ADVC-1394 is an analog to DV converter and firewire capture card. It captures flawllessly with the Vegas capture program too.

@ JohnnyRoy,
I agree with you JR,Pinnacle are having problems with their other software as well (like InstantCopy,etc....).However I did some capturing with scenalyzer and everything was fine.I don't know if scenalyzer will work just with the pinnacle hardware driver no studio deluxe installed.I'll try it tommorow.If it works then too good.Tnx. for explaining how Pinnacle is treating their customers.Good on ya!
AudioIvan

Just my two cents:

About two years agao we purchased Pinnacle Studio 8 v. AV that came with the PCI capture board (DC10Plus) It captured video from my Sony 8mm Handyman camcorder just fine. However the software itself was full of bugs and glitches not to mention very limited. After pulling my hair out and several temper tantrums later, I went to a DVLine conference in Lansing MI where I was able to see for myself the power of Vegas. So I purchased Vegas 4.0 but was now unable to capture video because just as everyone else on this board has said, the hardware that came with Pinnacle only works with Pinnacle. I listened to all my fellow Vegas users, got rid of Pinnacle, it's hardware and replaced it with the Canopus ADVC-100 and could not be happier. Everything has been smooth sailing. I just can't say enough good things about Vegas or the Canopus. I just wish that I had the set up that I do now last year when I had my first big customer!!!! Live and Learn I guess. But I'll be ready for the next one.
Lori J.