Customer Reviews
BUYER BEWARE! 
2008-07-18
I have purchased Studio 10, 11 Ultimate and now 12 Ultimate. I have wasted numerous blank dvds and countless hours trying to get this to work on my new system. I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit my system keeps crashing and giving different errors. The pinnacle cust service is not helpful at all. I can't even get this up and running to make a video review! Stay away from any Pinnacle software.
PINNACLE STUDIO ULTIMATE VERSION 11 
2008-07-14
This is an excellent program & I highly recommend it.The learning curve is very easy to understand. The extra add on & the included green screen is worth the price of the box. I have all ready fixed a few videos with this program & I'm still tinkering & having a great time with all the effects included in the kit.
Do not buy this 2008-07-13
Studio 10 was the biggest piece of junk that i've EVER purchased. I cannot believe that anything that this company produces is worthwile. Avoid at all costs.
Stick with WMM or upgrade to Adobe 
2008-07-08
As a user of Widows Media Maker, it was difficult not to get excited when I saw this product: high-def, accepts all sorts of files, Ken Burns, and green screen! Yeah! And my excitement lasted through the first week, as I played around with the chroma key and proDAD. The user interface was simple and intuitive, as well. However, once I tried to string a video together, it became apparent that my excitement had been unwarranted.
About that dazzling array of accepted source files: yes indeed, the product does work with them, but only on a very long time frame. If you're editing, say, a 10-minute H.264, be prepared to spend hours if you have background rendering turned on. If you don't have it turned on, then I hope you've memorized all the points in file you want to cut and know exactly how the effects will appear, because you won't know how it looks until you've written the video file. Also, you cannot combine two snippets from different sources, or even non-continuous snippets from the same source, like you might want to after cutting an unnecessary scene. Another source of disappointment: no timing markers, a feature that would let you tap out markers across the time line, which is great when you're working with cuts to music. There are only a couple tracks for video and audio, as well.
But all those stunning effects are worth it, right? Unfortunately, you have to buy most of the effects; the "ultimate" version does come with a few transitions and such, but mostly the the ridiculously simple and the simply ridiculous. If you want a wipe from the other side of the screen, you have to cough up. That said, proDAD is worth its weight in gold. Although adjusting custom settings and key frames isn't quite as intuitive as the rest of the product, the affects are gorgeous.
Customer service is a joke; the forums are full of lovely people who try to help you along, but if you're having difficulties accessing the extra features promised with the "ultimate" version, you're out of luck. I was tossed back and forth between different departments and websites (which often required a different account than the others I'd already set up) until I just stopped hearing from them. Help is only really available on a peer-to-peer basis in the forums.
OVERALL: There are a lot of annoying ticks (like the inability to merge clips), but most can be worked around with a little creativity and lot of patience. The user interface is easy to use. On the other hand, even with a quarter of my hard drive free and 200 Gigs of RAM (on XP), the system is painfully slow, and not much less prone to crashing than WMM. proDAD excepted, the effects aren't jaw-dropping, and the fact that you have to pay for the goodies is annoying at best. Customer service is nonexistent. It's usable, but those who need something more advanced than WMM should check out whether their requirements can be better met by Ulead Studio, Sony Vegas, or Adobe Premiere before buying this product.
Frustration not a listed feature of Studio 11 2008-06-23
Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate
The software is not bad, once you get past the registration and activation process.
Be very careful about the spelling of the url to register and activate.
There is a web site with a url only one letter different in spelling that your browser may grab instead of the real Pinnacle site.
You will want http://www.pinnaclesys.com/hfxbonus/ not http://www.pinnacalesys.com/hfxbonus/.
Note the extra "a" before the "l" in Pinnacle in the bad site URL. Both sites are apparently real Pinnacle sites so why are they so close in URL name with one being the wrong spelling of Pinnacle?
I do not understand why they do not shut the second site down so it does not interfere with the registration and activation process. Perhaps they really want customers to become extremely frustrated.
Communication with Pinnacle is also frustrating. Once you are a registered user of the software, you must register several different passwords to access different parts of the customer service web site.
You will want to be prepared to read a great deal if you want to get help with a problem and be willing to simply read more if they send you a reply to a request for help. They will refer you back to the web site for the answer to your question so you will have to read a lot of stuff that does not help until YOU figure out what the REAL answer to you question is.
Directions in some of the email responses from Pinnacle will be incorrect. For example, you will be told that your "passport" number to re-access your activation keys will be in the Help menu under "About". It is in fact not under "About" but in the drop down menu just above "About" so if you are frustrated and in a hurry you may miss it.
If you start to order software from the Pinnacle site but decide you do not want it, even if you cancel the process before paying for it, it will still be ordered. You can then access information about the order and see the order on the screen but you cannot access any process to alter or cancel the order. You must us a different website entry to access this feature or call the sales line.
The greatest frustration is that there are a lot of transitions and effects in the software that will not be activated even upon registration and activation of the Ultimate version. It is not clear which features are parts of the Ultimate version and some are extras that you must pay for in addition to the software cost. There is no indication in the interface which features cost extra or how to activate them.
The manual omits some key words in the index so you have to use the help search in the interface.
Be aware that in addition to the hard drive space needed for the software and "extras" that the software uses a huge amount of hard drive for auxiliary files of rendered effects and transitions.
So, have at least one 500 GB+ hard drive available for video files and the auxiliary files. Put the software on one drive and your video files on another to speed up rendering time.
Beware 2008-06-23
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate combines the new release of the best-selling consumer video editing software, Studio Plus Version 11, with popular professional audio and video tools. It has the latest technology such as a complete HD workflow, with native HDV and AVCHD editing and HD DVD format disc burning & Hi-Fi audio music capabilities. True video enthusiasts will harness the power of the latest technologies without compromising ease of use. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate includes SoundSoap audio cleaning tools, professional level special effects from ProDAD VitaScene, precision Panning and Zooming with StageTool MovingPicture & a ChromaKey green screen backdrop. The BIAS SoundSoap Pinnacle Edition audio noise cleaning tools & complete Dolby Digital 5.1 audio encoding ensure your movie creations will sound as good as they look. The sleek new user interface is perfect for working on today's wide screen monitors and the new Web publishing feature makes it easy to share your movie creations publicly or privately. Scorefitter music generator creates soundtracks, with 40 source tracks & 48k audio samples Simplified Web publishing - share your video creations on the Web publicly on Yahoo! Videos or privately Improved speed and performance - installs and exports faster files Windows Vista compatible
Sticking with what I know 
2008-06-18
A few years back I reviewed Pinnacle Studio 9, which I was very satisfied with...however, in my review I noted that although the computer I was using was not a very well thought out purchase (Celeron Processor), Pinnacle Studio 9 ran very well.
I finally upgraded to an Intel Quad Core processor (Q9300), with 3GB of RAM. I stuck with Pinnacle, because I was already familiar with the interface, and was reluctant to learn a new program, especially since Pinnacle has been so good in the past.
All the great tools are still there and easy to use - I haven't even cracked the manual, as the new functions are very intuitive. Using this new Quad Core processor with the software is like slicing butter with a hot knife. The new SmartMovie and Scorefitter tools are fantastic - right out of the box I created a slide show incorporating over 80 slides, complete with effects, transitions and music in less that 15 minutes. I've done some minor video editing, and was amazed at how quickly the video came together - I was used to waiting several minutes each time I added a transition or video effect...that's not the case now. I've been using the new program for a week now, and I have yet to experience a program hang or crash.
I can say that I'm fairly satisfied with this latest release. I initially had some trouble capturing video using Pinnacle; however, I came up with a satisfactory work around. This was the only problem I've come across, and considering that most video editing software seem to have its own glitches and idiosyncrasies, it's not a deal breaker for me.
DO NOT PURCHASE ANY PINNACLE PRODUCT 2008-06-17
I work in television and have for over 20 years. I wanted a solid software to video edit at home for a new web network featuring broadcast programs. I read a number of reviews at several well-respected sites and they all gave Pinnacle high marks. All I can guess is someone is being paid off for these good reviews.
The software crashes constantly and the english-challenged support, when you can get them without paying extra after your first visit, simply reads from guide books and gives you standard answers with no technical knowledge whatsoever. They will ALWAYS blame your video card, audio card, lack of memory, you name it. They insisted a recent issue was all of the above, and when I read off the values on my system, the kid had no idea where to turn. He indicated rebooting the computer would help and told me there was nothing more he could do. Reboot, still crashes.
I absolutely implore you to not purchase one single product from Pinnacle. Also, when they say certain items are included with a purchase, they are flat out lying. They give you an access code to get TO the features, but then it's an additional charge and it's not just a few dollars.
Let me repeat myself. PLEASE do not purchase anything from Pinnacle no matter how many positive reviews you read from consumer sites. You will regret the purchase, you won't see your money again, you will receive horrible support, and you will be stuck. I cannot wait to purchase a MAC with Final Cut Pro or IMovie, neither of which ever crashes. Even Power Director is better than this piece of flotsam.
The Best tool for Home Video Editing on a PC 2008-06-17
From a video afficionado's point of view I can say I have tried many applications out there that are made for the PC, none have really satisfied my needs. When it comes to ease of use while permitting you to do very complex effects and cuts, Pinnacle is the product you want.
It may take a little getting used to when you do not have editing experience. But this tool really works quite like the professional ones do. I have even edited professionally on Pinnacle studio before and sold the dvds in a conference we had at church, everybody was amazed at how a few cameras at the event could have turned out in such a well cut DVD.
In Ultimate edition you also get a very nifty green cloth so you can do the Green screen like the professionals. This is really good when doing promos for events where you want to be able to have someone actually on the screen with a cool background. News flash: Not just your cheesy old party table converted into a news anchor desk, with a wall in the background, now you can make it look cool by using the cloth in the background and green screening in a cool background.
So strap into your seat and ride the Pinnacle Studio fever. I still have a temperature from day I started using it, believe me it wont go down.
Absolutely unusable for HD video 2008-06-12
What a disappointment!! I have a Canon HG10 camcorder that records video in AVCHD. Pinnacle claims that the software can handle AVCHD content with the following system requirements:
Processor: Intel 2 Core Quad 2.66 GHz
Memory: 2GB
Video: ATI Radeon 9600+ or NVIDIA GeForce 6
These specs are the recommended, not the minimum, requirements for editing AVCHD video. These specs were all met or exceeded by my system, yet Pinnacle just chokes on the HD video. While my PC can easily play AVCHD video in other programs, Studio Ultimate simply freezes after 2 seconds of video while the audio continues (and I am just watching the video in their viewer, not even attempting to edit the video). If I cannot even preview my video I will have no idea how sound effects/soundtracks line up with the video, how transitions look, etc. Completely useless.
I contacted customer support, all their suggested fixes were not helpful at all. If you have an HD camcorder I would not use this product. Perhaps the product will work if your PC far, far exceeds their recommendations, but it sure doesn't work with a system that meets all their recommendations.
