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More…Standard-definition video is going the way of the HD DVD player--or is it? TVs have gone high-def in a big way, but YouTube and other online venues continue to serve standard definition. Pinnacle's Studio Ultimate 12 video-editing software tries to maximize its appeal by adding Blu-ray Disc, Flash video, and direct-to-YouTube support.
Pinnacle Systems Studio Ultimate 12
- Lab Tested
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Pros
Many features for the money
Easy to learn
Cons
Minor instability
Sometimes sluggish
Bottom Line
Feature for feature, Studio Ultimate 12 gives you more tools than any other video editor, but some problems detract from its versatility.
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 Video-Editing Software
Studio Ultimate 12 Review, by Alan Stafford July 9, 2008
The previous version of Studio Ultimate let users import footage in the Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD) and High Definition Video (HDV) formats, and create HD DVD discs. Studio Ultimate 12 adds Blu-ray Disc authoring, with tools that include animated menus. The basic, $50 version of Studio does not support AVCHD or HDV importation; the $100 Plus and $130 Ultimate versions do. Studio performed sluggishly with AVCHD files on both systems that I used with it.
The first Blu-ray discs I created wouldn't play in an older Blu-ray player, but they worked fine in a newer model, the Panasonic DMP-30K. The reason: The newer player recognized discs burned in AVCHD format, whereas the older one didn't; you can, however, change Studio Ultimate's settings to create discs for older models of Blu-ray players.
Studio Ultimate 12 lets you export videos directly to YouTube. Studio 11 supported Yahoo Video or Pinnacle's own video-sharing site; though you can upload to Yahoo with Studio 12, uploading to Pinnacle's site is no longer an option. The YouTube uploads have just one quality setting--which is understandable, since YouTube has a single upload setting.
Once they're uploaded to YouTube, however, you can view clips in "high quality" or "standard quality." I've found that, the higher the quality before I upload videos, the better the YouTube-compressed versions turn out to be. My best results came when I uploaded a high-quality Flash video to YouTube.
A new feature, Pinnacle Montage, provides 11 themes and 80 templates that you can use to add effects such as menus of moving frames with video, animated text, and graphics. Some of the Montage options are snazzy, but few of them allow any customization. For example, you can specify multiple moving frames, but you can't alter the frames' dimensions, and you can't adjust how quickly they appear and disappear.
Three new plug-in packages included with Studio Ultimate 12 confer varying benefits. The proDAD VitaScene plug-in contains a ton of neat transitions--blurs, spins, and so on--along with at least as many effects as the main Studio application has.
The Magic Bullet LooksBuilder SE plug-in has many powerful settings for customizing the way clips look; but it doesn't let you set key frames, so you can't set points in the video to use in timing the intensity of an effect. And since you can't set an effect to strengthen gradually (for example), the effects sometimes produce rather amateurish results. (The plug-in requires a powerful graphics card to work: You can't install LooksBuilder SE on a system that relies on integrated graphics.)
Boris Graffiti, the third new plug-in, is designed for adding moving titles; its preset titles worked fine, and it has an extremely complex advanced mode for setting key frames. Unfortunately, you must use whatever interface the plug-ins require, rather than Studio's standard interface--so that's three different tools you have to learn. I would have much preferred that the tools be built into Studio itself.
A small but welcome new feature: If your designated drive runs out of space while you're outputting content to it, you can pause the operation. Regrettably, you can't pause output for such purposes as to check your e-mail without screwing things up--unlike with Corel VideoStudio 11. Though I experienced a few crashes with Studio 12, the application seemed more stable for me than past versions.
Studio Ultimate 12 has more features than any other consumer-level video editor, but I still prefer Adobe Premiere Elements 4 because of its more elegant interface and superior stability. (That product doesn't yet support AVCHD editing, however.)
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User Reviews
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: john_h
Strengths: Intuitive
Weaknesses: None yet
Overall: I have been using Pinnacle since version 5, but was due for an upgrade so I downloaded and tried 8 different trial versions of software (Elements 7, Cyberlink, Corel, Sony Vegas, Roxio, Nero, & Pinnacle 12). I tried this on our brand new Dell XPS Studio with new i7 QuadCore & 6GB RAM (screamer). Each one had featuress I wish others had, but in the end Pinnacle Studio seemed the most stable and easiest (intuitive). Elements - far too complicated for just making home movies & slide shows. CyberLink - kept crashing on me. Corel - very confusing. Sony Vegas - I really wanted this one to work as I have heard great things about it, but it kept crashing so I gave up trying to learn the UI. Roxio & Nero - don't even compare in this class. Pinnacle seemed to be the only true Full Trial version available so I got to try all the features - that could have weighed heavily in my decision as well. The others were trial AND they were crippled for the 10 or 30 days - I couldn't do the basic things I wanted to with the other trial versions - aarrgghhh. I do not yet have a HD camera, but I expect it to work just as well with one. I suggest this for anyone looking for something easy to transfer home video onto DVD with some cool menus and effects. Obviously the Ultimate has more than the Plus which has more than the basic Studio, but if you don't need all the Green Screen and other items you can get away for pretty cheap (well under $100).
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Reviewed by: dkneeland
Strengths: Wide range of plug-ins, templates, effects, add-on media, and extras
Weaknesses: Very limited freedom in maneuvering clips and media around in the timeline. Only 2 video tracks (one overlay).
Overall: I have worked with many video editing programs similar to this. Of course the high-buck professional ones are the way to go, but for this price range, I have not found one that has it all. Adobe Premiere and After Effects rule, but the trial version of Premiere shuts off the computer at startup. Magix Movie Edit Pro 12 is great except for the constant bugs and work-arounds. Pinnacle Studio has very limited bugs, but also has very limited clip maneuvering. You are limited to just two video tracks, and overlapping them and tweaking positioning and transitions is painfully awkward. As an editor, this is one of the worst downsides, because it eats up time and creativity. I'd rather work through some bugs, especially at half the price. I have not yet found a program that has all of the content as well as the freedom to work with it.
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