Pinnacle Studio 20 Plus (Old Version)

I have had older versions. They were easier to use, but crashed frequently. The user interface on this version is horrible. I know what directories and files are. Why add another layer with project bins? I have spent the last 3 hours trying to make a simple title. The manual is has no examples. I am currently trying to watch a tutorial. The title screen did not match the tutorial so I restarted pinnacle. It asked for a review so here it is. I would not recommend this product.

AS EXPECTED

I've noticed some of the reviews here seem to tout the features of this software, but the authors do not necessarily indicate that they have actually tried to use it, which makes me a little skeptical of their 5-star ratings. Let me say up front that I have actually used it. Also note that I have used quite a few different types previously, my favorite being Adobe Premiere Elements.This version from Pinnacle is not by any means user friendly. If you are a novice, you won't find that the process has a "easily walks me through it" design to it by any means. It is, in fact, fairly difficult to do even basic things...like add titles or captions to the timeline.You will see a tab toward the bottom called "SmartMovie," that does make things a little bit simpler....but even with this option it's still not all that easy to navigate your way through the process.Two main things about this software that I found fairly annoying:1) If you want to view the online training videos from Pinnacle, you can only do so if you subscribe to their site for $7 per month....otherwise the video stops about a fourth of the way through and a pop-up pushes you to make this purchase. Until you do, you're blocked from viewing the videos.2) It does not burn to Blue-ray discs unless you download a plug-in that will allow this feature, which also costs $7 to download. Really Pinnacle? I mean....really? Even the MyDVD software that comes with it has a burn to Blue-ray option on it, which is greyed out because you have not yet purchased the plug-in. Horrible business model, IMO.What I did manage to do was to burn a short 4GB AVCHD movie on a DVD DL disc, and I was able to include a title for it. Oddly, the transition from one clip to another had special effects built in for switching from one clip to another...swiping from left to right, loading the next clip from the middle out, etc. At first it was pretty cool to look at, but eventually it got annoying. I was able to finally figure out from the manual how to go in and take the transitions out of the timeline. It was strange to me that these special transition effects were set up by default.When I tried to burn a larger, 10GB movie (as a side note, all of these are HD family vacation footage), of course I couldn't load it on a DVD DL disc due to its size, so I decided to save the file and then I would burn it from my Adobe software. Halfway through to exporting it to the folder, however, the Studio 20 software froze up and stopped exporting....so I had to close it. BTW, I have a fairly robust PC....Core i7 CPU, 12GB RAM, etc.Basically, unless you want software to make AVCHD movies less than 8.5GB in total size that will not burn to Blue-ray unless you download a plug-in at an additional cost, I would look elsewhere. My suggestion is Adobe Premier Elements....that's the one I have had the most success with. I can't recommend this one.

My old Pinnacle was easier to use.

This looks like a really good editor. It does a lot. And that's the rub. It really needs tutorials to teach the user how to use all the features. You do get access to a training site for two weeks but what about after that? I also wish I had purchased the Ultimate version. I would like to have the motion tracking "blur" feature that I thought was in the Plus version I purchased. Don't get me wrong. I feel this product will help me learn video/audio editing. The skills of video editing are new to me and I have a large learning curve to overcome. I'm encouraged to start purchasing a decent video camera and microphone and start a new video hobby for myself and family. I have no experience with other video editors so I can't make a comparison. However, I think I'll be very happy with this one, at least for a long time to come.

wow, i upgraded from 12. i know what im suppose to be doing, but i cant get the time line to work and the edit is completely broken. all the simple audio dubbing and transitions are now scattered and not user friendly like the older versionthere is no help anymore. just a pdf manual and links to user forums and videos.it does convert and write to file quicker. but the edit timeline just doesnt work.

This is a beautiful program. It was very easy to install. I used the DVD(the box contains a DVD, not just a license; you do have the option of downloading from their website) and all you have to do is type in the serial number that is printed on the DVD sleeve and there is nothing else you need to do in terms of licensing(It will ask you to register the product, but it already has the serial number typed in so all you are asked to do is provide your name and email and to decide if you want them to send you email news. This is a large program so expect this to take close to an hour to install. I liked the fact that all the bonus material was installed automatically along with the rest of the program. You don't have anything else to download manually. When you click on the HELP button it will direct you to the website and there you can view and download the PDF version of the manual, which I recommend. The manual is excellent! That is so important with programs like this. After installing this, you will wind up with four icons on your desktop. One is just some installation files which you should delete. Another is the program itself. Another sends you to the website where you can view training videos(but only if you subscribe, which is not very nice; if you are not going to subscribe, you might as well get rid of this desktop icon; you can always find it in the Pinnacle installation folder). The last one is "Pinacle MyDVD", which is a DVD handling program to create projects to burn DVDs(If you open a project, old or new, you will have the opportunity to open the user manual for this feature which is very helpful). With the PDF manual you should be able to figure most of this out. While you can't view training videos on their website for free, there are a few Youtube channels that have excellent training videos, so you don't have to feel pressured to subscribe! I was able to navigate some of the features without reading any instructions, so it doesn't seem to scary. It has a nice layout and look. For example, if you want to add titles to a video, there is a big capital "T" in the command bar and it allow either still or moving titles. The layout is about as intuitive as these things get, but you always need to study to use any kind of editing program, either audio, photo, or video. The great PDF manual certainly helps. If you are wondering if you can download this on more than one computer, I haven't tried it with this product but I have done it with other Corel products with no problem. It is permitted as long as you own the computer.