pecohen Loc: Central Maine

For several years I have been using Corel's Video Studio and have generally found it meets my needs. However, it now seems to have some stability problems now that I've found an annoyance. Pinnacle has a competing product that seems similar though a bit more expensive (and no trial version).

I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience with Pinnacle and particularly from anyone can make a comparison between the two apparently similar products.

Jim Grimes Loc: Crossville, TN

I've used Pinnacle Studio Ultimate for a number of years, with generally very good results. For the most part, I produce movies on Blu-Ray discs, for display on my large screen A/V system. You should be aware, however, that in all probability, all relatively inexpensive video editors are prone to have bugs, because the software is complicated (there is no way to greatly simplify it), and very demanding of the computer it runs on. All that said, I've been with Pinnacle for a long time, and I'm satisfied with it.

rfcoakley Loc: Auburn, NH

I've owned and used both for a while. Their features are comparable. While both can have bug issues, I seem to have had more issues with Video Studio. One thing that you might find useful in your own comparison is to sign up for a free two week trial of Studio Backlot training by Paul Holtz. He provides training in both products.

DHooch

First of all, I haven't used Video Studio. I have been using Pinnacle Studio Ultimate for many years, with a short stint using Avid Liquid and Media Composer in between. While Liquid and Media Composer are much more stable, Liquid is no longer available and Media Composer is much too expensive for home use.

All that said, Pinnacle Studio has most of the features anyone could possibly want in a video editor. If you use normal video clips to edit, Pinnacle is very efficient. If, however, you try editing a long (such as an hour long clip) into very short Individual clips, Pinnacle will really bogg down. This can happen if you have imported video from another application, in which you have created one long video clip, as opposed to individual clips based on time or when the record button was pressed.

Anyway, the latest version of Pinnacle Studio has vastly improved how special effect keys are added and manipulated. The process is much more understandable. I could go on, but, you can see all the features by going to the Web Site.

For me, besides all the features, what I love about Pinnacle Studio is the integration of Smartsound, a separate music application that has to be purchased separately. Pinnacle Studio has its own music feature, but, not as robust as Smartsound. Smartsound will add music to a track of clips and when the clips are edited, by extending or shortening them, Smartsound will completely edit itself to match the new clip lengths. The music keeps the beginning of the music selected and recompose the middle and end of the music. The Smartsound music has to be purchased and can get expensive, if you want a lot of variety. Go to www.smartsound.com for more information. This feature, alone, made me buy Pinnacle Studio.

Pinnacle Studio Ultimate has additional features that make the small extra price worth it. Corel has specials throughout the year, so you can usually get their software for a really good price. Personally, I would just take a chance on Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. It comes with 21 days of free access to StudioLot, which has training videos to get you started. Even if you hate Pinnacle Studio (which you won't) you have only spent about $100 to experience it and you may fall in love with it, like I have.

I hope this helps.

tonybear

Greetings pecohen. I have used Pinnacle Ultimate Studio (older version) on my Windows 7 desktop for transfers from analog video tape/DVC format to the computer for eventual editing. But lately, I prefer to use another consumer-oriented video editing application- Cyberlink's Power Director 16 (again an older version than the current PD18, or the newer subscription-based 365 product. BTW, I HATE subscription-based software. I believe PD17 (non-subscription based version) is still available on Amazon, if your interested. I find the GUI in CyberLink's Power Director to be fairly intuitive and well thought out. It supports all the currently available digital video file-based formats common on all digital camcorders and cell-phones. Good luck in your searching for a better video program.

Quantus5

Not sure if most people are aware but Corel owns Pinnacle Studio. They bought it from Avid in 2012. If you do search you can easily find press releases and other posts that mention this and if you go to the Pinnacle web site and go to contact -- you'll see that all the contact addresses are for Corel.

Pinnacle Studio is basically Corel Video Studio's slightly older sister. In fact, both products have benefited by this acquisition and over the last several years Video Studio and Pinnacle Studio have really improved in the usability and reliability areas -- there is collaboration between the two development teams. You can't go wrong with either package. In the media, the more high end and expensive packages that are in the "professional" space get a lot more attention, but programs like Corel Video Studio, Pinnacle Studio, and Cyberlink Power Director -- are the workhorse video editing programmers in the "consumer" market for PCs -- tons of YouTubers use these three packages. You really can't go wrong with any of these three -- they are all great video editors -- simple to use -- that give you a lot for your money.

I learned video editing on Corel Video Studio -- still use it -- have taught a lot of people how to use it and highly recommend it for beginners. I have been moving to a higher end package called Davinci Resolve -- which is amazing (and IMO I think blows Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple's Final Cut Pro X out of the water!!) -- but like Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve has a higher learning curve than programs like Corel Video Studio. So if you're starting out in video editing I highly recommend Corel Video Studio, Pinnacle Studio, or Cyberlink Power Director.

Some tips: Make sure you use the 64 bit version of Corel Video Studio (the package comes with both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions -- don't load the 32-bit version) -- and make sure you have a decent system. Lots of problems people have is just because they don't have a decent system. :-)

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Thanks to everyone for these helpful comments. The fact that Pinnacle and Corel are so closely associated was something I just learned.

Video Studio seem sufficiently feature-rich for my needs - I mostly put together what amounts to slide-shows with an occasional video, so a program like Davinci or Premier Pro probably is more than I need. I'll be studying Pinnacle more closely and watch some of their training material to see whether it would add anything useful for me. If it only solve the problem of the frequent crashes I get with Video Studio then that alone would be a good enough reason to switch.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

I found a commentary that provides another opinion on Pinnacle. I found it pretty amusing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWUqSQqNsBY