Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV

by Pinnacle Systems

Product Features

• Includes both Pinnacle Studio and PCI analog and digital video capture card
• SmartMovie automated video editing and integrated Video CD and DVD creation
• Experience a stunning array of video editing features
• Add titles, transitions, sound effects, and background music
• Add powerful one-touch video and audio restoration tools

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0001AU6IK
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 24, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,476 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Pinnacle Studio AV/DV version 9 contains both Pinnacle Studio, a PC-based video editing solution, and a PCI analog and digital video capture card, for easy movie making with any type of camcorder. Studio delivers a stunning array of video editing features and makes it easier than ever to add titles, transitions, sound effects, and background music to your movies. Studio 9 also makes it easier to preserve your precious memories by adding powerful one-touch video and audio restoration tools; SmartMovie automated video editing and integrated Video CD and DVD creation. Pinnacle Studio AV/DV version 9: easy--powerful--creative video editing.

Product Description

Pinnacle Studio AV/DV Version 9 - No matter what kind of camcorder or video device you have, you can capture your footage to your PC with Studio AV/DV Version 9 from Pinnacle. It includes an internal PCI card which connects to your PC internally. Your video device connects to it digitally or via analog inputs. Once captured, you can edit & produce your movie masterpiece with the included Pinnacle Studio 9 video editing program (PC only)! Create DVD quality video Import MPEG-1 & MPEG-2 files Drag-and-Drop & Frame-by-Frame Editing Preview window shows edits immediately 100+ scene & Hollywood FX 3D transitions Professional titles w/ TitleDeko Image Stabilization Analog Cleaner Import background music (MP3 or Audio CD) Voiceover Narration Audio Noise Removal Stereo & Surround Panning Output to VHS, VCD, DVD & WMA 9 PC & Mac Compatible - Pentium/Athlon 800MHz or higher, 256MB of RAM, Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP (XP required for MicroMV), Mac OS 9 (iMovie)/OS X or above

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Generally very happy with this product, March 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV (CD-ROM)

It seems like this is a "love it or hate it" product, based on a lot of what I've read on the internet. Well, I supposed I'm one of the Pinnacle Studio AV/DV users who loves the product. The hardware is fine for my uses; I'm capturing analog video from a Hi8 camera to my hard drive and editing home movies to burn to DVD. I've done a couple of movies on DVD since I got this product and I have to say that the finished product looks as good as my original Hi8 tapes. Plus, the software is GREAT! I'd call myself a sophomore level user of audio/video editing software and Pinnacle Studio lets me do everything I had hoped it would and more. Fancy edits, fades, jump-cuts, a few fun special effects, basically more than I'll ever use is included. I understand that many people have problems using the software, but it works great on my Windows XP 2ghz Dell Dimension. I capture and edit my movies with this software and burn the DVDs with another program, and I consider this product to be a steal, so consider this a rave review.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the consensus, March 30, 2004

By 

John L (Victor, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV (CD-ROM)

I bought this 1 week ago and it works well. I've made 6 DVDs from old video tapes already.

I bought an excellent MPC Millenia 910i computer capable of using this package in November, mostly to get SVHS home videos onto DVD, and was scared to buy Studio with AV capability because of the Amazon and other reviews, and by the many complaints on the Pinnacle forum.

I've had problems from tape anomalies. The package has crashed, but Studio 9 and the AVDV board seem not to have introduced problems. I'm pretty sure that many of the complaints are from people with less (or less well designed) computers than my MPC (2.6GHz, 512MB, 120GB single hard drive, XP).

Pinnacle's staff seems to have been stung by the previous "lousy support" comments. They seem to be trying to fix problems.
There have been two patches since Studio 9 came out -- it probably won't work without them for some people.

As I watch the files eat up hard drive I think how ambitious the making of videos is. I can't have anything else running and I throw away old disk files and defragment the hard drive before every big session. I wish I had two drives.

Studio 9 makes editing easy, although I read the manual a lot to learn the many features. I'm working as hard as the computer, but doing this work with Studio 9 is very enjoyable.

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Every Penny, June 18, 2004

By 

Richard Thompson (Prince Frederick, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV (CD-ROM)

I'm very stingy with 5 star ratings, but this product deserves it. First the hardware: the board and its driver were a snap to install. You'll only have a problem if you're uncomfortable opening up the computer to put the card in a PCI slot. Otherwise, you're home free. The board itself has digital and analog (both RCA and S-VHS) inputs. As for the Studio 9 software, it is very easy to use; I was able to able to start doing basic stuff within 15 minutes of finishing the install, and have been able to easily pick up more advanced techniques as I've gone along. The finished DVDs look pretty sharp, with menus and various types of transitions. As a result, I've been able to combine my pile of VHS-C tapes into edited DVDs. The program doesn't have the power and controls of Adobe Premiere, but Premiere is aimed at professional videographers and lists at $699. Studio 9 is for non-professionals. The closest thing I can compare it to for ease of use is Easy CD Creator 5, before Roxio tried to make it a media swiss army knife. Creator 5 was brilliantly designed for ease of use, but Media Creator 7 tries to do too many things and ends up a mess (I've uninstalled it and gone back to 5). Like Creator 5, Studio 9 has a good, clear manual included if you have any questions (and you won't have many). As a book of tips for advanced uses of the program and shooting video, "Visual Quickstart Guide to Studio 9" by Jan Ozer is pretty good, but for the basics, the manual included with this product does the trick. Here's the proof: I bought this three months ago, and I have yet to call tech support. Updating a year later (6/1/05): I still give it five stars. I've gotten more into the features and power of this, and it's amazing what this product will do. Example: on a tape I recorded, the video went south for about 30 seconds, while the audio was OK all the way through. As this was a band performance, just taking out the bad section would be junky. BUT -- Studio lets you lock the audio so it is not affected by what you do to the video (the reverse is also possible). As a result, I was able to (1) edit out the bad video, (2) screen capture several stills from the good video, (3) drop those stills into the spot where I took out the bad video, and (4) put dissolves between them. Result: live action that dissolves to a series of stills from the performance and then back to the live action -- all without touching the audio track in any way. Then I burned it to DVD. Final note: I have still never had to call tech support. It's all there in the manual and the Ozer book.