Any Pinnacle Studio plus video editing users on here?

[vi5]

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=1883&Langue_ID=7

I just bought this set up which comes with a AV converter box and a PCI card as well as the latest version of studio plus. I'm hoping it's relatively easy to get set up and use. I'm looking to convert all my home videos to dvd.

[HeeBGBz]

1. I use Pinnacle

All I have is the cable and the software. I think mine is Studio 7?

[vi5]

2. Is it relatively easy?

I'm fairly computer literate. I have much experience recording and editing music using other windows based programs.

I'm assuming it involves playing through a vcr or camcorder, and running it through the computer and clicking a button to record whatever is coming through the monitor. But I"m curious as to how complicated that will be.

[HeeBGBz]

7. Yeah, its easy enough

I haven't explored all the gadgets and editing possibilities.

[kayleybeth]

3. I got it for the same purpose

to transfer my home videos to DVD. It's a pretty good program, not that hard to use, but I find it very buggy. It's also a real resource hog. I have the full version Studio Plus 9.

What kind of video card did you get? Mine is an All in Wonder something-or-other. It came with some really cool software, a TV tuner, TiVo, etc., but I can't get the software to run on my OS. I run Windows ME and I think it needs XP to run properly.

[vi5]

4. I didn't get a new video card just yet......

Before I invested too much I wanted to learn to use the program before I worry as much about it working optimally. For the time being I just want to practice capturing some video and converting to .mpgs or whatever. So for now I'll just use my integrated Intel video card that came with my computer. The computer is less than a year old and runs Windows XP and has a pretty decent processor and amount of RAM. So I'm hoping for just starting out that I should be able to work my way around the system.

[kayleybeth]

5. Studio is not difficult to use at all

Just hook your VCR up to the computer with coaxial cable and push the capture button on Studio. It creates an mpeg or avi file from the raw video, dividing it into individual scenes. You can then choose which scenes you want, edit the video, add titles, background music, etc. After you edit, you have to render it to disk, which takes quite a while (at least on my computer it does, if you have a faster processor, it may not take as long).

I don't know a thing about the integrated Intel video card, but you might want to make sure it will capture video. The card that came with my computer was a pretty decent card, but would not do captures. I had to replace it with the ATI card.

Anywho, I think you'll really like the Studio 9 program. My complaints probably have more to do with the limitations of my computer than with the program itself. If you have plenty of RAM and ample hard drive space, you probably won't have much trouble with it. Even with the bugginess I find it is well worth the money I paid for the program to have the home videos of my kids on DVD.

[vi5]

6. Thanks. Actually I just set it up and my computer works o.k..

Video card and all. I will probably upgrade it eventually but after I get better at the program. It's a lot to take in.