Pinnacle Studio Deluxe 8 (210100189) Video Capture

Pros: Excellent user interface
Cons: Unreliable ... doesn't work as advertised

I purchased the Studio Pinnacle 8 Deluxe version for its capability to capture both digital and analog video. My intentions were to capture my video on my hard drive then transfer it to CDR or DVD for ease of use and unlimited shelf life without video...

Pros: Can create very nice videos. Extensive online help.
Cons: Crashes all the time. Buggy.

I had read reviews on Studio 8 that said the software crashed quite often, but was otherwise good. ...

Pros: Very comprehensive editing features.
Cons: Difficult to get working properly when first installing. Other software will interfere with it.

Unfortunately I had to do quite a bit of fooling around to get it to work properly. So if you aren't an expert on your PC I would pass this one up. It isn't like you can pop it on your PC and it will just work. I had a great deal of trouble with the ...

Pros: I am thinking... give me time... I really can not come up with any pros
Cons: Ha, that one is easy... ALL of it is a con

I don't know where to begin, there are more bugs in this than I care to mention... but for a start... Good luck removing old captures from your drive, doing so involves a search-and-destroy mission. What, you expect the delete captured clips control to ...

Pros: Easy to install.
Cons: Poor video quality and performance. Customer service is terrible!

After returning from vacation I was excited to transfer my Hi-8 camcorder images to CD. I chose this ...

Pros: Cost, features, conceptually easy to use even for beginners
Cons: Demanding on resources, better on newer computers

I purchased a digital video camera with the great fatherly intentions of capturing all of the moments in my daughter's life and doing things with this video that I could not do with my old analog camera. First, let's just get this right out of the ...

Pros: The advertising is great... if only it did as promised.
Cons: It doesn't work!

For reasons that now escape me, I foolishly ignored the warnings I read here and elsewhere and bought this &^%$ thing. At first, it worked well and I was going to write a "rebuttal". Then the bugs started hatching! On several occasions, the system ...

Pros: Nice Editing software, Stable, Easy to Install
Cons: None yet

I've read all the bad reviews (and some good ones too) about this product but have had nothing but good experiences working with it. I purchased this product to make video for the Internet and CD-ROM, as well as archive old camcorder footage of my 2 kid ...

Pros: Good learning curve. Easy to understand and operate the software.
Cons: The capture with xp does not work for me.

The capture video from device error appeared every time I tried to capture video. I turned the came ...

Pros: Excellent user interface, a variety of tools and effects. Easy to use
Cons: Had some problems w/Windows ME, but works great on XP

Pinnacle Studio Version 8.0 I chose this product after a friend recommended it to me, and I also ...

Pros: Good Software, which is easy to use.
Cons: Analog doesn't work with Windows XP

I bought Pinnacle Studio Deluxe two weeks ago. It seemed like a good price, $280 with a $100 rebate. The first time I installed it, the drivers loaded correctly, and i thought i was on my way. I thought I had all the requirements, 1 Ghz pentium III,...

Pros: Great interface. Great features. I got it to work.
Cons: Blatant, frustrating bugs. Required lots of troubleshooting. Good forum, but poor support from Pinnacle.

I saw over 100 consumer reviews (on amazon.com, circuitcity.com and cnet.com) praising this product ...

Pros: Good Editing Software assuming you can actually get the software to capture.
Cons: Does not work when the capture source is analog.

When trying to capture analog, this product is totally incompatible with my HP Pavilion a420n. I have installed, uninstalled, changed parms, etc.. and basically spent about 50 hours trying to get the Studio AVDV capture card and breakout box (blue box) working. My intention was to transfer vcr video to dvd. I've followed all of the Pinnacle's recommendations and have concluded that it's just not compatible with my hardware and/or Windows XP. As long as the Capture source is set to analog, I have major problems - even trying to change the capture folder caused the PC to lock. On the other side, I was able to capture DV from my DV camcorder using my computer's built in 1394 port (as opposed to the PCI capture card from Pinnacle).

Pros: When it work's it's ok.
Cons: VERY unreliable Analogue hardware not compatible with non-Pinnacle software

I bought this with the intention of using mainly analogue capture while allowing for digital when I finally get a camera. Big mistake. The analogue component of the hardware is not compatible with any other software such as ULEAD or Adobe Premiere. Studio 8, which is the only program that lets you capture through the analogue inputs, is extremely unreliable so you need to allow an extra 30 mins before you decide you want to capture anything to allow for reset and sometimes reinstall time. Even when it does work I had audio sync problems. These were fixed after an update but a lot of people on the Pinnacle forums complain about it even with the latest updates. Audio sync problems still sometime sneak in if capturing more than 1 hour. Also seems to have a lot of problems capturing from a VHS making it even more unreliable than capturing straight from TV.

Pros: Yes, it is a class product if you can get it to work.
Cons: Constantly locking up, would not 'render' for DVD.

Yea, its pretty and professional, but it would not render to DVD for me, so it ain't worth a damn to me, esp for $200. It does work on my XP system at work (w/o my burner) so my theory is that it's the operating system platform (just a theory). The on-line help is nice and prompt, but again, ain't worth a damn if all you get are canned answers (it's resource intensive, give it time; re-install it). The editing was going fine till it locked-up and locked-up to where I was saving after every little thing I did. Not perfected yet.