Pinnacle Studio problems are so frustrating

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I took my first steps into the world of video editing and producing home movies, using the quick and easy Movie Maker that comes with Windows XP.  I thought to myself, this is great, but I need to be able to do more.  Looking back I should have just stuck with Movie Maker!

Pinnacle Studio seemed to be a really good product at first.  I started using version 9.0 of the software, and I was about half way through making my first movie when I ran into problems with it crashing.  It had all been going so well, and I was actually quite pleased with the results so far.  Initially I was really impressed with the way you could throw in some cool effects if you wanted to (Yes, some people do go a bit mad with them!), and that you could really control the music, sound effect and audio tracks very precisely.  The scene transitions were very effective, and the title editor was exactly what I was looking for.

...a nuisance having to redo all work that I lost

However, the application kept crashing and it was really becoming a nuisance having to redo all work that I lost every time this happened.  Also, the performance began to suffer as the project grew in size and that just made things unbearable so I decided to upgrade to version 9.3 and for a while things were good.  Suddenly though, I ran into difficulties again.  It may have been my fault this time, but for some reason or other I lost the ability to render my movie in anything other than the built in pinnacle codec (MJPEG).  This wasnt much use, because most other PCs and DVD players wouldnt be able to play a file with this codec.

Fed up, I put things off for a good six months at which point, I eventually decided to install version 10 and give it another go.  Big mistake, because my PC just has not been the same since!  This software is a perfect example of BLOATWARE in my opinion.  It sucks up all the available memory, and don't even think about turning on background rendering, unless you happen to have a Cray Supercomputer tucked under your desk that is!

I just dont understand why it runs so sluggishly!  I know my machine is getting on a bit, but Im not trying to make Star Wars here am I?  It's just a stupid home movie with a run time of about twenty minutes.  My PC is around three years old now, but it can still play some of the latest games, so that cant be the problem.  Also, on the rare occasions that it does crash, this annoying fault reporting dialogue box pops up.  I just need to get this damn project finished, and then Ill throw this software into the bin where it belongs.

Soon, I intend to sample the delights of Adobe Premier.  Im just hoping it is a better, more productive experience than the one I have had with Pinnacle Studio.

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TheLazyComic

I stopped at Pinnacle Studio 12. I started with 8, then bought 9, then 10... skipped 11 and bought 12. Pinnacle Studio is a hunk of crap. My PC has plenty of memory and processor speed... this thing just runs at a snail's pace. I remember calling Pinnacle directly when I had Studio 9, and asking their tech support guy, why so slow? His answer was rich. He told me because it was good. Are these fools kidding me? Stop buying Pinnacle products. They will just frustrate you, and with each release, it seems like they make more special effects items ala-carte. Pinnacle has seen the last of my cash.

07/12/12 TheLazyComic

-3

me here

I feel your pain.

I have Pinnicle Studio 15 Ultimate and it freezes at the same spot when trying to "create movie" I am not able to get past it. Previously, no problems aside from being slow and using up all the resources on the PC (cant run anything else), suddenly it refuses to make the movie.

Absolute rubbish.

15/11/12 me here

-3

jet

Have you tried Sony Vegas. It's pretty good and doesn't crash.

15/08/12 jet

5

cammi

I can't believe all the time I have wasted. Is there a better working program that you can recommend? It has taken me 4 days to copy 2 tapes! HELP

15/08/12 cammi

3

Allen McDaniel

Has anyone found a solution for software Pinnacle 15 continually crashing when working on titles?

30/05/12 Allen McDaniel

5

Ripped off

For those having other crashing issue, see the following links. Hopeful they help you because they certainly didn't help me.

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=418915
For the location of MediaSDK_Wrapper.dll in Windows 7 64bit, you can find that here.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Pinnacle\Studio15\programs

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=227167

PS.. It is interesting that Pinacle promotes the fact that it saves backup in case of system crash. Seems like they know they have serious problems and this is their solution to it.

Good luck to you all.

10/01/12 Ripped off

4

Ripped off

So far I have been extremely disappointed with v15.0 of Pinnacle Studio 15 Ultimate. It keeps crashing my system. By crash I mean a hard crash where it reboots the entire machine causing raid drives to be re-verified on start-up. I have been going back and forth with Avid support for almost a month now and still no resolution. They seem totally unwilling to give a refund even though I requested one within 48hrs of purchase. So much for my hard earned $$.

System configuration:
Windows 7x64 SP1 (clean install)
i7-920 (eight core)
6 Gig ram
120 Solid State drive
Nvidia GTX 260 with latest drivers. (v8.17.12.8562)

When I gave them my DXDIAG info and MSinfo they could not find anything out of the ordinary.

My advice is stay away from version 15 for now, at least until a update comes out. But hey if you like to gamble go for it.

10/01/12 Ripped off

-1

SteveSanDiego

I have Studio 11. It used to work without issue. I loved it. Then, I bought a new HD camera that uses MP4 files instead of tape. Now, it randomly loses audio in various scenes. I have been working with their tech group SINCE SEPTEMBER (now almost December) to resolve this issue. Based on their recommendation, I also spent $300 trying some computer hardware upgrades (new video card and power supply). That didn't work. This is becoming untenable. Their tech guys are ridiculously slow to respond. They promise to get back to me in a day - nothing. I am in the software industry, and we would never ignore our customers in this fashion. I sent them example files through a web portal that they promised they would test. NOTHING. I used to be a believer in their products. Now - I am a completely disgusted and dissatisfied user. Soon to be former user. Find a different product.

26/11/11 SteveSanDiego

5

wazza04

Hi. I’m having a recurring problem with the effects on pinnacle studio 12 ultimate. When I apply an effect to a clip of any length, for example the 2D editor effect, it appears to work up until the last fraction of a second at the very end of the clip. So the clip plays, with the effect successfully applied, up until the last second and then suddenly the effect disappears and the clip looks as it would be without any changes. I have a vanishing effect problem! I’ve tried hundreds of ways to prevent this happening and although it’s not the most serious problem that someone could have, it is extremely irritating. Please could you try solving the problem for me? It would push me on leaps and bounds if it were fixed. Thank you for your time. Andrew Warwick.

06/01/11 wazza04

0

Pinnacle User

I have many many hours working with Pinnacle Studio 12. After much troubleshooting, I entered my BIOS and turned off my Hyperthreading. Eureka! The program stopped crashing! Its still does has some little bugs here and there... but turning off some of your CPU's horsepower seems to make a difference. I emailed Pinnacle about it.. I have spread the news on many forums already.

01/11/10 Pinnacle User

-5

Joe

I have a quad core 2.6 i5 processor, with 4th of ram and it still freezes up saying lack of memory...

20/09/10 Joe

-4

james

funny my experience with pinnacle 12 is great no probs at all.
pinnacle all the way

01/08/10 james

-11

Albion

My experience of Pinaccle 9 and 10 is identical to the above.I am now investigating other products

26/04/10 Albion

-5

jimmy

you are not alone. I had problems with a lower version so I thought 12 ultimate will be better. I can render alright but the dvds I make plays midway and stops.

21/02/10 jimmy

4

Bob

Thanks Daniel (10-5-09) Had the same trouble redendering since going to vista and downloading the 10.8 patch. When I pressed "Create" it went into action and did nothing except look at you !!
I did as you suggested .....
Quote ...Go into Setup then edit and turn off background rendering it has made it go from 200k usage of RAM to just 20K. I just hope it all works for you Cheers.
......And it did...works fine now Cheers

28/01/10 Bob

-7

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