I am a frustrated Pinnacle Studio 10 user. I very much like the features and user interface...it meets my needs to do video presentations for sports teams, etc. However, Studio is very unstable with several unpredictable issues at any given time. Is there a better consumer level software out there such as ULead...??? BTW, I am also looking for the ability to use AVCHD file format.

Any advice/input welcome. Thanks.

Jabble;

I'm wondering if your version of Pinnacle Studio is the latest release, i.e. version 10.6? I've found this release to be quite stable. I too, like the Pinnacle interface, although I rarely use this program, because I prefer Ulead VS10 Plus. The occasional crashing that I've experienced with each program is caused by a common, self-inflicted problem: rushing the edit process so as not to allow auxilliary files (Pinnacle) and proxy files (UVS10) to finish. Optimal performance occurs when each program is configured to render auxilliary and proxy files on a separate physical drive, other than where the program is installed. For example: program is installed on C: Drive; Pinnacle auxilliary files, and/or UVS10 proxy files are configured to be rendered on other than C: Drive (physical drive, and not on a partition of the physical C: Drive).

Additionally, it's important to allow individual, or multiple edits (effects, cuts, transitions, etc.) to fully render, before quickly moving to perform a second, third, fourth complex edit. Keep an eye on the red, hard drive light. As long as this light is blinking, proxy/auxilliary files are being rendered and could cause the program to crash, if interrupted. Pinnacle actually displays ongoing rendering within the program. Whereas, UVS10 does not. Regardless, the result is the same for both programs, and perhaps for most, if not ALL video editing programs which produce proxy/auxilliary files via background rendering.

With UVS10, the red light may remain unlit for 20, 30 seconds, although background rendering may still be ongoing. Whenever I make a major effects/filter change of a large clip in either program, I always allow ample time for background rendering to complete, before commencing a new clip edit. Result: no crashing every occurs when observing this practice.

Bottom line: the background auxilliary/proxy file rendering process is common to most video editing software. This process is not a program weakness; it is just the nature of the beast.

Hope this helps,

VM

VintageMusic,

Thanks for the info. Yes, I probably do push the program a bit and don't allow the edits to fully render before moving on. I will try that.

Overall, I did not have this problem until I moved to v10...and I now have v10.7 installed. It's been a long road of frustration to install the v10 upgrade from v9. After several attempts, I finally wrote down all the steps in sequence that was required to perform a successful install. Between issues with the disks, varous patches, etc. it became a list of about 15 steps -- rediculous.

As for v10.7, I've tried 3 simple projects and have problems on 2 of the 3. One problem just simply crashed while rendering the project to DVD...this is probably addressed by your advice. The other was a MPEG file that I uploaded to the PC from a VHS tape. The DVD had no sound...although sound played in the edit window,as well as other programs before I attempted the DVD. (Sony Click to DVD created the DVD just fine.)

Anyway, I will try your advice and see what I get. Thanks.

Have you applied the latest 10.7 Pinnacle update?

That's supposed to make the program stable.

As for me, I think the Ulead programs are very stable.

I'm running both Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 and Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus on a Gateway laptop with perfect results.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net