Considering how much Adobe screws you on pricing for their products, and was strongarmed into dropping HD DVD support, this seems like a much better alternative:


http://home.nestor.minsk.by/computers/news/2007/09/2905.html

Pinnacle Systems has announced the latest editions of Pinnacle Studio MovieBox with HDV and AVCHD support. Leveraging the product's reputation as the ultimate movie-making solution for analog and digital video, the new Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus and MovieBox Ultimate include a stylish, high-speed USB 2.0 video capture device and a full version of Pinnacle Studio Plus version 11 and Studio Ultimate version 11 respectively — the software that has been reaping awards for delivering robust HDV/AVCHD video editing and authoring capabilities.

By offering support for the full range of video formats and automatic Web publishing, Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus and Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate will appeal to home videographers/hobbyists and business users who want a single, easy-to-use solution for capturing, editing and authoring professional-looking videos from a brand they can trust.

With AVCHD support, users can capture video from the new Sony and Panasonic AVCHD camcorders and can edit their content directly, in its native format — eliminating the need for time-consuming format conversions. Completed videos can then be burned to an HD DVD or AVCHD format disc using standard DVD media that can be played back by the latest HD DVD and Blu-ray players. The AVCHD standard stores the same amount of video in half the space required by the MPEG-2 format.

Like the earlier versions, the new editions of Pinnacle Studio MovieBox can also be used to capture video from analog sources such as an 8mm camcorder, a VCR, a TV or a set-top box; and from digital devices such as DV camcorders. Consumers can even unleash their creativity by mixing legacy analog tapes, DV video, high definition video and photos to create a project that will be "up-sampled" to HD resolution.

Fully compatible with Windows Vista, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate feature a new, scalable interface that make the software ideal for working on widescreen monitors or adjusting the windows for close-up views. In addition to offering automatic movie creation, these next-generation applications now include the new Scorefitter music generator. Designed to automatically generate soundtracks from 40 source tracks and 48kHz audio samples for higher fidelity, Scorefitter provides greater accuracy than previous solutions. Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate also include hundreds of keyframeable and format-independent (SD and HD) real-time effects and transitions to give videos a unique, professional look. Consumers who want to take their videos with them wherever they go can use the special presets to conveniently send them to their Apple iPod, Sony PSP or DivX device.

For video editing power users, Pinnacle offers Studio MovieBox Ultimate with added features such as BIAS Inc.'s SoundSoap audio cleaning tools, professional-level special effects from ProDAD VitaScene, precision panning and zooming with StageTools MovingPicture, and a Chroma Key green screen backdrop for easy-to-achieve professional results.

I dont know if you have ever used pinnacle studio before. But you should read the reviews.

I'd run an unpatched XP system connected straight to the internet before I'd load Pinnacle's crapware on my system.

I have used Pinnacle Studio on my PC. While very easy, it has got to be the most unstable and unreliable product out there. It crashes left and right, burns fail and rendering to DVD takes forever. I have a 3Ghz PC and it takes several hours to render a DVD.

I agree, Pinnacle has always been the worst DVD product around.

I dont know if you have ever used pinnacle studio before. But you should read the reviews.

I have used Pinnacle Studio. Used it for a couple years making DVD's of my beloved Baltimore Ravens games.

Now, I'll freely admit I actually found it has a bit of a learning curve to it, but so does Adobe Premiere, which I used for 8 years on my old video game website.

The point is that those who don't want to spend the gobs of money for Adobe only to find out it doesn't support HD DVD, here is your alternative. I am sure there is other software out there, but this was a new link.

I had studio 7 which was pretty decent. 8 and 9 were terrible. 9 is the last pinnacle product I will ever waste my money on. Not sure how 10 is.

I had studio 7 which was pretty decent. 8 and 9 were terrible. 9 is the last pinnacle product I will ever waste my money on. Not sure how 10 is.

That may be why I didn't have same issues. I stuck with 7 and never upgraded.

I might have to demo this new one and see what's up. Especially recording the Ravens in mostly HD this year.

I hope it supports VC1 and AVC so we are not stuck making HD DVDs using MPEG2.

I believe if I read that correctly it supports AVC.


I came up with one problem at least for me. My capture card is analog only. I need to find a vid cap card with at least component inputs. That is expensive and I can't justify it with a gaming website anymore. I do wish they had a timed or stripped down demo so I can check it out.

As an editor with Vegas, I would guess I have to look after other tools for creating HD DVD.

sounds like I am one the few who has been happy with Studio then...i have used version 8, 9 and 10. Just bought the upgrade to Studio 11 plus (gotta love having access to student discounts :))....

never had any stability issues with it and all of the discs I make for family and friends play fine (I make disks for them on the cheap fry's blank DVD's)...

I know this device does not have a tuner, but can you run a digital signal thru the video inputs and record that signal on your PC?

ie- hookup to your STB outputs and run the signal thru the device and record with the software? I'm interested in recording certain DVR programs to my PC.

Overall i'm looking for a video capturing device that is dedciated to such tasks.

Thanks,
Tx

I know this device does not have a tuner, but can you run a digital signal thru the video inputs and record that signal on your PC?

ie- hookup to your STB outputs and run the signal thru the device and record with the software? I'm interested in recording certain DVR programs to my PC.

Overall i'm looking for a video capturing device that is dedciated to such tasks.

Thanks,
Tx

if I need to record something off my DVR, i feed the output into my camcorder (which has video pass thru) and then connect my camcorder via firewire into the PC and record using Pinnacle...I do this with my old Sony TRV22 and now my Canon HV20...

I have used Pinnacle 8, and it is the worst editing program stability wise and system intensive wise I have ever used. I would recommend it to my mortal enemy.

Hopefully they fixed those issues.

Maybe the requirements on the box say Quad Core required.

if I need to record something off my DVR, i feed the output into my camcorder (which has video pass thru) and then connect my camcorder via firewire into the PC and record using Pinnacle...I do this with my old Sony TRV22 and now my Canon HV20...

Thanks for the tip. Last night I bought the new Studio MovieBox Ultimate w/HD Blue-Ray support. I found the time to hook it up after I posed this question and so far it works as I expected it to.

The MovieBox has a firewire input but the outputs are only S-Video, Composite, and USB. My DVR has a working firewire output.

Thanks,
Tx

i burned my first test disks last night using some footage from my canon HVC20 high def camcorder (this thing totally rocks!!!! PQ from this is outstanding)...

i was very curious about the ability to burn HD DVD and BD compatible content on a regular blank DVD using a DVD burner...

the AVC encode blu ray worked perfectly on my PS3 (which can hold about 35 minutes of video at the highest quality setting)...the quality seemed just as good as the original footage on the mini DV tape...

However, I had no luck with the HD DVD burn as my 360 add on told me it could not play the media...I tried two disks (one at highest quality and one at automatic quality) and got the same error message Blank DVD's can hold about 25 minutes of footage at the highest quality seeting - not sure why there is such a big discrepancy...

I just used Ulead MovieFactory 6 to create a wedding dvd, shot with a Canon HDV10 Hi-def camera. It has an output for HD DVD on regular DVD. I was able to put 40 mins of Hi-Def on a dual layer dvd. I used VideoRedo to cut and delete scenes as it is really quick. I was able to have Motion Menu's, fading between scenes, and inserted music and subtitles. I was very impressed on the stability and took about 4 hrs to render and burn on my 1.8 Core2Duo with 2gb of ram and 256mb video card desktop. No stutter and the HD DVD played back flawlessly on my xbox360 addon, HD-A1,HD-A2, and on a HD-XA2. I made him a regular DVD as well so he can give it to family members who wanted to watch on a regular DVD player. Even the downconverted HDV to DVD looked quite good.

He and his wife were shocked at how sharp the picture quality was playing back on his xbox 360 addon. The colors were saturated and close up zooms revealed a lot of details in the face, some good and some not so good. I think that Ulead MovieFactory 6 has a trial demo, so I would download and try before you buy. I did have MovieFactory 5 before, and it was little buggy, but it seems they have worked out the video stuttering on this latest release. Again, a fairly powerful processor and 1gb ram with 256mb video card minimum is recommended for any Hi-Def video processing as you may get stutter if you don't have a powerful computer.