Pinnacle Studio 11 Video Editing Software: Review

Pinnacle Studio 11 is a video editing software. It comes in three versions: Basic, Plus, and Ultimate. The Basic version is $49.94, the Plus is $99.99, and Ultimate is $129.99. A couple of days ago, I bought the basic version, hoping It would fit my needs. Boy has I wrong! The Basic version was pretty much Windows Movie Maker, which is free. It didn't allow me to do any of the advanced editor, that I wanted to, such as manual color correction. It didn't even let me have an overlay layer, making it impossible to do any green screening?

Unless... I upgrade!

The basic version is a total Scam, and I was so disappointed that I turned it back to the shop. I was still interested in Pinnacle, however, so I picked up the Ultimate version, which was on sale $ for $59.99.

The Ultimate version actually turned out to be what I was looking for. I could adjust contrast and brightness, I could control the RGB levels, and I could even have a second layer, so I can green screen. If you didn't know, green screen is necessary for any Hollywood quality special effects. I firmly believe that the Ultimate Version has everything the average Joe needs to make a video. Unless you are doing a huge Hollywood production (you'll need Adobe After Effects for that), Pinnacle is likely all you will need.

Pinnacle Studio It has many great features. It has a great capture feature, which allows you to capture footage from your camcorder tapes straight to the program. It has numerous effects you can put on your videos, such as tint, and old film. And, as I mentioned earlier, you can green screen and adjust the RGB levels.

One function that really blew me away was the smart movie function. GREAT for creating montages and slideshows. I imported a bunch of photos, asong, and pressed the create button and voila! It doesn't just slap it all on the timeline, it adds some transitions, and the transitions from 1 picture to another actually goes with the beat of the music! It was amazing!

Verdict-I would highly recommend the Plus or Ultimate versions of Pinnacle Studio 11, do not waste your money on the Basic version. As far as I am concerned, the only major difference in Plus and Ultimate is HD computability, so if you do not plan to film or export in HD, then Plus is good enough for you! Don't get me wrong though, Pinnacle Studio 'is not flawless. It still has lengthy export rates, and I've heard of it crashing when trying to burn DVDs. However, it is easily on par with pricier solutions such as Adobe Premiere Pro at $849.99. Bottom Line: Great video edit my program with a reasonable price.