Pinnacle Studio Plus 700 USB

[VJ]

Hello,

After having numerous problems with a Canopus ADVC110, I'm now thinking of purchasing this device:

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/uk/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/Studio+Plus+700-USB+version+10.htm

Its main uses would be simple video capture (I know, direct firewire would be better, but this seems to give problems), also on a laptop.

I do have some questions:
- Is it possible to capture a firewire source when this is connected via USB (i.e. if the laptop has no firewire).
- Can it work as a firewire bridge (i.e. to connect a firewire harddisk to this, connect this to a USB port, and access the harddisk)?
- Can it provide a video out (duplicate the desktop to video or duplicate a video overlay to video out) ?

(some of this are weird questions, but I'm just looking at possibilities/limitations)

Thanks!


Jörg

[LvR]

As the owner of a USB700 I can comment as follows:

1. Can capture only from DV cam via firewire connected to the USB700 - have not been able to capture from anything else yet
2. My Maxtor Onetouch external disk refuse to speak firewire via the USB700 so it probably cannot work as a firewire bridge
3. If you are using Studio10 then the analogue and firewire out of the device is really nice - Realtime hires output of the timeline no problem - your milage may vary with other editors as Pinnacle has once again persisted in trying to make the hw as difficult as possible to control elsewhere - eg - analogue captures requires one to tick a little box called "VCR capture" in the Studio capture settings else you have serious messed up preview and captures - this does not exist in the drivers available to non Studio capture settings
4. Scenalyser doesn't use any firewire DVcam connected via the USB700 device.
5. Personal opinion only - I would rate analogue captures via the USB700 above both the ADVC100 and DAC100 that I also own.

There are a few non-critical quirks due for sorting in the next Studio 10 patch due in January

[Mikele]

Uuuuuh, Pinnacle!!!!!!!!!!!

Run away and very fast from Pinnacle.

If you don't like Canopus (the best rated everywhere) you cant try ADS.

http://www.videoguys.com/pyroAVlink.html#api555

It comes with a software that "probably" will work.

Pinnacle Studio 8, 9 and 10 NEVER have worked and are worse than vaporware, because they were released.

[LvR]

Uuuuuh, Pinnacle!!!!!!!!!!!

Run away and very fast from Pinnacle.

If you don't like Canopus (the best rated everywhere)

Well - given VJ's experience and also my own as a Canopus ADVC100 owner, I dare say that statement is not strictly true.

ITO analogue quality I much prefer the captures via the USB700 device (especially given the fact that I have the ability to tweak capture properties at the time of capture already).

The ADVC100 has always "simply worked" for me too, but that is no reason to blindly recommend that only - there are other factors to consider.

I would also say the analogue captured from my DAC100 is "better" than the ADVC100 but certainly still not as good as the USB700.

If you want to make good quality analogue captures get the "best" capture tool (IE - first define what that is in your opinion) - sure you may hate the manufacturer because of past experiences but don't go shooting yourself in the foot just because other people say you have to based on their own experience/opinions.

If you had to ask VJ what his opinion is of Canopus he would most likely throw a hissy-fit atm too..............

[Mikele]

In French.

http://www.repaire.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=613962#post613962

Well, I have worked or used:
Media Studio Pro 2.5, 5, 6, 6.5, 7, and tested 8.
Edit DV and Cinestream (the best, but now dissapear).
Premiere 4.2, 5, 6, 6.5, Pro, Pro 1.5.
Mainactor for Linux and PC (some versions;I'm testing new ways of smash myself with Linux).
Vegas.
Edius.
And Pinnacle Studio (the original, that comes with Miro DC-10), 7, 8, 9, 10 and Liquid 4, 5 and 6 with or without special hardware (via USB, PCI, Firewire).
And something else more but I don't remember.

After that I can't take in serious ANYTHING of Pinnacle products. Let's see now, with Avid what happens.

My best rated are:
Ulead Media Studio 7.3 and Premiere Pro 1.5.1 (software solutions)
And Avid, but I don't use it because I don't understand it.
And ToasterFly (if you are only hardware speaking).

[DJ]

You have to wonder how someone would have the time to learn all these different NLE's proficiently. Also one has to wonder why anybody would go through the whole Studio line and the Pinnacle Liquid line if they don't think the company was a serous one. I have used Premiere from 4.2 to 6, dabbled a bit with 1.5 and used Liquid 5 & 6. For me there is really no competition. Once you know how to use Liquid you would see its a lot more powerful than Premiere. Its only the large variety of plugins available for Premiere that makes it appear to be more functional.

DJ

[dlaborde]

Now that Pinnacle is part of Avid and they have already released an Avid Liquid Pro 7.0 version tjings should only progress to get very interesting.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Advanced+Video/Liquid+Edition/Avid+Liquid+Pro+7.htm

Dave LaBorde

[VJ]

If you had to ask VJ what his opinion is of Canopus he would most likely throw a hissy-fit atm too..............

Well, I've had my share of issues... Most likely due to the ADVC110 not being compatible with an Indigita idt804 PCI.

I have used Pinnacle Studio before (came with my DVD writer), and while the software is quite simplistic, it suffices for me.

Nice to hear from first hand!
To bad it won't talk to the firewire harddrive (not that big a deal, but I'm considering the purchase of a subnotebook that doesn't have firewire, it would have been nice if the USB700 were a bridge).

Is it possible to duplicate the desktop (clone mode) or an overlay (similar to DVDmax) on the video out of the USB700? Or is it only capable of outputting video when using editing softwares?


Jörg

[LvR]

No DVDMax-like behavior is possible from the desktop/overlay.

Analogue out is a feature driven by the edit sw just like the ADVC100

[VJ]

Well, there is a software (http://video2dv.com/ ) that plays back a video through a firewire output. So I thought maybe Pinnacle had a similar tool...

Thanks for the help!


Jörg

[Mikele]

You have to wonder how someone would have the time to learn all these different NLE's proficiently. Also one has to wonder why anybody would go through the whole Studio line and the Pinnacle Liquid line if they don't think the company was a serous one. I have used Premiere from 4.2 to 6, dabbled a bit with 1.5 and used Liquid 5 & 6. For me there is really no competition. Once you know how to use Liquid you would see its a lot more powerful than Premiere. Its only the large variety of plugins available for Premiere that makes it appear to be more functional.

DJ

No, I don't use all the software.
I only use Premiere Pro 1.5.1 (the first versios was a joke) after three years using EditDV. I think is quite stable, the FIRST thing that I'm looking for in video editing. Also Ulead MediaStudio 7.3, an incredible app because it can edit everything.With this TWO apps I can do everything.
All the other apps I have wasted one week minimun to test everyone. One that seems good is Canopus Eidus, but I don't use it.
And I have used Pinnacle a lot, but only for teaching (months during years). Is a great concept, with easy and awesome interface... but it doesn't work. Do you know how many updates have Pinnacle Studio 9? This is anormal. And Pinnacle Studio 10? This is amazing, because it is so new. And they, for fist time, says that something is wrong whith it.

When Pinnacle Studio comes stable, it will be a very good option for newiest and for fast works.

[DJ]

Well I only played a little with earlier versions of Studio. I have been using LE 6.1 and before that LE 5 for a few yaers now. Its stable and you never need to worry about crashes. Even if the power goes you are right where you left off down to the last keystroke. Its real time capability is exceptional and its color correction is way up there. Yes there are some bugs but they are mostly in DVD authoring which I prefer to do in a different package anyway. I just think that a lot of people bad mouth Pinnacle unfairly. Yes the company deserve some stick, but that does not translate into crappy software.

DJ

[RhinoZ]

Sorry to bring this post back up.
I was just wondering if this pinnacle 700USB is as good as you guys say make it out to be. Any big advantage with USB over the PCI version. My father in law has been using an old ATI USB (something) for most of his needs. It hasn't worked the same since he upgraded his computer.
Is this a great alternative or is there something better?
He's not a pro, but he has lots of time to play to make things nice. He also want to redo some of his old analogue tapes, and I like that you guys have mentioned that the pinnacle has nice quality analogue capture.
Thanks
R

[Dr Mordrid]

If you read the posts on the DV Doctor forum (UK....well respected) the "pros" there have little use for Pinnacle Studio and say that the last few builds have been anything but stable.

Typical post for Pinnacle Studio, both version 9 and 10;

Pinnacle studio is easy to learn and you can produce some good work with it. It also has dvd authoring built in BUT....... It is unstable and prone to crashing on longer projects. It's good for projects up to about 20-30 mins in length, anything longer though, Forget It..

Pinnacle studio is now up to ver 10 but according to many bulletin board posts, it is no more reliable on longer projects.

I once loaded Pinnacle Studio 9 into one of my betatesting bootups (fresh Ghost of a stripped down WinXP Pro) and have to agree; when it's good its pretty good, but when it's bad it's a nightmare.

IMO your best option is to check out the following programs;

Ulead VideoStudio 9 (I use this for short projects where f/x are not a big deal)
Adobe Premiere Elements (not bad, if you can get past Adobe prgs. being prone to bloatware)
Sony Vegas Studio (last because I'm feeling a bit anti-Sony of late )

Add your capture hardware separately, and IMO something like the AIW's with an IEEE-1394 card would be a very good setup as it would give a decent display and analog capture. The IEEE-1394 card would supply the DV capture.

This system now has an AIW and an RT.X100 which uses w/PPro 1.5. Yes....two capture boards coexisting on one system. One nice plus to having the RT.X100: it's analog captures ignore Macrovision, making VHS movie to DVD transfers easy

Dr. Mordrid

[VJ]

I have worked with Pinnacle Studio 8, and it was quite stable at the time (I did some longer projects as well).

As I'm looking for a USB solution, I don't appear to have much options....


Jörg