Corel Acquires Pinnacle

[TonyP]

First, I own VSP X4, Pinnacle Studio v8-15UC and Avid Studio. I started video editing with the Amiga/Video Toaster. Then moved to PC with DPS Editbay. Then Matrox RT2500 to Pinnacle DV500, then Pinnacle Edition/Liquid. When Avid bought Pinnacle (which was very profitable making more money than Avid at the time), they wanted to get into the consumer market. But they have other problems. Overpriced pro software and the competition cutting into their pie. So, to salvage it, they basically stopped development on Pinnacle products, finally selling it. They are going to be laying off another 20% or their workforce too.

All along the way, there has not been a perfect bug free program (except maybe the Amiga when I did a/b roll. That was fun using ARexx scripts to automate). Every program brought a different set of problems. Most were solvable or avoidable. But one thing they all basically demanded was a computer that was "clean" and kept up along with specs that exceeded the minimum if you wanted to have a happy editing experience.
I have used VSP X4 for about 9 months. Bought it when I got PSP X4. While is was a good program, Pinnacle Studio was far easier to use and the wealth of addons was greater, but both were limited in the number of a/v tracks. Being an Avid Liquid (and Premiere before that) user, I was accustomed to doing what I wanted without thinking of how many tracks I had to work with. Avid killed Liquid (a direct Media Composer product from FAST) and took it's time building Avid Studio. I have used this program for well over a year. It's stable for the work I do. I can create faster with it than I can with PS or VSP. It's feature set is far greater than VSP and PS. It's not for the novice editor, but not hard to learn (remember, OVERLAY means that in pro NLE's, not like with VSP and PS where it's placed UNDER the main track).
While it has issues, I have not failed to finish anything I started. Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks is wonderful. So are the other Red Giant plug ins, but you need a strong computer to work with them.

I think that Corel does not have room for the old Pinnacle Studio. It competes directly with VSP. Why alienate your customer base? They don't have an iPad app, and Avid Studio is one, but you need Avid Studio desktop if you want to edit further. Avid Studio is a more upscale product and does not compete with VSP and offers Corel a more prosumer application. Only time will tell, but I do not think that VSP users have anything to worry about. It's a solid program and X5 offers a LOT of value (and more tracks)!

[Coral]

I think that Corel does not have room for the old Pinnacle Studio. It competes directly with VSP. Why alienate your customer base? They don't have an iPad app, and Avid Studio is one, but you need Avid Studio desktop if you want to edit further. Avid Studio is a more upscale product and does not compete with VSP and offers Corel a more prosumer application. Only time will tell, but I do not think that VSP users have anything to worry about. It's a solid program and X5 offers a LOT of value (and more tracks)!

I have started off with Matrox Rainbow Runner Studio Then moved to Marvel G-400 and later ATI All-In-Wonder. Always using Ulead Media Studio Pro and Pinnacle Studio 12. Recently I moved to VSX5 and Pinnacle Studio 14 (which I didn't like) and went back to Studio 12. I agree with what you wrote in the quote. I have a feeling that Studio will be dumped, thus giving more room to VSX5. I hope I'm wrong.

[PinnacleUser]

Hello to all. I'm new and I'm from the Avid corner.
I once considered superficial in VideoStudio. And my opinion is likely positive. I think the old Pinnacle Studio version here does not get a place. Pin.St. has probably had its day with Version15. Avid Studio 1 (or what may come yet), I see good chances. It could be offered side by side with VideoStudio. Is it all just a vision of me.

[AvidStudioPro]

At the end of the day I think that this acquisition will lead to great things for Corel. They will have some of the best employees (from Corel and Avid) working together to make software better for the consumer. Sounds like a win - win to me. I just feel sorry for some of the employees from Avid who no longer have a job.

[StevieD]

I have some important and accurate information. I will state a few facts here that hopefully will be heard so the right action plan can take place with the assumption of Pinnacle and Avid Studio products to the Corel suite:

I have bought and used every version of Pinnacle Studio since 1999 when it was Pinnacle DC-10, up to Pinnacle Studio 15 HD Ultimate Collection in Feb of 2012.

Fact: The feature and UI is great. I authored many a video file DVD, and recently a couple Blu Rays over the years. It's easy to use, and for the price point allows great results with only a moderate investment of time to learn the interface for the average enthusiast.

But caveat: since 1999 to 2012, I have purchased and installed the various versions of Pinnacle Studio on about 8 brand new PC's. The software is stable and works great for small time videos, and simple style DVD authoring. But those heavy enthusiasts will find once you start creating 45+ minute DVD discs, and really start adding a LOT of edits into your videos, making use of all the tracks, the software will not measure up. The main reason for buying each new version since 1999 to 2012 was in hopes that the stability improved, and I would no longer spend hours on every major project recovering from corrupted project files, program hangs, and crashes, by cuttting out some of the content, and either leaving it out (since it just couldn't handle it up to disc image creation) or deleting and re-adding the clips and editing again, hoping to get around the hangs and crashes with the next export. Again 13 years, 8 new PC's, and every version of Pinnacle Studio in between loaded when the PC was first built, would hang, crash, and corrupt project files exhibiting the same flavor of problems, once the content got very busy with thousands of edits, multiple tracks, pan and zoom applied to every photo, etc. It's great for the beginner or small time editor, but if you are the "stay-up-all-night-type" and "spend hours editing a couple of minutes of video" person, take the next step:

Fact: In March 2012, after finding Pinnacle Studio 15 HD UC could not handle my passionate editing ways, with yet one more new blazing fast PC just purchased (not overclocked), I have now purchased Avid Studio, and learned the new interface from scratch (March 2012).

Avid Studio is a fairly NEW product offering, it's only version 1.0 with a 1.1 patch and a couple of hot fixes. What I found both distressed and excited me, leaving me finally a few months later with excitement only:

Avid Studio is a ROCK SOLID software application (well, aside from the bugs - read on). I immediately hit it with my heaviest editing yet, creating large scale complex edit DVD's and Blu Rays making use of EVERY edit feature, using up to 15 Audio, Video, and effects tracks in one of my projects. I mean hundreds of hours putting together a single Disc type of passion.

Initial Frustration: Along with a small learning curve to learn an entire new interface (which wasn't bad), I ran into EVERY bug in this 1.1 version software. For each issue, I spent time (hours, entire nights) figuring out that it was a bug, not the way I was using it, then finally either found it was a confirmed bug on the Pinnacle Forums for Avid Studio, or if not on the forums, created my own list of bugs with steps to replicate for nearly all the ones I found, and the few I couldn't replicate, posted workarounds. I was very frustrated until I found all of the bugs, then avoided them or used workarounds.

Turned to Excitement: Even though I was furious at spending so many hours workaround around bugs, I slowly realized it was turning to delight because these were reproducable bugs I was hitting, NOT instability. This meant they could be fixed, not prayed for. I have now pretty much mastered the Avid Studio interface, and with many thousands of edits in my first large scale production Blu Ray, not a SINGLE project file got corrupt. I HAVE NOT LOST A SINGLE EDIT YET!. Not to say the software NEVER hung on me, but the very few times it did, it always recovered 100% on its own when restarting and retained my last edit.

I now can crank through the timeline and author DVDs and Blu Rays with fun and excitement, now that I'm aware of the bugs, and put the replication steps into the hands of the developers at Pinnacle. All this for me occured in the last 45 days!

FEAR: Now that I am at this point, I have just read Corel bought Avid Studio! And I am full of questions:
1 - will Corel pick up the open bugs list, and replicate the last handful that have been posted with steps to replicate on the Pinnacle Forums, or is the Pinnacle Forums basically going Baron now?
2 - will Avid Studio be discontinued ever? right away? Morph into another product offering? Costing me more $$?
3 - what about Avid Studio's loyal customer base?

Take it from someone who has spent time to master Avid Studio - this product is great! It needs a new release to fix the open bugs, a few more things documented in the manual, a couple of features to be looked at for maybe an enhancement or two, and this thing can be considered DONE except as market conditions dictate how to offer it. I am one of the MILLIONS of satisfied users of this fairly new product offering recently built from the ground up by the great Avid Programming Masters.

I'll be checking back hoping to find answers as time goes by, maybe I'll get an email since Corel has my contact info from prior purchases.....

[AndyP]

Very interesting read StevieD

I agree Avid Studio is an awesome product. It really deserves to be continued in some form or other even with the Corel name if needs to be but keeping the same structure layout.

I too have used many products over the years, pinnacle has its ease of use and after my step up to Avid video editing became even more enjoyable. Every software has bugs but if these could be ironed out and a few new tweaks added to the program I really think Corel could be onto a winner with Avid Studio.

Avid Studio looks slick its nice to work and as mentioned the program is new only in version 1. I really hope there is a future to Avid Studio.

[PinnacleUser]

I think the last two posts factually realistic. Yes Avid Studio xx is a good basis for a semi-professional NLE. It has many features that could use a professional. I am an avid user of AS1 of the first hour. Sometimes I have to use third-party manufacturers as a slave. But I've always finished my products with AS1. I hope that this NLE will find a deserved place under the auspices of Corel.

[lbeck]

I pretty much agree with what SteveD reports. I too have been with Pinnacle/Avid since Studio Deluxe - had forgotten the year of inception. I've owned Studio 7-14 and now Avid Studio 1.1. I tried several times to abandon the software because of bugs. Especially earlier when I lost entire projects due to file corruption. I mitigated that problem by saving frequently under a different filename. The software has become much more stable over the years. I tried Ulead/Corel/Sony/Microsoft video editing software but continued to return to the Pinnacle products because of familiarity and learning that the other editing software had its problems too. Now as a loyal user of the Pinnacle/Avid software I'm surprised that it has sold to Corel.

One of my primary reasons for staying with Pinnacle/Avid is the webboards/forums. We've become quite a family of peer helpers.

So my main areas of apprehension are regarding whether the Pinnacle/Avid line will remain separate from the Corel VS line or whether they'll merge to a single proiduct line, and whether the Pinnacle/Avid forums will continue. If the combine scenario wins out I hope that the Pinnacle forum users will use their Pinnacle user name so that I'll recognize them.

[TonyP]

I still have my Pinnacle forum name! Well, without the space between Tony and P.
Using VSP X4, I have experienced no problems. I did initially when installing the program, Graffiti would not install, but with tech support help, I was able to pin down the reason why, and now everything is "ok". I still do basically all my editing in Avid Studio because it is fairly stable for me, and well, I have been using it for well over a year. I have Pinnacle Studio 15 Ultimate Content for the wife hoping the editing bug will bite her. It's easy to use. VideoStudioPro is somewhere in between these two products in ease of use.
What has kept me in the Pinnacle family all these years too, has been the user forum. Lots of friendly helpful people that I have grown to consider friends.
Hoping to hear something in the near future on the "future" of Pinnacle's products.

[Yorkie]

It all seems to have died down now the chatter about Avid - Pinnacle - Corel but does anybody know when we will see some more information from either side telling us which way things are heading?

[AndyP]

Yes totally agree it would be good to know what is going on.

Please don't do an Avid support on us Corel.

If Avid Studio did stay under the corel or pinnacle name it would be nice if you were able to open old projects created in the original Avid Studio.

[Yorkie]

Now that does seem a fair request

If Avid Studio did stay under the corel or pinnacle name it would be nice if you were able to open old projects created in the original Avid Studio.

I had not thought of that situation and it would be a good idea! In the meantime is there anyone on either side that can say anymore on the takeover?

[TonyP]

Well, it's official, there is a new Corel product called Pinnacle Studio 16. It's not listed on the Corel home page yet, but you can find out all the information HERE.
I guess the "old" Pinnacle Studio is now gone and the "new" Pinnacle Studio is a much updated version of the "old" Avid Studio. I've used Avid Studio for well over a year and find it easy to use and very very powerful. The limiting factor is "me", not the software. It's easy to use, and with all it's tracks, it makes doing the complex so much easier. Red Giant are tremendous addons. Montage Themes open the door to easy additions to enhance your video. I have to say, I am happy about the new updates to the program. And then there are the online tutorials done by Class On Demand to get you up and running. Wow. That is how tutorials should be!
What I would like to see is the further incorporation of a lot of the VSP X5 plugins. With NewBlue and proDAD along with Rotopen and the ability to video capture the screen, it would be one KILLER app! And I would definitely like to see the inclusion of the basic Smartsound (I have the plugin for Avid Studio which allows me far more creativity because I also have SonicFire Pro).
With several versions of this software available (from HD to Ultimate), it does make me wonder where VSP will be in the future.