Video Studio and Pinnacle studio

[Davidk]

I was attracted to pinnacle versus video studio originally as a classroom exercise, and a bit of history was enlightening:
- video studio began as a ulead product (as we all know), which was a taiwanese company (explains why the forum servers are in Taiwan) now owned by Corel (late 2006) after a series of company takeovers.
- pinnacle studio began as a product of an american (california) company but is owned by Corel since 2012, again after a series of corporate takeovers/acquisitions.
Both products now owned by Corel are apparently still distributed by their original companies, operating as divisions of Corel (wikipedia data). On the Corel product site, there's no mention of pinnacle in the video pages, and similarly on the pinnacle site, for video studio. It's only if you look closely at the latter one sees a corel title banner at the top of the page.

And both still operate back-end support infrastructure like support servers and forum systems which appear to be different, the latter differently located (VS in Taiwan, PS in USA). An argument one hears most often for savings in mergers and acquisitions is the cost savings to be made by rationalising (meaning integrating and minimising duplication) the back-end sales, administrative, development and support processes for 2 or more product lines.

It's been made clear (in other places) that the software development staff for for VS and PS has either become the same, or has a high degree of overlap. Certainly, the products are close to being the same in features etc - a leapfrog effort seems to be occurring here: multi-camera editing appeared in PS one year and in VS the next, and the reverse also seems to apply.

It's often been speculated in threads on these pages about if or when corel will merge the 2 products. Certainly there now seems to be some evidence that an effort in this direction is occurring. But one does wonder why the back-end like support and user forums has apparently escaped any attention?

[asik1]

The fate of VS and PS is any one guess, a merge isn't an option as the core of the two is different.
If corel thinks that keeping the two is too much than it will simply drop one. The fact that MCE is the same doesn't mean much, it's just external "plugin" with in/out translation.

[TonyP]

I own both. I've own VS since X4. PS since almost forever (2002?).
I've followed Pinnacle when it was by itself and very profitable. To when Avid bought it. Pinnacle was more profitable than Avid at that time. Avid was trying to break into the consumer market. Then Avid, amid much financial problems, sold Pinnacle to Corel for less than 1/2 that they bought it for.
Corel ended legacy Studio, which was the direct competitor for VS at the time. Also, they changed the name of Avid Studio (a replacement for Avid Liquid, Pinnacle's pro editor and direct competitor to Avid's Media Composer) to Pinnacle Studio.

They both appeal to different groups of editors. The interface and way of editing is different. Pinnacle, more of a "pro" editor, editing with overlays being over the video, and VS more of a consumer oriented editor, editing the way the rest of the consumer editors do. Overlays under the main video.

There has been some overlapping of features, and probably will continue into the future. And I am sure that there probably is a merging of programming resources going on. But so far, Corel has stated that these two products will remain separate.
This is from Michel Yavercovski, Senior Director of Product Management for Corel’s video products.

Michel Yavercovski: First, it’s important to note that Pinnacle Studio is very different from where it was when we acquired it. Versions 16 to 20 are based on the product previously known as Avid Studio and took a huge leap ahead in terms of features and editing power. We acknowledge that in the past, users had concerns regarding product quality. The entire team felt it and we invested in fixing this by working directly with the community to not only hear their concerns, but fix them. Product development went through a huge philosophical change, moving to a release cycle with frequent updates so we could address any issues as quickly as possible. We also turned to the community and engaged them in improving the product. We added a voluntary User Experience Improvement Program that enabled us to characterize the source of many problems. And on top of regular fix updates, we also started to add new features through the life-cycle. We also strengthened our customer support significantly. We have since seen the differences this had made to our users, and see the comments in our forums, online comments and in reviews. We’re very proud of what we’ve done with this program, continue to invest in development and support, and are always open to suggestions.

DIYVideoEditor: Given that Corel already have a consumer level or amateur level video editor in VideoStudio Pro what do you see as being the main points of separation between the two. Why would a person choose Pinnacle over VideoStudio or vice versa?

Michel Yavercovski: VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio, although both video editors, target very different users. VideoStudio’s focus has always been creativity and being easy to use. The experience is very intuitive, and users can easily and quickly create videos from templates, easy drag and drop, and an intuitive user face. VideoStudio is popular for the casual video hobbyist and first time editors – but it also surprises users with its power and ability to do more as the user becomes more experienced. Pinnacle Studio is without question a more powerful, precise and sophisticated editor. It enables users to get closer to pro results. We are the first to acknowledge that its capabilities make it more challenging to learn. It gives you more opportunities to customize and has more power under the hood. With options to customize and achieve precise editing, Pinnacle Studio attracts the experienced video editors who are looking for power, precision and specific editing capabilities. Interestingly, with VideoStudio, we sell more of our simpler and less expensive version, VideoStudio Pro – users are looking to get their foot in the door, and don’t necessarily care about the added bells and whistles in Ultimate. But for Pinnacle Studio, we sell primarily the Ultimate version. Actually, we sell more Ultimate versions than Standard and Plus combined. I think this is telling about the differences between our typical VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio users and what they care about.

DIYVideoEditor: Simple economics would suggest that at some point Corel would be well advised to simply combine the two existing software suites into one and consolidate their own market. What do Corel intend to do with the development Pinnacle moving into the future?

Michel Yavercovski: Actually economics tell us otherwise. We’re committed to both product lines and have no plans to make them into a single video editing product. VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio are both exceptional and loved by their users. Each has characteristics that appeal to a certain kind of video editor. Plus, they’re each a market leader in different markets around the world. Yes, you may see some shared development between the products, for example with the multi-camera editor, but they will remain separate product lines that will stay true to the needs of their particular audiences.

[aljimenez]

They both appeal to different groups of editors. The interface and way of editing is different. Pinnacle, more of a "pro" editor, editing with overlays being over the video, and VS more of a consumer oriented editor, editing the way the rest of the consumer editors do. Overlays under the main video.

Hmmm, VS overlay tracks are over the main video track. Perhaps I don't know what you meant here.

However I appreciate your post of the differences and your experience.

[Ken Berry]

I think he is saying that with VS the main timeline track is at the top, and the overlay tracks appear below the main track. Whereas, with Pinnacle -- and IIRC pro editors like Premiere -- the overlay tracks are at the top and the main timeline is down in the middle somewhere, above the audio timelines... I'm talking about the GUI of the program with the preview screen appearing in the top half of the screen and the various timelines filling the bottom half.

[TonyP]

Yes, what Ken said about overlay tracks. They are placed over the main video track, hence the meaning overlay. Titles go over, not under the main video. Same with PiP, etc.. Anything you want to be placed on top of a video is placed above it.
BTW, an audio track can be under or over a video, or even on the same track after the video in Pinnacle. Any track can handle any type of asset. Tracks are not assigned to say, titles or audio. You can have as many audio tracks as you like, and place them anywhere you want in relation to the main video track.

A little FYI.... Jan Piros, product manager, worked on Avid Studio before coming to Corel. It's a small world.