First let me mention that I began running S10 on a P4 1.4 ghz machine with 512 MB RAM so I know performance is not going to be optimal. The video card I have did not meet requirements so I could not do any editing. I have since bought a new one but have not yet installed. All I wanted to do for my first project was put some video on a DVD for my mother-in-law. I was able to create an MPEG-2 file and save it to the hard drive. I then tried burning it directly to DVD-R and could not read the DVD. I installed the Studio patch and then received "Export error:Real time"!!

I have since gone on the pinnacle forum and read through pages upon pages....upon pages of similar problems. I have also heard about software crashes. Apparently this has been going on for the last 2 versions with no apparent end in sight.

Is the situation as dire as I am reading on the other board? Is there any hope that this new patch coming out the end of January will help? Given the machine I have (it will be a few months before I can get a new one) and the software issues should I look for an alternative software?

Thanks for your input.

Scott

I probably write this for the millionth time: it's all up to you, not the software. I get 100 people a day who read bad reviews about Pinnacle Studio, then buy it and then complain about it. Others who got it as a gift and they can afford or are too lazy to buy something better. Others who own state-of-the-art computers (that I wish I had myself) configured so well that they're only good for surfing the net and typing documents in Word.
Pinnacle Studio is the best seller consumer NLE. I don't work for Pinnacle nor Avid, and I don't advertise for free. But believe me, I haven't had bad experiences with their software, not even in version 8 (years ago). All you have to do is read that manual and configure your system according to it. Sure, my Pinnacle Studio crashes too (occasionally), but only after I fix it I realise that, and wgy, it was my fault. And I haven't lost any project because of that.
You want something else? Go ahead and buy Premiere Elements or anything else, but don't expect miracles!

Like I eluded to in your other lecturing post. I don't expect miracles. I just expect something that will burn a DVD. I didn't even get to the editing portion of it yet. I would love to keep Studio. But it just doesn't work.

Once again, I invite you to visit the Studio 10 forum on the Pinnacle site and tell the dozens of people over there that they just don't have their computer configured properly. Maybe you can help them out.

I was simply amazed at the negative feedback on their own forums. Not a great advert, but people still buy the software because they don't know the full picture before it's too late.

I'm always of the opinion that if *you* can't get something to work the way *you* want, then it's not the product for you. SVHS has had no problems with Studio and it works for him. Premiere is my thang and it works for me.

I say find something that works for you... Don't persevere with Studio if it's not behaving for you. This is supposed to be fun, so I say download a few trials such as Edit Studio, Elements and Video Studio and decide from there.

I see nothing wrong in finding the product that works best for you - you wouldn't continue buying coke if you didn't like the taste!

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Your very first idea was "Should I waste my time with (...insert comment...)". Not exactly the phrase I would use if I insisted of getting something done.
"Lecturing" is not my thing, Scott. What I was trying to say was, as Marc actually stated, that 'if it doesn't work for you, it's probably NOT for you anyway' - so try something else and have fun.

OK Scott. As SVHS said it's not a lecture I know that he is out to help not to harm. And although he may have come over nasty he is not. Svhs was only giving his advise and experience. Like Marc and Svhs said find your self a program you like. i don't no whether you have watched harry potter but it's just like harry getting his first wand. The first ones didn't work but then he tried one and it worked for him.

I appreciate your and Marc's responses. It has nothing to do with liking the software. I would love to use it. I browsed through it and it looks great. The problem as I stated in the above post was IT DOESN'T WORK. So I was just wondering if it was worth the teaking and the aggravation that others on the Pinnacle board were experiencing to ge tit to wirk or to try something else.

On balance, I can't recommend Studio 10 based on other people's experiences. I have a copy waiting on my desk wating for review - I'll let you know how I get on once I pluck up the courage to install on one of my PCs.

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