For the first time in ages there's something to get genuinely excited about
in the world of home movie making.
High definition (HD) has been a term that both camcorder manufacturers and
software developers - including
Pinnacle
- have been bandying around for ages.
But with HD hardware prices obscenely high and technology stuck in a strange
in-between stage, it has been hard for even the most enthusiastic videographer
to take the plunge.
Now, however, there are newer, more promising HD technologies coming into
play (such as the H.264-based AVCHD format championed by Sony and Panasonic),
while HD camcorders like Sony's HDR-UX3 are finally starting to look slightly
more affordable.
The latest version of Studio 11 - Pinnacle's home-use video-editing
application - can, of course, be used with standard-definition miniDV, DVD and
analogue camcorders. It can even be used to cut something together from the
blurry mess you filmed on your camera phone should you so wish. But HD is
clearly where Studio 11's heart is.
On the surface Studio doesn't seem to have changed a great deal. Vista users
will find that the application's interface now works properly with Aero (unlike
the previous version of Studio), though this is little more than a cosmetic
concern.
Other than that, Pinnacle seems to have stuck with its tried-and-tested
three-tab (Capture, Edit and Make Movie) layout, which is a perfectly logical
way of managing a movie project and keeps the screen relatively clean and
uncluttered. The workspace is now scalable, however, meaning that users of
widescreen monitors can take advantage of the shape of their display.
Do you agree?
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