Pinnacle Edition Info

[Gary Bettan]

I went to the Pinnacle launch event last week for Edition. Things are about to get really exciting. Some of you (especially those in Europe) may be a bit familiar with what was Fast Studio DV. Edition is the next evolution of the product. Here are just a few of the features I like best:

Interface.
Like Xpress DV, the interface is fully customizable. So you get to set up the workspace the way you want it, and you can add your own icon shortcuts to the interface.

Background rendering.
With Edition you never have to stop working and watch the hourglass. The app is constantly rendering your projects. You can keep on editing, or send an email, or surf the web, or go into Photoshop etc. It is fully multi-threaded and on a dual Xeon system most basic FX will render as fast or faster then the time it takes to play the clips. Once rendered in the background, your timeline will export out DV. No additional rendering needed.

Instant Save.
Every 30th of a second. All your work is saved. Spill coffee on the keyboard or pull out the plug - come back and everything is restored exactly as you left it.

Video trimming.
The video on the trim window is beautiful and smooth. The frame advance is phenomenal. You can trim a clip right on the timeline and the project will ripple as needed.

Pinnacle enhancements.
TitleDeko for titling, Hollywood FX for 3D transitions. Excellent compositing and layering tools plus you'll be able to move video seamlessly between Edition and Commotion. Down the road you'll see even more integration with Pinnacle other software apps and hardware.

DVD integration.
Edition will ship with the complete Impressions DVD Pro for authoring. You can also burn to DVD directly fromt he timeline.

Price.
Pinnacle's got a $699.95 target retail. I'll have more info for you guys once I get a copy in here to bang on. Pinnacle will be showing Edition to the public at DV Expo in NYC end of June. Product will be shipping sometime this summer. Platform wars are banned here - but the war is on for your next NLE application. And Pinnacle's got a new weapon in it's arsenal. It's going to be a fun summer!

Gary

[Adrian Douglas]

I'll be interested to see how well it will work with the DV500. I've been using that card since it came out and with Premiere it hasn't been the best.

[Chris Hurd]

Many thanks Gary,

I think it will be very interesting to combine Edition with a standard OHCI FireWire card on a honkin' fast Athlon-powered box. You're right -- a fun summer is on the way!