Avid, represented locally by specialist distributor Phoenix Software, has released the newest version of its popular video editing software suite, Pinnacle Studio.
Pinnacle Studio 15 is one of the most complete video editing packages available, with new features, ultrafast performance, more than 2 000 effects and many other features, allowing even amateur users to easily produce amazing results instantly.
“With new capabilities, ultra-high performance and a superb collection of content, this will realise even your wildest ideas,” says Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix Software.
“The ease of use of this video editing solution is apparent from the first, with a full sample project that lets you really see what you should be building towards. Where most video editing suites simply offer tutorials and expect you to fill in the gaps, being able to see everything from chroma key to professional-quality cutting in action is a great help if you're new to video editing.”
Making movies with Pinnacle Studio 15 is done in three stages: import, editing and output. Users download the source video to the PC hard drive, and can immediately begin putting video in the desired sequence, rearranging scenes, and removing unnecessary elements. The addition of visual effects such as transitions, titles and graphics, as well as additional sound, in particular, sound effects and background music, is simple, and the software allows you to create interactive menus that allow viewers to customise the view settings when burning DVD, Blu-ray, or VCD disks.
Once the project is completed, output of the final movie recording can be done in a suitable format for any media: videotape, VCD-CD, S-VCD-ROM, DVD-ROM, a file, AVI, MPEG, RealVideo, Windows Media, etc.
New features in Pinnacle Studio 15 include a program archive/restore for backup and instant recovery, support for next-generation technologies such as DivX Plus HD (.MKV), more export options, Hollywood FX Volumes 1-3, Premium Pack Volume 2, Creative Pack Volume 1, occupational effects on the company's Red Giant, and much more.
Campbell-Young adds that what really stands out is the high quality of the effects at your disposal. “Montages, for instance, work like super-transitions, letting you import multiple clips into an animation (for instance, a pan over several Polaroids, or three vertical bars of clips that fade in and out, music video style) that look surprisingly good. The dedicated 'Effects' corner offers several impressive tweaks that you can apply to your video, but by far the best is 'Looks'. This offers a range of post-production filters to make your video stand out, from the classic day-to-night effect to faking a tilt-shift and adding a dreamy look to your movie.”
At an SRP starting at R699, Pinnacle Studio 15 is excellent value for money, offering a full-featured, HD movie editing program with all the effects and transitions most users will ever need. “Over a number of years, this home movie editing software has developed from a promising youngster with limited abilities into a flashy teenager, before blossoming into a gracious adult. Even casual or occasional users will benefit from being able to archive and restore video projects, and enthusiasts will love it,” Campbell-Young concludes.
And for those users requiring those added extras that will take a great movie project to an even higher level, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection build on this comprehensive foundation, adding extra elements such as additional effects and Dolby 5.1 encoding. In addition, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection comes with a green screen backdrop for professional special effects.
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