Pinnacle Studio version 12 ReadMe

Pinnacle a division of Avid -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Congratulations! You are about to enter the world of professional quality movie making. If you encounter any issues when working with Studio, Studio Plus or Studio Ultimate version 12, please read the manual and this text.

Technical Notes 1. Updates When you run Studio or Studio Plus you may be prompted to install an update to the software. We strongly recommend you go through this update procedure as it will enhance your Studio experience. You can also get the latest update from http://www.pinnaclesys.com/support 2. Studio SmartMessenger Tool Studio has a built-in tool called SmartMessenger. This tool informs you of the latest Studio updates and insures that you get the best performance out of your application. This tool also gathers performance and stability statistics from your Studio program. This information is used for statistical analysis and helps Pinnacle make a better program. This report does not contain any personal information about you or your system. If you wish to disable the auto-run of Smart Messenger, you may do so by selecting Help / Software Updates within Studio and choosing Prompt before checking for updates. If your system is not connected to the Internet, we recommend you regularly check to see if an update is available from http://www.pinnaclesys.com/support. 3. Graphics System Test Studio and Studio Plus use the GPU on your graphics board for real-time video processing and playback, so they are heavily dependant on the graphics hardware as well as the display driver version. The first time Studio is run, it will check the capabilities of your graphics board and driver. In some cases, you may be instructed to update your display driver or graphics board. 4. Graphic Board Memory Studio uses the Graphics board to render effects. The video resolutions that may be edited are determined by the amount of memory on the graphics board: Windows XP 64MB Standard Definition video only 128MB HD up to 720p 256MB HD up to 1080 i/p Windows Vista 128MB Standard Definition video only 256MB HD up to 1080 i/p Using a board with more memory than rated above may increase the performance in

HD. For the best experience with HD and using multiple Plug-Ins, we recommend using a 512MB graphic board. Some graphic boards reserve 16MB of memory for internal use so it may not be possible to edit video at the expected resolution. For example, an NVIDIA Quadro board with 128MB may only be capable of SD editing and a Quadro with 256 MB may only be capable of editing HD up to 720p. Shared Memory Graphics cards that do not have their own dedicated memory and instead use the systems main RAM are not capable of HD editing. This includes Intel onboard graphics (i845, i860, i915, i940) and nVidia TurboCache graphics cards. 5. Monitor Resolutions Below 1024x768 Studio 12 does not support resolutions lower than 1024x768. If your monitor is lower than this resolution, you will see scrollbars on the sides of the Studio interface. 6. Using content from previous Studio versions within Studio 12 The Studio 12 Installer home screen includes the Content Transfer tool which moves existing content from Studio 10 or Studio 11 installations so it can be used with Studio 12. This tool will gather and organize titles, video and sound effects, transitions, DVD menus, Plug-Ins, music and other content custom created or purchased from eStore or other sources. Before starting the transfer process, it is required that Studio 12 be installed. For the best user experience, we also recommend that you leave your previous version of Studio 10 or Studio 11 on the system prior to installing Studio 12 and running the Content Transfer wizard. After installing Studio 12, please click on the Transfer Content button on the main installer page and follow the instructions. The Content Transfer Tool is also available from the Start Menu after Studio 12 has been installed. 7. Opening Old Projects in Studio 12 When opening older project files in Studio 12, a project format conversion will take place. You will be asked if you would like to create a backup version of your original project. To access the backup, simply open the version of Studio that you used to create the original project and import the backup file. For example, if your project is named My Movie 1.stx your backup will be named My Movie 1 BACKUP.stx. The default location for these backup files is in the Windows personal Documents folder: / Pinnacle Studio / My Projects. 8. Editing with AVCHD Files AVCHD is the latest High Definition format for consumer camcorders. It is based on the H.264 codec and offers high compression with minimal quality loss. The result is small, great-looking HD video files, but at the cost of a more complex compression scheme requiring more processor power and system memory. Please ensure you meet the minimum system requirement below:

Systems requirements: Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz or higher, 2.66 GHz for the AVCHD 1920x1080 format 2 GB system memory DirectX 9 or 10 compatible graphics card with 256 MB or higher Windows XP requires a UDF 2.5 driver to recognize an AVCHD DVD (or BD disc) When editing an AVCHD production, project complexity has a major impact on how the system performs. Please take note of the following when working with AVCHD projects: When importing AVCHD clips into the Album, thumbnails may take longer to render than thumbnails from other SD and HD codecs. When adding transitions between AVCHD clips, a preview may not be seen until background rendering has completed. When using Montage themes or when adding a picture-in-picture effect (using the overlay track), a preview may not be seen until background rendering has completed. An exclamation point in the Preview window may appear, indicating that background render has not yet completed. Motion backgrounds in DVD menus or chapter thumbnails are NOT recommended when creating a DVD. Higher performance with low resolution preview and Mpeg-2 preview rendering. (Setup/Video and Audio Preferences/Enable full-resolution preview = unchecked; Background rendering: set to Mpeg-2 preview). Higher performance with disabled background rendering: You may enable it only for finishing the project. (Setup/Video and Audio Preferences/Enable background rendering = unchecked). Important notice for playback AVCHD discs: Please do not insert AVCHD discs into any device that does not support the AVCHD standard. The discs may not be ejected or the device may delete data on the disc after displaying a message prompting to reformat the disc. 9. Capture Devices Studio should work with most DirectShow compatible capture devices. If you experience difficulties using a particular capture device, please test the device using AM Capture (found in Studio/Tools). If the device does not work properly with AM Capture, it is not DirectShow compatible and can not be used with Studio. Capture from the DV500/Studio Deluxe (AV/DV1) card is not supported. This card is not a DirectShow card. The DC10 card is not supported under Windows Vista TV tuner devices are not supported for direct capture within Studio 12. Please use the application coming with your TV tuner product for capturing, and then import the file into Studio 12. 3rd party hardware is not supported within Studio 12

10. HDV, DV and Digital 8 Camcorder Support If you receive an error message from Studio when you switch to capture mode, you may have to make a special setting in Windows to support your camcorder. From Windows

device manager, select the "1394 Bus Controller" device (OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller) and click the "Properties" button. Go to the "Settings" tab. Check the box labeled "Support Non-Compliant Devices". Restart your computer. Windows should now detect your camcorder when it is plugged in and load the appropriate DV camcorder drivers. 11. DV to MPEG Transcode at Capture DV to MPEG transcode at capture is dependent on CPU speed and may not be possible with CPUs slower than 2 GHz 12. Dropped Frames During Capture When capturing video, the player window displays a "Frames dropped" counter. If this counter shows any value other than zero, it means frames of your video will be missing. A large number of dropped frames will result in poor quality video and audio output (choppy results). Dropped frames may be the result of poor computer system performance, often related to hard drive or graphics performance. If your system is dropping frames due to poor graphics performance, you may be able to solve this by turning off video preview during capture. To do this, go into the Capture menu in Studio and turn off the option "Capture preview". (When the option is turned off, no checkmark will appear next to it in the menu.) Try your capture again, noting the number of dropped frames for signs of improvement. 13. MovieBox and 700-USB capture products: Multiple Capture Sources Do not connect source camcorders and/or VCRs to USB-700 or MovieBox Deluxe 1394/FireWire and analog inputs at the same time. Always disconnect one device before connecting another. 14. Connecting or removing USB 2.0 devices during capture The Pinnacle MovieBox and MovieBox Plus devices require high performance from the USB 2.0 bus while performing Studio analog video capture or playback operation. It is recommended that other USB 2.0 devices such as disk drives and digital or video cameras not be added or be removed from the bus during a capture or playback, as this may cause a disruption in the video stream. It is not recommended to capture to a disk drive which is connected to the same bus as the capture device. 15. Playing Video on a Second Display On some displays, video may show an incorrect aspect ratio (e.g. vertically zoomed or squashed video) or be shifted off-center. This is caused by some monitors using lower refresh rates. To correct this, set your monitors refresh rate to 50Hz. If that setting is not available, adjust the monitors Scan Timing. 16. SVCD Discs and 16:9 Widescreen Format The specification for SVCD discs does not support 16:9 format videos. If you wish to encode your video into 16:9 and author onto an SVCD, you must manually change the aspect ratio of your display device in order to view the material in the correct widescreen format. 17. WMV Export under Windows XP WMV export with Studio12 under Windows XP may cause an issue if a Windows Media

Player older than version 11 is installed. Please update the Windows Media Player to version 11 or higher. 18. High Resolution Images Studio provides a mode for scaling images to an adequate size for use within projects. If you want to use an image in full size within Studio 12, please rename the image file by adding _HQ between the file name and the file suffix. As an example: rename image001.jpg to image001_HQ.jpg. Please keep in mind that using full sized images imply a higher memory usage and potentially lower performance. 19. Scorefitter Volume with a 5.1 Soundcard under Vista When you are using a 5.1 audio card under Windows Vista and you connect just two loudspeakers, the playback volume of a Scorefitter song can be lower in the project than it is in the Album. 20. Pinnacle Video Transfer Files in Instant DVD Recorder If you intend to use files captured with Pinnacle Video Transfer in the Instant DVD Recorder, please make sure that you have the Mpeg-4 codec pack activated within Studio 12. The activation is free and just requires an internet connection. To initiate the activation, use any Mpeg-4 function, such as the Make Movie tab by clicking the File button and selecting Mpeg-4 for export. In so doing, the Pinnacle Video Transfer codec will also be available for Instant DVD Recorder.