Pinnacle Studio 9

Electronics prices have been dropping to incredibly low levels lately. Devices you could only dream of a few years ago are becoming available to all segments of the population. Home video is literally becoming a mass affair along with digital photography, with prices of digital video cameras approaching CZK 10,000. Nowadays, no one is impressed by unedited footage from a camcorder copied onto a VHS tape, not to mention the fact that even these tapes are becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays, home video is already played from DVDs. Do you have a camcorder at home or are you planning to buy one soon? Don't hesitate, your children are growing up and years later you will rightly regret not filming their first steps. Do you have a video camera and a computer? After all, it is also becoming a common part of household equipment, and if you don't get one yourself, your children will surely soon force you to do so. Then it's just a short step to processing your video on your computer. As we know, a computer needs a program to work. The most suitable program is one that has a pleasant user interface, communicates well, its windows are clear and understandable, and provides good results. The programme must also be cheap. These parameters are fully met by Pinnacle Studio Plus, the program to which this book is dedicated. It tells you everything a novice user needs to know about this program. Some may argue that there are extensive manuals for this program available on the internet and that the book is useless. I don't think that's true. Tutorials are usually written in such a way that they list the individual functions of the program in the order in which they are arranged in menus and dialog boxes and describe the actions that can be performed using them. Nothing against it, but such a description is suitable for someone who knows what to look for. The text of this book is structured in exactly the opposite way. It is based on the intended action that the user intends to take with the program and directs the reader to the place where the function is launched. To this I could add what is not in the manuals - various notes and comments according to my own experience and knowledge about how the program can behave in some situations. Together, we'll take you step-by-step from the moment you bring home the recorded video to the moment you blissfully sit down in front of the TV and play your own DVD. It follows that the book is intended for beginners who may already have some experience working with computers, but may be using Pinnacle Studio for the first time. The text of the book is divided into five chapters. The first, introductory, is devoted more to theory and will not force you to do any practical tasks. However, it is necessary because it introduces you to everything you need to know. The author has also thought of those who do not have much experience with computers, and has inserted here a few paragraphs describing the basic rules of working with this device. You'll learn what video processing equipment you need, how to purchase Pinnacle Studio, and how to install it to work to your satisfaction. The second chapter is devoted to transferring video from a VHS camera or tape to a computer. It is short, but important. The success of further processing depends on the correct method of recording (digi-talization). The third chapter is the most extensive and describes editing, i.e. video editing. From the automatic project build, you can quickly get to the description of your own footage editing, which you can gradually add transitions, subtitles, still images, sound, and video and audio effects. You'll also get advice on how to edit your own video to avoid the most common transgressions against good filmmaking manners. In Chapter 4, you'll export your work, which means you'll learn how to convert your assembled project into a movie and save it to disk or send it back to your camcorder. The final chapter is then devoted entirely to the compilation of the project and the burning of the DVD. Pinnacle Studio Plus makes it relatively easy to create a disc project and burn it to disc, so you don't need any special burning programs.