several projects on DVD

[Callum Ross]

Hi

I have Pinnacle Studio 9 however can only burn one project at a time. Is
there a way to burn several projects onto one DVD. I previously used Roxio
and this was a standard feature but cannot workout whether it is possible
with Pinnacle

Thanks

Cal

[Tetractys]

Is there a way to burn several projects
onto one DVD.

I create projects in Studio, but use
Nero to burn them.

[TIM CAYWOOD]

Why do you use Nero instead of the handy built-in power of Studio?

When I did a comparison of some DV video mixed with still digital picture
photos I got much better fidelity on my DVDs when I used Studio. The still
pictures were especially nice in Studio. Nero made them very contrasty and
harsh. Looked like Nero had applied some kind of excessive sharpening to the
images. Got the same kind of sharpening effect with a cheap little program
called OnDVD by Dazzle.

But then I had Nero do the rendering too, so maybe it wouldn't have that
effect if I used Studio to render. But then why? It's just one more button
click in Studio instead of messing around with the cobbled together Nero
interface.

I also like being able to render to a file on the hard drive and burn a
DVD-RW before making the final burn.

But to the question for Tetractys. I'm not sure what your problem is. Of
course you can burn several projects. You just slap them onto the time line
and go. Are you trying to merge different Studio projects. You mean like the
*.stu files that are behind the project? That would be a pretty slick thing
if it could be done. Anybody know about doing this?

If the projects are truly "authored" with menus and stuff I don't see how
you could merge them. If they are just straight play-through videos, then
you could do all of your titles, music, dissolves, etc. and burn them into
AVI files from within Studio and then put those files on the timeline of a
new project. You could then create a menu system for the individual AVI
files. Hmm. Hope this helps.

Post by Tetractys

Is there a way to burn several projects
onto one DVD.

I create projects in Studio, but use
Nero to burn them.

[Tetractys]

Post by TIM CAYWOOD
Why do you use Nero instead of the
handy built-in power of Studio?

Because two of the handy built-in features
of Studio are crashes and frozen rendering.

Post by TIM CAYWOOD
Nero made them very contrasty and harsh. Looked like Nero had applied
some kind of excessive sharpening to the images.

I agree. The image resolution with Nero
is not as good, and I also agree about
the cobbled Nero interface.

But with Nero, I always achieve a good
rendering. With Pinnacle, it's a crapshoot.
A very time-wasting frustrating crapshoot.

I use Studio pretty much only for capturing
and editing of small sections of video.

I then render them to DV tape and to AVI,
in short -- about 5 minutes to 10 minutes max --
chapters.

To make a VHS tape, I copy the short DV
renderings serially. To make a DVD, I add
the chapters to a Nero project, and burn it
out of Nero.

I never use Studio for long projects, for
DVD rendering, or for any complicated
mixture of titles, transitions, or plug-ins
(like StageTools, etc.)

Why? Because my experience over a long
period of time with Studio is that while it has
a terrific interface, it is so poorly executed and
so buggy that it's not worth the time to trust it
for anything other than a simple 5-minute scene.

[TIM CAYWOOD]

Hi again Tetractys,

Hmm. Sorry to hear you're having problems with Studio. I constantly make
near hour long DVDs from mostly my Canon DV camcorder, but also mix with
analogue video from a JVC S-VHS VCR, and a mix of still photos from five
different digital cameras of all resolutions.

My projects are not state of the art, but are full of menus, titles, J-cuts,
L-cuts, various audio tracks, and all kinds of dissolve effects. Been with
the program since Version 7. I think many people had problems with early
releases of Version 8, but is ran great after about the second set of
updates. For me, Version 9 was perfect right out of the box. My update to
Version 9 Plus went well and am going to be trying out many of the new
features.

SUGGESTIONS. I read this little newsgroup and one other about Pinnacle
products, but you'll find the most useful information in places like:

http://wboard.pinnaclesys.com/
http://www.mikeshaw.co.uk/index.htm (check out his "Links" page)

There are a number of things that you need to do to your computer to have a
successful video editing system. There are also some pretty steep hardware
requirements. Frankly, since I and tens of thousands of others can use
Studio with great success tends to argue for the fact that the software will
successfully do everything that is intended when set up properly on an
adequate hardware platform. I would suggest that you investigate this avenue
in resolving the problems you are having. Believe me Tetractys (and anyone
reading), I absolutely delight in working with Studio and learning more from
the community of users that I find on the internet.

As a side note, I just came through sinus surgery and am home now working
with Studio to help keep my mind off the pain. Now I guess that is sick. :)
Good luck, and I hope I've been a little help and encouragement to you.

Post by Tetractys

Post by TIM CAYWOOD
Why do you use Nero instead of the
handy built-in power of Studio?

Because two of the handy built-in features
of Studio are crashes and frozen rendering.

Post by TIM CAYWOOD
Nero made them very contrasty and harsh. Looked like Nero had applied
some kind of excessive sharpening to the images.

I agree. The image resolution with Nero
is not as good, and I also agree about
the cobbled Nero interface.
But with Nero, I always achieve a good
rendering. With Pinnacle, it's a crapshoot.
A very time-wasting frustrating crapshoot.
I use Studio pretty much only for capturing
and editing of small sections of video.
I then render them to DV tape and to AVI,
in short -- about 5 minutes to 10 minutes max --
chapters.
To make a VHS tape, I copy the short DV
renderings serially. To make a DVD, I add
the chapters to a Nero project, and burn it
out of Nero.
I never use Studio for long projects, for
DVD rendering, or for any complicated
mixture of titles, transitions, or plug-ins
(like StageTools, etc.)
Why? Because my experience over a long
period of time with Studio is that while it has
a terrific interface, it is so poorly executed and
so buggy that it's not worth the time to trust it
for anything other than a simple 5-minute scene.