Cheap PINNACLE SYSTEMS Express DV ( Windows PC ) (Electronics) Price

To take advantage of Pinnacle Studio's super-fast FireWire transfers, you'll need to ensure your video source (camcorder or VCR) is fitted with a DV port. If it is, you're in business. Begin by installing the FireWire DV capture card inside your PC, much as you would a new video or sound card. Once the hardware is in place, install the Pinnacle Studio software and connect your video source via the enclosed FireWire-to-DV cable.

Although it may take days and perhaps weeks to become truly proficient--as exemplified by the program's 300-page manual--Pinnacle Studio should have you tweaking your footage within minutes. Its intuitive and extremely polished interface, generous Help section, slick tutorial, and massive online FAQ section are superb rookie aids. Unfortunately, you'll be far better off asking specific questions via e-mail than through the company's telephone support lines, where hold times can be very long indeed.

Pinnacle Studio has been designed to look both elegant and visually appealing. It is divided into three main elements--Capture, Edit, and Make Movie. To upload a video, merely click the Start Capture command in the Capture interface. Control your video device by clicking various buttons on the program's large camcorder icon, and formulate edits on a large filmstrip spread across the bottom of the Edit screen. Pinnacle has smartly hidden secondary functions in pop-up windows to keep the screen uncluttered and easy to navigate.

The program offers several perks not found in other budget editors. When a video is uploaded, it automatically deciphers each new scene and creates a corresponding thumbnail which may then be dragged and dropped to any position on the filmstrip. Screen transitions can be dragged and dropped too, as can titles and sound effects such as music or voice-overs. If you want to deviate from the prefabricated special effects, Pinnacle Studio allows you to modify or create your own from scratch. For pinpoint edits, you'll want to access the Timeline view, wherein you'll see an exacting second-by-second account of every video frame and every special effect you've added. Furthermore, the program helps conserve valuable hard drive space by converting your full DV-quality video to a more economical format for editing purposes, then re-converting it back to DV quality for the final product.

Veteran moviemakers may find some of the enclosed special effects to be rather basic, but anyone new to video editing will undoubtedly have a blast turning their homegrown movies into dynamic works of art, saving them in any number of video formats, and perhaps even sharing them at the Pinnacle Web site. At less than double the price of many standalone FireWire cards, Pinnacle Studio is a multifaceted yet user-friendly solution that makes movie production both fun and rewarding. --Gordon Goble