Pinnacle Studio Reviews 199

It's incredibly slow, hard to navigate, and it constantly screws up commands. Often when you enter one command, it will perform a different and sometimes completely unrelated action. For example, I've noticed that it will sometimes arbitrarily cut the file at a random spot; and nothing will undo that action. You will be forced to exit the project completely and re-import the original video file if this happens. This program is absolutely infuriating to use, and it's a total waste of money. DO NOT BUY.

I bought this software because of the features it "has". Everytime I used the software, it was worst than pulling teeth with the sluggish performance & random bugs. I thought it was my computer and because it was time for a new one, I bought a much faster laptop. The sluggish behavior is gone but the software is terrible. I'm unable to view clips in the timeline. Tried several other movie viewers and they played the clips just fine. Pinnacle's Customer service is horrible. Please do not waste your time & money on software that seems to have been created by amateurs. Corel has a massive database for customers who have problems with the software, their Customer Service takes 3 days to respond and they will ask for your winaudit/msinfo32 reports only to ask you to re-install several days later, which never fixes my problems. I will not buy another movie editing software without looking for the clues that Corel/Pinnacle have shown, they're not serious about providing a quality product - I would say it's very disrespectful to offer this kind of trash to a marketplace.

I have been a Pinnacle user since rev 17 and put up with many years of unstable, crashing and unintuitive product. The problem being I had so much movie material committed to the Pinnacle environment, so I just hoped when each new rev came out it may, just may, get better. Once it seemed to, around rev 20 and then, like other reviewers I was badgered to upgrade and Rev 22 just seemd to be OK - and then it suddenly reverted to the old time bad performance, particularly the clunky editor that just didn't seem to want to work, everything cringingly slow, unpredictable and unstable. I tried all the usual clean ups like Register maintenance and cleaning up old files but to no avail. So, one last try - I upgraded to rev 25 and first time I fired it up - all the old problems, excruciatingly slow, unpredictable, text editor that doesn't work and 'features' that just seem to be about more functionality at any cost.
Just totally unprofessional and Corel ought to know better.
I am now looking around for a more straighforward and stable video editor.

I have owned Pinnacle Studio 23 Ultimate for a couple of years now and I say can't recommend it.
It is possible to produce some ok videos, but it is an unusual painful process.

I have used music editing software for decades and consider myself a poweruser in these type of timeline editing programs. My audio workstation software just works. All effort goes into creativity and zero into dealing with bad software. This is how a good creative tool should be. This is unfortunately not the Pinnacle experience.

There are certainly many features in Pinnacle, but most of them feel like they are made for checking boxes in the marketing material. The priority is on quantity, not quality and the UI choices are often odd.
Despite all the features I have three major frustrations with Pinnacle:

1. It is unusually unstable and buggy.
It crashes often and basic editing, like trimming clips and moving clips around is frustratingly buggy. The playback cursor often jumps around in unexpected ways and moving clips around constantly throws little unpleasant surprises at you.

2. Features for basic editing is sub-par.
Most of your time editing videos is used trimming and moving clips around, but this is very difficult to do efficiently in Pinnacle.

3. Editing performance is slow
I have a fairly powerful computer, but once my project gets to a certain size, there is a constant lag with even the most basic operations. This causes many mistakes to be made that needs to be corrected.

Ultimate doesn't work. It only crashes after installed. So, I uninstall and install and crashes. I've tried downloading from the internet. It won't even load now from disc or internet. Your telephone service is the worst. I call and get do I want insurance. There's no way I have found to call and get this resolved. I am with the others, I want my money back. For the money I paid for this useless product and the 2 months I tried getting my problem resolved, I do believe I should get my money back.

Just bought studio 25 hoping for some improvement over my previous version ... what a complete waste of money and my time, it's frozen , crashed and lost me a whole afternoon simply loading video clips to the timeline , I've not even be able to attempt any editing yet , that is just insane and ridiculous , save your money and time and buy something else !

I can't believe I talked myself into buying this again. I had it years ago and it worked perfectly. I bought Pinnacle 25 and it's a nightmare. I can't preview what I'm editing and when I actually got a chance to export it it freezes. It's funny the cheaper the product the better. Shouldn't it be the other way around. Smh

Pinnacle Studio 24 has to be the worst video application ever launched. It is not possible to trust this program at all. Crashes and templates disappear and do not return even if you reinstall the program. You risk losing all the work you have done. Once I had Studio 18 which worked ok. After updating to version 24, this program is now useless. Pinnaccle 24 is a complete nightmare. Stay away.

I have been using this program for a while now and like some of the other reviews have stated.

I spend more time restarting the program than editing.

OH! but there is MORE!!! This program destroys your computer. I am not sure if it's just horrible coding, but when importing files to edit. I have LOST footage.

It's cantankerous at it's best. Saving projects should be a simple thing, but I try to reload a project. File not found. Change route directories. Corrupts the files.

Today I was editing a simple short video. Made some cuts. Saved the project. The save made the clips in the editor turn solid lime green. Audio cut out. So I close and reopen. Thinking. Boy I am glad I saved my work. OH! but It's NOT! I have NEVER had this many issues with a video editing program EVER!!

Rendered files have glitches in timing. Often they don't render correctly.

Importing files to use in the editor is wasteful and inefficent. It copies the file into a usable directory. You edit from that directory. This fills a hard drive VERY fast. Again which would be fine. If the clips were stable. I filled an external drive. Only to find those files UN - accessible. The file is there. Taking up space on the hard drive, but I will never see the footage again as there is no way of getting back to it.

Tech support is terrible. I'm just about ready to delete and learn something else.

So Pinnacle. If you are reading this. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!! I wonder if enough people have lost work to file a class action suit? Seems likely.

I have been using Pinnacle Studio for many years and upgraded to Studio 21 and had problems of crashing and issues within the programme that would not let me do things that it was meant to do. So I contacted Tech support and got what I believe to be nothing more than computer responses. So I upgraded to Studio 23. Again I am getting issues within the programme so again I seek help from tech support, same responses. Can I get a hard copy of the programme? No response. They offer to problem solve by getting into my computer, seriously question the security of do so but was prepared to, then I get a message from them after 36 hours from last contact saying I hadn't replied and therefore they thought the issue had been resolved and closed my complaint. ARE YOU SERIOUS. Your technical support is less than poor, you customer service is even less than that. I love the programme when it is working, Pitty it isnt working. Can I get my money back? Forget it it baby.

Glad to see I'm not going insane. I started with Pinnacle 17. Had absolutely no issues, loved it. Tons of features and decently simple to use. HOWEVER! knowing my love for this software, my hubby got me version 22 and yes, it crashes. All. The. Time. I have to save constantly and it got so frustrating that i stopped making videos. Literally thought it was me but obviously everyone else has this problem and it's a shame because it has soooo much potential. If i could return it i would.

Pinnacle Studio has powerful features allowing quite complex editing ... when it works. However, it crashes so much it is infuriating.

I started with Pinnacle Studio 17 a number of years ago, and it crashed a lot. I used their trick to set the priority in Windows to "High" and it performed better. Then I upgraded to Pinnacle Studio 18 when it was released in 2014. Again, lots of crashes. But it at least would let me edit for 30mins or so before crashing. After holding off for a number of years through the different versions, I finally decided to upgrade to Pinnacle Studio 25. I wish I had believed the reviews before I upgraded! It took only 5 mins to experience the first crash, while editing a very simple video. I changed the priority in Windows to "High", but this time it didn't help. I am on a powerful computer - brand new DELL laptop, 32GB ram, powerful CPU, etc. Miles above the minimum specs they recommend. But I experienced about 6 crashes over a period of 30 mins. And often between those crashes it wouldn't even play the video I was trying to edit. It would freeze for a minute or so, and then crash.

Don't buy Pinnacle Studio! They have consistently shown over many years their inability to make their video editing software stable.

On the exact same PC I have installed Filmora X. It runs flawlessly. Unfortunately Filmora X doesn't have the rich features that Pinnacle Studio has, but at least it is stable! It hasn't crashed on me once. Which just goes to show yet again that Pinnacle Studio have failed to build stability into their product, while other software companies can.

This is the worst software I think I have ever seen. The previous version I used was 11. It at least ran and I could make a video. I got ready to make another video so I thought I'd update to the latest version, hoping that at least some of the issues
in version 11 had been fixed. I purchased version 25. What a disappointment. Just the new user interface is difficult to work with, when the program actually runs. The only thing it does well is lockup and give you the hourglass of death.

I own Pinnacle Studio 20 and they kept nagging me to update to their latest version Studio 24. I paid and upgraded, their download link won't work. They have done nothing to help me and seem to think it's my fault that their program won't install. I asked them to share my screen and install it and they keep making excuses. They now want me to run a program WinAudit that produces a file that tells them every item I have on my PC and other personal information. I refused, as I'm not giving them my personal information. They now refuse to help and won't connect via phone or Chat. I have been on hold for a tech for 3.5 hours and no one answers the phone. Never deal with these people!!!

I have been using pinnacle studio for years. Each version i purchase makes me hope it will be better than the previous version. I am now on studio 24 ultimate. Each version just gets worse. If you try for help , you get a person from India who you cannot undertand. The help desk asks for all the info on your P.C. I use Autocad & various art programs. Never a problem with any of them. I am a youtube vlogger & rely on a reliable program. Anyone reading this. Please. Please do not purchase Pinnacle studio. It just does not work. It lets you edit all your video's fine & then when coming to export it crashes. My P.C is the very latest with a Octacore processor & 16gb of ram. The best graphics card & sound card. It is not the P.C at fault. It is a very bad Pinnacle program. Corel should be ashamed to sell such a bad piece of software.

I purchased Studio 24 Ultimate hoping I would be getting the best. I was wrong! I have had so many crashes with the software I am now going to throw it in the bin. The last straw was trying to import from Pinnacle Dazzle, I have spent hour and hours trying to get the damn thing to work with no success. I have checked out all the forums regarding the issue and followed every bit of advice from support. This is absolute rubbish and not fit for purpose. Before you buy this software, check the feedback on Amazon, I wish I had before buying it.

My original file type from my Sony camera is .MTS. I ran my files through Handbrake to convert to .mp4 and I no longer have ANY crashing or export problems!

You will spend more time restarting this program than actually using it. It crashes unbelievably often. More than any software ever. Total junk. And its been this way since the first version. They never fix it and just keep taking money.

I buy the program first in the store ,was pinnacle studio 24 standard, after crash and crash I buy the pinnacle studio 24 Ultimate, worst won't open , and I want my money back , I paid 100 dollars for it ,
I have windows 10 the last one and my laptop is i7 core with one terabyte of storage and 8 g of ram , this program is a pice of crab .
So I paid 69 dollars for the standard,and 99.99 for the ultimate,I lost 168 dollars with no result .
I really want my money back .