rcataldo

I have been using Pinnacle Studio 8 for over a year and now Studio 9. I use Studio to manage my video productions and create the final MPG movies. From VHS and High 8, I use a Dazzle (USB 2.0) to capture the movies directly to Studio. From my GL2, it works seemlessly via direct firewire. Studio (8 or 9) handles the incorporation of images relatively well. The one negative thing is that you cannot preset the image time, therefore all images import at the same time interval... not a problem for a few pictures, but it is for several hundred. Studio 8 works much better if you change the image size for TV use prior to using them... you don't need 6MP images in your movie. I like the graphical interface of Studio.. simple enough, yet has power when you need it. I teach video production classes and use Studio as the primary tool. I don't care for it's DVD production tool (in 8 or 9). It does not allow for the freedom of production that I want. I use Sonic DVDit for the final DVD menu interface and build of the DVD files. Then I use Nero to manage the DVD writing. I have used PTE for many years. Unfortunately most customers want to see their pictures incorporated with Video on their DVD player. I don't get many requests for computer-based slide shows. Therefore, I use Nero Professional and turned my PC tower into a 4 DVD burner factory. A couple words of advice... * I run approx 1.2 Terabytes of storage. You will never be able to keep all the encoded video on a hard drive. I encode all video video Studio to MPEG files (not AVI) to conserve on storage space. * Make sure you have at least a 4x DVD burner as it will save you a lot of time. They are only $92 (You can get a LiteOn drive via NewEgg). * Copy all the original video and the Studio project files to one DVD, copy the final movies files to another DVD, then copy the DVD production files to a DVD. If you have to make more copies or edit the movie later, you will have stored all that you need. (note that you may be able to store all your files on one data DVD, but that is rare if you are producing videos with more than an hour of content). I hope this helps... RC

I personally use Photoshop Elements (PE) to improve the image quality. Jasc PA4 has some options to do this as well, but it is not as accurate as PE. I was originally commenting on the image management issue to get the images resorted, resized, and renamed. My actual workflow from my D60 to PTE is more like the following after a wedding... D60 RAW -> CF Reader -> Mindstor Backup (onsite) and PC (home) -> Breezebrowser Raw conversion to 16Bit TIFF -> Photoshop Elements to improve image quality in TIFF format (30MB image size) -> Jasc PSP batch TIFF to JPG (highest quality) in new directory (2.5MB image size) -> Jasc Aftershot (now PA4) resize to new directory (high image quality, 1280 x 1024) (150K image size), reorder, rename -> PTE -> produce CD -> erase intermediate files not necessary -> Back up all remaining project files to Firewire drive and DVD drive. I know that some people may have a problem with the above workflow, but I found the combination to be very fast, very reliable, produces exceptional image quality, and is completely customizable at any stage if the need arises. Keeping 500 original TIFFs at 30MB each is difficult. I keep the RAW+ the Large JPG files + files use for PTE. Everything else I can redo later from RAW if needed. I hope this helps. Renato

dilemmania: "do you mean the program has the feature of dragging and dropping all the viewed thumb nails into a selected order, then you can batch rename them in this order?" The answer is yes! I simply rearrange the images in the window by dragging them around. I have had several hundred in the window at one time. When I am ready, I simply batch rename and the order is all set. The program also preserves the EXIF data if you need it later. I know JASC updated the product and name to Photo Album 4 last month, but I have yet to get it. From the examples, it is the same application with a few additions. I also think they changed the name to keep up with the Adobe Photoshop Album application. If you intend use it with a lot of large files, just keep in mind the workflow I recommended. I tend to resize the group of photos into a new directory before I play around with the order. // Renato //

The perfect slide sorter? Easy and cheap! My workflow is as such... I use Jasc Aftershot (www.jasc.com) to do two things... 1) Batch resize all the images I need into a new directory. It allows me to change the quality of the JPG and size them all in one batch. I shoot with a D60 and G3. I usually target my PTE presentations to be approx. 1280 x 1024 at high quailty JPG. That reduces the file size from 3 MB to approx. 200K each. 2) I visually arrange the new images in the order I want in Aftershot. Aftershot has an option to batch rename all the images selected (e.g., "SmithWedding001"...to..XXX ) in the order presented. 3) I can then open PTE and basically select all the files in that final directory.... make a few PTE adjustments, add some music, etc. and I am finished. Assuming a minimal set of image adjustments, one can go through the workflow above in 3-5 minutes. Have a good day. Renato