Software and Games : Pinnacle : CD & DVD Creation

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Software and Games : Pinnacle : CD & DVD Creation

• Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD 8.0

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)

  
  Designed as a general-purpose application suite for anybody with a CD or DVD recorder, Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD 8.0 consolidates Pinnacle's Instant applications behind a new interface.

  This is a pretty comprehensive suite of programs designed to handle most of the things you might want to record onto a CD or DVD. The easiest way to approach it is from the starter screen, which offers four tabs for the different kinds of task you might want to complete: Create, Copy, Media and Extras. All the applications have been given a new look, reminiscent of the Apple Aqua interface.

  The Create button leads to four options for creating data, audio and MP3 discs under Instant Disc and VideoCDs and DVDs under Expression. Instant Disc works in a similar way to Nero or Easy CD, and makes it easy to save things to recordable discs by dragging and dropping files or audio tracks. Expression is a very basic video editor, which enables you to split and join sections of digital video, add a front-end menu and burn the results to a VideoCD or DVD.

  The Copy functions of Instant CD/DVD 8 are handled by Instant Copy and Instant Backup, and cover copy, back-up and restore. Instant Copy does just that, copying non-protected CDs or DVDs from one disc to another. You can also create a disc image to hold on your hard drive for super-fast access through Instant Drive. Instant Backup offers little extra over and above the backup program supplied with Windows.

  Media functions are provided by Instant Audio and Instant Music. Instant Audio handles the compilation of MP3, Wave, Aiff, Real Audio and WMA files, recorded from a variety of different audio sources. It also supports the new MP3Pro format, which halves the size of MP3 files while maintaining their audio quality.

  Instant Music is a drag-and-drop sample sequencer, where you can pull together music in up to 16 stereo tracks. One hundred high-quality wav samples are supplied, all in a strong techno idiom. Samples from other sources should work, too.

  Extras include Instant Write, which sits as an icon on your desktop for you to drag files over to burn them directly to CD or DVD, and Instant Cinema, which plays DVD movies in the same way as WinDVD or PowerDVD. --Simon Williams

  
   

• Pinnacle Instant PhotoAlbum

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)

  
  The main function of Pinnacle Instant PhotoAlbum is to produce slideshows of your digital photographs, which you can dress up with a front-end menu and burn to a VideoCD or DVD. Before committing them to disc, though, you can touch up your images using the program's photo editor.

  You start by creating a photo album (a collection of images), which you can build by selecting photos from where they're stored on disk, from a digital camera attached to your PC or from a scanner. The individual shots are shown as a series of 35 mm slide-sized thumbnails on the screen.

  Double-clicking on any of these images launches the program's built-in photo editor and this is the most comprehensive part of the application. At the base level it offers the most obvious tools as single click operations. Here you can rotate your images, adjust contrast and brightness, correct "red-eye" and apply any of a series of filters.

  If this doesn't offer quite enough control, you can move to the Advanced Edit function, where you can perform more detailed corrections, including colour balance, focus and resizing. For more sophisticated adjustment still, the Artwork option on the sidebar calls up tools for applying different textures to the canvas of your photo, edge adjustments, text and a good selection of special effects.

  Surprisingly, there's very little in the way of printing templates to get the most out of expensive inkjet photo paper. Most programs of this type offer a variety of different print layouts and sizes, so you can select and print images just the way you want them.

  VideoCD and DVD slideshows are Instant PhotoAlbum's strength and you can choose from 46, themed front-end menus, covering topics such as sport, parties, holidays and other events which are likely to have got you snapping. You can add music and simple transitions to your slideshows and burn them straight to disc without having to involve any third-party programs.

  Currently included with the package is a labelling kit, consisting of a Neato jig for lowering a blank CD or DVD onto its sticky label. A label and case insert are provided for you to try out. --Simon Williams

  
   

• Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)

  
  
   

• Pinnacle Studio Moviebox Deluxe Version 9

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)

  
  
   

• Pinnacle Instant Copy 8

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)

  
  Pinnacle Instant Copy 8 is a comprehensive DVD and CD copying program that can even copy a DVD to a series of VideoCD discs. It won't flout copyright protection schemes, though.

  In essence, this is a single function program--it copies DVDs and CDs. However, it sets out to make the process as simple as possible and to offer as many combinations of copy as there are configurations of PC. So, for instance, you can copy a DVD to a recordable or rewriteable DVD, to multiple CDs or to an image on a hard drive. When copying to another DVD or CD, you can copy on-the-fly or by using a hard drive file as an intermediary.

  At a basic level, Instant Copy 8 is very easy to use. Its modest operating window simply asks you to select the source and destination devices for the copy and then to click start. For many copies you won't need to change any of the default or automatic selections. Although the copy may take a while to complete, over an hour for a DVD at the standard compression setting, you can safely leave it unattended to get on with the job.

  You can copy a typical dual-layer DVD to a DVD rewriter, using any of the current standards, such as DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD RAM, or to a DVD recorder such as DVD+R or DVD-R. Similarly, you can copy CD material to CD-R or CD-RW discs.

  If you want more control over a copy or to use a slightly more unusual combination of source and destination devices, a quick click on the Advanced button opens up five tabs of options. These provide control of copy method, of preferred destination and transfer mode for DVDs and CDs, and of read and write methods for the copy.

  New features of version 8 include support for BURNproof and Justlink technologies, which insure against running out of data while writing a CD-R. Version 8 also offers faster copying. This is achieved by a new High Speed Mode that compresses the data on a DVD up to four times faster than the normal High Quality mode, at the expense of some loss of quality. For more flexibility, you can also choose to copy just the main movie from a DVD, and exclude all the extras and bonus tracks. --Simon Williams

  
   

• Pinnacle Instant VideoAlbum

  Pinnacle Systems (UK)