Pinnacle Studio
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video editing software |
| Predecessor | Pinnacle Systems |
| Fate | Acquired by Corel in July 2012 |
| Headquarters | Munich (FAST Multimedia) , Germany (FAST Multimedia) |
| Products | Video editing software |
| Parent | Corel |
Pinnacle Studio is a video editing application initially created by Pinnacle Systems targeting the consumer market. Following the acquisition of Munich-based FAST Multimedia, Pinnacle incorporated FAST's professional-grade editing technology—renamed Pinnacle Liquid—beginning with Studio version 10. Ownership of the software later transferred to Avid and subsequently to Corel in July 2012. Pinnacle Studio allows users to produce video projects compatible with Video CD, DVD-Video, AVCHD, and Blu-ray formats, including the ability to design menus and burn discs.
In late 2007, Pinnacle launched VideoSpin, a shareware variant featuring a reduced set of functionalities, which was discontinued in March 2009.
Versions
Starting from version 9, Studio has been available in multiple editions: Studio, Studio Plus, and from version 11 onward, Studio Ultimate, all of which are commercial products. The Plus and Ultimate versions offer enhanced capabilities such as a secondary video track that supports Overlay, A-B Editing, Chroma Keying, and Picture-in-Picture effects.
Released on August 11, 2020, Pinnacle Studio 24 brought features including unlimited video tracks, 4K resolution support, Multi-camera Editing, improved Motion Tracking, and Video Masking. Nonetheless, it does not provide HEVC (H.265) compatibility on AMD-based hardware.
iOS
In addition to desktop editions, Pinnacle Studio is available in two iOS versions: Pinnacle Studio for iOS and Pinnacle Studio Pro for iOS. The Pro edition offers advanced tools such as frame-by-frame trimming via the Dual Viewer Precision Trimmer and options to export projects directly to cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. The most recent release (version 5.6.1) supports devices running iOS 9.3 or newer, including iPad 2 and later models, iPhone 4s and beyond, as well as the fifth generation of iPod Touch.
Reception
MacUser awarded Pinnacle Studio 4 for iOS a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, recognizing it as a more feature-complete movie editor compared to iMovie for iPad while remarking that the additional in-app purchase required for cloud synchronization was relatively expensive.