Pinnacle (*25*) 25 Ultimate is Corel's ultimate video editing software. It's basically a professional version of the company's excellent consumer editor, VideoStudio.
Top of the line in terms of features and capabilities, it's one of the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro. And there's no subscription here, just a one-time purchase.
We gave the latest version an impressive 4-star review, highlighting it as "great software that will help you create complex projects with impressive modern tools that do much of the complex work for you, helping you focus on your creative side."
Let's explore some of the new features introduced since we last released this video editor.
- Pinnacle (*25*) 25 on Amazon for €59.95 (Opens in a new tab)
more pixels
One big addition most might not notice or even need by now, but it's good to know that Pinnacle (*25*) 25 now lets you work with 8K video, offering compatibility with some of the latest phones and cameras.
8K files may not be popular yet, but the trend is inevitably moving in that direction. We first had HD, which is now pretty universal, and 4K is rapidly gaining ground. It's good to know that when you start trying out 8K, the video editing tool of your choice will be there for you.
Mix
If you've ever used a photo editor, like Photoshop or one of the many Photoshop alternatives, you'll be familiar with blend modes. These allow you to manipulate the dark and light parts of certain images and combine them with another one below.
Now you can with moving images in Pinnacle's video editor. These video effects work exactly as intended, helping you be more creative and artistic with the project you're working on, allowing you to play with light in ways that weren't possible before. A great addition to this video editing software.
Smart tracking
Motion tracking is a big thing these days and any video editing software worth its salt already has it or will introduce the feature soon. Pinnacle's implementation (*25*) is excellent.
It comes with smart masking tools that allow you to pick an object and refine the selection with great precision. The tracking option happens automatically, but it can take a while, and you also have tools to tweak and fix said tracking later if needed.
The next phase is being able to control the mask and background separately, adding color correction and other filters, to create truly unique looks.
More advanced options allow you to completely remove the background, add text layers, and even duplicate the hidden object. It is a powerful tool that works as advertised and as expected.
Speaking of masks, these tools have been refined, making it even easier to select objects, using raster and vector shapes to refine your masks. Using a mask to track an object as mentioned above is a very clever idea. We had fun experimenting with this feature.
It's all about the basics
Pinnacle (*25*) already had some pretty good audio editing tools. You could already expand the audio section in the timeline and do a lot of your work there, like manipulating the audio for each layer or even changing keyframes to control levels over time.
You can control 5.1 surround sound through the Panner tool which now includes support for Angle, Spread, and Center. You also have keyframe options.
In the Noise Reduction section, you have the option to "Generate a noise profile". This allows you to select a section of a clip that illustrates the background noise that you want to remove.
Pinnacle (*25*) will analyze it and offer you reduction, sensitivity and smoothing buttons to remove or attenuate this noise. You'll also find a new audio tool, called Pitch Scaling. It is a way to change the pitch and frequency of the audio without affecting the duration.
Size Matters
One new addition that we were surprised we hadn't come across before (because it's been available on competing products for years), was the ability to frame a title's font size and color.
In fact, it's quite an important tool, and it's a quick and easy way to effectively animate words on the screen. Such previously unavailable control was a serious omission, but now that it's here, we're happy to report that it works flawlessly.
We were able to resize a title in seconds while its color changed from yellow to blue over time. Perfect execution and better late than never.
Other changes
We also noticed that the entire user interface was more responsive and stable. Though we should mention that the software crashed us twice, both times when trying to import images.
At this point the import section still looks clunky. There is always a delay between selecting a folder on your drive. In fact, being able to view and select the clips it contains becomes tricky.
The video editing software appears to be running an analysis subroutine. This only frustrates users, who have to wait before they can do anything.
Different Versions
Pinnacle (*25*) is available in three versions, (*25*), (*25*) Plus and (*25*) Ultimate. They all allow you to work in 8K, but the first two have certain limitations. We tested the Ultimate version.
You can only work on six tracks at (*25*), for example having color correction tools, basic 2-camera editing for multi-camera work, and keyframe controls.
(*25*) Plus ups the ante with 24 tracks, the ability to work with 4 cameras in multi-camera mode, you can access basic motion tracking tools, mix mode, advanced audio editor and analysis processing.
Ultimate has it all, including video masking, intelligent object tracking, 360˚ video editing, and alpha channel support.
final verdict
Pinnacle (*25*) 25 is a nice improvement over its predecessor. Overall, the new editing tools are welcome and are sure to please editors of all experience levels. They are well implemented and easy to use, which is really all you can ask for.
The interface hasn't changed, but that's not a bad thing. Pinnacle has always excelled in this area. The only gripe we really have is with the import section which we found slow and choppy.
As this is the first part of the software experience, it made a bad first impression on a great experience.
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