Pinnacle Studio: Slow or Sluggish Performance in Edit mode

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If you are experiencing slow or sluggish editing, the following steps should help to resolve the problem.

 

1. Minimum Requirements

Verify that the computer being used for editing, meets the minimum system requirements for Pinnacle Studio. You can check system requirements for Studio online by going to link below.

https://www.pinnaclesys.com/en/products/studio/#tech-specs


2. UHD, AVCHD and HD Video

This is mentioned in the Minimum System Requirements in Step1, but if you are working with UHD or HD or AVCHD video, make sure your system is up to spec for this kind of video. Some features such as UHD(Ultra High Definition), HD (High Definition) and AVCHD video editing require more RAM and a higher performance graphics card and processor compared to working with SD (Standard Definition) video material. For Example, if you are working with AVCHD video then following increased requirements exist:

Even if you meet the minimum requirements for UHD or HD or AVCHD, editing performance may be decreased compared to SD video editing.

3. Make sure that you have the latest version of Studio installed.

You can install the latest patch inside Pinnacle Studio XX > Question Mark Menu(?) > Check for Updates... > Check for updates.


4. Video Preview Settings

Within Studio go to Control Panel → Export and Preview. In the Preview section set Quality as ‘Best Quality’ from drop-down list.

Or Check this article - Poor quality / blurry preview when playing video on timeline


5. Background Rendering

Within Studio go to Control Panel → Export and Preview. Lower the "Playback Optimize threshold to around 70%.  

Make sure that background rendering has fully completed. If background rendering is still occurring, the project will not play back smoothly. An easy way to identify if background rendering is occurring is the appearance of a green bar at on the timeline at the point where the rendering is taking place.

 

6. Graphics Card Hardware Acceleration

Within Studio go to Control Panel → Export and Preview. Set 'Hardware Acceleration' type as 'None'

7. Project Format

Make sure that the media in the timeline matches the timeline format. If the size or frame rate do not match, the performance might be much worse than it could be. For example, if the project format is set to NTSC Standard (720 x 480, 29.97 frames/sec. 4:3, interlaced), it would be best to add video clips in that same format.

8. Update Drivers

Make sure that you have the latest video card drivers loaded from their manufacturer's websites.
Determine what video card is on the system by checking in Device Manager. To get to Device Manager by right-click on the 'My Computer' icon and select Properties. Next, select the Hardware tab then click the Device Manager button.
To determine what video card is on the system, click the plus sign in front of Display Adapters in the Device Manager list. The video card will be displayed. To determine the manufacturer and date of the video card driver, double-click on the video card name. Now click the Driver tab, and you will see all the driver information including Driver Provider and Driver Date.

Here are some links to common video card manufacturers websites that would have driver updates available:
AMD:  https://www.amd.com/en/support
Nvidia:  https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us


9. Background Processes

Make sure there are not too many extra background processes running that may interfere with Studio. Try temporarily disabling all background programs and then re-enabling them one at a time until the conflicting program is located.

Please follow the steps given below to disable background programs

• Right-click on the taskbar, then Task Manager or press (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)

• Once the Task Manager open

• Click More details

• Select the Startup tab

• Right-click on the program

• Click Disable


10. Virus scanners or continuous media scanning applications

Virus scanner software can hinder performance. As a test, try disabling the virus scanner and see if it helps.
Note: For safety reasons, it is recommended to disconnect from the internet while the virus scanner is disabled.
If it helps, try to exclude media directories from the scanning paths and/or remove media files (MPG, AVI, WAV, BMP, JPG, etc.) from the files to be scanned. Contact the virus scanner vendor for instructions on how to do this.
Try disabling indexing tools or services from running such as Google Desktop Search, Yahoo Desktop Search, Adobe Photoshop Album Importer, etc.

11. Increase the Priority of Studio

In some cases it can be helpful to increase the priority of the Studio application in Windows. Here is how to do that:

  1. With Studio open, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete on the keyboard. This will open the Windows Security window.
  2. Select the Task Manager button. This will open the Windows Task Manager.
  3. Select the Details tab.
  4. Locate PinnacleStudio.exe in the list.
  5. Right-click on PinnacleStudio.exe and select Set Priority.
  6. In the Set Priority section, try selecting High.
  7. Once the change is made it will prompt a warning asking if you are sure you want to change the priority class. Select Yes to this. If there is any undesirable change, simply change the priority back to Normal.


12. Multiple Monitors

If multiple monitors are being used, try using only one monitor and see if performance improves.

 


 

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