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Your old videos are ready for their close-ups
 You back up your digital files, but what about all of your videos? Especially those pre-digital VHS, VHS-C, and 8mm tapes? You know they won’t last very long unless you do something. Fortunately, that “something” is very easy and inexpensive.
Studio version 9 from Pinnacle Systems ($79.95 street; www.pinnaclesys.com; 650-526-1600) is PC-only software that lets you archive videos to DVD or various forms of CD, put them on tape, or even the web (as RealVideo or Windows Media files). What’s more, it touches your inner Spielberg: not only can you color-correct and stabilize shaky shots, but you can add special effects (fades, titles, slo-mo—you name it!), along with high-quality music and other sounds that augment the existing soundtrack.
If you sense there’s a learning curve involved, don’t worry; there isn’t. Like other low-cost, no-brainer video-editing software (such as Sony’s $89.99 Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0 or Ulead’s $88.95 VideoStudio 8), Studio version 9 is geared at mass-market home users.
With its wizards, intuitive controls, and storyboard approach to editing, I archived and went wildly FX on several hours of my home videos before even opening the instructions.
Working with old VHS-C tapes and a camcorder, I needed an analog-to-digital conversion. Pinnacle has various PCI cards that go inside your computer, as well as external capture boxes that connect to your PC via USB or FireWire. I went with the external Studio MovieBox USB. This device ($194.95 street, including Studio version 9 software) plugs into the camcorder and computer, and lets you load videos at the speed you shot them. So, an hour of tape takes an hour to digitize. But you don’t have to stand by. Start it running, and come back later. Spend 15 more minutes editing, adding music, burning a DVD, and you’ve got a new, old video.
What's Hot:
Archiving made easy. Quick fixes for visual and audio problems. Effects galore! Big bang, low $$$.
What's Not:
The audio fixes don’t perform miracles.If your computer is dense with software, beware of crashes.
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