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aafuss · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:02 pm Post subject:

Are there any new or different transitions or effect in VS Express 2010?
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A.A.'s Ulead/Corel software:VideoStudio X2, PhotoImpact X3

vidoman · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:49 am Post subject:

aafuss · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply-what's missing compared to VS X2?
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A.A.'s Ulead/Corel software:VideoStudio X2, PhotoImpact X3

sjj1805 · Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:41 am Post subject:

Ken Berry · Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:36 am Post subject:

I finally installed the full version of Digital Studio 2010 on my Quad system, and I too have to say that, like others, my initial reactions are pretty negative. I used only the Video Studio 2010 module (though later tried the WinDVD 2010 module -- see below). First, it is incredibly slow, even on the Quad. And what annoys me most is what appear to be auto saves that take minutes at a time. I cannot find any 'preferences' that will shut this off or at least vary the time. The 'Settings' on the right of screen are of course virtually useless.

Moreover, nothing seems to be instinctive... Once you cut/edit a clip, how do you get back to the view of the storyboard? Pressing the back button seems to revert the cut clip to its original form i.e. losing any edits.

But the major flaw for me is in the choices of output formats. As far as high definition goes, you can have any flavour as long as it is AVCHD!! No HDV possibilities at all, and I of course use a HDV camera. So I tried outputting from a 4 minute 26 second project which used my HDV original footage. My project took about 25 minutes to render from its original HDV to AVCHD. I had added a stock title at the beginning, and it automatically added an equivalent "The End" title at the end. Fair enough. The render time (about 6 x real time -- nearly 30 minutes for a 4.5 minute project) was at the upper end of my render times to AVCHD in X2, but still within those limits. (I had not set my Core Tuner to optimise Digital Studio...)

But (and it's a huge 'but'!! Evil or Very Mad

) the quality of the end video was, in a word, woeful. The initial title was totally jerky. (I played the whole thing back both in PowerDVD and on my PS3/Samsung 46 inch HDTV.) The video itself started off smoothly enough, though quickly started showing very disconcerting granularity but only in parts of the screen -- granularity like High ISO grain in a still photo. Those grainy parts also tended to shimmer, but these were not panning shots so it was not the infamous HD panning shimmer. (In fact I have learned to keep my high def panning to an absolute minimum.)

Then, after about 30 seconds, a few jumps and shudders started appearing in the video and progressively got worse, until after a minute or so the video was essentially unwatchable because of the shudders alone, let alone the granularity. (By contrast, conversions from HDV to AVCHD, including AVCHD hybrid discs, using X2 produce excellent results for me.)

The final product also revealed what I had speculated on above -- namely, a clip which I had cut extensively, saving only the 'selected' part, played in full, including the bits I thought I had deleted.

The music I had inserted played, but the first 30 seconds of the entire video played some canned program music which I thought had been replaced. I think, however, that was my own mistake as when I tried it again, the canned music had gone.

I also had difficulty initially finding a control that would mute the existing audio on the clips and/or change the volume of the added music, though I eventually found it!! (As I said above, there is nothing instinctive about the program, and the minimalist screen layout I fear hides a minimalist set of functions...) /Curiously, though, the rendered files still had the original background audio, and the volume of the added music did not sound loud at all as I had meant it to be.

The infamous AVCHD blip was also there in each transition, though the blips varied from an almost unnoticeable jump to quite clear playback of 2 or 3 frames of the end of the previous clip...

The mpeg-2 output seems limited to standard def DVD in Good, Better and Best... I rendered the same project to both a DVD/mpeg-2 file at BEST quality, and also to a DV/AVI file. In both case, the conversion took around 10 minutes (mpeg-2 about 9.5 minutes and DV about 10.5). There were none of the problems associated with the AVCHD mentioned above. The mpeg-2 file was in fact surprisingly good, and played very well on my big screen HDTV. While clearly not a HD video, it was not too far off it. The DV file was of equal quality, though I learned for the first time that my PS3 apparently cannot recognise a DV file, which is interesting. So I played it in PowerDVD on my full HD resolution 23 inch computer monitor. In PowerDVD, it initially played in 4:3 mode so the scenes were slightly squishy. However, I eventually got it to play with the proper aspect in PowerDVD. I also played it in WinDVD 9. With that, it played in its proper 16:9 aspect. However, it would not play the audio (vanilla LPCM as with all DV).

Another interesting, if disturbing, point was that when I tried to play this DV file in the WinDVD 2010 which came as part of Digital Studio, it hung twice, the first time requiring me to do a hard reboot, as nothing else on the computer would respond. I then tried the mpeg-2 file in it, and it did the same thing... Mind you, that program is also about as clear as mud on how to operate it. I clicked on Open > File, and selected the mpeg-2 (or DV file). But there is nothing to indicate what you then have to do. Clicking on the Play button does nothing, and double clicking on the file name is what causes the hang...

Overall, so far, I would have to give it only about 20 out of 100!! Rolling Eyes

In fact, since writing the above, I have uninstalled it. That was because I started using X2 on a HDV project, but each time I tried just to play one of the project clips, even in Play mode, X2 would hang. I tried it several times. Then just in case, I upgrade my DirectX to the latest version. Still the hangs. So I uninstalled Digital Studio 2010 in its entirety. Boy! That took about three times longer than it did to install!!! Crying or Very sad

But once it was gone, X2 returned to working perfectly. So I suspect I will not be reinstalling Digital Studio... at least not on this computer... Laughing

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Black Lab · Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:57 pm Post subject:

How in the world can a company release such a horrible product? Evil or Very Mad

Was it even tested? Confused

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sjj1805 · Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject:

Another bad thing I have discovered. The installer did not ask it just did it - now when I click on a JPG / GIF etc on Windows Explorer I have found that the association has changed and it opens with Corel Instant Viewer
- or should I say "did" until I changed it all back to my preference of a viewer.

Only positives I can think of at the moment are:

Integrated programs with a common appearance - in fact It took me a while to work out the difference between Video Studio and Factory - I had to check the "Help/About" box to make sure which program I was in not trusting the Title at the upper left of the screen!
Common Library including project folders
The Source Selection Screen I thought was good where you can choose if you are importing from a camcorder, TV card, Mobile Phone etc. - Nice and clear for novices (Not saying they actually work as they should)
Various output formats such as DVD / You Tube and so on

I shall have to try and think/discover a few more.

The next point might just be a bit of bad luck - there again it might not.
I installed a copy on my laptop a Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM and Windows XP Pro with SP3. It installed OK. To get rid of the unwanted startup programs I went to the Windows Registry and removed the appropriate entries from the Startup Locations
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Next... as a troubleshooter for this Web Board I try and install multiple copies of the software on different configurations so I went to my trusty Desktop computer an AMD Athlon 64 Bit processor running Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) which is permanently turned on and in use perhaps 18 hours per day either by my wife or myself. Upon attempting to install the Digital Studio software the computer crashed upon installation and it took me a good 2 hours to get the machine working again. I will not go into details about how I recovered my system it is deep and irelevant - but needless to say I had to use System Restore once I could get themachine to boot again. System Restore wound the clock back to before I began to install digital Studio. Interestingly the Restore point available revealed the last thing to be installed was an update of DirectX (by the Video Studio Disc - it was showing the time/date of the installation.)

Needless to say I have not and will not be attempting to install it again on that computer. There have been no further problems with that computer since and this was about a week ago.
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Ken Berry · Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject:

Since my earlier post above, I have found that even after uninstalling Digital Studio, I have some residual problems I can only ascribe to it. I normally edit HDV in X2 and have never had any problems with that. But since installing and uninstalling Digital Studio, I find I can no longer produce stable HDV output using X2. Although playing smoothly, it not only has developed the graininess described above, but also bad blocky pixellation. Both the graininess and pixelation started after a few minutes into a 15 minute project, making it essentially unwatchable after about 5 minutes.

I did a Repair of X2, and then re-ran the project to output again to HDV, but got the same result. Twisted Evil

Luckily, VS10+ which I still have installed on the same computer, produces HDV which is perfect (as X2's used to be). The only thing that I can think distinguishes it, is that it of course installed into a Ulead directory, whereas X2 installs in a Corel folder (as does Digital Studio), so the latter may have overwritten something shared with X2. But I don't have the time right now to do a complete uninstall and reinstall of X2... (clearing the decks for yet another trip overseas, this time to Tokyo and Hiroshima...)

Curiously, converting the same HDV project to AVCHD output with high quality settings, in X2 caused no problems and the result I have to say seems excellent. I have difficulty telling any difference between it and the HDV produced from VS10+.

Unfortunately, I was not as lucky as Steve since when I went to restore to a point before I had installed Digital Studio, I found that my Restore Points at that time had been overtaken by more recent ones (as I have installed several other programs, since uninstalling Digital Studio -- though none, I hasten to add, which would in any way interfered with X2...)
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Accolades · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:26 pm Post subject:

Maybe this is what Corel thinks of the products?

Save 70% on downloads of WinDVD Pro 2010 with coupon code P843951. After applying the coupon, it is only $30!

Save 70% on downloads of Corel Digital Studio 2010 with coupon code P843951. That's right, only $30 after applying the coupon!

Remember, this only applies to the downloadable versions of these products. The folks who told me about this coupon also said that it only works for users buying through Corel's US and Canada estores. The coupon expires on October 31, 2009 so take advantage of this while you can.
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sjj1805 · Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:27 am Post subject:

Before anyone rushes off to find their bank card details may I suggest that members read the 4 threads in the following forum
Corel Digital Studio 2010

You might find you then save even more money!
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Mace · Joined: 27 Oct 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Telford UK

I to have tried this program and been very disappointed. I downloaded and installed CDS 2010 at Corels suggestion as a replacement for Videostudio which I couldnt get to work properly with Win 7. As reported by others general performance was sluggish and for some reason my media library was filled with the CD art from my music library which is on a mapped network drive, extending to about 1500 images. So I would agree that the best way to save money with this program is not to buy it.

shspvr · Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 33

To bad it dosen't advantage of GPU hardware acceleration in conjunction with nVidia Cuba and ATI Stream technology
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