Corel User to User Web Board

[Black Lab]

I was just visiting another video product related forum and this similar thread was so very interesting. They (the other forum participants) consider themselves a family, and the OP wanted people to share their "family" history.

Over the years I have felt a connection to many members of this forum, for we visit here because of a direct link to each other - VideoStudio. I just thought it would be interesting to learn a little more about each other, and maybe ourselves.

So naturally I'll start. My name is Jeff Dentler. I'm 44, and live in Pottstown, PA, USA (about 40 miles NW of Philadelphia) with my wife of 17 years and 14 year-old son (and, of course, my 5 year-old black lab). I got into video editing after my son was born, using the old VCR pause button to edit the video I had shot. Maybe six or seven years ago I decided to take the plunge and buy a new computer capable of editing video. It came with VideoStudio (v5 I think). The rest, as they say, is history.

As my son began participating in sports I would make an end-of-year highlight DVD and give his teammates a copy. They love it! Last summer his Jr. Legion baseball team hosted the state tournament. I asked if I could produce a highlight DVD and share the profits with the team. It was very successful and I got tremendous feedback from my "customers"! I finally had my first taste of being "professional" video producer.

I work for a chamber of commerce to pay the bills. We are always looking for new ways to attract members so I volunteered my services to produce a marketing DVD. Upon the initial viewing of the finished product my boss and co-workers gave me a standing ovation.

This really got me thinking. Maybe I can do THIS to pay the bills. So as it stands now I am in the process of making the transition to do what I really love - producing videos, commercials, etc. But I must say, I couldn't have done it without the help of the many, many great people who participate in this forum.

Next...
_________________
Jeff

Black Lab Digital Video.com
Instant Replay Sports Videos.com
My YouTube Channel

X2 Pro | Xara 3D | Digital Juice
Canon XH-A1s

[BrianCee]

Excellent idea Jeff - OK - here goes :-

Real name Brian Chalke (silent 'e') - the 'Cee' bit originated back when I joined the old Ulead forums and didn't want to expose myself to much - when these new forums were set up I just continued with the same username. I registered here the same day as Trevor Andrew and Ken Berry and a few hours before Jeff

I am 66 years old and live in west London in the UK - really west in fact about a mile south of Heathrow airport. I live with my wife of 42 years. I have 3 married daughters who between them have given us 7 grandchildren.

My whole working life was spent in designing and developing electrical equipment of all kinds - starting with domestic appliances but spending the last 30 years designing electrical equipment for 'special purpose vehicles' . I took a redundancy package at 60 with sufficient funds and pension to continue enjoying the lifestyle that I had been accustomed to.

I was into still photography long before I left school and continued into 35mm SLR and my own developing and printing - I dabbled for a while with 8mm cine cameras but having to send the films away for developing became a bore - and my eyes turned to video but in the early days camcorders were much to cumbersome for my liking and it was not until 1993 that they became of a suitable size to carry and I purchased a Panasonic VHS-C camcorder - which I still have - all of that was originally edited using 3 VHS-VCRs altough I have redone some since on the computer.

Around 2000 I changed to digital and started looking to edit on a computer - incidentally - I first became involved with computers in 1960 and had a 'real' computer at home in 1984 - thats not counting the Sinclair ZX that I had played with before.

The first attemps were made using a copy of Pinnacle Studio which was on the computer I had at that time - either due to the computer or the package I lost heart with the progress and purchased a new 'faster' computer which came preloaded with a copy of VideoStudio V6 - I took to it at once - and have never looked back , upgrading at each new release, except V11, since I don't have 'HD' or 'Vista' on the desktop PC - I haven't seen the need to upgrade yet.

I originally set up my liittle VideoStudio Help website back in the middle of 2003 when I was a moderator on another video forum which has since closed and we were not allowed to post images on there so I just needed somewhere to post images .

my video activity consists mainly of holidays (Portugal and Namibia last year - Mallorca and Sri Lanka the year before) - the family events - birthdays etc. and end of school year (summer) concerts and Christmas concerts for the local school were I am Vice-Chair of the board of Governors when I edit and produce DVDs which are sold to eager parents and help plump up school funds.

well thats most of me - NEXT

[ricwhite]

Well . . . I'm a new member of this forum, but I have been producing DVDs for about five years now. Since I upgraded my computer which included Vista, I was looking for some video editing/dvd authoring software compatible with Vista and came upon VideoStudio 11. I used Liquid Edition 5 in the past.

My name is Rick and I'm 46 years old. I am a public school teacher in Layton, Utah. A few years ago, I began producing yearbook DVDs for my fourth grade students. Needless to say, it was a big hit and I've been doing it each year ever since. I have also produced a few DVDs for home use. I have a sixteen-year-old son.

My use is usually limited to the summer months. So, that requires me to "relearn" the software each year. But it comes fairly quickly. This year I have a greater learning curve, however, since I'm using this new software. I'll need to take some notes.

With the DVD yearbook, I usually have two video segments -- one of a message from me, the teacher. And another of a video clip of each student. I also have five slide shows of field trips, student work, activities, staff, etc. I produce the DVD in the summer and mail them to students. They are delighted to receive them, however it does take a lot of my free time (and some of my money).

And now . . . back to working on the DVD yearbook project.

[vidoman]

Hi,

My name is Ron Petersen, am 48 years old, and live in a very small community, Waverly, Kansas. I spent 24 years in law enforcement, mainly as a deputy sheriff. Through my career, I managed to learn a lot about photography. We were responsible for our own cases, as we did not have any specialty divisions.

Back when the dinosaurs and Sony BetaMaxs roamed the planet, I became interested in video editing. I had to use a few decks in order to edit. Fast forward to 2005 when I came across this website.

I initially came here as I was having problems with VS5. I was provided with excellent help, so upon returning, and finding the current release to be VS8, I upgraded, and again with the help of this forum was able to learn it quickly. I thought that since the people were so helpful, I needed to repay this. I started popping in, and looking for those posts that would be easy enough for me to handle. This got to be addictive, so I kept returning, and helping as much and wherever I could.

I was first promoted to a Moderator about a year ago, then just a few months ago was given the Admin status. This was indeed a thrill and shock. There are so many people here that know so much more about editing video, then I.

I try to keep video editing as a hobby, however have been hired to produce DVDs from friends and family videos. I have a granddaughter that seems to take up most of my video tape too
_________________
Ron Petersen, Web Board Administrator

[Hugo]

Well I'm still a relative newbie to the forum, but hey, give me a chance to talk about myself and I'm in

Name - Paul Cooper, age 56, a Yorkshireman by birth, but I spent well over 30 years in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. I have an ex and 3 adult kids still in Australia, but for the past 10 years have lived in New Jersey, USA with my 2nd (and by far better) wife and step-daughter.

Did a stint in the Australian Army back in the Viet-Nam days.

Had my first taste of videoing with an old 8mm cine camera using 3 minute silent reels. Spent many happy hours splicing them together only to have them fly apart whenever anyone apart from me was watching !!

In early 1986 I went to Kundiawa in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. I took with me what was then the latest home video unit, a Canon Canovision 8 VM-E1 - recording to 8mm video tape.

I spent 5 years in PNG, but only had the video camera for the first 3. Even so, I took some memorable video, and used 2 vcr's and a Commodore Amiga 500 to edit out my first 'production'. (Like Brian I started computers on a Sinclair ZX81 !! .. I had the 5K expansion pack .. Whoo-hoo) To be honest, I've since re-edited from over 25 hours of original New Guinea footage, and it stands up well over time.

I got back into digital video about 4 years ago with the purchase of a Canon Optura 10 DV, and some early software. I jumped around between Pinnacle, Roxio, ULead, trying all and using none exclusively.

After a few overseas trips, I managed to create (IMHO) some entertaining dvd's, albeit of "Our Family Vacation" Having said that, I did make some sexy looking effects

We recently purchased a Sony HDR-HC7 High Def camera, and did a quick trip to Europe, so now I'm editing this footage on VS10+

So far VS10+ is handling everything I'm doing, and thanks to the great tips and advice I get from this forum, I'm learning new things all the time.

OK - 3 chairs, no waiting, next please.
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|| VS10+ || PhotoImpactX3 || DVDMF6+,MF5+ || Cool3D-3.5 || PSPro8 || Photoshop CS8 || Sony HDR-HC7 camcorder || Olympus Evolt E-500 Digital SLR || 42"LCD HDTV

[Ken Berry]

Well, I guess that's me ...

My name is, as indicated, Ken Berry! And as indicated in my profile I am a former Australian diplomat. I joined the foreign service back in 1974 after graduating with an Arts degree in Political Science, French and Russian, and a Law Degree. (I am also a Barrister in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.)

In the foreign ministry I was assigned to the International Legal area, where I spent most of my time when in Australia. I served in a variety of overseas assignments (Manila, Algiers, Nairobi, Lusaka, Addis Ababa, and Brasilia), and was finally appointed Ambassador to Chile, Peru and Bolivia. In the course of these appointments, I formally studied Tagalog, Portuguese and Spanish, to add to my repertoire. (I love languages, and seem to have a gift for them, perhaps because I love talking!! )
I also attended a number of international conferences, including the UN several times, usual in the guise of an international lawyer.

I retired from the Foreign Service in January 2000 at the age of 50 after serving several years as Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and Disarmament. I had also served three and a half years on the personal staff of our then Minister, Gareth Evans, whom I served as Chief of Staff. I had gotten to know him when I was legal adviser to our Cambodia Task Force, a wonderful experience about which I have published a book ("Cambodia from Red to Blue").

I am currently International Legal Adviser to the International Crisis Group in Brussels (which is run by Gareth Evans), though after living some time there, I have moved back 'home' to Canberra, Australia. I continue to work part time for the ICG here. Ain't the internet wonderful???

With all my travels, I guess it was natural that I got into analogue video back in the 1980s with a reliable if rather large Sony 8mm Handycam, which I used in diverse interesting places around the world. I am still working my way through all these analogue tapes, converting them to digital, and now using a specially bought Sony Digital 8 camera for the purpose. Results are excellent, if I do say so myself (and I do ... regularly! )

I really only got into digital video editing in 2001 when my home was burgled and my analogue camera stolen. I bought a Canon MV430i on insurance money, and have not looked back since. Sadly, the Canon packed it in a couple of months ago, and I replaced it with a Canon MV960. I would love to get a HD camera, but am waiting till all the apparent bugs in editing that format -- or at least AVCHD -- are ironed out. I can wait!

I also happen to love computers, and currently have five (plus a handheld HP iPAQ computer which connects via WiFi to the internet). Of these, I use 1 which I specially built mainly for video editing, though another 2 are called upon from time to time for the same purpose.

Apart from that, I love food and reading, though as I get more and more hooked on computers and video editing, my time for books has diminished.

I first joined the predecessor of this forum back in 2001 when I took up digital video. I had started with VideoWave III which came with my camera, but I soon bought VS7 which was then brand new on the market. I have stayed with the brand ever since, though confess to also having other video software on my computers these days...

And like others here, I am now 'hooked' on this forum, and get an honest kick out of trying to help people.
_________________
Ken Berry
Please SEARCH before posting a question.

[sjj1805]

A retired Police Officer who now works in a civilian capacity in a highly computerised call centre.
sjj = Stephen John Jones 1805 = my former payroll number.

I had my first computer about a quarter of a century ago - a simple Dragon 32. The 32 stood for 32 Kilobytes!! It was a similar computer to the Tandy color computer. I later upgraded to a Commodore 64, which had at massive 64 Kilobytes of RAM.

No disc drives at that time, and to use tape you had to attach a cassette tape recorder - one you use for recording your voice or music.
No Internet either so you were on your own when it came to problems unless a computer magazine considered your letter of sufficient interest to others that you managed to get a published response.

Using my Dragon32 and also my Commodore 64 I found the BASIC computer language was just that - basic and so taught myself Assembly Language (1 up from machine code)

The Police Force soon picked up on my interest in computers and I was given a variety of tasks involving at that time mainly spreadsheets. I know found myself working on Apple Mac computers with a visicalc spreadsheet and also a database the name of which I cannot know remember. Later I progressed to 286, 386 and of course 486 machines.
I soon found myself learning how to create macros using the built in programming languages of these products.

Later we upgraded to Microsoft Office and I began to learn Visual basic for applications and later the full version of Visual basic.

As I kept upgrading my own computer I eventually realised I had enough spare parts to build one and since then I have found that I build my computers rather than purchase them ready made. This led to lots of friends relatives and workmates giving me their broken computers for repair.

Hand in hand with all this I have always had an interest in photography and whilst quite young purchased a cine camera - Super 8 of course.
The cassettes at the time were for me very expensive and a cassette would only hold 3 minutes worth of film and so you had to learn how to 'not film everything' but be choosy.

Lots of small 3 minute tapes were cumbersome to watch and so I bought a splicing kit and starting gluing them together - this is the equivalent of our modern day cross fade transitions.

Obviously my interest in photography and computers merged and upon purchasing my first camcorder it came with a copy of Ulead MovieFactory 2.

If you look at my signature below this post you will see how things then developed with the wide range of Ulead products I now possess.
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Regards, Steve Jones, Web Board Administrator

[heinz-oz]

Looks like I¡¦m next.

Ok then, here it goes. My real name is Heinz Diefenbruch. I was born in Germany just after WW II and am now 60 years old. I have two children of my first marriage and am now married to my second wife who is of Greek descent. We have 4 grandchildren, 2 off my daughter and 2 off my stepdaughter.

I migrated to Australia at the age of 35 and, after a few months working in a factory, began to work as a Sales Engineer for a machine tool importer in Melbourne. I still work for the same company in that position although I tried other things in between. I left this company in 1989 and trained machine operators in programming CNC machines for 2 years. Due to a recession in Australia I was made redundant in 1991 but found new work in servicing computerized machine tools right away. In 1994 I succeeded my successor and went back into sales with my old company. This work requires me to travel extensively. My territory stretches from West Australia to New Zealand. I also attend all major European trade shows for the machines I sell.

I have always been interested in photography and also started to make Super 8 films of my children around 1970.

When I migrated to Australia in 1982, I was still doing Super 8 filming but it became increasingly difficult and expensive to obtain the films. So this hobby of mine slowly died off. When I separated from my first wife in 1989, the house keeper did not only keep the house but everything else in and around it, including my Super 8 gear. Not a big loss on that part.

I was still doing photography, 35 mm SLR, at that time (I took that camera with me when I left)

I remarried in 1991 and went on a business trip to Germany in 1993. My second wife came with me and the plan was to spend a week in Greece as well. She was the one who suggested to get a video camera then, partly to record our trip to Greece and Germany but also to start filming our newly born granddaughter. I got a Panasonic M40 at the time because it gave me the best picture of all cameras I looked at. It also took full size VHS tapes. Naturally, after a few years, this beast became a little cumbersome to carry around.

I had edited my VHS movies with the help of a tape deck, copying from one to the other and dubbing music, not very satisfying. I started to look around for computer based editing gear but did not really find anything which I thought was worth the money.

All that changed when, in 1999, I bought my first digital video camera, a Panasonic DA 1. It came bundled with VideoWave (don¡¦t know which version) but at the same time I got a copy of Ulead VideoStudio 5 SE bundled with the IEEE 1394 card I bought to capture my video into the PC.

I did one VCD project with it but found it lacking in quality. I bought the DVD plug-in for it because I thought SVCD would give me a better quality then VCD. While that was true, the overall features of VS 5 did not excite me very much. Shortly after, I upgraded the program to MSP 6.5 DirectorsCut. That was better but I did have a lot of small problems with my PC at the time. After gradually upgrading the hardware and producing a few SVCD videos, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to the then new MSP 7 and also bought my first DVD burner.

MSP 7 with SP3 has served me well over the years and was only upgraded to MSP 8 last year. I still keep MSP 7.3 installed because of CGInfinity and VideoPaint. These two programs came with MSP 7 but were separated from MSP8.

Apart from switching to digital video I also switched to digital still photography and use PhotoImpact for my image editing. I started with PI 8 and have upgraded to each new version over the years. Now I¡¦m on PI 12.

Like the other posters, I¡¦m hooked on this forum and do get a kick out of helping other, less experienced users, if I can.

[sjj1805]

Moved to the General Information Forum.
Members are invited to share details of themselves with other forum members in this thread.
_________________
Regards, Steve Jones, Web Board Administrator

[queenmarylady]

I hope I'm in the right place, I'm a newbie here. I'm Bridget, 42 from Southern California. I've used Ulead products for years now, even taken some classes but have never gotten the knack of the fancy stuff in PhotoImpact. I basicly just use it to correct my white balance in my photos and use a few other tricks so that my photos look presentable and as true-to-life as possible.

I purchased VideoStudio 10 and had a few videos captured and worked on through it, but to be honest wasn't all that impressed. It just seemed to be the only software out there that was better than Windows Media player though. Well version 11Plus has changed my feelings on that and already has made my videos so much better in the final outputs. I am still "reading the manual" but I hope to find some classes that will also perhaps help bring out my creativity with filming and making movies.

Thanks and Hi to you all!

[Gra]

Hi Guys, I'm Graham and although I don't have my own family, my girlfriend and I have been together for over 16 years now. Originally I'm from Harrow but now live south of the great divide we Londoners call the River Thames.

I'm from London but I do a lot of travel and working abroad, mainly in Brussels, because I run a small EU Public Affairs, International Trade and Taxation Consultancy. Previously I worked for the UK government (for about 25 years), mainly in London but I did a couple of years on a special assignment in Birmingham. After working in London again for a few more years I was attached to the European Commission as an economic Expert (somehow going back to the usual 9 till 5 grind in London didn't appeal, hence going private with my own business - it can be hard work client hunting at times but I'm my own boss).

I've had a love of all things visual for years and I've been particularly fond of science fiction and special effects. As such my favs are Dr Who (as a young kiddie, I actually saw the first transmission with the Dr who - the late, great William Hartnell), Star Trek, Star Wars... I like to try and get special effects into my work but I can get a bit frustrated if the quality isn't as good as it should be and I keep stiving to improve until I can get that big production quality (hence me always asking questions - thanks for your patience).

I bought my first Pentex SLR about 35 years ago and was hooked on capturing images. Then I became fascinated with Computers and badgered my then senior colleagues on setting up a system that could capture their then potential (a bit more than 35kb and cassette tapes by then - but not much!) The Commission were impressed and asked me to go over to do a similar project for the EU (only 15 Members then). At this point I should point out I am a concept person, not a technician or programme writer.

After going private I bought a PC with the biggest HDD available - a whole 5gig and a scanner so I could start manipulating my hard copy images for presentations and just for fun. It was just a couple of years later an acquantence and I set up some training courses where the participants could take away a video of their practical sessions. This gave me a business rationale to invest in a digital camcorder and the firewire board (which came with VideoStudio 5 in the bundle).

A PC upgrade or two and I'm with MSP8, which I use to do some business projects but as much for fun. I have to say I'm more visual orientated so I get a little lost when people start talking bit rates and the like; I need to visualise the concept - as I mentioned I'm a PA consultant not a computer engineer. But once I see a practical guide or a laymans explanation on why I should or shouldn't use some technique I'm cooking on gas.

I've kind of stayed with Ulead (VS 8, MSP 7 & 8, C3DPS & MF2,4 & 6+) since VS5 as their products normally just have that user friendly feel but I do use other products, such as AVIDFree DV and Nero and audio programmes such as Audacity and SmartSounds, to acheive the end results.

I have to say the advice I have been given here as allowed me to develope an expertise in NLE a lot quicker than I could have otherwise - so thank you all!
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Thanks & regards.
Gra

MSP8 (SP1), VS8, C3DPS, MF6+, DAZ Studio, Poser 6, Nero 6, Audacity, Photoshop 7.0
You can see a couple of my movies at http://www.youtube.com/glaustin

[AmuroRey]

My name is Luca I live in Milan, Italy.
I'm 36 years old
My hobby was Computer, Astronomy, and Video editing

[SoldOnParadise]

Aloha from Maui!

My name is Mike and I am a 56 year old real estate investor on Maui Hawaii. I am a new user of VideoStudio 11 Plus. This is the third account I have created because the others have been deleted after just a few days. I hope that this post will confirm my desire to have an ongoing account. Mahalo to all who share their time and knowledge on this forum.

A Hui Ho

Mike

[kedeepu]

I am Deepu and I live in Singapore.
I do love taking videos and coverting them into nice home videos.
I own a Panasonic 3CCD miniDV cam and a casio digital still cam.
Recently I became an owner of a copy of VS11+ as well.

I am looking forward to learn to use VS11+ efficiently and share whatever I know through this forum.

[FlaLady]

Hello,
My name is Louise, I live in FL and I am 49 years old. I love working with photos. I am not real good at it. I am only just learning. So this forum will be of great help to me.