Free Upgrade to MF 5 from MF 4 Bougt 2 Months ago

[ajnmaglasang]

I bought MF 4 December 31, 2005 and hardly even used it. Am I not entitled to free upgrade to MF 5?

[heinz-oz]

You are asking the wrong people. Send a request to customer support http://www.ulead.com/tech/custservice.htm

Please let us know how you go. Just a week prior to the announcement of MF5 I went and bought the upgrade to MF4.

[nyco_ork]

I bought MF4 the DAY before MF5 was released. I have sent the request for a free upgrade to customer service at least three times. They have not even acknowledged receiving the request.

Richard

[Ron P.]

Richard,
How are you contacting Ulead, by regular email? If so you will probably be in for a long wait. There is a detailed explaination somewhere on the forums. The best way to contact them is via their website. Complete the form. I contacted Tech support the other day using the form, and received my answer, not just the auto reply, within 24 hrs...

Ron P.

[nyco_ork]

I went through their website, and filled out the form, each time. I got one response, thanking me for contacting Ulead, but that was it.

R

[maddrummer3301]

Go the the ulead website.
Register your version of MF4.
Create a username and a password.
Logout
Log back in and look at your user screen for sending a request to ulead.
You will pick the version and serial number of your product and then go
to submit a request form.

MD

[nyco_ork]

I finally got a response, and here's what you can expect by going through the Ulead website posting method:

They wrote back giving me a link to an Element 5 FAQ list. (Element 5 is the billing facility, not the manufacturer.) I followed the iinstructions in the Ulead email, and sent a query to Element 5. They replied, as expected, that they are not the manufacturer and I should contact Ulead.

In other words, expect the old ping-pong runaround. This is the second time in two weeks I've gotten this runaround, from two different Internet vendors, and I'm a little sick of it. I wish there was a way to go back to storefronts. so at least you could argue with a human being instead of robots hiding behind email scripts.

R

[maddrummer3301]

They could be " iRobots" .

(Will Smith).

[michaeltee]

nyco_ork,

Assuming you submit your request within 30 days of purchase...

1) Contact Element 5 using the link provided in the email you originally received from them. Fill out all of the requested info (serial number, etc.) and select the "cancel my order" option. In the message box, type an explanation for your request.

2) You should then receive an email from Element 5 stating they have submitted the request to Ulead for approval. Be advised that Ulead may deduct a 20% "admin fee". In your case I would hope they waive it but one never knows. Anyway, within a few days you should receive another message from Element 5 with the results of your refund request. If approved you can use the proceeds to purchase MF5.

BTW, if the version of MF4 you purchased was "Disc Creator", there are a number of features that are NOT included in MF5. Some users (myself among them) have opted to keep both MF4 DC and MF5 in order to have access to the full feature set of both programs.

[tyamada]

On Ulead's web site they sugggest you keep Movie Factory 4 on your computer and use Movie Factory 5 as a complement to 4. I think as long as that statement is on their site you wil not get a free upgrade to MF5, as it doesn't have everything that MF4 has.

[nyco_ork]

I think, given the discussions I've seen here, I'll keep MF4, and try MF5 again when some of the kinks are out (but I'll still try it on my spare "trial" system disc before installing it on the main system). If it works, I'll keep both systems on the working computer. I'm mainly interested in finding out once and for all if MF 5 will work with my capture card, since MF 4 doesn't; because of all the installation problems when I tried the MF 5 trial version, I can't be confident of the results.

R

[michaeltee]

I think, given the discussions I've seen here, I'll keep MF4, and try MF5 again when some of the kinks are out (but I'll still try it on my spare "trial" system disc before installing it on the main system). If it works, I'll keep both systems on the working computer. I'm mainly interested in finding out once and for all if MF 5 will work with my capture card, since MF 4 doesn't; because of all the installation problems when I tried the MF 5 trial version, I can't be confident of the results.

R

Re MF5, it's way too early to say anything definitive about actual "bugs" versus individual system related probems. In my case, I have VS9, PS4, PI11, MF4 DC and MF5 on the same PC along with various components of Roxio EMC 7.5 and 8.0 (and several other media related proggys) with no conflicts or problems whatsoever. What few issues I've encounted with various Ulead products have been resolved through the discussion board or a patch. My MF5 installation was "by the book" (no errors) and it seems to be working perfectly as far as the 4X3 functions are concerned. I probably won't be needing HD or Blu-ray for a while and haven't attempted to test any of the related features. But as seems to often be the case with video apps, known bugs aside, you never know for sure what to expect until you install on the machine you'll actually be using.

[maddrummer3301]

Hi,
I agree with keeping both versions 4 & 5 (even 3) on the machine.
At least in my case the audio/data burning is very useful in MF4 (data-add2)
Making the dvd audio discs or dvd-video/audio disks is great.
Extraction and audio file conversions are simple & fast.
In my opinion the packetwriting is better than Nero. And being able to turn off packet writing on drives "On the fly".

Like any new release I've encountered some MF5 bugs.
But, with respect to previous releases I've been able to terminate this new release (MF5) and still have control of the system (not forcing a re-boot).
So, in my opinion MF5 appears to have better fault protection.
When working with any HD material be patience as the program seems to be doing background processing and at the sametime a non-responsive interface. I don't know if this is normal or I'm doing something wrong.

Actually a background process should still give me control of the interface but I loose focus on the MF5 interface so maybe I'm using the wrong term background processing. The programs not locked, you can perform windows functions, it comes back from whatever it was processing.


Personnally all computer programs have bugs, whoever is programming MF5 I like their technique.

MD

[michaeltee]

When working with any HD material be patience as the program seems to be doing background processing and at the sametime a non-responsive.

Personnally all computer programs have bugs, whoever is programming MF5 I like their technique.

MD

Yeah, I 'd have to agree. I'm sure very few (if any) complex audio/video apps are truly "bug free". That said, I'm grateful Ulead's programs (including MF5) tend to run smoothly on my PC. No doubt this is why I've ended up with so many of them

I have virtually no experience with HD authoring/burning but from what I've seen on various discussion boards, although many computers will meet/exceed the stated minimum requirements, you'll rarely achieve optimal HD processing without a dual-core CPU. This might not be true in all cases but it seems to apply to many of the HD enabled apps that have appeared recently. I guess it'll soon be time to think about a new PC

[maddrummer3301]

michaeltee,

I don't have any HD recording equipment yet. I've been thinking about renting a HD camcorder for 1 or 2 days.

I was upconverting a dv.avi file and learning the new features of MovieFactory 5.

When I do start working with HD alot I plan to purchase a hardware encoder/de-coder card. I feel that is the only way to go. I expect them to be more commonly on the market within 2 years so then whatever card ulead supports the best will probably be one of the choices.

That method is the same as using the M-Audio line of hardware equipment for audio and DSP processing. Virtually no cpu usage for "On The Fly" simultaneous recording & Playback. Especially if syncing to video equipment.

M-Audio products are produced for the MAC, Windows & Unix based systems(Linux) have good support for them.
Pro-Tools is the audio application that is the target for M-Audio equipment but many other audio programs support the card directly (thanks to the directx interface). You can also add digial copy-protection to the music via the hardware interface.

So my final HD system will be hardware based.
I feel a bitrate of 25,000 in Mpeg2 format is to much. Not to mention storage media etc. I believe that with a hardware board you will also be able to add CPRM protection (not encryption).

I output to a Sony HD TV via a Nvidia GT-6600xxx video card with a Asus P4C800-e agp MB.
In my opinion video looks better at the original properties it was recorded in. What the card does add enhancement to is realtime color filtering, contrast, digital vibrance & sharpness etc. Very useful to cleaning up a video to dub to a dvd recorder or another computer in real-time.
So, in my opinion progressively scanning the original is the only noticeable improvement. Upconverting a 720x480i signal to 1080i doesn't look as good as 720x480i to 720x480p.

The only true HD material I can put as original to the HDTV are pictures from a digital camera. That, I have to admit is very impressive to watch on in HD. No comparision to making a dvd-video slideshow where the pictures are down-converted to 720x480. I don't really need a computer to do that because the HDTV has a card-slot for audio & pictures.

N-Vidia dvd player works with the video for outputting.
I plan to buy WinDvd7 that supports HD.
Only thing with these software players is if your trying to output to a TV playing a commercial DVD they stop playing and inform you that playing the commercial dvd isn't supported if the TV output function is enabled. I guess they can't pass the encrpytion downstream so a recording device would be able to dub the video. Non-encrypted is no problem.

MD