Smart Render and VS 10 plus

[TDK1044]

Can someone who has Beta Tested 'VS 10 plus' tell me if the Smart Render function is usable without the audio slipping out of sync at the Burn stage? I will be upgrading from VS 8, and I was never able to use the Smart Render function without audio sync problems at the Burn. In the end, even with various driver updates in VS 8 which didn't seem to work, it was easier just to render without enabling Smart Render, then the audio was perfect. Have Ulead addressed this with VS 10 plus?

[Ron P.]

Hi TDK,

VS10 should not have problems with OOS. Now I must add, that this depends on the video format. For example if you are editing highly compressed files, such as DivX, Xvid, then there is the potential for OOS. I don't think there are many such applications at the consumer level then can do that without the risk of OOS.

Ulead addressed this issue with VS9. Most of the OOS issues were due to not following the tried recomended procedures, especially dealing with highly compressed files...

Ron P.

[GuyL]

Ulead addressed this issue with VS9. Most of the OOS issues were due to not following the tried recomended procedures, especially dealing with highly compressed files...

Has VS10 made the process so that it adheres to best practices without having to study them? I guess what I am really asking is can a new user use the software without falling into the current traps? An example would be not being able to burn a disk directly from the current project?

[Ron P.]

Has VS10 made the process so that it adheres to best practices without having to study them? I guess what I am really asking is can a new user use the software without falling into the current traps? An example would be not being able to burn a disk directly from the current project?

Guy,
To be honest I don't know, as I have made it practice to create a DVD Compliant MPEG, then burn a disc. However I will run short test to see. This like all other, has the varibles of my computer system, vs the countless other set ups. While my system may or may not be able to successfully burn a disk from the project, other systems may.

In short I did not find anything "magically" different about following the recommended workflow.

Ron P.

[GuyL]

I doesn't matter to me as I've been using VS since version 7 and learned the proper procedures that work for me. I was just hoping for new users that it could be made so they may have a smaller learning curve. It seems many questions on this form seem to point back to the recommended procedures sticky.

[Ron P.]

Ok I'm back..

I ran a short test to see if VS10 would fail while trying to burn from a project. The project consisted of 4 clips with chapter points. Total duration of 6 mins.

Project properties were DV-AVI (NTSC), clips captured from DV Camcorder. A color clip was added to the front and end, cross-fade transistions between each clip, titles were placed at the beginning and end. I then added auto music (smart sound tracks) to fit the duration of the video.

I then went to share>create disc, created menus and kept the chapter points I had placed during editing the project, then previewed it. My first attempt at this VS10 crashed with the typical MS warning. Once VS10 had closed from the crash, I reopened and repeated the project, and continued to the burn module as stated above. This time however VS10 rendered and burned a disc, without problems. Total time to burn the disc : 20 minutes. I had set the burn speed to 2.4x.

So in summary I guess that VS10 is capable of burning a disc, directly from a simple project. I did not attempt this with mpeg or any other format. Also of note I kept it simple due to the time it would have taken to have a complex project, using several of the overlay tracks etc...

Ron P.

[daniel]

Outside of capabilities, VS10 or before, I can't see why someone would in normal circumstances take the risk of doing it in one pass.
The longest time in the whole process is consumed while rendering to MPEG. I don't want to do it again when for any event the burning phase crashes.

So to me it's definitely: render first, save it all, then define disc layout, save again (another .UVS filename, so if you ever want to use the same layout later, you can), then start burning.
Doing it all in a row is a sure way to lose time by starting it all over from square 1.

Save early, save often. Never do two steps at one time. Never correct more than one bug at the same time etc.. Especially for beginners.
Nothing to do with video editing, just plain simple computing practice.

[Ron P.]

Outside of capabilities, VS10 or before, I can't see why someone would in normal circumstances take the risk of doing it in one pass.
The longest time in the whole process is consumed while rendering to MPEG. I don't want to do it again when for any event the burning phase crashes.

So to me it's definitely: render first, save it all, then define disc layout, save again (another .UVS filename, so if you ever want to use the same layout later, you can), then start burning.
Doing it all in a row is a sure way to lose time by starting it all over from square 1.

Save early, save often. Never do two steps at one time. Never correct more than one bug at the same time etc.. Especially for beginners.
Nothing to do with video editing, just plain simple computing practice.

I agree ...

Ron P.

[jchunter]

My first attempt at this VS10 crashed with the typical MS warning. Once VS10 had closed from the crash, I reopened and repeated the project, and continued to the burn module as stated above. This time however VS10 rendered and burned a disc, without problems.

Let's be very clear that it has always been "possible," "sometimes" to burn directly from a project in the timeline. Compare this to driving through an intersection at high speed - sometimes you make it through without a crash.

The reason for the Recommended Procedure is that Video Studio versions 7 - 9 re-render videos that are already compliant (among many other problems). No one knows exactly what properties it is rendering to. There is no way to set the Burn properties in this workflow. The dead giveaway that things may go amuck is the message box that appears "Converting Videos. This will take a long time..."

If version 10 crashed the first time you tried it, that is a strong indication that Ulead has completely ignored the indications in the RP sticky that the current user interface leads new users directly into a cruel and frustrating trap. IMO, it is essential to modify the user interface to eliminate this trap.

[Ron P.]

JC,

I agree 100% with what you are saying. It's just that a question was asked about VS10 and rendering from a project, which in my opinion is a big no-no. I just don't do it. I mean why invite trouble, unless you really enjoy frustration, aggrevation, and headaches... I like to have fun with editing video. If it has been tried and proven to work better with a certain work flow, then I really don't understand why people always seem to want to make things more difficult then they are


Ron P.

[Ken Berry]

...um... because Ulead says, or heavily implies, that the user can take what logic would say is a faster, easier and more direct route to an end DVD... Most of us here would agree that this is not the case, but the fact remains that Ulead continues to give the idea that it can. And if they have not changed the program interface to block off this work flow, or better, actually resolved the problems inherent in it (highly doubtful?), then they will just be compounding the problem in VS10. And that was the point I think John Hunter was making.

[GuyL]

...um... because Ulead says, or heavily implies, that the user can take what logic would say is a faster, easier and more direct route to an end DVD... Most of us here would agree that this is not the case, but the fact remains that Ulead continues to give the idea that it can. And if they have not changed the program interface to block off this work flow, or better, actually resolved the problems inherent in it (highly doubtful?), then they will just be compounding the problem in VS10. And that was the point I think John Hunter was making.

Yes, my original point exactly. I just couldn't put it into context - thanks, Ken.

Where a procedure is "not best practice" why not disable the option under those circumstances. It seems that many of the problems people experience is by not following the recommended procedures. This is largely because they do not know any better until they visit the forums, by which time they already have a problem or they wouldn't be here in the first place.

[sjj1805]

I think to answer this point we need to look at the workflow of its Big Brother program MediaStudio Pro8.

The New VideoStudio 10 is moving a bit closer to MediaStudio 8 now that it sports several video/audio tracks.

With MediaStudio 8 you cannot burn a project file to a DVD, you firstly create a DVD compliant MPEG2 file and then use either Movie Factory or DVD Workshop to create the DVD.

In fact MediaStudio 8 does not have its own DVD authoring module.