DVD Movie Factory 5 Plus upgrade cost??

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:58 pm

I got a redownload from Element for both MF5 and the content. I applied the Patch and the Build no is now correct. Haven't done testing of the program yet, so hold thumbs.

The issue of the templates are still not clear. htchien's post reports the following:

SmartScene DVD Menus: 12
Text DVD Menus: 11
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 11
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): 5

My templates show the following only:
SmartScene DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Text DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 6 (1 before content installation)
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): None

Where am I missing something. The Content download was from the link supplied by Element. Is there another?

htchien · Post by **htchien** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:15 pm

mmponline wrote:htchien's post reports the following:
SmartScene DVD Menus: 12
Text DVD Menus: 11
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 11
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): 5
My templates show the following only:
SmartScene DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Text DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 6 (1 before content installation)
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): None

Where am I missing something. The Content download was from the link supplied by Element. Is there another?

Hi, the templates I listed are for DVDMF 5 Plus, not for DVDMF 5 Standard. Plus has more templates than Standard.

Hope this helps.

H.T.

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:30 pm

So that confirms my qoute that MF5 is poor in template resources
and way beyond the standards set in MF4. Interesting though that the price was not downgraded as the product was.

The statement made in other threads that MF5 is efficient above Plus if no special features like disk writing and HD is needed, is thus also not true, as there are more templates in Plus. So this confirms the topic heading and the very first entry in this topic.

If only Ulead would for once admit that MF5 was a disaster from the start and should not have been released with the many bugs, etc. and maybe offer some compensation to users that want to upgrade to plus or just supply more template, or whatever...

It's a pitty that a company that produce such excellent programs don't really care about their loyal users. I know of several users that complained /threaded (on this forum) to claim their money back for MF5. How many actually did, we'll never know. But those of us with stickability... we get the same upgrade options as everybody else? - Or stick to the templates you have - Strange????

bquerry · Post by **bquerry** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:42 pm

htchien wrote:
mmponline wrote:htchien's post reports the following:
SmartScene DVD Menus: 12
Text DVD Menus: 11
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 11
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): 5
My templates show the following only:
SmartScene DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Text DVD Menus: 5 (1 before content installation)
Thumbnail DVD Menus: 6 (1 before content installation)
High Definition Menus (for HD DVD): None

Where am I missing something. The Content download was from the link supplied by Element. Is there another?
Hi, the templates I listed are for DVDMF 5 Plus, not for DVDMF 5 Standard. Plus has more templates than Standard.

Hope this helps.

H.T.

So the templates are not in the Service Pack? Uggh. They should have been there from the start in MF5. The beauty of MF is to make quick, good looking DVDs. Having "less" capability via an upgrade is just plain wrong. The comparison chart showing the differences between MF5 and MF5 Plus does not show the extra content as a difference between the products. I keep getting more and more perturbed about having to spend another $50 (plus shipping) to get from MF5 to MF5 Plus. Now, for it seems if I want the extra content, I have to spend the $50.

I would not have upgraded to MF5 if I knew a MF5 Plus was coming down the road at the additional cost. At the time MF5 was announced, MF4 DC was the "burning" package, no mention of a MF5 PLus was announced or eluded. If fact, I remember a chart showing when MF5 was released showing MF4 DC as "the" package ULEAD was promoting if burning was needed.

So, to reiterate as it is, my already spent $40 for the MF5 upgrade was money down the drain until the service pack was released. To get myself to a comparable upgrade of MF4 DC, it will cost me another $50 plus shipping, for a total of $10 MORE than it costs "any old plain Joe off the street" to buy a FULL, new version of MF5 Plus. A fairer upgrade for us loyal, dedicated customers, would be the difference in price of the upgrade ($10); the smart upgrade would be a free upgrade to those who had purchased the MF5 upgrade or full product, a reward so to speak.

H.T., would you please pass this message to someone who might possibily care at ULEAD/INTERVIDEO/COREL. Probably tough to know who that might be at this time, but someone should care about customer relations. Thank-you. I will no longer dwell on this issue, but I will remember this when other new ULEAD products are announced and released.

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:13 pm

To add to bquerry's frustration:
I bought a database program a month ago. The purchase conditions included a FREE upgrade to any new editions for the next year -even across new versions. Now that's service! I did a upgrade already - Free!

Furthermore: I was told on this forum that MF4 was for burning, etc. while MF5 was for fancy interfaces. Less than 4 months later... Here comes MF5 Plus. Who's fooling who???

bquerry, don't be hopeful to get compensation from Ulead. They're not interested in customer relations, only sales. Just search the keyword "refund" on this forum and you'll get the picture...

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:51 pm

I've posted this request on the Ulead support form (I used my MSP registration to open a form as both MF4 and MF5 forms were dead). Will keep you informed if I get any feedback, which I doubt.

Copy of question placed on Ulead Support:

Due to the fact that MF5 and Plus's support form is dead, Ill put this question here.
You will see on the Forum that there are many complaines (including mine) about the insufficient templates in MF5 and the rediculous upgrade price for MF5 users to plus. what are you planning to do to help us loyal users. According to the ad about MF5 and MF5 Plus, there ar a lot of templates in this program. In fact:70 -see quote from your site.
"Create Breathtaking DVDs
Create DVD menus that pop. Choose from over 70 motion menu styles with freely modifiable text, objects or buttons, and add cool menu transitions and filters."

According to me this is false info for both programs. Please respond!!!!

HollywoodTodd1 · Post by **HollywoodTodd1** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:55 am

This is absolutely ridiculous.....we should either get an upgrade to MF5Plus for free, or a refund. I implore any of you who paid for MF5 with a credit card to call them to dispute the charge, until we get the upgrade.

HollywoodTodd1 · Post by **HollywoodTodd1** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:00 am

also, just to prove they are the same software in Ulead's eyes..when I tried to download the trial version of MovieFactory 5 Plus, it said my trial had expired (since I had downloaded the trial version of MovieFactory 5 awhile back before I bought it.) Just shows to show you how greedy they are.... I work in a major electronics store, and things like this will cause me to start recommending Pinnacle instead.

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:38 am

I received a link from Ulead this morning to upgrade my MF5 at $29.00, which I did immediately. Somehow, somewhere out there, someone listened.
Still think the deal could be better, as I received this offer on one of my other programs I bought 3 months ago.

Quote:
We have just released a new version of XXX and as a recent purchaser we would like to reward you with a free upgrade to the new version.

I obviously had no explaination or apologies from support after my complaint, just the link...

MikePH · Post by **MikePH** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:54 am

Is there any mention in your e-mail of this being a general offer (or just a special one for you because you made the most noise)? As it is, at $29.99, Ulead are hardly cutting their own throats. Here in the UK the difference between the the upgrades for DMF5 and DMFPlus is £10 ($18.75 at today's exchange rate).

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:01 pm

It was sent to me only, so you might be right. It was setup on a special page however, so this offer might follow to other users, although they will have crying MF5 members that paid the full amount already.

Again, this should have been a free upgrade, but at least I can now concentrate on more important things than fighting petty things.

I've started the downloads. It will take ages, as ulead's download times in South Africa is hopeless (even over DSL). - That was another fight I had that went nowhere.

Hope you will get your so called upgrade offers soon.

bquerry · Post by **bquerry** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:06 pm

Whoopee.

(sigh)....Now the total upgrade cost from MF4 to MF5 Plus, along with a poorly choosen decision to also get the MF5 upgrade, will have cost me $69.98. A full savings of $10.01 from the purchase of a full retail package of MF5. Oh, and its the download only version, which I hate since I HAVE been burned in the past by download only versions and the serial number activation baloney.

I'm sorry folks. I know I said I'd drop this but this is really agravating. I did send an email to customer support with the content of my comments plus a referal to this thread. They responded with quoted text about my upgrade cost complaint and said:

Question/Problem: Please respond to this post I made in the forums dealing with thr unfair MF5 to MF5 Plus upgrade cost: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 02&start=0

Please read the entire thread! But I start with:
Let's see here, I purchased an upgrade from Movie Factory 4 to Movie Factory 5 and it cost me $39.99 plus shipping (I must have the CD since I am NOT willing to go through the download serial number fiascos I have gone through in the past in my MF2-3-4 upgrades...). Now if I want to upgrade from Movie Factory 5 (which until recently was not worth the CD it came due to the 4gb file size limit and the VBR encoding limitation) to Movie Factory 5 Plus, I must pay $49.99 plus shipping.

Hmmm..... something is wrong with this picture. For me to get to MF5 Plus I have to spend a total of $89.98 (plus shipping twice) which is $9.98 MORE (plus the 1 extra shipping shipping) than a full version of MF5 Plus would have cost me ($79.99 plus shipping). Perhaps if MF5 would have been useful
-------------------------------------------
Hi,

I've red your post on Ulead websforum and It seems your concern is more on the technical aspect of the MovieFactory 5. I suggest that you better submit your inquiry to our technical staff so they could address your concern properly. They can be reach thru this link (http://www.ulead.com/tech/techsupport.htm).

Thank you

Case #7149

Did they actually read the message I sent or the posts? I did not get an offer to upgrade for $29.99 (nor do I want it at that price!). This is what I responded with:

Obviously I did not state myself clearly. I'll try again.

As a loyal ULEAD customer, on May 3, 2006 I purchased for $49.99 plus shipping, an upgrade to Movie Factory 5. After some initial tests I found that the software as released would not be useable until some of the bugs were fixed. So I went back to using MF3 & MF4.

On August 12, I received a newsletter announcing and offering me an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to Movie Factory 5 Plus for $49.99. I decided that that was not reasonable since I would have been spending $9.98 MORE than a full package of Movie Factory 5 Plus and, for all I knew, it would have been just as buggy (since the MF5 service pack was not announced until the end of August).

What I want for myself and ALL purchasers of Movie Factory 5 who purchased Movie Factory 5 before Movie Factory 5 Plus was announced, is the same total cost that anyone else can get. Anyone that has any verison of Movie Factory 3,3SE,3.5,4,4SE, etc. can upgrade for $49.99. Since I already spent $39.99, I should be offered the opportunity to upgrade for $9.98 (plus shipping if I want the box version).

What ULEAD SHOULD do as a good customer relation policy is GIVE all of those who purchased Movie Factory 5 a FREE upgrade since Movie Factory 5 was NOT a very good release. But I won't hold my breath waiting for such an event to occur.

Sincerely,
Bill Querry
A loyal ULEAD owner of the following registered ULEAD products:
Movie Factory 1,2,3,3.5,3SE,4,4DC,5
Media Studio Plus 6,6.5,7,8
Video Studio 5,6,7,8,9,10
Cool 3-D 2,3,Production Studio
PhotoImpact 7,8,8XL,10,11
DVD Workshop 2
DVD Picture Show (can't remember the version, was too buggy to use!)
And a couple of others that escape my memory at the moment..

Again, I apologise to the members of the forum for dwelling on this, but I needed a place to vent. It's not the cost (as anyone can see, I do seem to spend $$$ freely), but the principle of being treated poorly!

Bill

mmponline · Post by **mmponline** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:45 pm

I agree 100% with the treated poorly statement. I've also spent a lot on several Ulead products. When I have a query, I always have to complete the online form from scratch. (Somehow they don't know how to draw member's info from the database).

The respons is normally an automated respons, and off course a very generous 5% discount coupon.
I have several examples of these "no help" replies, as if they try to play for time, necer giving a proper answer. Issues are ignored! - Like this one. Except for the discount offer, I still had no respons on my query.

I'm not sure why I'm still hooked to these great products even though the support is very bad.

But maybe, someday Ulead will realise that the users are their source of income and not the products.

I rest my case...

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:15 pm