Bought the Product - Questions

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:15 pm

1. In the trial version there was a button to compress the output to fit a DVD in cases where the files were a little too large to fit.
This button isn't available in the bought version, but is replaced by a confusion of compression settings in at least two places. The manual gives no clue as to how to use these settings. It just states that they are there and assumes that everyone in the known universe understands how to use them. Can someone explain how to use these settings please?

2. The trial version was around 90 megabytes and the bought version is around 600 megabytes. There are some extra menu templates, but not a huge quantity. There are some extra programs that install, but it seems to be a bit bloated.
Can someone explain why the five download files are so huge?

snoops · Post by **snoops** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:40 am

Nr.2 is simple because it's been discussed very often. The trial has almost no content, the full version has it. Check the properties of the Content folder in the MF5 program folder. It is over 500MB.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:27 am

The Fit To Disc feature is gone? Sorry, I haven't been using Movie Factory recently...

The file size is determined by program length and bitrate. (Audio & video bitrate combined.) Here's a handy Bitrate Calculator. As a reference-point / rule-of-thumb, at a bitrate of 6000kbps you can fit 90 minutes of video with Dolby audio onto a single-layer DVD. (6000kbps is good quality. Lots of commercial DVDs are recorded in the ballpark of 6000.)

Another option is to choose Create DVD Folders, instead of Burn Disc. That will put an "image"* of the DVD on your hard drive. If it's too big to fit, you can use DVDshrink (FREE!!!) to make a smaller "image". DVDshrink can quickly scan the files and tell you if it will fit, and it will automatically calculate and set-up the the required amount of "shrinkage" .

DVDshrink works perfectly, but it's an extra step or two. And in general, you should avoid re-coding MPEGs, since MPEG is lossy compression.

* I put "image" in quotes, because an image is usually a single ISO file. When you Create DVD Folders, you get a copy of the files & folders that you would get on the DVD.

Can someone explain why the five download files are so huge?

I guess this extra stuff adds-up to 400 MB

(I bought the CD.)

Limitations
This Trial version is designed to let you experience DVD MovieFactory 5 Plus's powerful and creative features. Getting your videos and photos onto great-looking CDs or DVDs to share with family and friends has never been easier! When you purchase the full version, you will also receive:

Additional creative content
Ulead BD DiscRecorder and DVD DiscRecorder
Ulead Photo Explorer
InterVideo WinDVD and DVD Copy software

Ulead offers no warranty....

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:35 am

DVDDoug,
Using DVD Shrink is a great idea. Hadn't though of doing that!

I don't even know yet what Ulead BD DiscRecorder and DVD DiscRecorder are about but will read up on those.

I do like the "Quick Drop" thing. I needed to make 30 copies of the DVD and this made it quite easy although it could have been easier if it had the ability to enter the number of copies instead of having to click the "No" button when it asks if you want the data deleted, every time each DVD is made.
It was quite fast after the first copy so I am pleased with that!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:35 am

It's still there - MovieFactory 5+

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:35 am

sjj1085,
I did see that window pop up, but it didn't instill very much confidence in me at the time. It certainly is quite different to the trial version which had a dedicated button to press for this purpose.

The message "1. Press (Yes) to try to Fit DVD" in a popup seems to be more like an error message that indicates the user has done something diabolically bad and there might be some slim, slim chance that it can be rectified!

Or it seems like an afterthought: "Oh, by the way, you have probably screwed this up, but it might work, then again, it might not!"

I guess it just takes time and practise to learn any software!

akbingh · Post by **akbingh** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:17 am

Regarding the "1. Press (Yes) to try to Fit DVD" message, I am trialing DVD Movie Factory Now and the reason I bout it was that I would like to put four hours of video per disc for family videos so I don't have so many discs.

I can do that by dubbing from VCR to DVD with my set top LG recorder, but it automatically puts a second title on for the second tape, which I don't want, and no way to avoid it.

So I'd like to import video to UMF and create 4-hour discs with a single title.

For those of you more technical than I, am I expecting too much to stuff this much video on a disc? When I put four hours on a disc using the LG recorder, it looks great to me. Not sure what results I'll get here.

Thanks.

Andy Bingham

htchien · Post by **htchien** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:21 am

A regular DVD-Video disc would hold 2 hours video. If you include videos more than 2 hours, the quality will not be in DVD quality but in SVCD or VCD quality....

You can still do it if you think lower quality is acceptable.

H.T.