Honest Opinion on software

mbiga · Post by **mbiga** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:48 pm

I am having a hard time deciding what to do. I am hoping I can get an honest opinion from the group. new to video editing (like done it once on a trial version of ulead v6). I am choosing between Ulead and Cyberlink. Anyone use both? LIkes/dislikes, pros/cons? Both seem pretty solid programs. I can't get the trial version of v10 to run on my new vista PC. Ulead told me they don't have a trial version yet. OK, now I put my trust into the board. should I wait for v11 to come out. Just looking for some sound advise.

Thanks in advance.

greg mgm · Post by **greg mgm** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:12 pm

I doubt anyone here would say to go with Cyberlink, considering this is Uleads site...But I've used both. I downloaded the trial versions of each program, worked for a couple weeks with them and eventually bought both programs. 99% of the time I edit with Ulead since I got used to it, and being familiar with a program makes the projects much more enjoyable. Both do basically the same thing, but with a different look to the screen. My opinion is to go with VS. Get used to the program and stick with it. The support on this site is awesome. They have tutorials that are very helpful, and your questions are answered promptly here on the board......at least in my experience.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:48 pm

I would think v11 should be out soon and, hence, a trial version will be available. If you can wait...

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:21 pm

I too was a user and admirer of Cyberlink Power Director 5 (though at the time had been a long time user of first VS7, then 8 and the then recently released 9).

I found Cyberlink to be a very solid program that was no harder to use than the Ulead equivalents. Indeed, I liked its range of transitions better, and these seemed to work more smoothly than those in VS9, with which I was having some troubles. (But that's another story -- I eventually found out the reason for the latter.) I also liked some of the other 'magic wand' features of the program which did a good job of applying effects across a whole project.

However, I started having troubles producing a consistent final video using Cyberlink in a succession of projects. And I have never found the reason. Equally, however, I never found a Forum like this one for Cyberlink products either. Not saying that there might not be one -- just that I never found it! (I was already a contributor on this Board at the time.)

So I have dropped Cyberlink and gone back to Ulead and remain very happy with their products...

The moral of the story is that I have tried quite a number of editing programs in my time. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. You should probably try out a few yourself and see which one suits you best. But then stick with it.

An important factor in your considerations, though, is whether the product has good support, and in particular, a forum like this one...

BuZZarD · Post by **BuZZarD** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:16 am

I used to video edit on the Amiga using software like adpro, lightwave etc when titling was overlayed using hardware as opposed to editing suites (yes I've aged like a fine piece of....... milk)

I tried various things on the pc form Vegas, pinnacle studio etc through to rediculously powerful but over complicated adobe premiere (it's a bigger commitment than marriage!).

I first used vs when it was v7 as an alternative to the simplistic windows movie maker. Back then, it was tempremental and crashed at the most inappropriate times and had a few bugs that served to irritate.
I upgraded to VS8 and had less problems but still too many to be comfortable with.

By VS9, things were much, much better and alot more reliable. It did everything it claimed to do and had enough features to please and create some quality workmanship.
VS10+ went a stage further and has 5.1 encoding and more overlay tracks and is very reliable in my experience.

I started with Videostudio and I also have Photoimpact and Cool3d production studio which all work together to create some rather nice work (if I do say so myself).

With ulead, you get what you need, when you need it and it speaks the same language as you.
I couldn't possibly recommend any other product as none have been as easy to use. It doesn't pop up errors that mean nothing and if you do come up against an obstacle - just come here and there are a ton of people willing to help.

It's the easiest decision of your life.........

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:23 pm

My honest opinion on the software?

Stay away from it until at least the first service pack.

Vista I mean.

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:48 pm

Some people buying new computers are forced to use Vista.
If that's the case I would be patient and wait for VideoStudio 11+.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:28 pm

Here in Belgium some computers are PROPOSED with XP, others with Vista, but if you ASK for it you get the other version.

The customer is always right, you just say no, I don't buy it with Vista and I go elsewhere to buy a computer, and suddenly everything becomes possible. Of course you don't leave with it, you need to wait a few days...

Back to the point, I would also in that situation wait for VS11(+), but there is a very small risk, recent history hints at a gradual increase of price with each version of the software (no, not Vista).
So buying VS10 now could be cheaper.
The decision would be much easier if we knew what new features will be present in 11 (and which new bugs are introduced).

We suppose it will handle BD/HD disks but I guess the vast majority of us don't care so what else?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:00 pm

Back to the point, I would also in that situation wait for VS11(+), but there is a very small risk, recent history hints at a gradual increase of price with each version of the software (no, not Vista).
So buying VS10 now could be cheaper.

I beg to differ. Only with the last version was the price a little bit different, but I think that was due to the two versions (10 & 10+). Before that the price of the software was always $99, and the upgrade price was $49 (if memory serves me), and that was going back to v7.

It's a shame that the OP didn't check the Ulead site a couple of weeks ago. VS10 was on sale, that's why we though v11 was imminent.

greg mgm · Post by **greg mgm** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:14 pm

Does anyone know when VS 11 is due out? .......OR is that the $10 mil question??

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:09 pm

The past couple of years new versions have come out in March/April. VS10 was on sale a couple of weeks ago. That being said, you're guess is as good as mine. (I know, big help

)

mbiga · Post by **mbiga** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:13 pm

i would love to try it out, but having a hard time launching the program. Something about limit users and it won't let me continue. If I can't try it out, not sure about buying it. Right now this is the way I am leaning, but still want to give it a go before I purchase. Yea, it's not a lot of fun to be forced into using

vista when it has been out for 2 months. No chance of bugs or anything

Vicki · Post by **Vicki** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:59 pm

I tried Pinnacle, Ulead VS 10+, CyberLink PowerDirector, Memories on TV, Movie Maker. Also looked at Premiere Pro.

PowerDirector had nice interface and transitions, but the major flaw was not having any control over the pans and zooms. That was an eliminating factor right away.

Pinnacle 10+ has nice features, transitions, automated movie maker wizard, etc., but it has horrible stability issues. I took it off my machine and will never put it back on.

Premiere Pro, while being a high end editor, did not allow me to import the avi video clips from my digital camera without first importing them into Movie Maker and exporting. So, that was an eliminating factor also.

I found Ulead to be the best editor of all the above. It has many excellent features, such as the multi-trim and the pan and zoom controls are excellent. It has been stable for me.

The key is to try them and see what you like best and what features are the most important to you. Hope this helps.

randazzojp · Post by **randazzojp** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:50 pm

I tried Cyberlink and I liked the features it had. For instance you can apply an effect to a range of clips where in VS you have to do that for every seperate clip. There's no copy and paste with VS. Cyberlink has some nice effects like the videowall.

But in the end VS gives much more control over your project so I'll certainly continue to use VS. Let's see and wait what V11 has in store for us. I have always been a happy Ulead user. It's stable. I also tried Pinnacle in the past. A disaster and I was working for weeks to get the prgram working stable which didn't happen in the end. So no more Pinnacle for me.

dprozzo · Post by **dprozzo** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:54 pm

A few months ago I spent a great deal of time at this site trying to learn how to use VS 8.0 and 9.0. Generally I was not impressed with the software. I have a pretty decent computer running WinXP, but the programs were slow to load and slow to function. For example, importing a DVD took a very long time. Editing an MPEG-2 captured from a video camera became more and more sluggish with increasing number of chapters.

Further, I encountered suggestions on how to work around what were apparently inherent deficiencies in the software. (Can't remember them now.) I was also supposed to (according to experienced users) consider things such as "upper-field first" or "lower-field first", depending on the video source. Changes had to be made to "project properties." Encoding took a very long time - the only practical way I could do it was to start before I went to bed. And none of this was intuitive. That is no way to make software.

After trying out other programs too, I finally settled on Womble's MPEG Video Wizard DVD and have never looked back. It is speedy and highly capable. It is easily used by the same sort of person who favors a "point and shoot" type of camera and at the same time allows advanced functions. When I was new to the program I could jump right in, and have gradually learned its additional capabilities.

It has a tremendous number of video filters and impressive tools to work with the audio. For example, normalizing the audio is a snap. It is also possible to separate the audio from the video, allowing one to load the audio into a more sophisticated sound editor for cleanup before using the MPEG Multiplexer function to join the audio and video back together.

It has Input and Output windows so it is easier to see the effects of your filters before settling on the final product.

Nothing is perfect, and so I will add that it has few preloaded menu backgrounds and there are no audio clips. Some might miss these but I don't because I think that many of them look pretty cheesy and I prefer to make my own backgrounds with snapshots from the video.

Another potential drawback is that it doesn't have video capture capabilities so I capture video from my camera onto a DVD with a set-top DVD burner, use DVD Shrink to bring it to my computer as a single .vob file, then import that to MPEG Video Wizard DVD for editing and creation of the final DVD.

(The set-top DVD burner does a better job than my Plextor ConvertX 402U and my computer isn't tied up.)

I'm sure there could be other features lacking that might be important to some users. As others have suggested, it is best to try and compare before you buy. Womble has a very generous 30-day trial period during which the program is fully functional.

I hope this helps the original poster who wanted an honest opinion and doesn't offend the moderators.