Problem encountered during step one (PARSING)

[photo601]

Greetings all. I am new to your forum .
I am using the trial version to evaluate the software. A friend has Movie Factory 4 and had no problems with my disk. I get to the import stage and select 'from DVD'. It displays 'parsing' then zips right to 63% complete and then FULL STOP. No error reported, it just seems to locK my machine. How can I tell if it is somejhow compiling the data on the disk or just stuck in some endless loop? I previously used Pinnacle for editing, but I no longer have the program available. If my friend can use version 4 and have no porblems ripping the data, why do I?
Please point me in the right direction!

Thanks

Photo601

[DVDDoug]

For a short-term work-around, you could have your friend rip the DVD to an MPEG-2 file and burn that MPEG-2 file directly onto a DVD (i.e. make a "data disc"). You shoud be able to copy that .MPG file onto your hard drive.

You can also try a FREE program called VOB 2 MPG. Ive tried it on two DVDs. It worked perfectly the first time. It was fast and it didn't re-code the MPEG. The 2nd time I tried it, it didn't work at all.

I know Movie Factory sometimes has trouble importing some DVDs... I'm sorry to hear the new versions might be worse. Overall, Ulead has one of the best Import tools around.... when it works. Most "DVD-to-MPEG" programs will re-code the MPEG. Movie Factory won't touch the actual MPEG encoding. It will just re-structure it as an MPEG file.

I am using the trial version to evaluate the software..

If you are planning on mainly using Movie Factory for editing DVDs, you should be aware that the Ulead programs sometimes have trouble editing MPEGs. (In case you don't know, DVDs are MPEG-2.) Not everybody has problems, but I've sometimes ended-up with DVDs that had "lip-sync" issues, and I've had Movie Factory crash a few times when working on MPEGs.

You are dealing with two of Movie Factory's "weak points" (Importing DVDs and editing MPEGs or other highly-compressed files.) It usually works great if you are taking files from a MiniDV camcorder and making a DVD from those files.

So, just make sure to fully-evaluate the software with your particular type of DVDs/files and your particular type of project, before actualy buy it!