why is Tech Support so unhelpful with VS 11 problems?

[bigmutt]

Everyone who's tried to use the newest Video Studio (version 11) already knows how buggy and frustrating this version is, yet tech support continues to pretend that nothing's wrong with the program.
It's like the elephant in the room that no one at Ulead is willing to recognize.

I've been using Video Studio since the early versions, and it's sure come a long way. I LOVE the version 10 but wanted some of the promised upgrades in version 11, so I upgraded. bought it without even doing the free trial first, because (stupidly) I thought that since version 10 is relatively bug-free and so rewarding to use, that version 11 HAD to be an improvement. Stupid move.

Another stupid move was not to check other internet forums FIRST, for comments about this new version: they're full of warnings and posts about the terrible new release. It seems EVERYONE out there knows better than to try this upgrade, except me.

And yet Ulead tech support continues to hide their heads in the sand about the bugs, trying to "help" me with the problems as though they are on MY end and not in the program. The closest they ever come to trying to address the problem in the program itself is to advise me to do the "install-reinstall" routine, which of course is just an easy cop-out so that they don't have to actually spend time tracking down program bugs.

I am SO disappointed in this company, I can't begin to express just how thoroughly!

So be warned out there, any of you who are contemplating upgrading from version 10: tech support will NOT be there for you.

[Black Lab]

I will not argue you point, as I have not yet upgraded to v11 (although I have downloaded the trial and used it for a short time without incident). The "upgrades" and HD were not compelling enough for me.

With that said, the only advice I can give you is to be patient and hope that the forthcoming patch will fix the problems.

[Jerry Jones]

I disagree.

I don't believe version 11 is as "problematic" as the first individual in this thread has suggested.

In fact, the two best consumer-level video editing programs on the market right now are Corel VideoStudio 11 Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11.

I own both of them.

There are some features I like better in the Pinnacle program and there are some features I like better in the Corel program.

But VideoStudio 11 Plus is not a "buggy" program.

It's solid... with only a few weaknesses.

1. Installing DVD Workshop 2 *after* installing VideoStudio 11 Plus will result in loss of function of VideoStudio 11's "Import From DVD/DVD-VR" capture plug-in -- so don't install DVD Workshop 2 after installing VideoStudio 11 Plus unless you're willing to experiment with experimental workarounds.

2. Some individuals have proposed a theory that they believe VideoStudio 11 Plus may be reading AVCHD files as "frame-based" instead of "upper field first" and they base this theory on the fact that VideoStudio 11 Plus fails to report field information for AVCHD clips. In addition, they believe that this may explain why AVCHD-to-HD MPEG-2 conversions result in files that exhibit the classic MPEG-2 "ghosting" motion artifact. Well, I'm not convinced this is a bug; I'm inclined to believe this is just a typical MPEG-2 motion artifact. Why? Because I purchased Pinnacle's Studio Ultimate 11 and such conversions exhibit the same artifact.

3. VideoStudio 11 Plus can't import AVCHD clips captured by other software; you are required to use the VideoStudio 11 Plus's *internal* capture utility to capture AVCHD clips. This is a weakness because Pinnacle's Studio Ultimate 11 software can import AVCHD clips captured by other software.

3. HD MPEG-2 encoding in VideoStudio 11 Plus is constrained to certain bit rates. This is a weakness because you can choose far higher bit rates in Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11.

These are the only weaknesses I've been able to detect.

Meanwhile, there are many posts to this forum mainly because so many users are new to video editing and they are going about things -- in many instances -- in the wrong way.

There are some major strengths in VideoStudio 11 Plus over Pinnacle's Studio Ultimate 11.

One example is the design of the DVD menus.

The templates in VideoStudio 11 Plus look much nicer than the ones in the Pinnacle product.

There are other advantages.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[sjj1805]

......
1. Installing DVD Workshop 2 *after* installing VideoStudio 11 Plus will result in loss of function of VideoStudio 11's "Import From DVD/DVD-VR" capture plug-in -- so don't install DVD Workshop 2 after installing VideoStudio 11 Plus unless you're willing to experiment with experimental workarounds........

Regarding the Import from DVD problem this has been reported to Ulead and hopefully will be fixed in the forthcoming service pack.
Meanwhile that fix is here:
Please view Fix: Import DVD (VOB) Files DMF/VS/MSP


Regarding the problems with of lost subtitles in DVD Workshop 2 after installing VideoStudio 11+ or MovieFactory 6+ - again this has been reported to Ulead and hopefully will be addressed in the Service pack.
meanwhile that fix is here:
Subtitles in DVD Workshop Fix

[etech6355]

Steve,
Using MF6+ if I replace and use that file you poasted after an avchd dvd is imported the program generates a windows fault condition.
Replacing back the original MF6+ file then MF6+ works again.
I would think that VS11+ would have similar results with an avchd disk.

[sjj1805]

John,
Many thanks, I will "quote/Post" this to the relevant links.
So briefly the fix works Unless you are doing AVCHD in which case don't use the fix.

[etech6355]

Yes, as far as I can tell after the videos are extracted to the harddisk then MF reads them and mounts then into the timeline. The error is generated right after they are extracted to the harddisk and MF is trying to put them into the timeline. Restoring the original H264 file back to the original works.