Are there limitations with the MF6 trial version?

[sytyguy]

I could not find any such limitations any where on Uleads web site, but....

It only captures scenes that have not been stopped by the camera it appears. For instance, I have 3 different scenes taken on different days, and MF6 only captured the first scene to a DVD, then I had to skip past the first scene, and it captured only the 2nd scene to a DVD, and the same with the 3rd scene.

Is this because it is the trial version, or a bug that is fixed with an update, which I cannot apply?

[DVDDoug]

I doubt this is trial-version limitation. There is an update, but it does not seem to address your particular problem. I wouldn't advise buying the software if the trial version doesn't work for you.

I suspect that Movie Factory just doesn't "like" your camera. What kind of camera do you have? How is it connected to your computer? (A MiniDV camera connected via Firewire will usually work. If you have a hard-drive camera, or a direct-to-DVD camera, your odds may be slightly worse.)

One alternative is to use the "capture" software that came with your camera. Once you have a digital A/V file on your hard drive, you can use the software of your choice for video editing and DVD authoring/burning.

[sytyguy]

It is a JVC GR-D70U, and I am using a firewire. BTW, I did read the tutorial, and it speaks about "Advanced Settings", my version does not have that option, so that is why I thought the trial version was limited. However, I did notice (after 5 coasters) an option in the "Mode" setting for "Full DV tape". So I turned that on and it still only captures part of the first scene. However, it scanned the entire DV tape, which the other option did not, but to no avail.

MF6 reads my entire DV tape perfectly, it just will not capture the entire tape to DVD. Also, this DV tape only has about 30 miinutes of video, so that should not be a problem, and my HDD has about 200Gb of free space.

One other thing prior to actually capturing MF6 is says, "there is 1:28:15 left on the disc or HDD". Is this hours, minutes and seconds?

TIA

[sjj1805]

Format the DV tape before shooting video.
Formatting a DV tape is desirable for batch capture and for accurately locating timecodes. Formatting here means to record a "blank" video from start to end without interruption. This is what a professional cameraman will do with a new DV tape. Once it is formatted, you can start shooting video. Thus, when you play your video footage on the DV camcorder, the counter (displayed as Timecode on the camcorder's LCD monitor or viewfinder) keeps running even when there's no actual video

[sytyguy]

Format the DV tape before shooting video.
Formatting a DV tape is desirable for batch capture and for accurately locating timecodes. Formatting here means to record a "blank" video from start to end without interruption. This is what a professional cameraman will do with a new DV tape. Once it is formatted, you can start shooting video. Thus, when you play your video footage on the DV camcorder, the counter (displayed as Timecode on the camcorder's LCD monitor or viewfinder) keeps running even when there's no actual video

I am sure that is great advice, but a little late now.

But thanks.

[snoops]

I am sure that is great advice, but a little late now.

It is not too late, because this is important to know.

If there is a gap between shots, your problem will occur with many different capturing programs.

You do not have to pre-record a new tape... if you avoid creating gaps between takes.

Your camera should never create a gap when recording a new take after stopping. If it does, it is broken.

But you create a gap if you manually position the tape to a spot after the previous footage. For example after previewing the previous takes.

My old Panasonic DV camcorder has a fantastic menu option that seeks to the end of the recorded material on a tape and positions the tape for the next gap free recording. This is great after previewing footage or loading a tape that was rewound. I always used this feature and got accustomed to having it. Now my new Sony only offers this function with more expensive Sony cassettes that have a builtin chip. But I use Panasonic tapes. So now it is better/easier to pre-record the tape to avoid gaps.

[sytyguy]

I definitely positioned the tape on the first and second scenes, but on the third scene there was no positioning, and it would not capture the entire third scene. When I told it to capture the entire tape, it scanned it all in its entirety, but only captured a portion of the first scene.

These are the same tapes I used when I had Ulead version 9, and I had positioned the tape many times during several days of recordings, and it had no problem capturing the entire tape. Unfortunately, I built a new computer, and forgot to re-install Ulead9 on it.

Thanks for the help.

[snoops]

Rich,
I'm sorry, I didn't read your statements carefully... I hate when this happens It does sound like a MF6 problem with that feature, especially if the same recorded tape works/worked with VS9.
Unless your new system has some issues that need attention.

I've never used the MPEG2 capturing options for DV video in any of the products I have, especially not burning MPEG2 capture directly to DVD.
I capture (copy) DV over firewire and do all editing in native DV before encoding to MPEG2 for DVD with the desired quality. This encoding takes much longer than the playing time and would not be possible on-the-fly while capturing DV.

Granted, if the program sells the ability to capture DV and convert on-the-fly to MPEG2 ...in reduced quality... as well as burn it, it should work. But it wouldn't surprise me if this process was sensitive to fluctuations in the complexity of the video image being captured. Especially after seeing various buffer overrun and underrun errors in the past with certain fast MPEG2 encoders. Just guessing.

Anyway, I would try plain capturing of DV to the harddisk first. Then try the MPEG2 conversion option to harddisk, and then the direct-to-disc variant. Maybe something in your new environment is causing a bottleneck.

[sjj1805]

Rich,
As you are a MovieFactory user you are probably unaware of the
Suggested work flow by SJJ1805 for Video Creation aimed more towards VideoStudio and MediaStudio users. However much of what I have written in that thread applies to MovieFactory.

Regarding converting from DV (avi) to MPEG2 "on the fly" this is best explained by the Moderator of the VideoStudio forum Ken Berry and can be found in this link:

Authoring a DVD

[sytyguy]

Granted, if the program sells the ability to capture DV and convert on-the-fly to MPEG2 ...in reduced quality... as well as burn it, it should work.

Anyway, I would try plain capturing of DV to the harddisk first. Then try the MPEG2 conversion option to harddisk, and then the direct-to-disc variant. Maybe something in your new environment is causing a bottleneck.

Actually, for what little was captured the quality was pretty good. I will try to capture to my HDD, although I uninstalled MF6, after 6 coasters.

I didn't realize it, but my "Sig" was incorrect.....it's been a long time since I was here.

Many thanks for the help.

[sytyguy]

sjj1805,

I will take a look at that.

Many thanks for the response.