VS9 Smart Download = Slow buggy waste of time and no support

[NathanD]

Hi all,

Now like most other people I had a smooth easy payment and download of Video Studio 9 upgrade. Everything was going as planned until I decided to get the rather large sized extra content parts for Video Studio9. These downloads are ONLY (and I mean ONLY) available through Smart Download. There was some mention of people calling or sending emails to support and getting the FTP links for the extra VS9 content but I have sent two emails to our Asia/Australian support (no response!) and unfortunately we don't have the pleasure of a phone number to call down here since we are so far behind the rest of the world with this technology called "Phone support" or we simply don't have enough people in Australia to warrant such a luxury item.

As you can tell it is very frustrating not being able to get any help from Ulead support when you do everything right by the company and register your software, purchase the upgrades ASAP, and even recommend the software to friends. What else can I do for Ulead and still not get support?

Anyway that feels alot better getting all that frustation off my chest. Now the real problem is Smart Download. Due to server loads or whatever it downloads the extra VS9 parts at 1KB-4KB/sec. Now if I wanted those download speeds I would cancel my broadband connection today and signup with my old dial-up provider. Atleast my 56k modem could handle it! Another problem with Smart Download is the way it distinguishes if you have successfully completed a download or not. Now don't try this at home people because I did and this is what happened. While downloading Part2 at an amazing 3KB/sec I decided to turn off my Norton's Firewall and Anti-Virus in order to test whether it could have impacted on the download speed. Well turning off Nortons doesn't have an effect on download speed but turning Norton's back on has a dramatic effect of something else. The Part2 download finished immediately eventhough it was only halfway through and Part2 download never appearred in the Smart Download list since. Just to prove that this wasn't a one off glitch I tried this same thing (turning Norton's Firewall OFF and ON procedure) during another download and it did the same thing! Now I'm two downloads short and can't seem to get them back in the Smart Download list again. I double checked the directory they were being downloaded too and found the half downloaded corrupt files.
So what I'm asking is:
1) Is there an FTP link that I can use to get the extra content parts (even if it is only available for a day or using a password etc?
2) If not, how do I reset the Smart Download list in order to get all the items back?
3) What is the best method to get support if you live in Australia?
NathanD

[NathanD]

I recieved an email some 20 hours and 2 complaints later from Ulead support with the full list of ftp links to the US9 extra components. I'm in the process of downloading each component simutaneuosly right now. I should save about 12-24 hours of downloading time. I have noticed the Smart Download speed has improved from 3KB/sec to about 20-40KB/sec. Thats very useful when downloading such large files. Thanks for speeding it up Ulead.

Anyway thanks for hearing my problems and I'll be on my way now. Hopefully I won't have to annoy the poor souls in the forum again. My advice to anyone downloading the parts....complain to Ulead support and get the ftp links and do them simutaneously. It will save you many hours.

Good days and happy editing,

Be creative,
NathanD

[Ferki]

At home (where I use VS) I have dialup connection ... and you can think
the time I need to download whole package.
At work I have xDSL connection, so it could be very fast and easy to download files. Thas where I have download VS ESD.
But as you say there is no answer from support.

Regards,
Igor

P.S: Sorry for my bad English

[thecoalman]

I'd imagine the servers are getting hammered because of the initial release with a lot of people trying to get it at once. Probably speed up quite a bit in a few days.

[Ferki]

And I forgot to say there is no Resume button
You get whole package or nothing - imagine 140 MB trough dialup (no dissconnection).

Regards,
Igor

[thecoalman]

And I forgot to say there is no Resume button
You get whole package or nothing - imagine 140 MB trough dialup (no dissconnection).

Regards,
Igor

I think someone had mentioned there's a download manager available from the vedor. Look for the other post about downloading.

Also you can get a third party DL manager. I used to use GetRight but I have cable now so I don't use it and have no idea if it's any good anymore (i.e spyware infested).

[Ferki]

Thanks for your help thecoalman but it's look like you have missed...

These downloads are ONLY (and I mean ONLY) available through Smart Download.

... except if you get links from Ulead support ....

I have sent two emails to our Asia/Australian support (no response!)

... but they don't respond to emails.
Regards,
Igor

[/b]

[Speedy2]

In case anyone runs into NathanD's problem of a partial download and the file not in the Smart Download list again try deleting the corrupted file and that should allow you to download it again. I was one of the first souls to get VS9 and they screwed up with the inital file then had to set me up for FTP download. I downloaded all the extras and created a SmartDownload directory under VS9 folder and put all the extras there. They then disappeared from the smartdown list and I just installed them by hand from that directory.

Speedy2

[WaxonWaxov]

OK, I sat through the long download.... now what?

[NathanD]

WaxonWaxov Posted: OK, I sat through the long download.... now what?

Make sure VS9 is closed and double click on the download/s in the C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead Video Studio 9.0\Smart Download if you installed VS9 on the c drive.

[david reece]

what are the FTP links then?

I am limited to 2 hour downloads and cant get past 30 mb limit on this with 56k modem.

[Willie Marwick]

Pity one can't just link in to the ftp sites and download the content files directly from the VS9 interface instead of having to contact tech support.
Surely the links should be included as an option in the 'Smart Download' menu item.

C'mon Ulead, we know you read these posts.......

Cheers,
Willie :

[GeorgeK]

I am wondering what all the fuss here is about ?

I purchased UVS9 Upgrade via ESD because I know that my ADSL link will be able to download the files. If I did not have away to download myself, or via work, or via a friend, I would have gone to a local retail store and purchase the CD, at a slightly higher cost, maybe, but still good value.

Anyway, after my purchase via the Ulead Mall, I recieve a full list of links from which I can download, this included all the extra content ect.

I use a (freeware) Download Manger always for long downloads, I do not have that much conficence in my or any other service provider.

Once I downloaded all the files and installed them all, I noticed the Smart Download feature, and thought, wow, how simple could this get. Well I did find it was not quiet that simple, my version forgot to create the SmartDownload folder so I have manually created this and tested SmartDownload which seemed to do as good a job as the DownLoad Manger, except for a "resume" feature that someone mentioned.

Sorry if others had issues, but it was all great for me.

[Ferki]

I recieve a full list of links from which I can download, this included all the extra content ect.

GeorgeK if You didn't noticed - few of us did not recived extra content links ...
I have ADSL at my job, so I downloaded VS w/o problems. I have installed VS at home where I have 56k modem so I had to take my home computer at my office to download extra content with DL manager.

Regards,
Igor

[chino]

anyone here have the links or the ftp pw to dl VS9 extra content? Tired of waiting for CS to reply....

thanks