Any way to save DVD creation configuration in VS11+

[richlux]

I have a bunch of VS11+ projects that I'm putting together into one DVD. I use the "Share" "Create Disk" option to add all my VPS files, set my thumnails, set my starting chapter motion videos, etc. Now, the next time I do a "Share" "Create Disk", it resets everything to whatever my current project is, or worse it clears everything out if I have no project selected.

Is there a way to save all these DVD Creation setttings so I can come back and edit them, such as add a new VSP to it, etc? I usually have multiple DVD projects going on and I need to be able to save them each. Better yet, can I launch the DVD creator portion separately and load and save various DVD Creation projects?

Thanks,
Rich

[Ken Berry]

The saving of settings within the burning module is possible, but has always been klutzy. I would hope that Corel might get around to fixing it with a simpler process in the next version, but my hopes are not high since the current system has been used, despite repeated user complaints, for successive versions.

Anyway, you do your editing and save it all as a project, right? And you have several of them, all saved separately. Now you go to to Share > Create Disc and insert your various projects in the burning timeline. While I would never do this, and it runs against the basic procedures outlined in our Suggested Workflow in http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 512#101512 , I acknowledge that many users follow your procedure with success.

Anyway, you build your menu etc, but want to save those settings. The only way I know how to do that is, after you have made all your menu settings and changes, you close the burning module. You will get an automatic progress bar telling you it is saving things. Ignore that as it is in fact just saving a temporary file which will only work if you reopen the burning module without having closed VS itself. If you close VS and come back later, your settings will have been lost.

Instead, when you close the the module, go to File > Save As and give it a project name. Now when you close VS and come back later, you should be able to reopen that project and go to the burning module, and things should be as they were when you closed it.

Since you are happily using .vsp project files instead of completed DVD compatible mpeg-2s of each project, you could also, in the Editing module, first insert all your .vsp files in the timeline, save them as a new project, then open the burning module. All the projects should then appear automatically in the burning timeline. Build your menus, then close the burning module and then manually save the existing named project.

I repeat that this does not follow our suggested workflow, but if you stick to your current procedure, it is, I think, the way to go.

[richlux]

While I would never do this, and it runs against the basic procedures outlined in our Suggested Workflow in http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 512#101512 , I acknowledge that many users follow your procedure with success.

Thanks, I'm going to try that.

I've read through the suggested workflow and have done it that way too, but I prefer keeping just the VSPs instead of a bunch of extra mpeg-2s on my drive. It just seems like a waste of space since I already have the source files. If I may ask, why is the "preferred workflow" preferred? What's the benefit of it?

Thanks,
Rich

[Ken Berry]

It's all got to do with the fact that, like fingerprints, no two computers are ever exactly alike once they get into the hands of users. Each will have different combinations of programs loaded and often have the architecture changed with new hardware added or more RAM or the like.

So with video editing, hard experience has shown us there is no one size of workflow which fits all users.

Some users use your workflow and do so successfully all the time. No problem with that. If it works, great. Some people use it and it works just about always, then for some 'inexplicable' reason, it won't work for a particular project. Others can never get it to work properly, and again the reason is never exactly clear.

The suggested workflow was designed to cover the last two categories. It is based on the belief (again borne out by the hard experience of many of us), that it is often better to do things one step at a time and not place undue demands on sometimes scarce or overstretched computer resources. Thus we suggest that after you finish editing, you render your project into a DVD compliant mpeg-2 if your intention is to burn a DVD.

The way you are doing it, on the other hand, avoids this step, but does not avoid the need to convert the projects into DVD compatible mpeg-2 since this simply has to be done if you are burning a standard video DVD, no ifs no buts... But your workflow throws that conversion on the fly into an already fairly complex burning process which must also, on the fly, convert your menu to video (which depending on your menu, can be a complex task) plus the multiplexing of the video and the audio and, of course, the ultimate burn. For some people like those in groups 2 and 3 above, this extra ask of their computers is a bridge too far, and the process falls over.

So our suggested workflow is there to cover those situations. And if you think about it, you are not really saving very much time with your workflow either. The conversion has to be done either way, and it will take exactly the same amount of time.

For some of us, I guess, it has become a matter of second nature -- a case of 'slow and steady wins the race'. But as I say, if your method works for you, great. However, if it should ever fall over, at least now you know where to find an alternative!!

[richlux]

I guess it all comes down to stability of the software. Working with VSP files seems to work fine for me, but it's good to know there's an alternative if need be.

Thanks for the hint at saving the Disk Creation, it's kludgey, but it works great. I'd love to see an update to allow this more easily.


Thanks,
Rich

[Ken Berry]

So would we all. Many of us have been complaining about it, as I say, for several successive versions of VS. The auto-save progress bar which appears when you close the burning module was added, I think, with VS9. But that was all, and as I say, that too is pretty useless if you go out of the burning module and then close VS...

[richlux]

Well, now that Corel owns them, maybe things will change

Rich

[richlux]

Ken,

I have one more question about this issue.

I'm using your idea of use a separate project just so I can save my DVD creation settings, files used, etc. In the burning module of my project, I've included a bunch of VSP files, set their thumbnails, etc. However, when I edit the source file of one of the included VSP files, those changes don't seem to show up. I have to delete the VSP files from the burning module and re-add them. Any workaround for this?

Thanks,
Rich

[Ken Berry]

Personally, I don't think it is possible except the way you are doing it. AFAIK, there is no dynamic link between the project file as it is in the collection of project files in the burning module, and the project file you are editing separately in the Editor.

However, if I am wrong about that, I am certain someone will be quick to point that out and to suggest the proper way of doing it!!

[Ron P.]

I've read through the suggested workflow and have done it that way too, but I prefer keeping just the VSPs instead of a bunch of extra mpeg-2s on my drive. It just seems like a waste of space since I already have the source files. If I may ask, why is the "preferred workflow" preferred? What's the benefit of it?

Thanks,
Rich

Re-reading your posts again I finally noticed that part I've highlighted in red. If you keep just the VSP files and not the video clips, and images associated with the VSP, then you are keeping something more like a text file. A VSP without the MPEGs, or whatever format you choose, is useless. If you even move, not delete, any of those video clips to another location on your system, VS should prompt you to re-link.

VSP (VideoStudio Project) files are nothing more than a bunch of instructions for the program. There are no actual clips embedded in a VSP file. It's like a cooking recipe. It tells you all the ingredients (video clips, images, filters, cuts, transitions, audio,) and what to do with them. However if you don't have the ingredients you can't do much with a recipe can you?

Another thing to consider is that the burning module is really another application. VS consists of actually 3 separate utilities, a capture utility, an editing utility and a DVD authoring/burning utility. They could leave the burning module and the capture module completely out of VS, and it would still function to edit and create new video files.

So with that said, when you build your DVD, and you want to save all that hard work, you must save that file. What we all think makes no sense with VS, is that to do that, even though you get the "Saving...." prompt when you are closing out of the burn module, it has not saved much of anything yet. You have to either choose yes when asked, (when you close VS editor), or make sure to go to File>Save As. When doing so all the menus, chapters, ect., will be saved. Open that project up again, and all your menus and chapters should be there. If you make changes to that project in the Editor, you will need to Save it again.

[richlux]

Ron,

I understand totally what you are saying and I understand exactly how the VSP files work (I've actually spent alot of time analyzing the binary file, but that's another story). It still makes no sense to me that changes to a VSP file are not reflected in the burning module.

If I have an external MPEG added to my Burning Module and then the source MPEG changes, when I re-open my Burning module, those changes are shown.

If I do the exact same thing except use an external VSP file, the changes are not shown.

I write software for a living and as far as I'm concerned, this is a bug. I have to delete these VSP files from the module and re-add them which means I have to reset my thumbnails, chapters, etc. At the very least the software should allow you to "refresh" the VSP files. What's the purpose of being able to create a DVD using VSP files if changes to those files aren't reflected on the DVD?

Rich

[Ron P.]

It's not a bug, because that's the way Ulead/Corel wrote it. If you write a program, and someone else thinks it should work a bit different, is it a bug? I've presented very similar issues to Ulead and Corel, and that's what I've been told, "The developers and programmers intended it to work that way". It may be poor programming, but not a bug.

Now regarding your statement about the MPEG files in the burning module...
I don't agree that the actual MPEG file is changed. No it is not. Check your working folder that you have set in Preferences. There are Temp folders and files that are created. Open up a couple of the text files created and you will see all the instructions that VS, including the Burn module uses. It matches the DVD produced. So when you open the burn module it is using those Temp files to populate the timeline, and placing the chapter markers, menus ect, where you last had them. However it is not altering any MPEG files that are inserted. I've gone back to the MPEG files that I have inserted and used them over again in different projects. If they had been altered by the Burn module, it would be apparent when inserting them into another project, now wouldn't it?

[richlux]

It's not a bug, because that's the way Ulead/Corel wrote it. If you write a program, and someone else thinks it should work a bit different, is it a bug? I've presented very similar issues to Ulead and Corel, and that's what I've been told, "The developers and programmers intended it to work that way". It may be poor programming, but not a bug.

Agreed, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck

With regards to the MPEG file, I think you misunderstood me. I know VS doesn't modify any files. I was saying that I have a VS project (Project A) which includes an MPEG file (test.mpg) in the burning module. If I then actually modify test.mpg in a different project (Project B) by using VS to Share --> Create Video File). When I go back to the burning module of Project A, the NEW test.mpg is there with all the changes I made.

If I do this exact same thing using a VSP file, the changes to the VSP file are NOT there.

I've done a bunch of tests and this appears to be happening because the burning module treats video files and VSP projects differently. When you add Video files to the burning module, it keeps a pointer to that video. Thus when the video changes, since the burning module only has a pointer to the video, the changes are there. When you add a VSP project to the burning module, it does NOT keep a pointer to the VSP project! Instead, it actually loads the project (all the instructions on what to do to the video) and saves that instead. Therefore modifying the original VSP does nothing.

It's difficult to explain this by typing it, but hopefully you understand what I'm saying.

Rich

[sl2008]

[quote="Ken Berry"]

So our suggested workflow is there to cover those situations. And if you think about it, you are not really saving very much time with your workflow either. The conversion has to be done either way, and it will take exactly the same amount of time.

!!

[/quote


Well, in my case the amount of time is different. A 90 minutes project , shot in 1440 X1080 with my Canon HV20 , takes 5 hours with the "direct mode" , going straight to "Create Disk" to make a standard DVD. With the "indirect mode" , creating a DVD MPEG file and using it to make the DVD, the time is reduced by half. Doing something more "fancy" , like making a AVCHD disk to play on a PS3, also goes faster using the file creation before burning the disk.

Everything MPEG2 to MPEG2 runs pretty fast on my PC but video conversion can be a dog.


My PC setup is not bad ,Quad, 3GB RAM,NVIDIA 8800.

Sergio