Unable to view video in play mode in easy edit

[oldtimer4267]

Hello everyone, a newbie here.

I have a purchased bundle of painter with essentials and VS X3. Software received on a disk a few days ago. I had a trial version of Painter that I removed before installing, the VS X3 is a virgin copy. I see a black screen while playing videos in easy edit. They go black if played as a thumbnail or in the edit window, doesn't matter. Audio plays in both modes.

I can see the actual video in advanced edit before and after editing them.

In easy edit the filmstrip shows in the editor and the beginning scene shows in the play window but when play is hit, the screen goes black and I can hear the audio but get a black screen only. However if I use the trim feature to trim the film strip and then render the result, I end up with a video that plays in the advanced edit but not in easy edit.

The files I'm working with are avi and wmv created some time ago.

Starting easy edit brings up a warning that older graphics hardware and drivers are installed...etc and I may not be able to see the videos.

However I have at the direction of a chat person at Corel support and another on phone support downloaded an updated Directx and the Nvidia drivers and done a full windows 7 update. Nothing has changed.

I'm guessing codecs? If so, where can I safely get them. There are no updates shown in Corel for VS x3 and none at MS support that I recognize.

I've seen something on this forum about Get More and I did down load and expected it to show somewhere - doesn't. Can't find a file to activate it and now the help menu no longer shows it.

Sorry about the long post but I'm trying to get as much info as possible to cut down on back and fourths.

I'm assuming my system info will show in the right panel. In case they are not, I'm running Windows 7 on a HPE-140f computer with 8 GB ram and 1TB hard drive. The display is a GeForce Nvidia GT 230
Directx 11 (fully updated) and the download recommended by the phone person for Nvidia.

I could not identify this specific problem in this forum, but search does not like to use the keywords I need to describe it (words play and video are too common).

Thanks for any help.

[Black Lab]

You don't say what type of file you are dealing with. Please see the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING thread at the top of the forum and provide the requested info.

Also, try updating your DirectX, as that has solved many previewing issues. A link to that can also be found at the top of the forum.

[oldtimer4267]

I apologize but I don't know how to say what file it is except they are .avi and .wmv video files as I mentioned in my post. These are all 20 to 40 second long files. Even a single 20 second clip won't play. The files I'm working with are avi and .wmv created some time ago on the earlier ULed and some raw from a sony digital camcorder. Also a few Roxio created avi and wmv a few years back.

None work in "easy edit", all work in "advanced edit". I also believe my post mentioned that I had the Directx files downloaded just yesterday on the advice of a Corel support person using the link provided in the chat window. I apologize again, but I don't know what else to tell you.

[sjj1805]

Welcome to the Web Board.

............
Starting easy edit brings up a warning that older graphics hardware and drivers are installed...etc and I may not be able to see the videos........

[oldtimer4267]

Well, about the older graphics : That message is what prompted the download of all the updates to the Nvidia available and the Directx available as well as a visit to Microsoft to download to update Windows 7. That particular message appears on "easy edit" but not on "advanced edit". The "easy edit" is the part that throws up. This is a new machine straight out of the box about a week ago. I'm sure that HP may have put an older Nvidia board in there but it runs all the .avi and .wmv I throw at it, including the "advanced edit" part of VideoStudio pro x3 in every other software I use to display it.

If you have any suggestions as to finding out what actually prompted that message from "easy edit" in the way of finding out the offending device or driver, it would be very nice to have that information, it is not that I did not understand that it was telling me something.

I think I mentioned the codec is my prime suspect because the H 264 is mentioned somewhere in the Corel site as being used for x2 I believe, with some fanfare. However Microsoft does not have a downloader for it, nor does HP nor does Corel that I can find. I find plenty of specs I can download but not the drivers. So if viewsonic is using that for its codecs in easy edit (but not in "advanced edit" it would make sense that might be related to the problem, since apparently MS does not supply it.

I have done some homework, but I don't have the familiarity with the VS X3 that you guys have and I had hoped it would be something simple. It is apparently not. Once again, I've exhausted chat support and new user support w/o any improvement. As a matter of fact, the Nvidia download Corel sent me to screwed up my display (brightness so bright I could barely see the adjustments.)

This forum is my last resort. It sounds like I just need to send it back and find another vendor unless you guys can put your heads together and give me some suggestions.

I also have on board a HD tv receiver card (Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1255 model 22xxx Hybrid ATSC/QAM) and an HP RC Mirror Driver - display adapter. Things your form did not have room for me to fill out. However I'm not going through the HD tv interface or the HP mirror driver to display on the simple viewsonic lcd display I'm using.

[Ken Berry]

First, your graphics card is definitely not "old", but I have no idea why you are getting that message.

Second, if the advanced editor works, why are you using easy edit? The former gives you much more sophisticated and varied controls ...

[oldtimer4267]

I do think if it comes as a part of the package it should work. I appreciate your time, but I'm not getting anywhere and I don't think it is from lack of trying to give clues. It is just too unique a situation to expect anyone to have a ready answer. I was hoping it was some sort of common, easily fixed problem.

Corel doesn't know and seems to care less. Do this, do that, and if that doesn't work go somewhere else (I was told to go to HP, Nvidia, and to MS). Nobody told me about this forum.

I'll go back to one of my other video editors and may forget this one if one of the others have decent upgrades. The user interface is awful.

I'd like to keep this forum open to me if possible and check back from time to time to see what might have happened to clear it up. I will still use the advanced editor as you suggest, but to sling together a short slide show or edit a video clip of a few geese from time to time the easy edit looked ideal. Every newbie would probably like to start there to get their feet wet.

[Ken Berry]

The problem is that the Easy Edit function is part of a completely different suite of programs which Corel developed before it released VS X3. It is called Digital Studio 2010, and frankly, it is one of the worst set of programs I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I am not alone in this opinion. Anyway, the Easy Edit option in X3 is simply the editing module of that suite (Video Studio Express 2010), just as the burning module which comes as part of the X3 package (DVD Factory "Pro" 2010) is also part of that suite -- though anything less "pro" I have difficulty thinking about!!

The latter burning module was so awful that when some of us who were beta testers for X3 saw it was to be part of the X3 package, we warned Corel bluntly and repeatedly that it was a big mistake. We were ignored, and only recently has Corel belatedly recognised the validity of our argument when they released an SE version of the older 'sister' application of Video Studio -- namely Movie Factory 7 -- to become the new burning module for X3. They did not have to do this for the editing module since the Advanced Edit module is of course X3 itself, and it does an excellent job.

This is essentially why I asked why you were bothering with Easy Edit in the first place when you have the much better alternative of X3 to use. Sure, Easy Edit should work, just as DVD Factory 2010 should work. But the answer is that both are really appalling pieces of software which should never have been allowed on to the market in the first place. But it would definitely be a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater if you rejected X3 just because Easy Edit does not live up to the promise of its name... !

[oldtimer4267]

Thanks for the info Ken. I made my mistake not using the trial edition as then I would not have bought the bundle. (I needed Painter Pro because Corel bought my beloved Microgrphix Picture Publisher and promptly deep-sixed it and my old copy will not run on W7). But you are right, I can use the advanced editor.

I'm still concerned about the user interface. Too much of it seems to be trial and error and not at all intuitive to use. Once I work my way through all the little gotcha's I'll be ok.

I had already become disgusted with the quality of the photos after being rendered into a video slide show (fuzzy as a bumble bee) and really really wanted to trash the thing until I found a post here from another user who had found a key switch "use the project profile" (or something like that) and when I tried that trick they came out fine.

I just need to find all those tricks and it will be OK. I thought maybe there was a trick available for the black video screen problem as well. I'd like to see more you-tube style tutorial but styled more like the Google sketchup tutorials.

I'll get out of the way and let you good guys get back to saving the world one confused user at a time. I was admin and moderator on a private (charity) phpBB forum for a couple of years so I know what you are going through. Our spam went to zero after we enabled the text copy security feature by the way. We still manually turned them on, but the computer bots went away so we the number we had to look at went way way down.

Jim

[oldtimer4267]

It is much worse than I thought. In Advanced Edit I cannot display capture video while it is coming in. I don't know where to start and stop capture. Captured video can play and be edited. It means I have to capture the entire tape and then clip out the sections I don't want. (I'm using a Sony Digital DCR-TRV20 using the ILink.) I'm used to starting and stopping the capture whenever I want while watching a preview screen.

Camera is properly recognized and audio is fine. The software controls the camera properly except if I try the wizard it goes into rewind wherever I stop and try to start again. Before someone suggests it, I have (In preferences), the instant playback target set to "display window".

In other words, the problem with not being able to view existing videos in Easy Edit (original stated problem) carries over to not being able to view new videos while being captured in advanced edit.

A few minutes ago I got an update download on the X3 and it didn't help.

Any suggestions please?

[Ken Berry]

I can only repeat:

This is essentially why I asked why you were bothering with Easy Edit in the first place when you have the much better alternative of X3 to use. Sure, Easy Edit should work, just as DVD Factory 2010 should work. But the answer is that both are really appalling pieces of software which should never have been allowed on to the market in the first place. But it would definitely be a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater if you rejected X3 just because Easy Edit does not live up to the promise of its name... !

[Black Lab]

In Advanced Edit I cannot display capture video while it is coming in. I don't know where to start and stop capture. Captured video can play and be edited. It means I have to capture the entire tape and then clip out the sections I don't want. (I'm using a Sony Digital DCR-TRV20 using the ILink.) I'm used to starting and stopping the capture whenever I want while watching a preview screen.

Make sure that in Preferences you have the Instant Playback Target set for Preview Window (X3 terminology could be different - I don't have it loaded on this machine).

[oldtimer4267]

Thank you, Black Lab, but I mentioned that in my April 21st post: "Before someone suggests it, I have (In preferences), the instant playback target set to "display window".

Yes, it has been set from day one, so I'm apparently looking for a deeper problem. To summarize, I cannot view playback during capture, nor during easy edit. I cannot view clips in Easy Edit. I can move clips into easy edit story board, then use timeline to create a video and play it. Advanced Edit works fine except I cannot view during capture mode. All I can do is watch it on my camera during capture or capture the whole thing. So the problem is not local to Easy Edit.

I've downloaded latest drivers for Win 7, for Nvidia, for VS and for all codecs I can find, rebooted a number of times to make sure they get installed, etc. I've talked to Corel chat and to their new installation support guys and visited this forum. Nothing.

FYI I did download Roxio 2010 Pro two nights ago and it worked instantly in all video editing and display modes and I've successfully created short videos and uploaded to the internet, made dvd's and played them elsewhere. It does have some random issues with burn, sometimes locks up unless you are discrete about when you insert a blank disk. That seems to be only problem so far.

2010 pro does have a much broader array of features in the Advanced Edit suite than VS, particularly for panning and for audio and for burning (despite having to be careful when to load the disk). I'm keeping my copy of VS X3 pro in case someone comes up with something to try. I'd like it to work.

Thanks again for suggestion Black Lab.

[Ken Berry]

2010 pro does have a much broader array of features in the Advanced Edit suite than VS

Just to clear up one piece of confusion on your part once and for all, the Advanced Edit module IS VS X3 Pro. The Easy Edit feature of the overall suite is Video Studio 'Express' 2010... And as I have already said, most of us here prefer to use only the Advanced Edit module and try to ignore the 2010 sub-program...

[oldtimer4267]

To clear up even more confusion, the quoted portion you used refers (by me) to my recent purchase of Roxio 2010 Pro, not the 2010 pro of Corel (see the paragraph before the quoted one - None of the literature of VS tells us outsiders that there even is a 2010 pro in the VS suite) and I was referring to the Advanced Edit of the Roxio 2010 Pro in comparison to the VS X3 Pro. Two different animals with too similar names and the Roxio is lightyears better.

I came back to this forum to say that Roxio has a helper file that cleared up the burn problem with the Roxio 2010 Pro burn issue I mentioned earlier. They had me disable the Coral programs in the Windows 7 startup (msconfig) program so there would not be two burn programs fighting each other. Roxio burn problem solved. There are NO problems with the Roxio software remaining that I have found. Those with Corel software are legion !!!!

I would still like for someone to come up with a solution for the display problem in VS as outlined in my previous post.