NOT impressed

[mleejr]

So far, Windows Free Movie maker is kicking this things butt.
1) This program crashes CONSTANTLY as soon as it starts to try to render.
2) One of the main reasons I bought this was because it says it uses GPU for rendering but it is MUCH slower, when it isn't crashing, than Windows Movie Maker at rendering my movies.
3) The movies it makes look like garbage.

I think I can control the last one.
It's simple really.
All I do is take a bunch of my 5-10 second home movie clips and mash them together into one video.
Simple. But no. Very hard in VisualStudio.
I have some 720P 60 fps but there is no 60fps option anywhere, only 30fps.
I have some 1080P 30FPS but the options here are confusing. I want one that just says save as 1080P 30fps, period.

When I render it, which takes FOREVER, I got a video with a large black box around it. It is still 16:9, but it has this black box. The original video was 1080P 30fps.
I noticed under project settings it has 720x480. I rendered as 1080P. Why? Is the program not smart enough to render 1080P like I said? I actually is converting my 1080P video clips, into a 720x480 size box, and then stretching it out to 1080P? I have Adobe Premiere and had to jump through hoops to have it stop resizing my videos also. Windows Media gets it. Why is this so hard for you to figure out?
Here's what I want.
1) Stop crashing constantly. Really people, this is sad. I will NOT make the mistake of purchasing a COREL product again.
2) Render faster than your competition....by A LOT, not just a little. Try to especially beat the much simpler, much faster FREE alternative already included with my OS.
3) Have an option to share (bad name, should be render/save/create) as the format you want...1080P....you do, but I don't want the 5000 options. Just make it an AVI by default and allow me to override if I want. And have it save at the highest CLIP resolution.

Please help with crashing, rendering times and actually having a final, rendered video the same size as my clips.
Very, Very, Very not good guys,
Mike

[Ken Berry]

First, while I appreciate the reasons for your rant, I think you have the mistaken impression that you are talking here to Corel. In fact, you are not. As it says in the title at the very top of the forum, this is a user to user board. Apart from one person who apparently works for the Corel help section, and who only relatively recently joined us, this board is staffed by people like me, who are ordinary users like you, from around the world, who volunteer their time to help out. So statements like "Why is this so hard for you to figure out?" are at best misdirected. Corel, apart from that one person, rarely if ever visits this forum, and when it does, it really only looks at the wish list thread at the top.

Now, to address some of your problems, I confess I can offer little good news. First, you can essentially ignore the Project Properties unless you are selecting Share > Create Video File > Same as Project Properties. (And while I agree 'Share' may be confusing, it was not our choice of terms, nor even Corel's but has been with Video Studio since it started under Ulead ownership.) The final properties of your rendered video will always have the properties of the format you select.

But here, I agree you have a problem. Corel is definitely behind the times when it comes to true progressive (p) video. It only came to grips with the then relatively new 720p format with version X2, and then only in the context of HDV, and not AVCHD as I assume you are producing. Moreover, it only produces 720p in 25 fps (PAL) and 30 fps (NTSC), rather than true 'p' at 50/60 fps. (That option for output is, as I assume you have already found, under Share > Create Video File > HDV.)

And the situation is even worse for the new breed of true 1080p camcorders which film at 50/60 full frames per second, rather than the 'i' interleaved ones which shoot at 50/60 half frames per second... Video Studio was simply never written to deal with that format as it did not exist in the amateur market (which is what VS is aimed at) at the time it was being developed. We are getting small but increasing numbers of users like yourself who have such camcorders who are encountering similar problems to you because of this. I have in fact asked Corel management directly when they are going to bring a patch or new version out which will be able to process 1080p, but their answer was rather negative, I thought, and certainly gave no timeline at all for this.

So yes, you have the right to be angry, but once again, it is pointless directing your anger at us here on the board. We try to deal with problems with the software -- or with users' use of the software -- but in this case, there is no solution within the current Corel software. So send your complaint direct to Corel. That is what I have been advising other 1080p camcorder owners to do. It will only be in that way that they will get the message loud and clear that there is a growing body of angry users out there who are increasingly dissatisfied with this big hole in the product.

[mleejr]

Oh wow! Thanks for the incredibly descriptive response. Sorry if I directed my rant towards non-Corel individuals. That was not my intent. I really liked the idea of GPU assisted rendering due to the large number of video files I render and time at which that takes. The complexity of the product, the bugginess, and now apparent inability of it to do what I want may lead me to abandon it.

I have 4 video editing products I use; Windows Movie Maker (which is great), The one with my macbook (I forget the name, I don't use it much), Adobe Premiere Elements and VideoStudio. VideoStudio feels a lot like Adobe Premiere and that is not necessarily a good thing. Both have, IMO, the same problems where it is not 'smart' enough to basically scale my video appropriately for the final cut. For example, I don't want a 'default' video size. What I want is to import my videos and have it take the least common denominator. I have 3 video cameras, each with pros and cons that I use to determine what I am filming. A 30fps, NTSC, 640x460 flip. Love it. Great simple camera. A TRUE 720P Kodax ZX1. GREAT outdoor camera. Amazing quality. A 1080P, 30fps, 1900x1080 aiptec that shoots decent highdef indoors and outdoors.

I have a friend that is a director that gave me a bit of advice. Don't shoot long scenes. Just short, 2-4 second clips. I mostly adhere to this. Mainly 40 seconds or so. Then I piece them all together for a, say, 10 total minute video. What I would like is, if I shoot all 640x480 video and drag in all the clips into the player. Then export it, it should be smart enough to see they are all 640x480 and export it in that format with the same bit rate, etc. Problem is, it doesn't. Premiere doesn't either. Windows Movie Maker does, amazingly enough. It tells you, on export, the recommended setting, which is the clip size. If I mix and match all my cameras, then I want it all in 1080P with the 640x480 stretched with black bars.

I don't even know what 1/2 the export options are on VideoStudio and don't care. APCVI or whatever. I just want it to be the highest, best it can. Also, when I export with Windows Movie Maker the final file size is MUCH smaller than the one generated with VideoStudio.

Given the main reason I bought this was for rendering time, and I don't see that it's any faster than Windows Movie Maker, and I will just use Premiere if I need effects, I'm not sure this brings anything to the table.

Am I wrong?
Thanks,
Mike