New version of VideoStudio Pro X9.5

[Skipper]

Hi
I have sat back since all these problems arose with VSX9 updates. When first I downloaded my copy of X9 via Web I had problems, rectified "sort of" with a fresh download some 2 months later. When the updates came I tried without success to obtain same, then gave up. Now with the release of Version 9.5 I have just attempted again - FAILED! I used Lata's direction to the files, downloaded then tried to install. I get a message as follows: "The installed version of the application could not be determined. The setup will now terminate." What am I doing wrong? - it was a full Video Studio Ultimate X9 purchased in February of this year - I can even quote a serial number but it has never run perfectly despite previous versions being a treat to use, and now - I get this nonsense. Is there some Win 10 updates / patch that I have missed since this is my operating system? Any help appreciated Regards Skipper

[RobertOZ]

Go to Help/About, if the version No is 19.5.0.35 then the 9.5 update is already installed, that Corel message is their way of telling you that all updates are installed

[Skipper]

Thanks Robert
No the version was an early one with no updates applied. No matter, I just did a new install (again) then it let me install the current update and - you guessed it - I now show 19.5.0.35!
Whopee - I am now up to date, maybe some of those niggling little problems will disappear, time alone will tell? It is interesting to note they still call the program V9
Keep up the good work!

[rkstudio]

Ok, nevermind my post. I already have the service packs and updates since I have the 19.5 version. It would be nice if Corel would take the guess work out of all this by explaining things better.

[lata]

Hi Bob

You should allow the program to do the automatic updates. ( that takes the guesswork out of it )
Simply check the version type from About and maybe hit Check for Updates

The program will do the rest for you

There should be no need to manually install service packs which clearly is causing you some concern

[JaySigel]

I have VS 8.0 and I'm not entirely happy with it, but it is tolerable. I use it primarily to create Blu-rays from video files created with Cyberlink PowerDirector 14 (their Blu-ray authoring software is, in my humble opinion, way too complicated). Loading a VS 8 project, even a blank one, can take as long as 5 minutes while it pauses at 64% every time. You can't save your work by doing a Ctrl-S like I used to be able to do with Ulead MovieFactory 7, so if it crashes (a not rare event), you've lost everything. The only recourse is to click on Close, at which point you will be asked to save your project. If you don't save your project, the project directory gets "lost" the next time you try to load or save a project. If you should happen to hit the ESC key, it will exit VS without asking for your permission, ready or not, although you can still save the project. There are no good menu-chapter templates for Blu-rays. A work-around is to create them as DVD menus, then copy them to the HD Basic directory under the Corel favorites directory. But you can't modify them there (it will crash), so you have to modify them in the DVD section, then copy them to the HD Basic directory. The most chapters per menu page you can have is 9. Modifying menu-chapter pages is tedious. The fewer the chapters per menu page, the more menu pages required and higher the disc overhead in order to create the Blu-ray (or DVD). As it stands, you can't go over about a 22.6 GB project size and expect to be able to copy it to a (25 GB) Blu-ray disc even though it says you can have a larger project. Disc creation time will obviously depend on the CPU and RAM (and what else you're running at the same time) but it takes anywhere from 40 to 80 minutes to write a Blu-ray or ISO file (and I have a 1 GB SSD, so it's a very fast hard drive). Contrast that with 4 minutes to create a DVD with the same writer. If creating an ISO file, you have about 25 GB of temp files per project and repeated ISO file creation can consume all of your hard drive space with these temp files (not including the ISO files themselves) if you forget to delete them. Writing a Blu-ray directly creates about 1 GB of temp files. Why are they not automatically deleted since you don't need them? Blu-ray creation seems to occur faster if you exit VS and then restart it with your saved project and create the disc from there. That implies memory management problems with VS 8. The disc label cannot be edited with common Microsoft editing commands (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, cursor keys, etc.). The work around is to create an empty text file with its title being the disc label that you want, then Ctrl-C the file name, then go back to VS, right click on the label field and Paste in the saved text file name. In any event, the disc label information is NOT included when you save the project! If you try to preview the project without prior saving your project (by closing it), it can crash and you lose everything. If you should insert or remove an external USB drive while authoring a Blu-ray, VS will not be able to find the Blu-ray writer when it tries to write to it, causing you to have to start all over again (you have to restart VS 8, sometimes reboot). The Blu-ray plug-in cost $8.00 (minus a small discount) when I purchased it with VS 8.0.

In light of all of the above in VS 8, what, if anything, is better, faster or more functional in 9.5? While the upgrade is not that expensive, if there are no actual improvements in basic DVD/Blu-ray authoring, I'll stay with VS 8, which is tolerable in spite of all of the above. I am asking for advice from anyone using VS 9.5 for Blu-ray authoring, especially those of you who have upgraded from VS 8. Thank you for reading this and responding.

[lata]

Hi JaySigel

There is no difference in the X8 and X9 authoring module.

You mention quite a lot of stuff there, so a few comments.

Launching X8 or loading a project does take a while depending on the project content, but a 20 minute Bluray project opened in 30 seconds. I guess a full 25 Gb at 2 hours would take a while longer. ( a quick test took 1 min 20 seconds.)

If you render the project to a compliant Bluray file, when you burn that file there should be no further conversion, therefor the program will not create temporary files.
When you hit burn the process will start with Create menu.
If Create Title shows then the project is being rendered and saved to the Temp Burn folders.
When you create the ISO does the process start with Create Title.?

CTRL + S works for me, for an unsaved project will prompt for a save location and name.
For a saved project, it simply saves the project again, overwriting the VSP file with any new changes.

ESC key does not close VS edit mode, but does close Authoring panel, but prompts to save VSP.

Bluray menu, there are other templates available from the Corel Guide – Do-More.
But I have to agree there could be more available, although we can customise each template and save to our Favourites folder.
There are a few available in our Download section
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 84#p313884
I have not used these for BD so don’t know if they work?

[JaySigel]

Thank you for the response. I hate to be so "negative" but there are problems. Even so, the Visual Studios (and MovieFactory before that) have been the easiest and most reliable way to author DVDs and now Blu-rays. I recommend VS highly but there is a lot of room for improvement, if the right programmers are listening. I wouldn't mind being a beta-tester. And I don't understand why the Blu-ray module has to be an add-on. Without it, it ain't "ultimate." There are no practical Blu-ray templates. A template with no or maybe 3 chapters is, in my opinion, worthless. You can copy DVD templates, which have up to 9 chapters on a menu page, into the HDBasic directory but then you can't customize them them any further. It's an acceptable, if not real convenient, work-around. Functional is more important than fancy.

In authoring DVDs or Blu-rays, Ctrl-S does nothing in VS8. I have to Close, then I'm prompted to Save (etc.). Temp file size when creating a Blu-ray ISO file image is about 20 GB (in addition to the image itself), about just 1 GB if writing to a Blu-ray disc directly. Make sure you delete them. If you should hit Esc to make a correction to a title field (which you could normally expect to do for any Microsoft file name) instead of using the undo arrow button, it does not revert the text file field to the original, but it exits to save. There is no reason for that. Often, when in a title field, hitting the End key goes to the beginning of the title - go figure - and the cursor keys don't always move the cursor. You have to re-position the cursor where you want it by clicking on the text several times. It makes simple text editing tedious at times. It is especially bad in the disc label field where Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V and the cursor keys do not work. And one final caveat: If you use the default 20 seconds of chapter video and the last chapter is less than 20 seconds from the end of the clip, the DVD will not be authored correctly and you won't know it until you play it! I am very cautious about that. That irritation has been present since Ulead MF. Just make sure your last dynamic chapter is not too close to the end of the video.

All I use VS8 for is putting movies on DVD or, more recently, Blu-ray. Over the years, I've authored over 4,000 DVDs. So far, I've made 160 Blu-rays, all with VS8, so I'm not a novice. If VS9.x is faster, has more than a smidgen of chapter templates for Blu-ray and has some of these bugs corrected from VS8, then upgrading would make some sense. From your comments, it appears that there would be no real advantage to upgrading. If anyone else can relate any tangible benefits they have experienced with Blu-ray authoring after upgrading from VS8, I would really appreciate knowing about it. Thank you in advance.