Dumping VideoWave, Should I Buy VideoFactory 2?

SpringLine wrote on 1/2/2002, 1:42 PM
I'm a very unhappy MGI VideoWave 4 user (came with my Dell P4/XP Professional, TI Firewire). I am stuck (as many others are) with a problem that prevents rendering of DV (MPEG is fine). I won't go into the specifics, but there is not much hope in a work around or a fix from MGI as they are busy being bought by Roxio.

I downloaded the VF2 trial and it looks pretty good - of course you can't save your work or render a DV with this version. I've spent time going through this forum and realize that there are some problems with VF2, but none that seem too unsurmountable (MGI's forum is loaded with angry/frustrated posts and user abandonment).

I would love to hear from users of VF2 who also have had experience with VideoWave (or whatever) and can give advice on any pitfalls with VF2 as well as a buy/no-buy vote.

I'd sure like to get the "right" software as I've already spent about 60 hours learning-trying to fix VideoWave 4.

My system is top end - 1.9MHZ, 512Meg PC800/Ram, 7200 RPM drive so I can handle a lot of application overhead.

I'd appreciate any input....

Thanks

Comments

Former user wrote on 1/2/2002, 2:03 PM
I don't know Video Wave, but Video Factory is one of the more stable products out there. I also use Pinnacle Studio 7 and have found the combination of the ease of use of Studio 7 and the more refined filters and wipes of Video Factory makes for fun and quality video editing.

Video Factory is also cheaper than Video Wave. And, as you can tell by this forum, has minimal problems. Only the more common complaints such as stuttering out to video are recurring and you find these in almost any video software forums. Some users have had problems with registering the program, which is similar as I understand to the Win XP registration.

Scan through this forum and you can find more information. Good luck and have fun.

Dave T2
wvg wrote on 1/2/2002, 2:25 PM
Yikes! Roxio is buyng MGI? Roxio has horrible customer support and only a moderated forum for Easy CD Creator which lots of had troubles with getting it work with XP.

I've used both Video Wave II and III then moved to Video Factory and just recently moved up to Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video which is Video Factory on Steorids.

DV is MPEG-2 just with higher bitrates. Rendering results can be highly subjective. When I was using Video Factory there was only one MPEG option, use the included Ligos MPEG plug-in. Results were good enough, but I and many preferred TMPGE. So I frequently exported in AVI format from Video Factory to finsh up.

Recently the Ligos encoder got replaced with the MainConcept version. I found it a nice improvement, others still prefer Tmpge. Regardless as a editor, special effects, transitions, ease of use, feature set, Video Factory or Vegas Video is vastly superior to Video Wave in my opinion. One down side is many feel rendering speed in Sonic products is slower than some other products.
bonze10 wrote on 1/2/2002, 7:28 PM
I've never used videowave 4, but I started out with videowave 3, and thought it wuz pretty kewl. Then I bought video factory 1.0 and wuz completely blown away! Half the price for a much better product! I recently upgraded to 2.0, and aside from one problem I wuz having that hasn't reared its ugly head as of late, I love it! Comparing the two, vf is by far superior imo!
danimal wrote on 1/3/2002, 12:08 AM
I had VideoWave 4 SE included with some hardware I got, don't remember which. It didn't do much, but it rendered hella-fast, and totally blows away VideoFactory on rendering speed.

Otherwise, VF2 is a superior product for editing, FX, UI, etc. Just use something like the free TMPGenc to do your final renderings if you can, VF is atrociously slow rendering.