First impressions of Video Factory

the_harper wrote on 4/18/2002, 10:50 PM
So far the only thing I am disappointed about is that VF doesn't see all the codecs installed on the computer. I know I have codecs other than those that VF lists. Anyway, it looks like I'll need to use another program to render to SVCD.

As far as editing goes, it is taking a while to get used to the way transitions work, but I much prefer the interface to the previous program I was using (Videowave IIISE). Video Factory's layout is much more intuitive and waaaaay more powerful. I haven't had to use the manual yet, which is a good sign. I have made use of a couple of the help wizards, which are excellent.

One thing I was glad to discover is that you can adjust both the start point and end point of a sound clip. This means I can use a snippet from a CD track instead of the whole thing, and start exactly where I want.

The visual effects, transitions, and scrolling credits are great - although I need to experiment to get the best results with credits after compression.

Best of all, I haven't managed to crash VF once. VWSEIII crashed often. It's frustrating to have to save things every few minutes just in case the program decides to fall over, so VF is a relief.

If more software companies made products of this quality for this kind of price, they would have many more satisfied customers!!

Rob

PS The automatic detection of scenes and the detection of DV data on tape is wonderful.

Comments

jimcho wrote on 4/18/2002, 11:24 PM
the_harper,

To use another codec on your machine, click the "Advanced Render" button on the Make Movie dialog box, then make sure to select AVI as the file type and click the "Custom" button. On the "Video" tab, the "Video Format" drop-down will list all the codecs that you have available.
the_harper wrote on 4/20/2002, 2:26 AM
Thanks, Jimcho. I had tried that before I posted - with the DIVX codec, but it didn't work. I ended up with the audio and no video. I will have to experiment with the settings. What I meant was that I have other MPEG1 and MPEG2 codecs installed - naturally these don't appear for the AVI file type. So at the moment I have to render to an uncompressed AVI from VF then use another program (TmpGenc) to render to MPEG2. I have the feeling that TmpGenc does a better job of MPEG1 than VF's own plugin, but I am not certain yet.

Rob