Tried that already. No luck. I use the Screenblaster version so perhaps it doesn't get installed in the same location. What is the filename? Perhaps I can just copy it over?

-Dave

So what happens if you uninstall the Vegas demo? Do you loose the updated components?
Jim Clark

The Mainconcept files are installed to the following directory by default:

C:\Program Files\Sonic Foundry\Shared Plug-ins\File Formats\Mcmpeg

It is quite likely that the Screenblast Video Facotry is looking for those files in a path that has Screenblast rather than Sonic Foundry (e.g. C:\Program Files\Screenblast\...)

Just copy the files over to the Screenblast Shared Plug-ins directory. You might have to drag the .dll files from Windows Explorer to the timeline in order to register them for use with Screenblast.

According to posts in the Veags forum from SoFo, you shouldn't lose updated components when you uninstall Vegas.

Personally, I had trouble a while back, but that was with Vegas 2 so I'm inclined to believe the SoFo have that problem fixed by now.

Turns out these files were not installed by Vegas 4c, but I did find them in a CAB file in the setup directory. I unzipped them and moved them to the appropriate directory. Same result. Too dark. I also checked the version numbers of the "old" files and the "new" files and they are indentical.

Perhaps somebody from Sonic Foundry could step in here with a solution. I'd hate to think I just wasted $29.95 for nothing.

Thanks,
-Dave

Are you sure the new Mcmpeg plugin is properly "installed"?

Go to Make Movie, Write Movie File to disk, Advanced Render, then select MainConcept Mpeg-1 from the dropdown box. Click the About button. It should tell you the path to the plugin as well as the version (It's version 1.0 Build 798 on my machine).

I'm using the MPEG encoder in Screenblast but I don't notice the darkness you describe.
Perhaps you have another problem ?

I too have version 1.0 Build 798, and it's the only copy of the file on my computer.

-Dave

I should also add that the stand-alone version of the Main Concept MPEG encoder does not have this dark video issue. (I tried the demo version).

-Dave

> Perhaps you have another problem ?

I thought it might be an outdated MPEG encoder since clamping is a known issue with the older encoders. However, given that you now have the latest version, I have to concur with ChristerTX. Your problem probably lies elsewhere.

Now the problem is to find out where that "elsewhere" lies. Guess it's time to contact tech support directly. <sigh>

-Dave

I don't mean for this to come across as spam, but I always use an app called TMPGEnc to create my DVD-compliant MPEG2 files. It creates excellent MPEG-2 files, but the UI is a bit sloppy and is incredibly slow with certain settings. I used the VBR setting with some other slow settings and it took over 30 hours to generate the MPEG file for a 1-2 hour clip (I forget the length) But if you spent 2 weeks editing a video, slowly cranking out the best possible MPEG2 file is well worth the time.

I think of my video editor as something for outputting a DV-NTSC file and consider the MPEG2 encoding process to be a completely different step. Once I'm provided a serial number(!!!) I'll give the MPEG2 encoding quality a few tests.

One thing that I've come to realize is that due to the pathetic support of recordable DVD formats with even modern DVD players, it's probably best not to use a high bitrate because the more data needed at any given point only increases the chance that a DVD player will fail to read the disc. I was using VBR with a max bitrate of around 7.5 but I think that due to the unacceptably bad DVD+-R compatibility of even modern players it's probably best to never exceed 5.5mbs for the combined video & audio stream and with that condition VBR is a waste of time.

I've tried TMPGEnc. It works very well. I was hoping to be able to render directly to MPEG rather than render to AVI first. Oh well. In the meantime I'm just using MyDVD to do handle the MPEG part of the process. It gives decent results with a CBR at 7.2 mbps.

-Dave

I get a similar problem. After installing VideoFactory 2.0c, and encoding with the
standard MC MPEG plugin (build 36), the results are similar to the source avi file when displayed on the PC screen. However, after installing the Vegas 4.0c demo (plugin now build 798), the result from an mpeg2 encode using the DVD PAL template is darker/higher contrast. I would prefer to use the more recent plug-in, since the average bit rate is higher, resulting in a better encode.

Did you get a satisfactory response from tech support?

SteveRB,
I did not get a satisfactory response from tech support. They just stated to install the Vegas 4c demo and then I heard no more from them. I'm still hoping somebody from tech support or here in the forum will have an answer. Have you tried dealing with tech support yet?

-Dave