First, I agree with Cheno. Contact SoFo.

I don't follow this: "There was a registration disk when inserted came a program screen to enter in the registration ID and you would get the registration number required, and this was the same for mpeg. I this looked professional and legit."

The serial number should be in your quick start manual. The program disk would then ask for it during installation. As far as registering your Main Concept MPGEG's that is done via the web when you first try to output to the codec.

HTH,
Barry

No there is a second cd,

I put in a cd, and there is a screen with two options, program registration details, and mpeg registration.

When I click on the program registration details, I get a serial number, and when I click on the mpeg option, I am to enter a ID number and will get the serial for the mpegs.

I think the simple fact that you have no idea about this registration process answers my question.

I have been taken for an ebay ride on the pirate ship.

This software looks right (original), but it also seems to be totally wrong from what I am picking up on.

I am pissed, bought this stuff in good faith, was careful, but it seems not enough.

I will frigging get rid of the damn thing, only bought it for personal use of family stuff. I made no money out of the program.

In the end I am seen as the bad guy who loses out on everything, even though I did everything in good faith.

One person has already judged saying the registration process is wrong. Well I suggest you buy what I had with no idea of the registration process and see if what you are doing anything wrong in your eyes.

I am not in the US and buying it retail now is way out of my price range.

All I can do is now get rid of it and lose out.

Geez...

There are TWO seperate registrations. One for the program another for the MPEG plug-in. If who you bought it from registred then his computer ID will be different than yours. What happens next is in the gray area.

On the splash screen is the license to the person you bought it from? Then HE registered and you'll have to send a email to SoFo or call them.

If the other guy didn't register or you just have problems with the MPEG registration
Try this. Try to drop any MPEG on the timeline. If you haven't registered the MPEG a window should pop up, if you're online its simple and painless. If not you'll have to call SoFo Customer Service.

The applation ID number is in the manual.

Registering the application is another step, you get another number.

Registering the mpeg plug-in is the third step, all generate different numbers.

I do not get what you mean, I do not have any problems registering the product. It was installed new, the serial number for the program works and has my name on it, because it takes it from the System I think.

The mpeg registration was fine also, the second disk I have said to select over the phone and to enter into a box the ID number, there is a buttom and this generates a serial number for the mpeg registration, which works fine.

Now this I assume is wrong, and I say again, I may have a pirate copy, but at the time I thought it was a original (which it seemed to be) and was doing a normal install.

The first idea I had anything was wrong was when trying VV4 and the mpeg custom settng would not work.

This seems to be the catalyst for knowing you have a bogus copy.

"The mpeg registration was fine also, the second disk I have said to select over the phone and to enter into a box the ID number, there is a buttom and this generates a serial number for the mpeg registration, which works fine."

You have bought pirate software - you've just described what is know as a 'key generator' - a hack to get the prog working.

The two discs you should have should be like this:

CD 1: has the Vegas Video 3 logo on (black & orange like you see on the splash screen).
has the word 'Application' written on it
Has the Sonic Foundry 'hammer man' logo on it

CD 2: like CD1, but has 'Content' instead of 'Application'.
also has 'Videometry' logo, 'LiveStockfilm' logo and '1001soundeffects' logo.

Both should have been in grey/silver cardboard sleeves with the Hammerman logo and the Sonic Foundry web address and phone number on the front, and the license agreement printed on the back.

In the box you should have recieved a quick start manual, which should have a serial number printed inside on the first page.
You should also have a Keyboard Shortcuts cardboard fold-out reference sheet.

There is a possibility that you have original CDs/manuals... but it doesn't sound like it. In any case, someone has mislead you. Contact Sonic Foundry about it and give them the details of the supplier.

The cd is as described, but the second cd I do not have, it is similar to the first, has logo's etc, but says registration Disk.

I do have a quick start manual with a serial number on it, which is the same as the one when I click on the registration disk for the program serial.

The Keygenerator as you described seems to be for the mpeg registration.

The supplier was from ebay, which there is now very little I can do, the purchase was nearly a year ago, their email now bounces and the page is no longer on ebay after all this time.

I am up the creek without a paddle, and in cases like this, the only one that loses out is me.

I know sometimes pirate stuff gets sold on ebay, but I swear all this looked very professional and original.

So you don't have a printed Keyboard Shortcuts guide?

Can you list the contents of each disc? What is on the application disc?

Are the discs printed properly onto the suface (silkscreen?) or do they have label prints on?

I guess it is possible that the Application disc, manual and box are genuine, in which case you might have effectively bought second hand software.

Explain the situation to Sonic Foundry - they will know from their records if the serial number for Vegas has been registered before.

It might be that the seller is still using Vegas illegally as he/she has sold it on second hand - in this case you actually have a legitimate copy. It may be that they don't use it anymore and just wanted to get a better 2nd hand price by passing it off as new - again this would mean your copy is legal.

It ain't that hard to find a shrink wrap machine (factories everywhere have them).
Was condition was the contents?

>So you don't have a printed Keyboard Shortcuts guide?

No Guide

Can you list the contents of each disc? What is on the application disc?

Application disk, there is an Auto-run file and setup.exe which opens a setup box, and one file, which looks very much like the one you can download as the demo.

>Are the disc's printed properly onto the surface (silkscreen?) or do they have label prints on?

No crappy looking labels, printed properly onto the surface.

>I guess it is possible that the Application disc, manual and box are genuine, in which case you might have effectively bought second hand software.

No Box, they said it was thrown out in the auction description, Manual seems to be original. It is on a black sticker with white writing.

>Explain the situation to Sonic Foundry - they will know from their records if the serial number for Vegas has been registered before.

I have sent them a description of my situation, nothing heard back yet

>It ain't that hard to find a shrink wrap machine (factories everywhere have them).
Was condition was the contents?

Contents are in mint condition.

As you can see, how is one to know what you are suppose to get, if you had never got the product before.

Maybe people who want to have a go a me can tell me what you get in a Office XP suite, right down to how to register and every bit of papers and books you get. You could not until you have it, so people thinking I should have known better is rubbish, because one would need a crystal ball.

Not sounding so good now - the Installation disc should have had stuff like Soundforge demo, Acid demo and BatchConverter 5. I think the full PDF manual is on there too. (This is from memory as my CD drive isn't hooked up at the moment).

The manual should be several tens of pages long, printed normally (black text on white paper) and should have a cover featuring the Vegas Video 3 logo (like the splash screen), again with orange colour used as well as black and white.

Looks like you've got a dud copy.

Contact Customer Service, like the second post said. You may have purchased an older version of the MPEG encoder, which can no longer be registered electronically. If this is the case, they will email you an activation number and a little reg file to use if you have to reinstall.

I have been looking at Video Vegas and Premiere on Ebay for several weeks now. The vast majority of sales are copies. Some say this, others say manuals lost, etc. Some are academic, most say registered and you cannot re-register. Ebay has the protection of a federal statute which says no liability for internet providers and web sites. Sometimes when I bid on an item, I get 2-3 emails offering me the software for between $25-100. When I tell them I do not want counterfeit software, I never hear back. I am convinced that the burners and disk cover copiers are so good, most buyers do not know that they have counterfeits. Your story has made me decide to buy new. I was bidding on the $150 and up ones, but now I am wary. You changed my view and thanks for the story. Sorry that it happened to you. If counterfeiters were not given access to ebay, this software would be cheaper or better given the addition sales that adobe and sf lose. John

so where does vegas 4 fit into all this, when and where did you purchase vegas 4?
Thats the one you said your having problems with!
regards
Simon

I never said I bought it, I said I installed and tried it, and that was from the demo, which I tried first.

But in the end a friend of mine who uses this software and was the one that got me into it, thus the cheap purchase on ebay when I found VV3, upgraded his to VV4.

So I cloned an update image of my system, installed his to see if all was working fone, and played around with it. that is when I discovered no mpeg render custom settings. So that is when I started to ask questions, I was not going to invest money for an upgrade if my system was not going to work properly with it.

So I recloned my machine back to what it was before I installed VV4, so everything was clean again on my system.

So I do not have a pirate copy of VV4, I have a demo, and thats it.

Unlike some, I use legit software for work (Not VV3) and claim tax, so I have to have legit software on my system.

This is a forum, if I wanted to use pirate software I would and not bother here or tell anyone, that is what one would do, but I thought I had a legit program, had legit problems and was asking for help.

Then my bad, i appolagize.
however, its a known flaw that when running Vegas 4 with a crack or serial generator that the custom settings dont work unless you do a certain thing.Hence Sonic telling people who have this problem to call their customer services
regards
Simon

I have emailed them and no response as of yet, but I have realised this fact even before they get back to me.

Either way nothing can be done, I am $150 out for a program that anyone can download off the net and use a key-generator to get to work.

Even though VV3 still works fine, I am in a position of now having a bogus software.

Reading other posts, it seems ebay if full of pirate software. How is one suppose to know ???

Maybe sf needs to change their software so that you cannot just download it and register it with a serial.

For software costing as much as it does, maybe they can just send it to people when they buy. That way people like myself cannot get stuffed by people cheating the system.

I just received an email with a link to some site that has key generators for VV4 & DVDA. To which I replied "No Thanks" and the email bounced?

Well at least I am honest and admit I got stuffed, where as some people on here are knowingly using pirated software and freely telling people it seems.

I bought from a store a Ulead DVD software a while ago, it will do what I want, maybe not as good as VV3, but at least no one can accuse me of being a thief.

I have loaded a backup HD image pre VV3 install, so now there is no trace of the software ever being on my system. CD will be broken and whole thing thrown out.

Kids are not happy, they loved using it.

Oh well, like I said before, Stuff it......

"Reading other posts, it seems ebay if full of pirate software. How is one suppose to know ???"
Chessmaster, joke of the century!
Ebay, clone, registertrials a.s.o....
Why are softwarecompanies struggling?
No way to give them directly a fair amount for a great Job?
Will not appologize for that.
Regards
winston

Yeah thats fine, but people like me who dish out money in good faith are ignored and insulted, while the internet software gatherers of illegal software sit and laugh. While people like me are pointless victims to the no moral software stealer's.

We have a saying her in America, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is."

Chessmaster, don't go destroying too many CDs, at least not until you hear back from Sonic Foundry.
Maybe you could work out something with them, who knows.
Maybe you could offer to send them what you bought on eBay, in exchange for a better price for Vegas Video 3.0 latest update. It wouldn't be V4, but it would be the equivalent of what you bought.
I'm not saying they'd go for it, but I know that's what I would ask them if I was in your shoes(as long as you didn't buy those shoes on eBay).
Just don't ask for miracles from them. After all, it's been a year since you bought this.

M

I am expecting nothing, because then every Tom, Dick and Harry will say the same thing, put together some satisfactory looking cd's and ask for the same consideration from the software company. No company would make an offer, sf for all they are would be foolish to do that or even think of it.

My point now is to make sure at least people here know that someone is willing to bite the bullet and admit to at least having pirate software (even though I did not realise it) but when I did find out to say, my problem and move on.

My only regret is that the kids used it all the time and are pretty upset that it is gone. But like I said in another post, I use this computer also for work purposes and claim tax on other software, and cannot risk having illegal software on here if ever audited.

VV3 was personal software, I am lucky it was not work, because I would have claimed pirated software.