SONY Abandons Vegas Movie Studio Products???

Eagle Six wrote on 6/2/2016, 3:17 PM

Hi Tiffo,

You sound a bit angry, or perhaps frustrated. Sony didn't abandon Movie Studio Products, they sold them. That's not abandonment. Magix Software Vegas Pro and Movie Studio support and contacts are the same place they have always been, in Wisconsin. They are under new ownership and management and it would be understandable to experience some delay in Customer Service or Tech Support during a time that Sony transitions the products to Magix. On the other hand I have recently, as in earlier this week, received email responses within 1 business day.

I think a lot of the delay may have something to do with the communication means you are using, the published numbers that are supposed not working, the specific problem you are having, and perhaps the support data you have fed them about the problem.

In the mean time if you would like to explain what problem(s) you are experiencing with Sony Movie Studio 13, here is a pretty good place to get some support. After all, perhaps the problem you have has already been discussed and solutions developed, you never know until you ask, it's also FREE!

Best Regards.......George

Tiffo wrote on 6/3/2016, 2:27 PM

George,

Thanks for the timely response, and yes I am frustrated.

I've had a pressing deadline for a video project and your tech support has been unresponsive for over a week to my repeated requests for help.

I have two (perhaps related) issues with my Movie Studio 13 (build 192, 64 bit) that I'm running on Windows 10 :

1. For some reason the video preview window, the docking area and the tabs (i.e. most everything above the timeline) is missing.

2. In addition, when I go to View on the top menu toolbar, the only option that shows is Extensions, but even this is grayed out.

Last week I was able to chat with Kim N. on your staff, who gave me detailed instructions on resetting the program.

However, in following those instructions (i.e. hold down CTL+SHIFT and open Movie Studio), I never saw a window that asks if I "want to reset all preferences to default values." This does NOT happen. I've tried 5+ times.

I've also tried uninstalling the program and downloading it again. This does not solve the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Lee

vkmast wrote on 6/3/2016, 2:56 PM

Are you sure you tried to reset exactly as follows:

Hold down CONTROL and SHIFT keys at the same time AND ALSO AT THE SAME TIME double click program icon on Desktop to Boot program.
Window will pop up.
Select Delete Cache and Yes.
This will restore program to Factory Default Settings.

Reinstalling will not help in resetting to default settings.

And it's not "our" tech support, we're all users here and not working for Sony/SCS or MAGIX.

Eagle Six wrote on 6/3/2016, 3:22 PM

Hi Lee,

1st, I'm not Sony Support, I'm an end user, like yourself, and a part of the Movie Studio community that post threads and replies. Sometimes I'm asking questions, sometimes I'm attempting to answer questions.

2nd, just to be clear, you are using the latest build 192 for Movie Studio 13.....you are not using Movie Studio 13 Platinum.

I don't have Movie Studio 13, rather Movie Studio 13 Platinum, which is quite different, however I can set it in 'Simple' mode, which somewhat emulates the interface of Movie Studio 13. When I do that, there is no docking feature as in the Platinum version when set to 'Advance' mode.

Sometimes, when I have attempted a reset, it will go directly to loading the program, as you have described. The solution I found for this was first to left click once on the desktop icon to highlight it, then slow down, press and hold down simultaneously both the Shift and Ctrl keys (sometimes I have gone to fast! It happens!), then double left click on the highlighted desktop icon. Also, when the reset box pops up, there should be an option to 'Delete all cached application data'. Make sure to place a check in the box before clicking on 'Yes'.

My SMS13p, in 'Simple' mode shows only the 'Extensions' option. IF I hover the mouse pointer over the 'Extensions' box, a side box appears which is grayed out 'No Extensions'. If you get a reset and delete the cache, I think that will be corrected.

Very often uninstalling and reinstalling will not correct the problem because the problem isn't in the program, rather, it is some built up garbage in the Cached Application Data. It's always a good practice when experiencing weird issues to first try the reset deleting the cache, before performing the uninstall/re-install.

Hope this helps, let us know how it works out, there are many other members here who may also be able to help.

Best Regards......George

NOTE Update: THanks vkmast, you beat me to it!!

vkmast wrote on 6/3/2016, 3:35 PM

There are several previous threads complaining about exactly similar issues with the basic Movie Studio 13.
In most cases the OPs have reported back that the reset done correctly helped.

And George, you remember the good Doc would not recommend the basic version to anyone.

Eagle Six wrote on 6/3/2016, 7:07 PM

vkmast @ "And George, you remember the good Doc would not recommend the basic version to anyone." And, I would certainly agree with the Good Doctor.

Not wanting to slide too far off topic, but I think Sony missed the branding by naming 'Movie Studio 13', instead of something like 'Movie Studio 13 Basic', or 'Silver', or almost anything that would relate to it being less of a program than Platinum, which is also misleading having Platinum and Suite, the difference between those two being the additional add-ons. If buyers don't use the comparison chart they may be lead to believe the plain Jane 'Movie Studio 13' is the same NLE as 'Platinum' without the add-on's. Anyway, 'rant off', my apology to the OP.

Best Regards.....George

Tiffo wrote on 6/4/2016, 11:59 AM

Thank you George!

That advice at least got back my tabs and Preview screen. However, I still have the View menu show only Extensions, which when clicked on shows grayed-out No Extensions.

Is there anything else I could try to get back my Views menu?

Lee

vkmast wrote on 6/4/2016, 12:43 PM

Did you ever have any Extensions? The only extensions my Movie Studio Platinum 13 shows are my third-party VASST FasstApps plugins, which need to be bought separately and are the only extensions Movie Studio Platinum 12 and 13 accept. According to VASST, they should work in Movie Studio 13.

I do not believe the basic Movie Studio 13 even has anything but Extensions in its View menu judging by similar testing that George Eagle Six did with Simple vs. Advanced Edit modes of MSPlatinum 13.

Btw, nice to read that the reset worked as it indeed should.

Eagle Six wrote on 6/4/2016, 1:41 PM

+1 vkmast

Tiffo @ "Is there anything else I could try to get back my Views menu?"

Tiffo, as I stated earlier, with my Platinum version in 'Simple' mode, there are no other listings in the 'View' menu other than "Extensions', and there are no extensions in the list (as per vkmast previous post). What other options did you see before this problem started? In my 'Simple' mode there are no docking options, no window sizing options, the window display GUI is fixed. Can you resize the preview window? I can't.

Have you had in the past an earlier version of Movie Studio that allowed docking or different window views? Usually the users of Movie Studio 13 are not aware of the display flexibility in the Platinum version. Yet it seems you may be familiar with these features, perhaps from a previous version, or the 'Simple' mode of my platinum version isn't exactly the same as your Movie Studio 13.

Best Regards.......George