Comes with MPEG-2.

My personal opinion is that Sony could have left MyDVD out of the package and it would still be worth the $29 upgrade. As others have pointed out, you would have spent $29 just to get the MPEG2 encoder in the past. With MovieStudio 3, you get the MPEG2 encoder, a 3rd video track (and you'll wonder how you every lived without it once you have one), and new FX like Chroma Key, Border, Black Restore, Deform, Lens Flare, Light Rays, Linear Blur, Mirror, Quick Blur, Radial Blur, and Threshold. Also there are new transitions like Page Peel, Page Roll, Venetian Blinds, and new output formats like Windows Media® 9 video format, AVI's, Macromedia® Flash™ file format (.SWF). If all that isn’t worth $29 to you then there is no need to upgrade. But once you throw a few Light Rays on you titles, you see how nice some of these new FX are.

Boy, I love to be able to say, “Download the trial version and see for youself” but Sony hasn’t made one available. :(

~jr

You know what, I'd like to upgrade; trouble is I baulk at the $46 shipping that this is going to cost me since I'm in the UK.

I just got a reply from 'custcenter' saying that there is not going to be a downloadable version of this software, and secondly that the upgrade is not going to be made available via UK distributors!!

This is a *real* retrograde step.... and I am seriously p-ed off with this turn of events. Prices in the UK for SoFo software always appear to be vastly inflated over the buy-online-from-SoFo prices, which is why I have always purchased via download. Now this avenue is not open to me....

grrrrrr.....

john..

I am hazarding a wild guess here but I would imagine that you can thank Sony’s selection of MyDVD as the problem here. I would bet that Sonic (owners of MyDVD) won’t let them offer it as part of the download for licensing reasons.

You might want to write a letter to Sony expressing that they are loosing a sale by not giving you a downloadable version to purchase and perhaps to recommend that they offer a cheaper version without MyDVD to fix this problem. Just a thought.

~jr

~jr, I don't think it's that wild a guess - Sonic don't seem to have a downloadable version of MyDVD so Sony probably can't produce a demo version of MS without effectively giving away MyDVD. I'd be happy with a straight NLE upgrade - I don't want MyDVD!

I feel a call to Sony coming on!

Ian G.

I seem to remember a time when Sonic Foundry guys would chip in on these type of conversations and reassure us, confirm/deny rumours etc.

Hey ho. Progress...


john..

I tried calling Sony in the UK. Customer services hadn't heard of Screenblast and couldn't get their heads around the idea it was their product. Marketing hadn't heard of it either but promised to get back to me in few minutes - that was 2 days ago!

Ian G.

Any response yet Ian? (not expecting any!)

john..

No, though I've spent a lot of time out of the office this week.

Ian G.

Sony got back to me! Their line is that Screenblast has never been available in the UK, and there are no plans to change that.

I've sent this message to Sony:-
"It seems to be impossible for UK users of VideoFactory to get the upgrade to version 3 of Movie Studio without paying exhorbitant shipping costs. Downloads from the web are no longer available (since Sony took over SonicFoundry) and Sony in the UK tell me they have no plans to sell Movie Studio. UK distributors tell me they're getting no information. The impression is that Sony have taken over and are sticking two fingers up to their UK customers! Is this realy Sony's stance, and if not, what are Sony doing to make the upgrade available in the UK?

Cheers

Ian G.

c.c. Movie Studio support forum. "

Ian G.

It'll be interesting to see their response!

I've just about convinced myself that I'll stump up the shipping costs...
Since I'm tempted to upgrade my copy of SoundForge at the same time, I can get a packaged copy of both MovieStudio and SoundForge and 'split' the increase in cost due to shipping across the two...

The question then is: If Movie Studio is not on sale in the UK, what are the support options for users of this 'grey import' software????? We don't want Sony turning 'round and telling us that we're not entitled to support because we're outside of the region it's selling to...!!!

Or am I just being paranoid?


john..

Just thought I'd jump in here and add my (annoyed) voice to your own. I live in Canada which isn't really all that far away from the US ;-) but they want to charge me nearly US$40 to ship the US$30 upgrade across the border.

I just ordered PaintShop Pro from JASC in the US and they only charged me US$15 for shipping. Now unless the Sony product has an exceptionally heavy CD, I can't see how they justify the $40 shipping charge.

To make matters worse, I got the same type of useless response from 'customer service' - I could buy it at a local dealer but I'd have to pay full price. How's that for rewarding product loyalty!

Presumably there are only a miniscule number of customers outside the US and Sony don't feel inclined to cater to their needs. Sounds like a truly enlightened policy in this global economy.

I don't think I'll pay for shipping just yet though, once the US has finished with Iraq there's a chance they'll invade Canada which should hopefully reduce my shipping costs down to the $9 that US residents pay...

Ditto

Gerry (in Winnipeg)