Video Factory 2

paula wrote on 10/30/2003, 2:52 PM
Last year I downloaded vf, I was wondering what has happened to it. Do they not sell it anymore? Is screenblast the next version? I was having touble turning my movie into a movie on a cd that would play on a dvd (vcd). I rendered the movie and should of burned it but when I put inn dvd player it said bad disk.. Then I tried to play it in pc and just found files but would not play. I don't think that just because I used a cd-rw that it wouldn't work.. Last year I made a football highlight film for my sons team. It came out great with vf but was a hassel after I copyed it back to movie camera then had to copy it to my vcr 35 times. I wanted to give it out on cd instead,as long as they should play in dvd players. Last years movie was about 30 mins. I can only think this will be about 45. Will that fit on a cd. Also is there a way to get a cd of the vf program. I had downloaded it,but if I ever had to reinstall I would be in trouble.

Comments

obiron wrote on 10/30/2003, 3:14 PM
Sony bought the video products section of Sonic Foundry; maybe other parts also. ScreenBlast is version 3.x of Video Factory. You can get an upgrade to ScreenBlast for $30. It's well worth it in my opinion. It comes with MyDVD 4.5 which some love, and others hate. But it can burn DVDs and VCDs for you. VF doesn't burn, it just prepares the files to burn.

What did you use to burn the vcd? What did you try to view the vcd with on the pc? DVDs for sure cannot be viewed on the pc without special software like PowerDVD. VCDs may be the same way, I'm not sure. However, the site: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ is chock full of useful information and guides on how to take video from camera to the pc to a dvd or a vcd or an svcd. There are so many ways to do it and so many variables, you'll just have to read a lot and determine the best course for you.

Did you save the downloaded vf. If so, you can burn it to a cd for your backup. But I still recommend the $30 upgrade. You get an entire retail package including manual and cd.

Fitting 45 minutes on a cd might be squeezing; but here, again, this is one of the variables you have to deal with. To make a vcd you have to pay attention to things like bitrate of the movie data. The higher the bitrate, the better quality output you get but then the files are much bigger making them questionable if they will fit. So you have to play around with this number in some program like TMPGEnc which you can find all kinds of detail about on the web site I listed above. If I remember correctly, the bitrate for a VCD is around 1150 bits/sec. For a DVD its like 8000 bps. A program like VCDEasy can help you set up and burn a vcd. A link to it also may be found at the listed web site.

I know this is a lot of data, but then, video is a complicated subject until you get to know it better. I hope this information has been helpful.
paula wrote on 10/30/2003, 3:36 PM
That was enough to to start with. I didn't realize that it only produced the files. I think I can deal with that. I just purchased a vaio notebook with dvd and cd burner. I got this for that GREAT software click to dvd. compared to vf they are not even in the same solar system. So how do I get the vcd files burned to cd? Also if I upgrade do you know if that is downloadable? THanks for all your answers. I would have to say this is one of the best forum rooms ever.
IanG wrote on 10/30/2003, 4:13 PM
>Also if I upgrade do you know if that is downloadable?

It isn't! MyDVD isn't downloadable, so Sony can't produce a downloadable Screenblast without giving away MyDVD.

Ian G.
paula wrote on 10/30/2003, 4:35 PM
o ok, but I still can't figure out how to burn the file to movie. I tried again and by the wording it seems to be burning the movie not just the files
SonySCS wrote on 10/30/2003, 4:50 PM
If you ever need a copy of the VideoFactory downloadable, go to the updates page. The last update 2.0c will always be there
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/step1.asp?CatID=2

Suzan
JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/30/2003, 5:45 PM
No one mentioned this so I will. Making VideoCD’s to give out to 35 people is risky business at best. VCD is a format that lots of DVD players can’t play. Ironically it seems the more expensive the DVD player; the less likely it will play a VCD. Check the dvdrhelp.com DVD compatibility list. If your DVD player is not listed as being VCD compatible, you are wasting your time trying to play one. In fact, if all 35 people don’t have a DVD player that is VCD compatible, you will get a lot of complaints.

Before I got DVD burner I made lots of VCD’s. I ended up buying my in-laws the same DVD player that I have (Pioneer DV-343) to be sure they could play the VCD’s I gave them. VCD’s are great to make for yourself but they are not very good to give out as gifts. For that, you really need to get a DVD burner. The good news is that they are under $200 these days.

So VideoFactory 2 can make perfectly good VCD’s. If you can’t play the one you created, it may be your DVD player. BTW, not many PC DVD software players know how to play a VCD either. I also recommend you upgrade to Screenblast MovieStudio because the upgrade for $30 is an absolute bargain for what you get if you plan on continuing with video editing as a hobby.

~jr
paula wrote on 10/30/2003, 9:09 PM
I kinda figured that would be a bad idea. Now, my notebook is a cd and a dvd burner. Would it be better to put it on a dvd. Would that assure that it would play in all dvd players? If I put it on a dvd then how would I burn the finished product? Do I save it as different files?
JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/30/2003, 11:59 PM
If you want to save it on DVD then get Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0 for the $30 upgrade and you’ll have everything you need. It comes with MyDVD so you can make DVD’s. There is nothing for you to know about file formats or anything. You just say Make DVD and Screenblast will generate the correct file and import it into MyDVD. All you need to do is select a DVD menu style that you like and burn.

Making DVD’s will be much more compatible but, unfortunately, some older DVD players will not play homemade DVD’s. (i.e., DVD-/+R, DVD-/+RW, etc.) because the reflective properties of the media is slightly different than a normal DVD. Most new models will work, but I would not claim that it will work with all players. Right now, DVD-/+R/RW technology is too new.

~jr