Video Factory...NOT ready for prime time. Not even close!

wvg wrote on 12/21/2000, 7:03 PM
I suffered with Video Factory for over 20 hours so far and
at every turn, another problem. I have yet to complete a
single video. Curious if I'm the only one finding so much
wrong. Here's just a few issues:

Video FX filters unstable

Example: HSL adjust in a joke. What you see is NOT what you
get. Any attempt to apply even a slight amount of
saturation or luminance causes a ugly red tint. The most
annoying part is during preview it looks fine, so I think I
have it the way I want, but no....as soon as you start to
render, UGLY and useless...result: wasted time and efford.

Sharpness Filter-- again, just a slight amount and you ruin
the video... anything moving in the video takes on a halo
and/or becomes bady distorted.

Try to apply a filter to a range of frames selected on the
timeline. Lots of luck. The effect not only applies to the
selected frames, it gets applies to the entire video, if
you want it or not.

Dropping scenes unto the timeline: Works fine until you
reach the right margin, (the timeline fills the screen)then
you either can't drop on the scene (no room) or you are
forced to overlap far more than you want. There should be
ample blank space to the right of the timeline already
occupied or you should be able to move the entire contents
of the timeline to the left to avoid this. You can't.
Bumber!

Constant page faults and kernell 32 errors. Every damn time
I get ten minutes or so of video done, Video Factory locks
up. Odd, using a Pentium II 400, I have 128RAM and a 80 GB
hard drive most of it empty.

Markers on timeline VERY inaccurate. I meant come on,
what's the point of showing nearly every frame on the
timeline (I zoomed in) if it is still a half a dozen or
more frames off? This nasty oversight means you constantly
overlap scenes or don't include all the frames when you
select them for editing.

Video Factory for no apparent reason every so often renders
output at a width and height DIFFERENT that specified
and/or different than the source file. This drives you
nuts! Several times I've struggles to get a few minutes of
video done only to see it rendered in a a size different
that the setting are set for. Again, back to square one to
correct.

Obviously a lot of rough edges that SHOULD have been caught
in Beta or Alpha release and obviously weren't. Come on
Sonic Foundry, I know you can do better work than this!




Comments

eialbur wrote on 12/22/2000, 10:18 AM

You don't have to sugar coat it for these guys. Tell them
what you really think.
jimcho wrote on 12/23/2000, 2:26 AM
I've only worked with the demo for a few hours so I'm no
expert, but I haven't experienced the problems that you
have. I'm running Win2K with Directx8.

I've had no problems with filters. To apply a filter to
selected frames, you could "S"plit the frames, then drag
the filter over the new event.

Dropping scenes when the timeline is full? Not sure what
you mean. Why not scroll right until you reach the end? Or
un-zoom it? Even if the scene overlaps when you drop it,
just pick it up and move it.

This is the greatest thing that I've found with
VideoFactory, the incredible flexibility of it's timeline.

To place markers with accuracy, you could use the ALT +
arrow keys to move one frame at a time (frames are shown in
the preview window), then hit "M" when you're at the right
frame.

After struggling with MGI VideoWave4 for days, I'm glad I
found this product.
DanHo wrote on 12/24/2000, 12:58 PM
Come on Bill. They didn't OFFER a Beta release of
VideoFactory to the public in order for us to point this
stuff out (IF they did, it was out for about 1 week for
evaluation).

Obviuosly the programmers wanted to mmake a cheaper
version of VegasVideo for the masses and simply relied on
the Beta reports of VegasVideo. But, as you point out ALL
of these problems are due to HORRIBLY SLOPPY cut and paste
of code - very obviously poor cut and paste.

BUT, the reason you are getting page faults at about 9-
10mins of video is because of Win98's 4gb file limit (which
BTW is NOT fixed with VegasVideo or the old, never actually
released VegasPro - ).

Buy Partition Magic, set up 4 partitions, and then Buy and
install Windows2000 Pro as a clean install on drive C:
(putting old Win98 folder in your new drive M:, which was
your old drive C:). You will NOT be sorry, but you may be
a bit poorer and you will need AT LEAST 128meg of ram and
1gig of free space to install AND keep WIN2000Pro. Make a
seperate 5th logical partition JUST for you projects.

William G. Schlake wrote:
>>I suffered with Video Factory for over 20 hours so far
and
>>at every turn, another problem. I have yet to complete a
>>single video. Curious if I'm the only one finding so much
>>wrong. Here's just a few issues:
>>
>>Video FX filters unstable
>>
>>Example: HSL adjust in a joke. What you see is NOT what
you
>>get. Any attempt to apply even a slight amount of
>>saturation or luminance causes a ugly red tint. The most
>>annoying part is during preview it looks fine, so I think
I
>>have it the way I want, but no....as soon as you start to
>>render, UGLY and useless...result: wasted time and efford.
>>
>>Sharpness Filter-- again, just a slight amount and you
ruin
>>the video... anything moving in the video takes on a halo
>>and/or becomes bady distorted.
>>
>>Try to apply a filter to a range of frames selected on
the
>>timeline. Lots of luck. The effect not only applies to
the
>>selected frames, it gets applies to the entire video, if
>>you want it or not.
>>
>>Dropping scenes unto the timeline: Works fine until you
>>reach the right margin, (the timeline fills the screen)
then
>>you either can't drop on the scene (no room) or you are
>>forced to overlap far more than you want. There should be
>>ample blank space to the right of the timeline already
>>occupied or you should be able to move the entire
contents
>>of the timeline to the left to avoid this. You can't.
>>Bumber!
>>
>>Constant page faults and kernell 32 errors. Every damn
time
>>I get ten minutes or so of video done, Video Factory
locks
>>up. Odd, using a Pentium II 400, I have 128RAM and a 80
GB
>>hard drive most of it empty.
>>
>>Markers on timeline VERY inaccurate. I meant come on,
>>what's the point of showing nearly every frame on the
>>timeline (I zoomed in) if it is still a half a dozen or
>>more frames off? This nasty oversight means you
constantly
>>overlap scenes or don't include all the frames when you
>>select them for editing.
>>
>>Video Factory for no apparent reason every so often
renders
>>output at a width and height DIFFERENT that specified
>>and/or different than the source file. This drives you
>>nuts! Several times I've struggles to get a few minutes
of
>>video done only to see it rendered in a a size different
>>that the setting are set for. Again, back to square one
to
>>correct.
>>
>>Obviously a lot of rough edges that SHOULD have been
caught
>>in Beta or Alpha release and obviously weren't. Come on
>>Sonic Foundry, I know you can do better work than this!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
deef wrote on 12/29/2000, 8:21 PM
Make sure the Win2k box is setup for NTFS file system so
you don't have to deal with any file size limitations
except for the size of the actual hard drive.

Dan Prowse, Jr. wrote:
>>Come on Bill. They didn't OFFER a Beta release of
>>VideoFactory to the public in order for us to point this
>>stuff out (IF they did, it was out for about 1 week for
>>evaluation).
>>
>> Obviuosly the programmers wanted to mmake a cheaper
>>version of VegasVideo for the masses and simply relied on
>>the Beta reports of VegasVideo. But, as you point out
ALL
>>of these problems are due to HORRIBLY SLOPPY cut and
paste
>>of code - very obviously poor cut and paste.
>>
>>BUT, the reason you are getting page faults at about 9-
>>10mins of video is because of Win98's 4gb file limit
(which
>>BTW is NOT fixed with VegasVideo or the old, never
actually
>>released VegasPro - ).
>>
>>Buy Partition Magic, set up 4 partitions, and then Buy
and
>>install Windows2000 Pro as a clean install on drive C:
>>(putting old Win98 folder in your new drive M:, which was
>>your old drive C:). You will NOT be sorry, but you may
be
>>a bit poorer and you will need AT LEAST 128meg of ram and
>>1gig of free space to install AND keep WIN2000Pro. Make a
>>seperate 5th logical partition JUST for you projects.
>>
>>William G. Schlake wrote:
>>>>I suffered with Video Factory for over 20 hours so far
>>and
>>>>at every turn, another problem. I have yet to complete
a
>>>>single video. Curious if I'm the only one finding so
much
>>>>wrong. Here's just a few issues:
>>>>
>>>>Video FX filters unstable
>>>>
>>>>Example: HSL adjust in a joke. What you see is NOT what
>>you
>>>>get. Any attempt to apply even a slight amount of
>>>>saturation or luminance causes a ugly red tint. The
most
>>>>annoying part is during preview it looks fine, so I
think
>>I
>>>>have it the way I want, but no....as soon as you start
to
>>>>render, UGLY and useless...result: wasted time and
efford.
>>>>
>>>>Sharpness Filter-- again, just a slight amount and you
>>ruin
>>>>the video... anything moving in the video takes on a
halo
>>>>and/or becomes bady distorted.
>>>>
>>>>Try to apply a filter to a range of frames selected on
>>the
>>>>timeline. Lots of luck. The effect not only applies to
>>the
>>>>selected frames, it gets applies to the entire video,
if
>>>>you want it or not.
>>>>
>>>>Dropping scenes unto the timeline: Works fine until you
>>>>reach the right margin, (the timeline fills the screen)
>>then
>>>>you either can't drop on the scene (no room) or you are
>>>>forced to overlap far more than you want. There should
be
>>>>ample blank space to the right of the timeline already
>>>>occupied or you should be able to move the entire
>>contents
>>>>of the timeline to the left to avoid this. You can't.
>>>>Bumber!
>>>>
>>>>Constant page faults and kernell 32 errors. Every damn
>>time
>>>>I get ten minutes or so of video done, Video Factory
>>locks
>>>>up. Odd, using a Pentium II 400, I have 128RAM and a 80
>>GB
>>>>hard drive most of it empty.
>>>>
>>>>Markers on timeline VERY inaccurate. I meant come on,
>>>>what's the point of showing nearly every frame on the
>>>>timeline (I zoomed in) if it is still a half a dozen or
>>>>more frames off? This nasty oversight means you
>>constantly
>>>>overlap scenes or don't include all the frames when you
>>>>select them for editing.
>>>>
>>>>Video Factory for no apparent reason every so often
>>renders
>>>>output at a width and height DIFFERENT that specified
>>>>and/or different than the source file. This drives you
>>>>nuts! Several times I've struggles to get a few minutes
>>of
>>>>video done only to see it rendered in a a size
different
>>>>that the setting are set for. Again, back to square one
>>to
>>>>correct.
>>>>
>>>>Obviously a lot of rough edges that SHOULD have been
>>caught
>>>>in Beta or Alpha release and obviously weren't. Come on
>>>>Sonic Foundry, I know you can do better work than this!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
Disintegrator wrote on 1/16/2001, 12:25 PM
Although the DiVX codec is an unsupported hack, I've been
able to load DiVX AVI's into VideoFactory or Vegas Video
just fine. Try un-installing and re-installing the DiVX
stuff.

In any event using DiVX encoded source is a complete waste
of time since it is so highly compressed that doing any
type of seek or editing on these files just plain sucks.

(Perhaps you should call the DiVX tech. support line to get
some help installing DiVX... :-)

Chuck Polfliet wrote:
>>I loaded the DivX codec in my system and am able to play
>>these files with Windows Media Player, but only the video
>>opens in Video Factory. It states, "Stream attributes
>>could not be determined, MPEG Layer-3" even though it is
>>MP3, which is supported as a separate video format. Any
>>suggestions?