Although Studio has been very good to me, and I've had very few problems with it, Screenblast MovieStudio (aka Video Factory) is amazing!

There are a couple of features that Studio has that I wish MovieStudio had, but it performs nearly flawlessly and it has some very cool features.

As dmcknight, I haven't dug deep enough to find the dark side yet but, from what I've seen, it's one terrific product. Not quite as intuitive as Studio but much more solid.

I left Studio 7 for VideoFactory over a year ago and have been very happy. I had a project in Studio 7 crash for the second time and I was about to recreate it from scratch when I decided that if Pinnacle’s only answer to my problem was to start all over again, I would take their advice and start all over again with more reliable software! I recreated the project with VideoFactory in just a few days and it never crashed even once. Saved by butt 'cuz I had a deadline to meet.

I was amazed at VideoFactory. I placed an MP3 on the timeline and it actually played each and every time hit the play button. Unlike Studio, where it would play sometimes and not others. Sometimes you could restart it in the middle but other times you had to delete the MP3 and add it back to get it to play again. That was Pinnacle’s solution to their bug. Delete it and add it back again. I don’t have time to add MP3 files back to my project every other day. VideoFactory just worked as advertised. No one can say the same for Studio.

VideoFactory ($69) has two video tracks while Studio ($99) only has one video track and one still image title track. People who have Studio and need another video track are upgrading to HFX Pro (for +$99) just to do video overlays and picture in picture effects ($198 total cost!!!). VideoFactory already does this very easily and with full previews. Add Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 ($45) to VideoFactory and you’ll be making DVD’s in no time.

With VideoFactory you can drag media from the Windows Explorer onto the timeline. In Studio you have to select the proper tab (video, titles, audio, etc) then select the browse button, then navigate to your media folder, then wait for Studio to import thumbnails of all the media, then you have to remember why you even started doing this because it took so long you forgot why. ;-) This convenience alone is worth the price of VideoFactory.

The big difference in work flow is that you manipulate things right on the timeline with VideoFactory that would be a few menus deep in Studio. Want to fade a clip in or out? Just grab the top corner and pull it over for the duration of the fade. Want to cross-dissolve between two clips? Just overlay their edges on the timeline. Want to make a clip semi-transparent? Just pull down the opacity bar at the top of the clip. It’s a much more productive flow because many tasks are preformed right on the timeline instead of navigating through menus.

I could go on and on. here is my assessment of the two as a Studio 7 and VideoFactory 2 user:

VideoFactory Pro’s over Studio 7/8:
o 2 true video tracks (Studio has 1 video and 1 still image only)
o Pan/Crop/Zoom/PIP ala Ken Burns
o Maintains full resolution of still images dropped on timeline (Studo cuts the resolution down)
o Drag and Drop media from Windows Explorer
o Accepts AVI , MPG and MOV files (Studio 8 added MPG but doesn’t do MOV)
o Accepts animated GIF's with transparency for overlays
o Alpha Key in real-time on timeline
o MP3 files actually work
o Audio FX and sweetning (Studio has none)
o More accurate working with Audio tracks especially envelopes
o Loop video just by stretching it
o Slow motion also slows audio (Studio only slow-mo's the video)
o Resizable preview window
o Can apply FX to entire movie or individual clip
o Many more FX then the 4 in Studio (VF FX's have variable parameters)
o Many more transitions because you can edit and change them (in Studio they are fixed)
o Can render only sections of movie
o Ability to set markers to quickly locate a scene
o Ability to quickly select all scenes from the edit point to the end
o Very stable (no bugs)
o Cheaper ($69 vs $99) USD
o Actually works! (what novel concept)

Studio 8 Pro’s over VideoFactory:
o SmartSound (which you can buy for $39 standalone)
o AlphaMagic wipes (greyscale transitions, I really miss these)
o TitleDeco is easier to use and allows graphics to be included with text and text letters to be moved independently.
o Author DVD's. (But doesn't appear to work for many people. I couldn't get to work)

I would cut your losses with Pinnacle and move over to VideoFactory. Download the 30-day trial and see for yourself. You can still use Studio to generate SmartSound or buy the standalone SmartSound for $39. Get Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 to make DVD's. You will have a much more stable video editing solution. Start making movies instead of debugging beta software.

~jr

So far so good...as I expected it appears VF is more stable and provides functionality not available in S8....

Now for an interesting followup, prompted by one of these replies: it seems SoFo has sold its product, source code and all, to other vendors (most notably Nova Development and the folks at Screenblast. I've talked to Nova and they verified that they purchased the product from SoFo and have continued development themselves; that is, it is NOT an OEM or scaled-down version they sell.)

My next question is: have you used SoFo's products as purchased from Nova (Video Explosion Delux) or Screenblast? Any opinions on the pros and cons of this approach? I ask because Nova product provides a great deal of software in addition to VF, for about the same price. It raised a red flag, but now I'm not so sure - maybe it's a good deal?

While Video Explosion looks like a good deal, the DVD software is MyDVD. Take a peek at the MyDVD forums and you’ll see it looks a lot like the Pinnacle forums with lots of people who can’t get the darn thing to work. Even if MyDVD worked perfectly, you can only make chapter points while you capture (assuming you capture with MyDVD and not VideoFactory). You cannot make chapter points during authoring. So after you create your masterpiece in VideoFactory, you can only make a DVD in MyDVD with no chapter points. Kind of like a big VHS tape with better quality but defeats the purpose of having random access media. So this is not the bargain it seems.

Sony Screenblast, on the other hand, might be a better deal. The Screenblast version of VideoFactory has a chroma key plugin! That’s really sweet. One of the reasons I upgraded to Vegas was to get the chroma key plugin so Screenblast is a good deal from my point of view. Also, Sony just acquired the VideoFactory/Vegas development team and source code so there is a chance that it will be supported in the future.

~jr

Johnny, thanks for the input. The Video Explosion package not only comes with MyDVD, but it is an OEM version...little better than the demo download. However, I still have S8 and a couple of other apps that I can use for DVD authoring.

I had heard about the Sony acquisition of the Vegas product...wasn't sure if that included VF also, but apparently so. You're right, the Sony offering might actually be a better deal...especially with the Chroma Key plugin!

I can't talk about the sony stuff cause I don't know much about it, but my gut tells me to stay with SoFo - or whoever owns them and the code - as opposed to third parties that license the code. They have a track record with several audio and video apps in the pro arena and unless they abandon the lower-end consumer market I would stick with them. Actually, I hope to move to Vegas by year's end. Been playing a little with the demo...not sure what to invest time in, learning VF or Vegas, hopefully they are similar enough to gain some economies of scale.

- David

JohnnyRoy - awesome post! I'm going to buy VF immediately...wait, I already own it! :)

I did not know it did some of these things. I really, really need to get un-busy and learn to move fluidly through this program.

If you don't mind, a quick question....does VF support a transport-control input device, like a jog-wheel? I'm not explaining it well, but it's a USB device, keypad and jogwheel for controlling the timeline..

aw, it's late. Going to bed.

- David

> does VF support a transport-control input device

David,

No, but Vegas 4 does. Lots of folks use ShuttlePro with it. Vegas also implemented generic joystick support so you can literally use any pointing device that emulates a joystick (or an actual joystick) for doing color correction and surround sound. It also supports the JKL keys as a shuttle which I use a lot.

There are undocumented ways to turn on more features in VideoFactory but you can get yourself into trouble if you mess things up so “don’t try this at home kids”. ;-)

When you go into the Options menu, hold down the Shift key before you select Preferences. A new tab will now show up in the preferences dialog called Internal. Search for Show Speed Control and set it to TRUE. This will turn on the GUI jog shuttle. It was on by default in VideoFactory1 and they turned it off for some reason in VideoFactory2. If you also set Show Advanced Features to TRUE you will get control over the Preview Quality in the video preview window just like Vegas. You have to restart VideoFactory to see the preview quality option. This internals menu will also allow you to set the ntDefVideoStillLength to something other than 5 seconds.

Like I said, this is an undocumented feature. Use with caution. Void where prohibited. Your mileage may vary. I told you so.

~jr

Ok...I opted for the "official" SoFo product, VF, rather than Sony or Nova. (Johnny, I'm bummed about the chroma key plug-in...do you know where I can get hold of it separately?)

From what I've read, I expect this product to be much more feature-rich and -- more importantly -- stable than Studio. I'll keep y'all (I'm from Texas, after all) updated!

Thanks again for the input.

BTW, as anybody using this product to make money as a small business?

> Johnny, I'm bummed about the chroma key plug-in...do you know where I can get hold of it separately?)

Funny I just answered that question in this post. Not the VF plugin but a free program that will do the same. Go to www.NateTrue.com and click on the Programs link and download MasterKey for free. It works really nice as a chroma key tool. Also check out the other fine free utilities that do things like velocity envelopes and rotoscoping all for free. Not as nice as having them integrated with Vegas but you can’t beat the price. ;-)

You have to export your clips from VideoFactory to be chroma keyed with the Create OpenDML 2.0 compliant files option off so MasterKey (and other applications) can read them. See the Vegas Tips section of my web site for instructions on how to do this.

~jr

Hey dand9959, I'm from Houston...actually Texas City, but no one knows where that is, so I usually just say Houston...let us know how you like VF, glad you got it. I just delivered a project today that was 25% VF and 75% Studio. I'm leaving for a week, when I get back I hope to reverse those percentages in the next project.

btw, JohnnyRoy, thanks for the undocumented tips...

This board rocks. It may be because I'm still new, and I don't mean to beat a dead horse....but the Studio boards are full of "this doesn't work, problems with that", etc etc...and while you see some of that here (it is a support forum, after all) it seems more about how to get the most out of the product, tips, etc rather than how to make it work at all - which is what is going on in the St***o world.

- David

David,

It’s a statement about the quality of the product. Sure editing video is demanding and you need to tweak your machine a bit to get it to work smooth, but overall VideoFactory simply works. So, yes, this board and the Vegas board and pretty much all the Sonic Foundry boards are filled primarily with posts on how to do creative things and not how to get the software to run without crashing or locking up. It’s not because you are new. It’s just the way it is. ...and we like it that way. ;-)

~jr

I just got VF as I could never get Studio 7 to work on my SONY VAIO. The Studio 7 is working well on my "old" Compaq and my daughter is making video on it.

One thing I really like is the sound effects. I added some reverb to a video of my daughter singing and it sounded great. Created a RealAudio file and presto ! The grandparents could watch it from my web page.
Great video and voice quality on the 512kb real audio template.

What a great thread. I have been using Pinnacle Studio 8 for almost a year, and I have dissapointed in a few of it's features, especially the lack of pan and zoom and picture in picture. Thanks JohnnyRoy for this information, it's exactly what I've been looking for. I've downloaded the demo to begin learning it, I'm trying to decide whether to buy. So far it looks great.

So for my question, I'm used to the way Studio 8 has the DVD authoring and burning built in. It's always worked well for me, I've never had an issue through the dozen or so projects I've done. Video Factory doesn't have DVD capbility, JohnnyRoy suggested in his thread to get Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2. What format should I save/render the project in VF in so that I don't lose any quality before burning it to DVD with Ulead? Do I save it as AVI? or MPEG? or MOV?

Eric,

This must be your lucky day. Sony just released the next edition of VF (Screenblast Movie Studio) with DVD authoring, another video track and the MPEG 2 encoder. Check it out -

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Products/showproduct.asp?PID=856

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/news/sony.asp#1428

Since it was just released today, I cannot speak for the DVD authoring capabilities, except that they exist.

I guess the question remains for those of us using VF (as opposed to Sony's version - Screenblast Movie Studio:

Will Sony let VF users upgrad to the latest Movie Studio version at the same low price as Move Studio owners???

That page contains some previously unknown stuff that I found interesting:
- Features: Toggle-switch resizable preview window
- Shipping: August 22, 2003

Stuff I still want to know:
- Upgrade price?
- Downloadable demo?
- Screenblast Movie Studio 3? (some places like Amazon call this 2.0 - whatever happened to 2.0 anyway?)

yes, it must be my lucky day. I'd love to get a demo download and/or get the manual, I'd like to see if I have complete flexibility with DVD authoring or if I must stick to their templates. I can't see a demo download, I wonder if they'll make one available?

This is interesting. On the product website they listed all the DVD drives that were tested during development and are garenteed to work with Movie Studio. This is now a Sony product but they did not test it with Sony DVD drives!

-Dave

Wow, I went camping for a week with my son and while we were gone there was a major worm released on the Internet, the entire northeastern United States had a major blackout, and Sony released Screenblast Movie Studio 3! Funny, the sun was still shining at the campsite (Boy Scout Camp Yawgoog, Rhode Island, US) and we were more worried about ants than worms. ;-)

I gotta agree with the others. Movie Factory 3 seems to be the way to go now. I can’t wait until they announce the upgrade prices.

~jr

JR - are you going camping again? I'm not sure I like those odds!

Cheers

Ian G.

Me neither, seven days of camping is about five over my limit! But my son had fun and that’s the main thing.

~jr