ULEAD MediaStudio Pro 6.5. POWER PATCH Now Available

[Jerry Jones]

Download the newest POWER PATCH for Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.5:

http://www.ulead.com/tech/msp/msp_ftp.htm

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Sciascia]

And why should we be excited?

Taken from the DL page itself:

MPEG.Now Patch (Build Number: 6.51a)

This patch will fix known bugs relating to the Ulead MPEG.Now codec and upgrade your existing codec to Ulead MPEG.Now. This patch will fix the following bugs:

If your current codec is from Ligos®, it will be updated to the Ulead MPEG.Now codec. If you have Ulead DVD Plug-in files, it will be updated too.
If you are already using MPEG.Now as your codec or your Video Editor module does not have MPEG-2 support, it will fix the following bugs:
a. DV playback and transmit bugs on Windows® XP: Enhances DV playback, asynchronization and record back to DV tape functions for Windows® XP users.
b. Quickplay bug: The second video clip will no longer turn into black in the Preveiw Window when in Quickplay mode.
c. DV Type-2 file: You will now be able to use DV Type-2 files made in Adobe® Premiere® 6 in MediaStudio Pro.
d. Smart Convert: Converting DV AVI PAL to VCD NTSC will no longer cause the program to hang.
e. Video Capture module crashing: The Video Capture module will no longer crash when the captured file is corrupted.
f. New Project dialog box popping up: The New Project dialog box will no longer appear when the "Always show this dialog box" option is cleared.

Sounds sweet, did you install it yet? I don't even have MSP on my machine right now, been busy with other projects. Let us know if it is as good as it sounds.

[Jerry Jones]

Yes - I installed it a moment ago.

I'm creating an Super-VideoCD file on my work computer, a Pentium 4 1.7ghz Dell Dimension.

It's rendering as I type this.

Installation was smooth.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

This patch has been in beta for some time.

Here's a speed comparison;

MPEG rendering time (using my universal test file & AthlonXP 2000+/K7S6A system);

MSPro 6.5 w/Ligos: 6:39
MSPro 6.51a w/MPEG.now: 6 min 05 sec.

Comparison images to follow soon....

Dr. Mordrid

[Sciascia]

I could care less about the time , the quality is very impressive. I did a test from PicVideo at 20, DVD res and used the new Ulead DVD preset to encode. Very quick and the quality is up there with the best encoders from what I can see. If only I had a DVD burner or atleast somehting to see if it is really DVD compliant. I am sure that one of you "fancy pants" folks will let us know. I am really impressed with the quality. The ATI 8500DV does fantastic MPEG2 capture and the new MMC 7.7 has DVD spec for audio and video, though I am not sure if it is compliant. The real kick in the pants was that I could capture in MPEG2, but editing was a pain and it never looked as good as the original for obvious reasons (after re-encodong the whole thing). Using PicVideo I could edit and stuff, but the Ulead Ligos encoder looked really poor compared to the ATI captured MPEG2. Now it is on par from a quick test. Now I can capture in MJPEG, edit and then create a high quality MPEG2 stream.

Now what do I complain about ?

[Dr Mordrid]

What should also make folks happy is that VBR now works as it should.

Ligos VBR would hardly show a difference in file size vs. CBR. Using a DV clip of my 4 year old son warping around a playground MPEG.now VBR generated VBR files are 15-20% smaller. Just about right.

You should also see a difference in how clean overlays are rendered. MPEG.now has better anti-aliasing on overlay edges vs. Ligos.

There has been quite a bit of movement in the editing market away from Ligos and towards the MainConcepts SDK of late (MPEG.now is based on the MC MPEG SDK), some of which I cannot reveal because of NDA's. Most all of this is at Ligos expense.

Dr. Mordrid

[Sciascia]

I remember a screen shot that you showed of some fonts or something a while back. That got me all excited, it really was a major improvement. I am just glad that I don't have to worry about trying to get CCE to sell me that mPEGG! Ulead DVD encoder plugin anymore. 2 years of unanswered email is enough!

Do you have a DVD burner or atleast can verify whether or not it is DVD complaint? I may be doing a little shopping later tonight if it is! That DVR-A04 is calling my name...

[Jerry Jones]

Here are some things I hope Charlie Chan and his team can improve in future releases of Mediastudio Pro.

1. Is it possible, Charlie, to make MPEG files behave like DV files in the Video Editor timeline?

With MPEG files, no red or green horizontal line indicators appear to indicate which portions of clips need to be rendered and which portions do not need to be rendered.

With DV .avi files, as long as one's project settings match the attributes of one's clips, the red and green horizontal lines appear.

And Smart Rendering works with DV .avi files.

With MPEG files, I do not perceive that Smart Render really works.

It appears to me that any time one wishes to edit MPEG clips, one must RENDER.

2. Is it possible to expand MediaStudio Pro to become a native *QuickTime* editor as well so that QuickTime video files can also be Smart Rendered?

3. Is it possible to ENLARGE the dialogue boxes for things like motion paths? Now that my monitor is 19" and my resolution is set to 1280 x 1024, my dialogue boxes appear to be a bit too small.

4. Is it possible to improve Video Capture so that even Canon ZR20 camcorders are recognized immediately? In the current situation, I have to go through the ritual of selecting the Ulead DSW plug-in and then re-select the Direct Show plug-in to get the Video Capture program to properly recognized my Canon ZR20s.

In addition, after one or two captures... the mouse pointer disappears when hovered over the VCR controls in Video Capture.

Can this be fixed so that the mouse pointer remains visible at all times?

I love using MediaStudio Pro, but these enhancements would make the program much easier to use.

I can tell that real time previews are coming in MediaStudio Pro 7.0.

If you enter a motion path dialogue and click on the TV monitor even in the current version of MediaStudio Pro, you can see your effect in real time via Firewire to an external monitor... if you're using a DV camcorder.

I suspect this real time preview even works with analog.

Real time previewing in these dialogue boxes will obviously be extended to timeline playback.

Last night, I marveled at how sophisticated this program has become even when used with a $49 Firewire card!

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[miya]

Is there 480x480 direct mpeg capture? I remember this being promised with 6.5 but never delivered.

[Sciascia]

Originally posted by miya
Is there 480x480 direct mpeg capture? I remember this being promised with 6.5 but never delivered.

Would you be referrig to the SVCD preset that is in there now ? Don't know how it looks, may try it out later, but it is in there.

Jerrold,

As for MPEG acting like DV files I wouldn't hold my breath, atleast from my understanding. DV and a lot of other avi files are all individual frames. MPEG is made up of difference frames and thus need to read the I frame, the following P and/or B frames and then construct the frame in question. I am sure that you already know this, you have been around here too much not to know it, but I don't really think that it can be done with the current MPEG spec unless you use all I frames. Tis is why I really hated editing with MPEG files to begin with. No matter what I did, the entire clip would have to be re-rendered. That is why I am so exctied about being able to edit in MJPEG again and have a good MPEG stream created with this new encoder.

As for the motion path dialog being bigger, that is a really good idea, I use my 19" monitor at 1600*1200, so it is tiny. Atleasst make it resizable.

[Phil Pugh]

Originally posted by Sciascia Edited
If only I had a DVD burner or atleast somehting to see if it is really DVD compliant. I am sure that one of you "fancy pants" folks will let us know.

Not a smarty pants as such - can't afford a real DVD burner

It certainly encoded a DVD PAL file for me and then I burned it to miniDVD using ULEAD DVD Movie factory (as plug-in to MSP 6.51a) and played it back in my trusty ADL-528. Nice quality - no need for TMPGEnc now I think?

[paulw]

Phil,

Try a SVCD and see the results.

I did 3 tests when I added the patch. Created a 30 second SVCD (PAL) in MSPRO 6.50 and then in 6.51 after the upgrade then the same file in TMPGE 2.56.

Burnt to a CDR with Nero. The resulting playback with 6.50 and 6.51 looked the same. Not wonderful. The playback of TMPGE file left MSPRO for dead.

On the up side I can now edit MPEG2 files fine and "smart render" seems to work.

Oh for a DVD burner. Still round US$700 down here

[Jerry Jones]

Paul,

When you claim "smart render seems to work," do you mean you see red and green horizontal lines immediately above the timeline?

Those normally appear only above DV .avi files and when visible they mean no rendering is necessary.

The lines do not appear when I drop MPEG files into the timeline.

Smart Render does not work, either... not when I use MPEG files.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Debbie]

Have installed the patch yesterday and it appears to work fine. I have notices a marked improvment in mpeg quality and speed. Smart rendering has workd fine for me both on mpeg and avi.
I shall have a go at it again today.

Regards,

Debbie

[paulw]

Jerry,

It's interesting that you asked.
When I import the MPEG2 PAL DVD complient clip into the time line there are no red or green lines. However when I click on the preview play button the % bar at the bottom zooms along for a few seconds like it's doing some real fast render and then the red and green liners appear. However when you add a transition they vanish again but re-apear when you repeat the render process. It zooms along the trimeline ans only stops at the transistions re-render those.

Maybe it works, maybe it's not quite rite but it's better that a complete re-render every time..:-)