Review Ulead Moviefactory 2

[Anonymous65]

Here is a short review of the new Ulead Moviefactory 2 DVD capture and burning software. http://steve.kittelsen.com/mf2/

[musher70]

looks like workshop

[Baldrick]

MovieFACTORY not maker.

[Anonymous65]

Moviemaker has been replaced by Moviefactory!

[The village idiot]

I've been putting off buying this, but I may buy it and download the upgrade tonight. I've been very happy with MF1. A nice simple interface, and best of all, it works. I hope they make a change to save the mpeg though.

[Anonymous65]

When you make an ISO file, VOB or burn the disk, the *trimmed* mpeg file is placed in a working folder on your hard drive. You can grab it there and save it another place. But, it would be nice if you could save (export) the trimmed mpeg file without having to author the file.

[Baldrick]

Why have they changed the layout....now I must remake the guides again......But it works pretty good, probably the best basic dvd authoring tool available.

[Fred©]

I would like to say that, with Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 I can make photo CD better than with Ulead's DVD PictureShow, that is now useless...

Fred©

[kitty]

Ok, you all have convinced me I should upgrade my copy that came with the PVR250 as it is what I use to author DVDs with menus.

I think MF1 burns UDF 1.5 images as I can take the VIDEO_TS / AUDIO_TS files from the program and burn them in Nero 5.5.10.0 in 1.02 mode and it works on my picky Philips 711. I'd be curious what MF2 burns.

[The village idiot]

Downloaded upgrade only $35 USD to registered users. 88 MB without the extras. I'll get the extras tonight and then burn it to disk. Wish the English version had better DVD-RAM support. I hope they add that later.

[k5oz]

skittelsen,

One thing that DMF2 does not have is the capability to have the "main menu" have chapter points (within one MPEG file), only sub-menus can have chapters, very disappointed because most of my DVDs will be only one mpeg file with multiple chapters. If it only had this, it would be my only DVD authoring I would need.

Dave

[kitty]

k5oz - that is very strange as MF1 allowed that (actually encouraged it).

[donpedro]

What about this... I have multiple mpeg2 files (cut-out advert. from big file) and I would like to play it continuesly as one movie. So result should be one title with multiple chapters. What I ended up with was multiple titles so it returned beck to menu after each one. (I will play with this somtime later)

[simmons3d]

My big question is: Does it accept AC3 (5.1) that has been muxed with the mpeg with tnmpeg?

[Anonymous65]

Can't comment to much on the menu creation. I make all my DVD's without any menus. When I put the disk in the player, it starts playing the video, simple and easy.

[k5oz]

kitty,

You are correct DMF1 had main menu chapter capability, but sadly DMF2 does not. The main menu in DMF2 only allows titles (different mpeg files) in its thumbnails. If you split a single mpeg into multiple mpegs it will give you pseudo chapters but there will be a delay (1-2 seconds) between them.

Donpedro,

If you need to have the mpegs play one after the other without going back to the menu make sure the "Navigation Controls" has "continue to next clip" selected under project settings (the check mark icon in lower left)

Dave

[donpedro]

k5oz, Thanks. I will try it.

[kitty]

kitty,

You are correct DMF1 had main menu chapter capability, but sadly DMF2 does not. The main menu in DMF2 only allows titles (different mpeg files) in its thumbnails. If you split a single mpeg into multiple mpegs it will give you pseudo chapters but there will be a delay (1-2 seconds) between them.

Well then if I buy the upgrade will I have both DMF1 and 2 on the system so I can do both or is this a program that overwrites the old program?

[Anonymous65]

You should be able to install the two version to two different directories on your hard drive.

[aubrey_q]

kitty,

You are correct DMF1 had main menu chapter capability, but sadly DMF2 does not. The main menu in DMF2 only allows titles (different mpeg files) in its thumbnails. If you split a single mpeg into multiple mpegs it will give you pseudo chapters but there will be a delay (1-2 seconds) between them.

Donpedro,

If you need to have the mpegs play one after the other without going back to the menu make sure the "Navigation Controls" has "continue to next clip" selected under project settings (the check mark icon in lower left)

Dave

How about allowing ONE menu with ONE thumbnail if you only have ONE clip? DMF1 will not allow me to have that unless I split the one clip into chapters. All I want is to have at least one menu screen with one selection thumbnail when the disc loads...

[Robert Simandl]

I'll chime in with Simmons3d here.... can it accept an mpeg file that's had ac-3 sound muxed into it with TMPGEnc the way DVD Workshop can?

And does it have an option to NOT reencode your already-DVD-Compliant mpeg-2 files?

Thanks...

[Robert Simandl]

Well, I downloaded it myself and can answer my own questions....

As for having a "do not convert compliant file" option, the answer is YES!

As for accepting an mpeg with ac3 audio muxed in a la DVD Workshop, the answer is NO. I tried it and got an error message saying DVD MovieFactory does not support this audio format, please convert the audio to mpeg or PCM before continuing.

[kitty]

Baldrick stated it worked with VOBs if you changed the file extension. If you have a VOB with ac3 maybe it'll work?

[bertmartin]

Do I need this? Doesn't Ulead Video Studio 6 do most of the functions of MovieFactory? Just wondering.

[kitzj0]

Regarding AC sound, what about going into the .ini file (search for DVDMF.ini and change the encode and decode ac3 value from 0 to 1? I have not tried this was just wondering.

[haymes]

I have used this intensley trying to make an avi into a vcd. Nice quality BUT, not matter what the avi file, after 2/3 of the movie passes, the audio disappears! Tried several different avi's and same problem.

[k5oz]

kitty,
I don't know if it will allow DMF1 and DMF2 at the same time. I deleted DMF1 before installing DMF2 if I remember correctly.

Simmons3d,
Don't use AC3 in my home videos, so I don't know.

aubrey_q,
Yes, If you select create menu it will automatically put the first frame of the one mpeg file in the menu. You can then select which frame to use as thumbnail pic.

[donpedro]

Could you please checke my spreadsheet if all information is correct ?

List of all video editing tools with all important features

[aubrey_q]

aubrey_q,
Yes, If you select create menu it will automatically put the first frame of the one mpeg file in the menu. You can then select which frame to use as thumbnail pic.

I tried it out this morning and you are correct, k5oz. The new version allows me to put a menu even if it's one clip.

[Robert Simandl]

Did a little experimenting with the DVDMF.INI file. There are three lines in it:

playac3=0
decodeac3=0
uleadencodeac3=0

I changed the play and decode options to 1 and fired DVDMF up. Went to import an ac-3 mpeg (specifically, a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that I demuxed with TMPGEnc, converted the audio to ac3 with BeSweet, and remuxed with TMPGEnc). Still got that same error message. "Please convert to mpeg or pcm before continuing." Damn.

Went back to the DVDMF.INI file.

All three values were all zero again.

So I changed the play and decode lines BACK to 1 and made the file read-only.

Fired up DVDMF. Went to import the ac3 mpeg again. Same error message popped up. "Please convert to mpeg or pcm before continuing." I let out a few curse words and clicked OK. The file imported anyway! The ac3 audio would NOT play in the edit window, though.

Since this was just a quick experiment, I skipped making a menu and went straight to burning the disc, a DVD-RW just in case it turned out to be a coaster.

Guess what! The disc plays just fine on my Toshiba SD-K710! Hitting the Audio button on the remote tells me the sound is 2-channel Dolby Digital! It even plays on my Stone-Age Sony DVP-S7000, which normally pukes and says "disc error" on DVD-R's and RW's!

Now I'm curious whether I could have authored with the ac3 even without changing the ini file. After all, even with the change, I got the error message telling me ac3 isn't supported before going on to author the ac3 mpeg anyway.

In hindsight, maybe the "please convert to mpeg or pcm before continuing" message having a "do not show this message again" checkbox might have been a dead giveaway?

I'm going to uncheck the read-only box in the DVDMF.INI properties and see if I can still do ac3. Then I'm going to add a chapter menu and see the results.

Meanwhile I'll be interested in hearing other people's results?