ULead DVD Workshop???? Anyone try it yet????

[mschark]

I see on ULead's website that they have a trial version for a yet-to-be-released "DVD Workshop". I am wondering if anyone has used it yet.

The appeal of this program is that it allows the capture from Firewire directly to MPEG1or2 without having to convert. This is the first time I've seen this offered in any program. It also stated that it works with various analog capture devices.

Does anyone know of other software that allows capture from firewire directly to MPEG1/2 without having to convert the file?

Any and all feedback would be appreciated!!

Thanks,

Mark

[Rich927]

I have tried Uleads direct capture from DV to MPG-1,2. It does work but it's slow. It is a software capture/rendering. What it does is captures about 30-60 seconds of video then pauses your camcorder then it renders the captured video to MPG files. You will get a "Flushing DV transcode Buffer" message. Once it has rendered that 30-60 seconds of video, it then starts capturing again for another 30-60 seconds then then pauses and renders. Does this till you have captured all the video you want to render. It is much faster to capture to AVI, edit then render rather than use this feature. I have made Ulead aware of this problem. Each time I email them, I have to wait 4 days for a reply. My request to return the software(made within 7 days from the time I purchased it from them directly) has been ignored! Good program, other that this poor feaature. Lousy support and no concern for it's users. My advice, look elsewhere.

[denoneil]

There are two higher-end cards that will allow you to capture direct to MPEG2.... The pinnacle DVD1000 and the Matrox RT2500. Pricey but nice. $1500 and $800 respectively.

[leebo]

If realtime mpeg2 capture is all you're looking for, I'd try out the Dazzle DVC II for $250.

I use it all the time. It has it's limits (like any card), but works great for me.

I thought the poster wanted to know about the authoring capabilities as well?

[winman42]

Well, i have tried this software, but havent done any capturing.
I do like all the features for menus, motion backgrounds, and
buttons....BUT, and this a big BUT...it still has audio sync problems,
so it's effectively a useless piece of software in my opinion.

Winston

[Chubs]

I tried it and was not impressed. I am not real happy with the Ulead Mpeg2 engine. I see that it is LSX but you are not able to do any advanced settings. I think the LSX is a fantastic encoder but not when Ulead uses it. I too would love to find a good MPEG2 capture program. Good luck.

[Trainman]

I tried it and so far am quite happy with it. It's the first authoring software I've found that (A). has very flexible menu creation, sort of like SpruceUp, only better (you can do nearly anything your heart desires there), AND (B). will work with my Pinnacle Studio DV 7 exported MPEG2's. Finding authoring software that can do both of these very important things at a fairly good price has been agonizingly difficult.

Problems: It will make the disc image .iso file, but does not want to burn to my Pioneer DVR-A03. No problem... I just burn the image with Prassi Primo-DVD. Lots of people seem to have audio sync troubles. So far, I haven't had any

People recommend burning with good media, like Verbatim or Pioneer DVD-R / RW discs (found at Microcenter.com for one). Cheap generic $2 media may not work right in set-top DVD players. My player ALWAYS stutters with cheap media, no matter what the encoding settings, but oddly, they play fine in the burner itself. A Pioneer DVD-R I just tried played fine, so I'm waiting on more to arrive.

[Lamont Cranston]

I have had no problem burning DVDs with the Pioneer A03 with DVD Workshop. There is however the audio/video sync problem which can be worked around (worked for me) by lowering the mpeg 2 encoding audio data rate from 384kbps to 320kbps or lower.

One word about generic DVD Rs & R/Ws. I have burned many DVD generics from MeritLine and CD recordable.com and they play flawlessly on my Sony DVP-S360, Panasonic DVD-A120 and Apex-AD703. The Pioneer A03 bruns the generics, or any brand not on the approved list, at 1x (checked by firmware). However, The 'final' copy is burned on a Pioneer or equivalent.

[Trainman]

One word about generic DVD Rs & R/Ws. I have burned many DVD generics from MeritLine and CD recordable.com and they play flawlessly on my Sony DVP-S360, Panasonic DVD-A120 and Apex-AD703. The Pioneer A03 bruns the generics, or any brand not on the approved list, at 1x (checked by firmware). However, The 'final' copy is burned on a Pioneer or equivalent.

There seems to be two groups of people on the forum who are completely split over this issue. One group says there is nothing wrong with the cheap DVD-R media. The other group says there is. I guess I'm with the other group. I've tried burning the cheap Meritline DVD-R's several different ways, different authoring programs, different bitrates, etc... Doesn't matter what I do... They all end up playing fine in my DVR-A03 burner, but stutter and hiccup in my set-top player. The only disc that has played flawlessly in the set-top player thus far is a Pioneer brand DVD-R. My set-top player is supposed to play nearly anything you throw at it, yet it simply does not like the cheap DVD-R media. Others gripe constantly about this same problem, and tend to get two different solutions to the problem. While there are several players that will play the cheapies, there are also many more that apparently won't.

[Lamont Cranston]

Trainman, will your stand-alone DVD player(s) play DVD R/W? What mfger is your stand-alone DVD Player?

[Trainman]

Daewoo DVG-9000. I'm not sure yet if it can play the DVD-RW's until they arrive (on order). My experience thus far is based on DVD-R's only.

For another topic about the issue, go here:

http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=79194

[Lamont Cranston]

Trainman, I think I leaving you with a false impression. I am not suggesting that generics DVD Rs or R/Ws are equivalent to name brands. In my case they work fine and I use them for 'testing' giving them away for evaluation. For quick looks on the big screen I use DVD R/Ws. Once complete I burn the final product on a Pioneer DVD or one from Pioneer's approved list.