Mirror Image, I need help using Ulead video studio 5

[presto]

I would like to be able to use Ulead Video Studio to edit out commercials on mpgs. I currently use TMPEng but want to try Ulead. I find it to be completely unintuitive.

It's hard for me to explain where I am having trouble so let me try to explain what I think should happen and maybe you can straighten me out.

1)Load the clip - No problem I load it into the clip area and then drag it down to the timeline.

2)Choose a place to cut and then cut - This is what I can't figure out. It would be so easy if I could just move my cursor over the timeline to where I want a cut and that little yellow triangle shows up and I hit the cut button and it makes a cut. That makes perfect sense to me but apparently the programer had other ideas because that doesn't work. I tried moving the "trim bars" above and that got very confusing. You just have very little control and even then I couldn't figure out how to make a cut.

3)Switch to clip view and drag and drop the clips around and delete the ones you don't want. Again that makes sense to me but doesn't work. For some reason I have two clips there now and can't delete either one. I just don't get it.

The help file is ridiculous. The site offers no help. Is it really me? Did you open this program and start editing? I would love to see the programer forced to sit quietly and watch a newbie try to use this progam. I wonder if they even try to make things easy.

Anyway any help appreciated.

Oh one more thing about this program. When I open a new project do I have to know all about the clips I am going to use? The program wants you to answer a bunch of questions about the format. I want to just open the clip and have the program figure out the format.

[OO]

VS is not an advanced editor so try a better one.....
I am mostly using VS6 to make simple titles or to merge files....

If it asks for a format change, it is because your new file has another format so always be sure of what you are using to avoid bad surprise like re-encodings, etc...

Opening file in Tmpenc will give you all file infos within ¼ of secs....

Bonne chance...

"OO"

[Mirror_Image]

Cutting:

I'm not sure if this will help, but this is where I learned to make cuts in UVS5; it was bundled with my AIW card, and there was no manual:

http://www.ulead.com/learning/vs/vs5_02_1.htm

As soon as I fugured that I could type numbers in the time counter below the display and the slide bars, it got much easier. Capture a junk clip and fiddle around with that. The other tutorials were helpful as well.

You are right, the help file is not much use, and the manual I got with UVS6 is only a little better, but it is better. I yearned for something similar to the phone-bookish PaintShop Pro 7 manual. UVS6 was definitely worth the $50 upgrade from UVS5, I'll tell you that.

[presto]

Thanks guys. I wanted to try Ulead 5 because I allready have it (came bundled with video card I think.

[Mirror_Image]

Understandable, and I used UVS5 till UVS6 was released. Many of my grumblings about 5 (I've grumbled about every single piece of software I've ever used since starting with Nukewar for my old Apple II+) were addressed in 6. You might download the trial version 6 and try that; it hooked me inside of a few minutes and I ordered the upgrade with urgency

[presto]

Mirror image,
I still don't get it. Does version 6 have the same basic interface? If so I'd like to be able to do a simple edit with 5 before I think about 6.

I have thumbnails in the thumbnail area that won't move and can't be deleted. I think they go to files that have been deleted but shouldn't I be able to right click and delete?

I have an extra grey box in the time line that just sits there and can't be clicked on. Why is it there? What is it? It just sort of stays at the end of my project.

Now suppose I put a clip on the timeline and want to chop off a bit at the beginning. I use the trim bar and then hit the check that means "save changes". As far as I can see the clip is unchanged. It is totaly retarded that I have to use that trim bar or enter numbers manually when it would make so much more sense to just click on the time line. If Ulead called me up I could design an easy system in 10 minutes that anyone could use.

I know it is a pain but could you just spoon feed me the steps to clip off the beginning of a clip? Maybe I'm being a real dummy here but I have read all the help and still am not close.

If version 6 has a completely different interface just let me know and ignore the above. I'll just forget 5 and go to 6 or some other program.

[Mirror_Image]

The interface for UVS6 is similar to 5, but not totally similar. I can't remember the exact differences, which is why I pointed to the link, because I'd probably plagiarize that tutorial to write a step by step, since I don't have 5 installed, and I'd rather steer you nowhere, rather than steer you wrong. If I had 5 installed, I'd have a solid double-check on all my instructions, but I don't.