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...Get it?
No Fred. Not even in the slightest. This very practice of premature software launching to a new major revision is a common practice run rampant amongst software companies. Some are more successful than others at pulling it off successfully, but they're far in the minority. There's a fundamental flaw in the concept of putting out half-baked products and expect the buying community to put up with the fall-out and frustration born out of irresponsibility for the next 6 months, all the while the company is getting revenue and free troubleshooting at the customer's expense.
I'm watching this release of PD9 carefully because I will not contribute to this practice any longer. It happened in PD8 and the cycle continues. Product development stopped in July 2010 and however it functioned is how it has remained while all the attention went to preparing the next version. Look at the Cyberlink PD9 product page and notice how it's full of amazing promises of unprecedented features and performance, yet there continues to be the dreaded half-year new revision bug-fest that causes major compromise to those that bought the marketing hype yet one more time. Tell you what; how about customers with genuine program faults get back 50% of what they paid, put it in escrow and it can be forwarded to Cyberlink as the issues are solved until the performance of the product lives up to all promises?
This isn't just Cyberlink. I abandoned Adobe's Premier Elements when they did the same thing, but they got my $100, so now it sits here in the box because it was a miserable experience to use it. And it wasn't just me. These were well-known, Adobe acknowledged bugs that they conceded in the forums but were quite cavalier to sweep them under the rug and expect everyone to get out their wallets for the new version. The next version often doesn't work much better by the time the next revision comes around. It only has more form than function over the previous version (that's still often crippled to some degree). Most people end up finding a way to work around these leftover issues, and the ones that don't exploit the program's full-feature set pathetically chime into the forums and say "it's doing what I want it to, what's your problem?". If anything was a case for regulation, this is a prime example. Companies would be forced to complete a product to a given standard of integrity compared against what it's claims are and whatever is lacking in the existing product must be resolved before launching the next major revision, and that revision, with all it's new capabilities must meet a particular level of competency before it can come to market, not put it out and let the community pay to do their R & D.
As far as analogies, I'd like to see your reaction when you sit to watch a new big screen TV and within 30 minutes several functions don't work properly. The PIP is glitchy, 3 channels don't come in HD, volume is soft on even channels but slightly louder on odd channels. Maybe when you do your laundry, your new washer with the fancy presets and creature-features decides not to go through the rinse cycle every other time. Shall I go on? No, I could do it all day. No company would get away with that because you wouldn't tolerate it. Just because this is software, there's no difference. How about we give refunds to those that don't want to wait or issues don't get resolved? Would you not expect that with your new faulty washing machine or TV? You'd be on the phone within seconds.
Ok, enough ranting from me. I only came here to read and wasn't going to comment, but was compelled to because I can't understand why there's apologists that only perpetuate this rediculously outrageous concept. I haven't tried PD9 and have no intention to until I see the wake of any negative issues subside considerably. There's way too much apathy and those of us who conceptually do our homework and research through all the rhetoric, expecting "all the TV channels" to work as advertised after payment in full and have taken delivery, we're not the crybabies who dropped the ball, one more time. Afterall, we did our part; we paid.
Not trying to make over-exagerated claims, just excercise good 'ol fashioned pragmatism and common sense. No one needs to be offended and hopefully doesn't take anything directly or personally.
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1. Well said Kevin (and Cranston, indirectly)
2. You can create your own profiles for WMV.
3. When I did my searching before, I found EXACTLY THE SAME DISCUSSION happening in various other video editing forums... like that Premiere one... and that Vegas one... and the WMM one... gosh - they're all asking the same question. Fairly obviously, there's no definitive answer... if I ever find one I'll let you know. Some forum members were discussing it here http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/8933.page amongst other places.
4. Changing aspect ratio to or from 4:3 & 16:9 is almost the same process.
So you're saying users of other products e.i. Adobe, Magix, etc are having the same issues?
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Robert,
The correct procedure is for a request to support.
http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/index.do
The information they'll need is:
Order number,
Full name,
Email address.
This needs to be confirmed and you'll be contacted.
I guide users to customer support.
Thanks
Dafydd
[Moderator]
That sounds great, thanks for the reply and correct procedure. Also, thank you for the response in another thread where you stated a better update is being prepared to service more than this v2013. Obviously 2013 was designed to offer an improved trial over build 1930, but not to the complete satisfaction that Cyberlink wants to provide as an official update to customers at this time. I hope my interpretation is correct and hopefully this will temper any inpatience others might have and allow you to spend your time more wisely than answering irritating PM's regarding 2013. We appreciate the clarification! ![]()
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http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7994.page#34136
Robert, please see my above reply.
The last time I mentioned I could assist someone to get version 2013 I was inundated with PM's from individuals who read the post. I have NO desire to be swamped again.
v2013 only fixes a few issues and has problems. I recommend you WAIT a little longer for the update patch that will resolve a heck of a lot more.
If you still hanker for 2013 then you have to go the route I indicated.
Dafydd
[Moderator]
Because of your professional opinion, I'll be more more than happy to wait. Thank you for setting it straight, your frankness is most honorable. I believe people can handle the truth, even if it isn't always positive. Thanks again for making this effort and respectful reply, it certainly goes a long way with me and I bet it is also most appreciated by others. ![]()
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Hello Fred,
It's probably unanimous that most of us have done the cursing at our machines, lol. I'd like to say I'm a new PD8 user myself and happy to be aboard, so please don't mistake my post as a hostile or snide attack against this program specifically. I am though indeed an advocate for the consumer first and foremost, as they are generally easy prey when it comes to marketing and promising a sanctuary of solutions when courting new customers.
Last year I was on a mission to find an editing program in the garden of eden of video apps in the $100 arena. After careful investigation I settled on Adobe Premiere Elements 4. It was well within the ability of my computer's specs and I only required SD video, so no unusually high resources were required I couldn't supply. I relied on reviews and only headed to their forum after my commitment. Without belaboring its' issues and shortcomings, I was not impressed with its' speed when initializing or loading video files. It was long in rendering and didn't recognize several important VST plug-ins for audio that I had specifically intended to use it for. The stabalizer function was a joke as well. These were important issues for me and the forum was full of complaints from many users who were far more adept than me and had been using previous versions. Within 3 weeks they introduced PE7 with no upgrade break for those like myself that only recently purchased it (I didn't get my $20 rebate either and to this day have never been explained why). Many users were upset because they introduced a new version without resolving PE4's well-known and acknowledged problems. A trip to the forum will show that now there's PE8 and another batch of disolutioned PE7 users with the same gripes for that release. It's notorious that companies move to the next release and abandon whatever precedes it. There should be a law that companies cannot release a major revision until the current one's acknowledged bug list is resloved. You can see the pattern by looking at other competitor's who launch a new version of their software and it's about keeping up appearances and adding new features that will inevitably work poorly to maintain a market position while consumers take the hit. Oddly, these frustrated customers must feel powerless because they do the upgrade only to find a marginal improvement over what they had. I went to Magix Movie Edit 15 Plus, and I must say it is truly comprehensive, but very busy and hardly streamlined. That's not a fault, just a matter of taste. My goal is to get in and get out. Life is short and there's alot to do rather than fuss around to make videos. I'm generally pleased with it but I believe PD8 is better suited for me. I've worked in the timeline and have put together some mock videos and it appears to be intuitive and user-friendly. I've yet to explore all capabilities or take a video to completion. I was somewhat disappointed that a build of 2013 was released but only briefly mentioned and not up for all users to update to (EDIT: see Daffyd's response below...thank you for that!)
As far as the reviews, they're hardly objective or tell you how well the product does what it says on the tin. They're feature reviews for the most part. Trials are good in concept, and the best way to go if you have time to investigate all the facets before the clock runs out. As you can see, I'm somewhat a defensive consumer and though I'm not adversarial by nature, I've become a product of exactly what I've been referring to, as many of us have been. Here's a link to a review that shares some of my sentiments (and they like PowerDirector) ![]() http://changelog.complete.org/archives/901-review-video-editing-software
All I'm saying is shop smart and be true to yourself. That's what they're doing ![]()
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If your point is to suggest that in spite of all the consumer complaints, the software continues to get high marks from "the experts", that is skewed and impartial dismissal of real world users. It also insinuates that many people with everyday complaints do not know what they're doing or they would have the same success as the reviewers. I speak from first hand knowledge in the industry that reviews of software are indeed somewhat partial, as they are in bed with the development companies to a certain degree. This is an exchange of favors, and although you will find certain products will get higher praise in certain areas than others, most contenders will get a fair shake in other aspects of performance and features. Seldom do you see nitty-gritty bug issues raised because the appraisel is about the global offering from each product, not how well it actually delivers it on a day-to-day basis. That is when the consumer needs to go to the forums to find out the truth about how well the application delivers the ability to carry through its' claims. Yes, there are a number of users who are confused and/or have system issues that detract from otherwise good software, but that is more the exception than the rule, especially when you see the same issues come from many various users.
Bottom line is you cannot depend on reviews such as your link directs to for an accurate assessment of performance. That will only come from the users in a forum like this.
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Hi, I'm trying the trial version of PD8 (build 2013) to decide if I should buy it or a competitor.
Why are new users getting a trial version of build 2013 to try, yet there is no update from build 1930 for us that have the purchased program, nor have I received an email regarding such? There's not a single update for PD8 on this website.
I did that 2 days ago.
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