New MSPro BUG

[Brian Ellis]

Hi!

I recently installed the new MSPro v. 6.52 patch AND the modified DVCAM DLL (on the same date).

Since then, DVD MovieFactory has been crashing (W2k O/S) consistently while menu-building. I "repaired" MF from the CD-ROM and it seems to have returned to the non-crashing state. It would appear that there may be a compatibility problem either with the 6.52 patch or the DVCAM DLL (or both) and DVD MF.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[wkulecz]

Whats the modified DVCAM DLL? What's it do? Where did it come from?

I'm not using DVD MF very much since it:

1) can't handle files >4GB, which it happens surprisingly often that I just barely exceed 4GB on a 2hr video with VBR encoding :-(

2) dead zones when setting chapter points beyond the 1GB mark in files.

--wally.

[Brian Ellis]

Wally

It's a modified u32mpb.dll file that someone in Ulead produced in 30 minutes (according to reports) to allow timeline to DVCAM playback. Some guys with some DVCAM devices have praised it to the heights, others (myself included) have not managed to get it working; I think it is very device dependent.

I agree DVD-MF has bugs of its own. I'll add to your list
3) is very sluggish handling files < 4 Gb with VBR encoding (less so with CBR - why?)
I always aim for 3.9 Gb, as closely as I'm able. Your 2) is a real pig, I agree, but I can't justify a more expensive authoring system.

I wonder when Ulead are going to produce a bug-free version???

Since writing the first message of this thread, I've had a different kind of crash with MF. I've now disinstalled the new dll, replacing it with the old one, and have remmed out the corresponding line in ulead32.ini but have not yet tried it out. If it still gives problems, I guess I'll have to go back to 6.51a.

[Dr Mordrid]

I reported this problem to those at Ulead who are working on the DVCAM issue. We'll see what they have to say once the sun reaches their shores....

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks, Doc. I'm not sure if it is DVCAM-related because it continues with the old dll re-installed. To be sure that the right one is there, I repatched MSP (both 6.51a and 6.52), but it still crashes. I've re-installed MF, as well. It's beginning to look like a complete reinstall of MSP, from scratch, which is a pain as the upgrade version doesn't run well unless you have 6.00 installed first

I really would like to know whether anyone has MF working as it ought with 6.52?????????????? This would give me a good clue as to what to do.

[Jerry Jones]

Brian requested the DLL from me via e-mail.

The only reason I got the DLL was due to the fact the following individuals...

1. George Lamboy
2. David Strelitz
3. James Thomas

...had reported on the MUG e-mail list that they couldn't get their DSR-11 DVCam decks to support timeline playback with MediaStudio.

So I advised Ulead of that fact via e-mail.

Why?

Because I simply wanted to help.

I have e-mail contacts at Ulead and I knew of one individual, in particular, who would be willing to look into the matter ASAP.

As it turns out, James Thomas actually lives in Taipei.

I e-mailed both James and Ulead and asked them if they could arrange an appointment to meet for the purpose of testing the DSR-11 that James is using.

They agreed.

James voluntarily visited Ulead headquarters with his DSR-11.

Ulead was able to solve the issue in less than two hours.

I have no idea where in hell Brian came up with that 'thirty minutes' comment.

That certainly isn't what I wrote to the MUG.

What I wrote was the problem was solved in 'fewer than two hours.'

(And it was.)

My contact at Ulead confirmed the problem had been solved for James so he e-mailed the DLL to me and asked me to share it with anybody else who might like to try it.

So I volunteered to offer the DLL to anybody on the MUG who might want to try it.

Brian saw my post to the MUG.

Brian e-mailed me.

Brian requested the DLL and agreed to try it.

1. George Lamboy tried it and it worked.

George is using a DSR-11.

2. David Strelitz tried it and it worked.

David is using a DSR-11.

The DLL has *not* worked for two individuals.

1. Brian Ellis
2. Albert Marshall

Albert is using a DSR-20 DVCam deck.

Brian is using a DRV-1000P DVCam drive.

As you can see, these are different DVCam devices.

Brian and Albert reported to the MUG that their problems continue.

So I advised Ulead these two devices remain uncooperative.

Ulead quickly responded with a *second* set of files for Brian and Albert to try, if they wished.

I e-mailed this second set of files to Brian and Albert this afternoon.

I have heard nothing further.

Brian, I'm disappointed and, frankly, not impressed by the way that you have behaved...

...especially when you know this DLL went to precisely five individuals who I just mentioned...

...and, of the five, three now have fully-functional DVCam timeline playback.

The question you raised at the beginning of this thread in connection with this DLL isn't going to apply to the people who visit this forum.

As far as I'm concerned, you're on your own now.

Moreover, your B.S. just confuses the issues.

You made it sound like some large number of people were involved here.

It was only five individuals.

Three of them got a solution.

And who knows?

Maybe that second set of files I e-mailed to you this afternoon will work.

But I'm not going to do anything further for any individual who behaves the way you do.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Brian Ellis]

Jerry

I apologise if I have given offence - I can assure you none was intended.

As I made clear, I did two things at the same time - foolishly or not - and I still don't know which, if any, caused the problem with MF. All I do know, now, is that there was a registry change which did cause it. Not only did I have to uninstall every piece of Ulead software on my computer AND delete every registry key containing 'ulead" (hundreds, even after uninstalling) before I could get MF working again. At the time of writing this, I am now able to use MF and am currently burning a DVD. When this has finished, I'll do a systematic series of installations, trests, patches, tests etc. so that I'll be able to pinpoint what happens, if anything.

Actually, between thee and me, I don't think the DVCAM affair is responsible - much more likely it was the 6.52 patch. I base this supposition on the fact that the registry had to be modified; I can't see that updating a dll, while maintaining the same name, would cause a registry change.

In my last post to this thread, I asked " I really would like to know whether anyone has MF working as it ought with 6.52?????????????? This would give me a good clue as to what to do.". This was so that, if others did, I would know that it was the 6.52 patch and not the DVCAM dll. This is perhaps less important for me, now, as I've spent many hours getting MF working again and I'll find out whether the 6.52 patch causes an incompatibility with MF within the next day or so, anyway. However, I did mention the short time scale for the dll development (OK, I exaggerated, mea culpa) because anyone who has done programming will know that compatibility testing with a modified dll cannot be done in 30 minutes, two hours or probably even two days, so this was a potential problem area.

[wkulecz]

I'm out of town now, but perhaps when I get back I'll try DVD MF on a system with MSP6.52 (only my test system at the moment -- no great loss if I wreck it -- I'd rather find problems on a non-critical system) but since 6.52 didn't fix the pulsating artifacts in VBR encodeing I've not installed it anywhere else yet and probably won't unless I see a list of other fixes tht includes something I need.

--wally.

[Jerry Jones]

Okay, Brian.

Apology accepted.

No hard feelings.

I've decided to keep trying.

Here's the latest:

I just sent you a THIRD FIX ATTEMPT via e-mail.

Please know my contact at Ulead just advised he mistakenly left out one important line in the instructions that were sent in the SECOND FIX ATTEMPT.

So it would be interesting to know if you have better luck this time around.

The R & D folks have tested this fix with two DVCam devices and they report it works quite well.

Give it a shot.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net