Copyright: Copyright (c) Ulead Systems, Inc. February 2000


Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 ReadMe Trial Version

February 2000: Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 Trial Version

This ReadMe file outlines the new features of Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0. It also includes last minute information that is not in the manual or online help. Click on a topic below to find out more about this version.

Installing Ulead MediaStudio Pro and drivers

Tips and troubleshooting

Digital Video (DV) support

Upgrade tips for MediaStudio Pro 5.x users

Special note on capture cards

Using Adobe Photoshop plug-in filters

Copyrights


Installing Ulead MediaStudio Pro and drivers

To install Ulead MediaStudio Pro, click the Install button on the initial screen that comes up after you insert your Ulead MediaStudio Pro CD in the CD-ROM. This automatically installs the program as well as the necessary drivers. It is recommended that you install the selected drivers, as they will optimize the way Ulead MediaStudio Pro works with your system’s hardware. The unselected drivers are optional. You can choose to install them at the same time or at a later date by using the Install Drivers option.

What are these drivers?

DirectX Media 6.0 - Driver from Microsoft that improves the playback performance of video files. You should install this driver unless you have a later version. The system requirement is Windows® 95 or higher & Windows NT® 4.0 Service Pack 3 or higher.

DirectX 6.0 - Driver from Microsoft that improves the format support of Ulead MediaStudio Pro and its overall performance. DirectX also provides support for special 3D effects. You should install this driver unless you have a later version.

DirectX 6.0 is for Windows 95 and Windows 98 only. It does not work on Windows NT. You can download Service Pack 5 (or Service Pack 6) from Microsoft, which includes DirectX 3 for Windows NT 4.0. The latest DirectX 7.0 will be included in the forthcoming release of Windows 2000.

Apple QuickTime 4.0 - The latest video format from Apple for creating and playing back movie files such as MOV and QT file formats. You should install this driver unless you have a later version.

NetShow Tools 3.0 - Drivers from Microsoft that allow you to create ASF streaming video files. It is recommended that you install this driver package unless you have a later version.

Windows Media Player 6.4 - This is the latest player from Microsoft for playing a variety of formats, such as AVI, MOV, MPEG, and ASF. It is recommended that you install this program unless you have a later version.

RealPlayer G2 - This is the latest player from RealNetworks for playing Real Video and Real Audio files from the Internet. It is recommended that you install this program unless you have a later version.

Intel Indeo 5.1 - This is the latest release of Intel's video compression and decompression software. It features greatly improved visual quality, better compression, and playback performance enhancements for MMX™ technology and the Pentium® III processor.

DV upgrade for Windows 98 SE - This upgrade program provides enhanced Digital Video (DV) features for the Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) system.

Acrobat Reader 4.0 - This is the latest version of Adobe’s Acrobat Reader and is used for viewing the Ulead MediaStudio Pro’s electronic manual. It is recommended that you install this application unless you have a later version.


Tips and troubleshooting

Here are helpful tips on how to make full use of Ulead MediaStudio Pro's features. Solutions to common problems which users might encounter are also provided in this section. (For the latest information and upgrades on Ulead MediaStudio Pro, please visit Ulead's web site at http://www.ulead.com.)

Video Editor

You can press the "Shift” and the “left“ or “right arrow” keys to scroll through the Timeline one unit at a time.

When scrubbing and doing an 'on-the-fly' preview, you can use the following hotkeys:

Press the Ctrl key while dragging the Vertical Preview Line to go to a certain timecode without rendering. You can then press F8 to refresh the Preview window.

Press the Shift key while dragging Vertical Preview Line to preview the video only.

Press the Alt key while dragging the Vertical Preview Line to preview the audio only.

When creating a video file which contains video and audio, it is better to interlace both of them. If you don't interlace them, the created video file may have audio playback problem.

In the Preferences dialog box, set the folders for preview files in a fast and large disk drive for better preview performance.

Although you can insert a UCG file (CG Infinity project file) and UVP file (Video Paint project file) into Video Editor directly, sometimes it will be better to create UIS (Ulead Image Sequence files) with alpha channel in CG Infinity and Video Paint to get the best performance, especially when the contents are very complicated.

If, at certain circumstances, you are having display problems when playing back MOV files with certain display cards, please go to the Control Panel and change QuickTime's 'Video Settings' to 'Safe Mode'.

You can use hardware playback plug-ins to play back or preview the project. To install playback plug-ins for preview, you have to copy the plug-ins to a specific location in your hard drive first. Then, add the following entries to the Ulead32.ini file found in your Windows directory:

[Playback]

Playdll[n]=c:\pathfolder\mpb_plugin.dll

where n is the plug-in number ranging from 1 to 9, c:\pathfolder is the path where you saved the plug-ins, and mpb_plugin.dll is the file name of the plug-in. Users need not specify the full path if the playback plug-in is located in the Ulead MediaStudio Pro program folder. The program will find the right playback module from Playdll1 to Playdll9.

Moreover, the default playback plug-in settings provided by Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 are as follows:

[Playback]

PlayDll7=U32mpb.dll

PlayDll8=U32mpbm.dll

PlayDll9=Upbplug2.dll

If you play a preview range containing less than 5 frames in an MPEG-2 project, “Multiple file playback error” or a data error message may appear. The current MPEG-2 playback engine cannot play back clips having very short duration.

When creating MOV files, the audio codec "QDesign Music 2" will not function properly due to the restriction in coding information.

Video Capture

If you want to perform batch capturing using a device control, please make sure your video device can provide frame accurate controls. Otherwise, the captured video file may have incorrect mark-in positions. If you are capturing several DV files from a DV camcorder and cannot seek the correct frame, you can add the following string in the msdevctl.ini file found in your Windows directory:

[MainSec]

ToleranceFrames=60

If the missing frames are less than 60, the program will take a few seconds to seek the correct frame.

After finishing the capture operation, it is better to close the Video Capture program to avoid some hardware driver problems. Because some video capture boards provide the capture and Codec drivers in one driver file, they may sometimes have some repaint or lock problems if both drivers are open.

When users issue the “Stop” command while in preview mode to stop playing the DV camcorder, a repaint problem may occur. A menu command or dialog box may appear hidden behind the video window. This problem only occurs when an ATI display card is used, and will be fixed in the upcoming Microsoft platform or DV upgrade program.

Audio Editor

The cue information can be saved to a WAV file only. In other words, if the user sets up cues and then saves the edited file to, say, an AVI file, all cue information will be lost.

Video Paint

When creating a project, please use mark-in/mark-out options to select a proper video working duration. That is, although the project files will be compressed by a loss-less compression method, they still will take a lot of memory and disk space.

The Filmstrip displays images in 'Normal' display mode only. After the user applies painting, retouching or cloning effects to an image, Video Paint delays for about 3 seconds when updating the image in the Filmstrip.

When using the Power Duplicate command, there are some pre-created image files you can use as a mask. You can find them inside the Ulead MediaStudio Pro program folder under \Samples\Mask.

Video Paint cannot playback DV and MPEG-2 files on its MCI window after creation. However, users can use Windows Media Player to playback them.

CG Infinity

The background you choose for a CG project will not be used when you insert the project into Video Editor. However, if you create the video and image files inside CG Infinity, the background will then be included in the created file.

Objects that have been grouped together cannot be further changed in styles or modified by the Adjust Tool, Envelope Tool, and the Text Tool. Moving paths originally assigned to objects will also be lost upon grouping and ungrouping them. So make sure that objects are in their final edits before grouping them.

CG Infinity cannot playback DV and MPEG-2 files on its MCI window after creation. However, users can use Windows Media Player to playback them.

More tips and information

2 gigabyte limitation

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 uses the OpenDML AVI file format to overcome the two-gigabyte limitation. However, files in the FAT32 file system under Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 still cannot have file sizes exceeding 4 gigabytes. NTFS file systems under Windows NT and Windows 2000 do not have this limitation.

SONY ViSCA MCI Device

Ulead MediaStudio Pro supports SONY ViSCA MCI device. However, when capturing with SONY ViSCA MCI device, if there is any negative value (e.g. -00:00:01:00) in the marked in and marked out selection area, the capture operation will fail. Press the Reset button on your camcorder, and mark in and mark out at a positive position.

Video files and compression schemes

If you are working with video files, you may experience a "Unable to compress video" writing error message. This commonly indicates that the compression/decompression driver (Codec) you are using cannot support the current frame size and color depth. Try another Codec or decrease the frame size and/or color depth accordingly.


Digital Video (DV) support

To support better DV capturing and editing, it is recommended that you use a hard disk with a sustained transfer rate such as UltraDMA or SCSI.

If you are using an IEEE-1394 OHCI card, your system need to be Windows 98 SE (or later version) or Windows 2000. Please execute the Digital Video (DV) upgrade program from the Program CD to improve the DV features for Windows 98 SE.

Other DV cards such as Canopus DVRex-M1, DVRaptor, FAST DV Master and Pinnacle DV500 have their own proprietary drivers which can work in Windows 98 or NT 4.0 environments.

To transmit or record DV files back to a DV camcorder, please make sure that you select the type-1 format (this is the default setting) when creating a DV file.

Microsoft defines two methods of storing DV video data in AVI files, namely type-1 and type-2. If you would like to know more about these two DV AVI file formats, please visit Microsoft's web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/desinit/dvavi.htm#type1

If you cannot insert type-1 DV files in Video Editor, please check whether you have installed the VFW (Video for Windows) DV software codec which might not support type-1 DV files. We recommend removing the DV codec, such as the Adaptec DVSoft codec. You can double-click the Multimedia program icon in the Control Panel and click the Advanced tab, then find all video codecs in the Video Compression Codecs category.

For the latest information on DV capture cards and Ulead MediaStudio Pro, please visit Ulead's web site at:

http://www.ulead.com


Upgrade tips for MediaStudio Pro 5.x users

Importing customized effects from MediaStudio Pro 5.x to version 6.0

Follow the procedure below to save the customized effects you had in MediaStudio Pro 5.x as a data file and then load them to the Production Library of Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0.

1.	Run Video Editor from MediaStudio Pro 5.x.

2.	Start selecting the customized folders from the various galleries, such as Video Filters, Transition Effect, Moving Path and Media Library, that you want to export to the respective galleries in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0's Production Library.

3.	Right-click on the CUSTOM folder that you want to export to Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0.

4.	Select the 'Save' menu command. Then, specify the destination and file name in which to save the selected folder.

5.	Repeat steps 3 and 4 to save the CUSTOM folders from the other galleries.

6.	Close the Video Editor program.

7.	Run Video Editor from Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 and open the Production Library.

8.	Start importing the files into the respective galleries.

9.	Right-click on the root folder of a gallery.

10.	Select the 'Load' menu command and locate the previously saved file which contains effects that can be imported to the selected gallery.

11.	The customized effects in the file will then be added to the Production Library.

12.	Repeat steps 9 and 10 to import customized effects from the other files.

You can use the above procedure also for Video Paint and CG Infinity.

Note: For third party plug-ins, users should re-install them to Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0.

Customizing MediaStudio Pro 5.x project templates for use in version 6.0

Project templates from MediaStudio Pro 5.x projects can be customized for use in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0. All you need to do is to save them as new templates in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0.

1.	Run Video Editor from Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0.

2.	Click the File: Open menu command [Ctrl+O] to open the DVP project file which was previously created in MediaStudio Pro 5.x.

3.	Click File: Project Settings [Alt+Enter] to check and modify the project settings.

4.	Click File: Save Project Template to save the settings as a new project template.

Another way of creating project templates in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0's Video Editor program is by selecting the File: New command [Ctrl+N] and then clicking the Create button on the New dialog box. You will be prompted to save your current project settings as a new project template.


Special note on capture cards

Canopus DVRex-M1 or DVRaptor

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 uses the new OpenDML AVI file format and the newly enhanced SmartRender technology which will directly read the audio portion of a video file without rendering if the audio format is the same as the project setting. However, the original multi-file playback plug-in, rapsp.dll, may not support this OpenDML format and may not directly read the audio part of a video file.

We recommend you to add the following strings to the Ulead32.ini file found in your Windows directory:

[HardwareAcc]

NotSaveOpenDML=1

[Playback]

RenderAudio=1

We also recommend you to download the latest driver from Canopus.

You can execute the update patch program, update.exe, for a certain capture card in the DriverPatch folder in the Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 program CD, or visit www.ulead.com to get the latest information.

FAST AV Master or DV Master

The original multi-file playback plug-in (FastAVpb.dll or FastDVpb.dll) cannot support the preview files created by the newly enhanced SmartRender technology. FAST and Ulead have confirmed this problem, but the updated plug-in is not yet ready at the time this product has been released. It is recommended to download the fixed up drivers from FAST's website later on. For more information about resolving this problem, please visit www.ulead.com in the future.

Matrox Rainbow Runner

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 uses the new OpenDML AVI file format and the newly enhanced SmartRender technology which will directly read audio portion of a video file without rendering if the audio format is the same as the project setting. However, the original multiple file playback plug-in, icutlist.dll, may not support this OpenDML format and may not directly read the audio part of a video file.

We recommend you to add the following strings in the Ulead32.ini file found in your Windows directory:

[HardwareAcc]

NotSaveOpenDML=1

[Playback]

RenderAudio=1


Using Adobe Photoshop plug-in filters

Video Editor and Video Paint support Kai's Power Tools and other Adobe Photoshop (APS) 32 bit compliant plug-in filters. Follow these steps to install them:

1.	Install the APS plug-in filters according to their accompanying documentation.

2.	Add the following to the Ulead32.ini file. (This file is in your Windows directory.)

[PLUG IN]

PLUGINDIR1=C:\APS\KPT

where C:\APS\KPT is the folder where Kai's Power Tools is installed.(If you are using another APS compliant plug-in filter, use the folder name of that filter.) If you have multiple APS plug-in filter directories, add a new line for each according to the example below:

[PLUG IN]

PLUGINDIR1=C:\APS\KPT

PLUGINDIR2=C:\APS\EFFECTS

3.	After modifying the Ulead32.ini file, additional folder groups will appear in Video Editor's "Video Filters" gallery and Video Paint's "Video Filters" menu the next time you start these programs. Now you can apply the added special filters to your projects right from Video Editor and Video Paint.

Note: Although Ulead Systems has performed extensive testing with APS plug-in filters, some may not work properly with Video Editor and Video Paint. The reason is that these plug-in filters were originally designed for still images. Ulead has identified and corrected most of the problems found during testing, but cannot guarantee that all filters will behave properly.


Copyrights

Copyright © 1992-2000 Ulead Systems, Inc. All right reserved. Ulead, the Ulead Systems logo, MediaStudio, and MediaStudio Pro are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Ulead Systems, Inc.

Some of the product names mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are used for identification purposes only.

Portions included (RealProducer DLL files) under license from RealNetworks, Inc. Copyright © 1995-2000.

RealPlayer® is used under license from RealNetworks, Inc.

QuickTime™ is used under license from Apple Computer, Inc.

NetShow™ Tools and Windows® Media Player are used under license from Microsoft Corporation.

Indeo® is used under license from Intel Corporation.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.