Oy! I have got to do something about this pc.
All in all my pc is great. It has the speed, the memory, and the Hard-drive space, but as with all windows systems, the more cr*p you install on it, (and the stuff others install on it without your permission) eventually just starts causing all kinds of fun things to start happening.
As of lately, I have been trying to get back into trying to do some video editing and DVD authoring (as so many seem to like to call it). Having long ago given up on the use of my ATI capture card and the lack support from the manufacturer, I had recently picked up an analog to DV converter to use as a capture device. Now the device works fine. The quality of the image input to the pc looks great. It looks very clear, sharp, and seems to hand the motion fine. The bundled video editing and authoring software works well with the device. The editing software is easy to use and pretty much self-explanatory. I'm just a little less satisfied with the quality of the final video burned to a DVD rom. Just not sharp enough for my taste. There is also an issue with the audio being out of sync, but there can be other reasons for that, so I'm not completely perplexed by that right now.
Well, I decided that rather than settle for the bundled software, and since I went and purchase this Analog to DV capture device that appears to import a great picture, that I might as well have a serious piece of software that should be able to, in the end, render an impressive final image to a DVD rom. So, I bought the software I had been considering for a while, Ulead's Mediastudio 7.0. Now, this software is running at about $400, so needless to say I expect it to work. I finally received it at the beginning of this last week. It seemed to be very complicated. There is definitely going to be some reading and experimenting, but that is O.K. I am expecting this, and actually looking forward to see all the features and just exactly what this thing can do for me. However, as with most people I first wanted to fish around and see what I could learn on my own. I wanted to run a quick capture and export to DVD-WR test just to get and idea if this software will render an acceptable quality output. So, I trudge on to the settings of the application to select my capture device. I find the setting and select my Analog to DV device and suddenly, a pause, a moment, and then a windows error and error report windows pops up. The software crashed. I sat pursing my lips, and thought, "No no no. That didn't just happen. Not for $400 dollars this software did not just crash simply because I selected my capture device." So, I decided to just shrug it off and restart the application to give it another try. Besides, yahoo messenger has been locking up a lot lately and interfering with other applications that I have been trying to run. But, lo and behold, I try to start the application and it crashes right away. Now I can't even start the application. Deciding to remedy this right away rather than retrying over and over, I remove and reinstall the software. Oops, nope, that didn't help. The application still crashes every time I attempt to restart it. Hmmmmm. Well, I suppose I have a $400 piece of error report generating software. Sigh... and it has been that way ever since. I sent a question to the support staff to ask them a simple question, "Does you software support my particular capture device." The response I received did not answer that question. Instead they asked me a question. They want to know everything about my computer, what's installed, specifications, driver versions.... Ho hum. I just asked a simple question, and they couldn't even answer that. I just rolled my eyes and slumped there in my chair. I suppose when I'm up to going through the task and have the time I may embark on that long arduous road of technical support. Although I have really had enough of that process at this point from many other applications. It won't be right now, that is all I can say.
Well, anyway, I decided to start clean and fresh. I've already ordered a new hard-drive and I'm going to do a fresh install of everything on my pc. I've been needing to by a new hard-drive that would allow the space to back up a lot of my things anyway, but have been procrastinating. Perhaps with a fresh install I may have better luck, but I'm not exactly going to hold my breath. After all, I've been to the capture device vendor's site forum, and it looks like I'm not the only one with the problem at this point. It seems that many people have had problems with their devices after installing the Windows XP service pack 2. What else is new!..
So, wish me luck. You shouldn't notice my absence, as I hardly ever write anything anyway. Besides that, I doubt that I write anything that anyone could really care about. LOL
Until next time... good night.
