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Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.0
Video Editing Software
Review by Mark Dileo
March 27, 2003

 

Introduction
TV Out
The Software Real Time Engine
The New Titler
New Audio Features
Smart Render Logic Explained
Additional New Features
The Good, The Bad, and The Issues

 

Introduction
I became interested in digital video editing about three years ago.  A very basic video editing program came with my ATI All-In-Wonder 128 video card.  Although the program was extremely unstable ("MG" ahem, ahem, "I") and limited in function, it did allow me to create videos good enough to warrant exploring other video editing software.  After searching the internet, and testing some trial software, I purchased Ulead’s VideoStudio 6.0.  With this program I was able to create some respectable home videos.  Still, I felt limited by this software. 

I decided to download the MediaStudio Pro 6.0 trial, and as they say, the rest is history.  The user interface and logic behind MS Pro instantly felt intuitively “right” to me.  I purchased MS Pro 6.0, then the 6.5 upgrade, and now version 7.0.

This look at MS Pro 7 is not only a review, but a learning tool for users to explore some of the more intricate details of MS Pro 7.  I also want to mention that although I spent a lot of time verifying what's reported here; I still may have missed something.  Please e-mail me with corrections!  That being said, I’m only going to review the video editor, and even at that I’m going to concentrate on the upgrades incorporated into this program since version 6.5.  I am not going to comment on every new feature of MS Pro 7.  I will focus on those features that I think are the most important and that I have used thoroughly so I can attest to their functioning as advertised.  In addition, this review is not aimed as much at prospective first time buyers as at users of previous version of MS Pro or other semi-pro video editing programs.

Ulead MediaStudio Pro is Ulead’s flagship video editing software suite.  It also includes CG Infinity, Audio Editor, Video Capture, Video paint, and DVD authoring software.  You can find out more about these programs on Ulead’s website.  Ulead sells the full box version of MS Pro 7 for $495 (US) or $475 for the download version.  Upgrades from previous version of MS Pro (back to version 5.x) cost $249 for the boxed version and $229 for the download.  Considering of the price of this software, my expectations were high that all of the features would function correctly. 

  

Specifications of the computer used to review this software
Dell 4550
Processor:  Intel P4 2.4B (533MHz front side bus)
Motherboard:  Intel 845PE
Memory:  640MB PC2700 running at 333MHz
Video Card:  Matrox G450eTV
Hard Drives:  WDC 600BB (boot drive), Maxtor DiamondPlus 9, 120GB secondary
Sound card:  M-Audio Delta 66
DVD:  Sony 120U DVD +R/RW
Operating System:  Windows XP Home
Other software on this computer:  MS Office Small business Edition, Frontpage 2002, Sonic Foundry Vegas Audio 2.0 and Sound Forge 6.0, Intervideo WinDVD Platinum, Corel Draw 9, Corel Photopaint 9, Quickbooks 99, Easy CD-DA Extractor 5.0, Roxio CD Creator 5.0, Virtual Dub.

 

The Graphical User Interface
As I mentioned above, one of the reasons I became a MS Pro user is the GUI.  It’s clean and uncluttered with a minimum of extra “flash.”  I would characterize it as a business-like environment designed to maximize efficiency.  Ulead was smart not to mess with a good thing and they have kept the GUI largely unchanged.                                      

Here is a screenshot of the GUI with a WWII project I am currently working on loaded.  If you’ve been working with MS Pro, you’ll notice that it doesn’t look much different on the outside.  Let’s take a look under the hood of this new version.

 

TV Out
 One of the new features of MS Pro 7 is the ability to send real time (instant playback) previews to a TV via a dual head Matrox or ATI video card.

Here is a screen shot of the playback options dialog box.  This dialog can either be accessed from the “File” menu or from the options box in the preview window.

Reading this dialog box from the top down, the first option available is in what device the high quality playback will be sent.  The choices given when you drop the dialog box are “Preview window,” “DV Camcorder,” and “Preview window and DV camcorder.”  It should also be noted that if you have a Matrox or ATI dual head device and enable DVDmax (Matrox) or theater view (ATI) the high quality preview will also be sent to the dual head device TV output automatically.  This functioned correctly on my Matrox G450eTV video adapter with one caveat, when using the DVDmax feature on my Matrox card, the size of the on-screen preview window must be a multiple of 720 pixels wide, i.e. 720, 360, or 180. 

I noticed this because I like to have the preview window set to a 4x3 aspect ratio so that previews can be viewed with the same aspect ratio as on a TV screen.  When my preview window is set to 320x240, with DVDmax engaged, the bottom half of the preview window appear black, the top half would look at it should.  If I changed the preview window resolution to 360x240, or 360x270 (a 4.3 aspect ratio), the preview window video would display as it should.  I should also note that this issue would not occur when using the instant play feature.  This leads me to believe that this is not a Ulead lead issue, but one involving the Microsoft DV codec.  The MS DV codec has always been a bit finicky about displaying high quality video or non-standard resolutions on the computer monitor. 

I have been informed by a Ulead project manager that Ulead is currently working on implementing the TV Out dual head feature for use with nVidia video cards.  No release dates or other information is available at the time this review was finalized. 

The next dialog box (shown to right) in playback options allows selection of where the instant playback (RT playback) will be sent.  The choices given when you drop the dialog box are “Preview window,” “DV Camcorder,” “Dual Head Device,” and “Preview window and DV camcorder.”  Although version 6.5 could display high quality playback on a TV, it could not send the instant playback to a TV driven via a dual head device.  This function worked perfectly with my G450eTV video card in version 7.  It is quite nice to be able to send the RT playback to a TV for monitoring.  I did note a bit less real time performance (a little more cpu load) when sending instant playback to both the preview window and DV camcorder.  I suspect there is some extra cpu overhead needed for this option.

 

 

Here's a screen shot of the scrubbing options dialog box, found by clicking on the preview window menu.

 

You can also select to send time line scrubbing to the DV camcorder or TV output via the dual head device.  This function also worked as advertised with my Matrox G450eTV.  Overall, I’m very impressed with the consistency which the TV out functions work with my Matrox card and MS Pro.  Previews to the DV camcorder, TV Out, and computer monitor work with high quality playback, instant playback (RT), and while scrubbing from the time line. 

 

 

 

 

 

There is yet another method of sending output to the DV camcorder or dual head device.  Here is a screenshot of a video filter dialog box, color balance in this case.  Notice the little TV screen logo with the object that looks like a wrench on it.

When you press the TV picture with the wrench on it the follow dialog box opens.

 

 

 

 

It is now possible preview video filters, moving paths, transition effects, and titling on your DV camcorder or your TV monitor via a dual head device.  This is especially important because the on-screen preview windows in the dialog boxes used for adjusting effects, transitions, moving paths, and titles are very small.  Ulead has delivered on their claims of full TV out functionality, as least with my Matrox G450eTV.

 

 

 

 

The Software Real Time Preview Engine
 One of the most significant additions to this version is the ability to play the time-line in the on-screen preview window, to a TV via a dual head video adapter, or to a DV camera via 1394 firewire connection, all in real time.  Ulead calls this feature “software real time preview” allowing the user to “see the result of an edit instantly.”  Ulead also submits the caveat that the computer system used must be at least a P4 2.0 for this function to operate effectively.  This is a hearty claim, and one that I intend to thoroughly investigate. 

Ulead has gone to quite a bit of trouble to integrate their software RT (real-time) preview function into MS Pro 7.  First of all, the software routines used to render the RT playback and the normal playback (Ulead calls this high quality playback) are different.  In order to make software RT feasible with today’s processors the quality of the RT preview had to be sacrificed a bit to increase rendering speed.  In my experience, as long as the software RT preview plays back at full frame rate (or close to it), there is very little image degradation.  Your mileage may vary in this regard, but the preview playback is in my opinion sufficiently high enough to make all but the most critical editing decisions. 

MS Pro 7 is also the first incarnation of this software to incorporate the ability to use dual processors and hyperthreading.  Since I don’t have a dual cpu system or a hyperthreaded cpu, I can’t comment on this claim.  As soon as I begin receiving scores on the MS Pro 7 test, Ulead’s dual processing and hyperthreading claims can be verified.  Also note that it is difficult to compare pre MS Pro 7 test scores with version 7 test scores since the new version handles text differently.  That being said, I have done some preliminary testing comparing the DV rendering speed of version 6.5 and 7.  On my system they seem to perform about equally, if the text is entered natively in version 7.   

In order to enable dual processor support in MS Pro you have to add the following line to the [VIODRIVER] section of the msp.ini file located under “All Users.”
“ForceWriteThreadMode=1”

Let’s refer back to the playback options dialog box and investigate the next item in this box called “Performance level.”  To the right is a screen shot of this dialog adjusted to how I normally work.

This setting works in concert with the complexity or cpu loading of the audio/video on the time-line.  When instant play is first used on the project, the project will be played in RT regardless the complexity of the project (i.e. many frames may be dropped).  After stopping the playback, MS Pro 7 will show you the level of cpu loading for the portion of the project you just previewed by using different colors over the time indicator on the time line.  White means low cpu loading, pink is higher, dark pink is higher yet, and red is the highest.  I should also mention that instant playback is engaged by selecting the square button on the left side of the preview window. 

This is where the performance slider comes into play.  Let’s say you have previewed your entire project and all four colors described above are scattered about your project time line.  Let’s also say that portions of the project displayed with the first three colors are playing back with a sufficiently high frame rate but the red portions of the project are not.  If you set the performance slider to position “2,” then all of the time line will be played back without high quality pre-rendering except for any areas that have red above them.  That is, you must only wait for rendering of portions of the time line that have the highest (red color) cpu loading.  This can greatly minimize the amount of rendering that needs to be done to view your project.  This is a nice feature for slower systems that are not capable of doing RT previews across the entire time line, or for projects with very complex sections in them.  I have to admit that with my system, a P4 2.4B I don’t use this feature and keep the performance slider set at 3 (max, no pre-rendering) all of the time.  If I need to see a portion of my project at a high quality, I find it easier to simply turn off instant playback, select the portion I need to see, and then render that part only the old fashioned (pre MS Pro 7) way.  Alternatively, you can right clip the cpu loading indicator over the time line and select "force to render segment and preview" to force a high quality render.

Next is the option to “Disable audio cache.”  I’m not exactly sure what this does, but I think it disables any pre-rendering of the audio portion of the project.  Audio rendering is generally not very cpu intensive so I leave this box checked.

Now for the really interesting and useful part of the instant playback function of MS Pro 7.  You’ll notice a “enable multi-threading” checkbox and the slider below it that goes from 1 to 10 that is activated when the box is checked.  Ulead calls this "multi-threading" but I think a more apt name would be pre-processing.  When “multi-threading” is activated, MS Pro 7 pre-renders the time line for a few seconds before starting playback.  The higher the slider setting the longer you have to wait for playback and the more of the project MS Pro 7 is able to pre-render and therefore play smoothly. 

But there is more to this feature that Ulead didn’t tell us about, and it’s the best part.  While the project is playing, if all of your cpu cycles are not needed to render the current time line position, MS Pro continues to pre-render video in advance, in effect getting a “head start” on difficult sections to come. 

I did some informal tests and figured out how this works.  I used a 20 second native DV format clip that is very easy for MS Pro to playback, no filters or anything on it.  Let’s call this the “easy” clip.  I also took a high resolution image file and applied a deep zoom to it using a moving path.  Let’s call this the “difficult” clip. 

With instant playback engaged and “multi-threading not engaged, the easy clip played back perfectly.  The difficult clip on the other hand played in a very choppy manner.  The cpu loading playing the first clip was 25%, then, as expected, when it came to the second clip the cpu loading shot up to 100%. 

Next I engaged “multi-threading” with the slider set to 10.  After a few seconds the video began to play, and it played smoothly for about 5 seconds into the hard clip.  The cpu loading during this entire playback was pegged at 100%.  This is good news, MS Pro was pre-rendering the entire time the easy clip was playing, thereby giving itself some “breathing room” when the difficult clip appeared.  In this manner, it had “time” to pre-render about 5 seconds of the hard clip. 

Now for the even better news, when the multi-threading slider was set to “0” and the project played back, the video played back for about 4.5 seconds into the difficult clip, and the video started playing back almost immediately from the moment I pressed “play!”  Only a half a second of smooth playback was lost for an almost immediate start upon pressing the play button.   

Ulead has come up with a very clever way to leverage the computing horsepower of your computer.  Look at it this way, let’s say that for most of your project, your processor is only loaded to about 25-35%, but at certain points the project becomes more difficult than you processor can handle.  In essence all of those unused cpu cycles were wasted while the video played.  Ulead has developed a way to "harvest" those would be lost cpu cycles to be used later when they’re needed.  The cpu loading with instant preview on will always remain pegged at 100% so the cpu has some video buffered in case it comes to a section with a high cpu loading.  

Now, of course there will always be sections of a complex project that won’t render at a full 30fps, but with most projects, and a reasonably fast computer, most of the project will render in real time.  I can only imagine what a dual processor or hyperthreaded system will do with this software.  In addition, as computers become faster, there are more unused cpu cycles available for “difficult” sections while “easy” sections are playing.  So, in essence, by upgrading you processor you get a larger jump in real time performance than if MS Pro 7 did not have the “multi-threading” option. 

So, is Ulead’s claim of software real time preview warranted?  Yes and no.  If you are going to take the strict definition of “real time as being instant real time play back all the time,” then the answer is no.  If you take the looser definition of “real time most of the time,” then the answer is yes.  I think Ulead is warranted in this claim because this instant preview logic is well thought out, extremely scalable, and generally real time.  This is no tacked on gimmick.  In addition, the ability to send real time playback to a TV lends further credence to Ulead’s claim.  Regardless of what you call it, this feature is a big time saver.  The project that I’m currently working on employs two video filters (brightness and color), a 2D moving path, and an overlay used to create a widescreen effect.  My system can do these operations in real time at a CPU usage of about 75-80%, not quite topped out. 

This is a giant leap forward for MS Pro.  I think Ulead hit the proverbial nail on the head by focusing their efforts on software real time preview and TV out.  The ability to instantly preview edits on both the computer monitor and/or TV output makes the editing process much easier and faster.  You can test your system for real time with MS Pro 7 by running the test script mentioned above.  On my system, this fairly rigorous test script runs real time with the exception of two clips. 

 

Instant Playback and High Quality Rendering:  Version 6.52 vs. Version 7.0
 I created a 41 second test script using DV type 1 video clips.  The test script contains a variety of transitions effects, a few video filters, a picture-in-picture effect, and a zoom moving path on a hi-res image file.  There was no text in the script since the text handling is completely different in version 7.  I rendered this clip to a DV type 1 file on my PIII 1200 laptop using MS Pro 6.52 and MS Pro 7.0.  I used my laptop because I still had both version of MS Pro installed on it.  There really wasn’t much of a difference when it came to high quality rendering to a type 1 DV file, 2:57 for version 6.52, and 2:52 for version 7.0.

The big surprise came when I compared the instant playback quality between both versions.  The instant playback on version 6.52 took about 7 or 8 seconds to start and rendered at what looked like about 5 frames per second to me.  From an editing stand point it was completely useless.  The playback setting I used for MS Pro 7 was enable multithreading with a level of “0.”  The playback started in about 1 second, and for at least 67% of the test segment played back in real time, the remaining third played back at less than real time, but still a usable frame rate.  Since most people running MS Pro 7 will probably be running systems faster than a PIII 1200 mobile system, real time will most likely be the case for a good portion of most projects, as Ulead claims with systems specifications of at least a P4 2.0GHz.  This test result was very impressive.  Ulead has really done their homework with this instant play feature.   

I also ran this test script in version 7.0 on my P4 2.4 and except for one portion of the script that had a sharpen filter on it and a picture-in-picture effect overlay (playing in slow motion), the rest of the clip ran at real time.  Actually, the cpu loading bar was white for the whole clip except for the portion mentioned above.  During that portion was dark pink, or loading level 2.  This part of the script was probably running around 20fps.  Ulead is a bit optimistic with the cpu loading scale.  I’ve noticed that dark pink sections are usually not fully real time on my system.

Finally, I should note that the PIII does not have SSE II, or hyperthreading, and obviously is not a dual processor system.  Perhaps high quality rending would be significantly faster in version 7 if tested on a hyperthreaded or dual processor system.  If you would like to run this script that will run on version 6 and 7, it is posted on this website.

The New Titler
 Ulead has completely reworked the titler into a significantly more capable text tool.  The old titler had some serious deficiencies that made trips to CG Infinity obligatory for anything but the most basic titling operations.  Since I started using MS Pro 7, I have yet to use CG Infinity for my admittedly tame titling needs.  Here’s a screen shot of the new titler.

There is a lot that is new here, so I’m only going to mention some of the more important additions.  First of all, like the moving path, transition effect, and video filter dialog boxes, you can preview titles to the dual head device or DV camera before inserting them into the time line.  It is also now possible to mix types sizes and fonts in the same title.  Something I consider absolutely necessary for professional looking credits.  Interestingly, this is the first version of MS Pro to be able to do this but VideoStudio could do it as far back as version 6.0. 

Another nice feature is the ability to group the text by clicking the “ABC” button.  After clicking this button a box forms around the text that you can grab with the mouse pointer and move around.  Or, you can select the box and use the arrow keys to move it around a “click” at a time.  You can also turn text sideways from within the titler. 

There are also some nice customizable animation and type effects.  I have to admit I haven’t fooled around with them much since I’m more of an “old school guy” when it comes to titles.  I rarely use more than a simple drop shadow, which is now available.  But more is there if the project calls for it.  The new titler addresses what I believe was a big weakness of MS Pro. 

I did notice that the new titler does require a significant amount of processing power.  If you create a title with 15 or so words, using animation and text effect, as the title renders during final output, it will render rather quickly for the first few words and then slow down as it progresses through the text.  By the end of the title things are moving quite slowly on my P4 2.4.  I understand that a more advanced titler will require more processing power, but I do hope that Ulead can optimize the titler in future revisions.

 

Audio Improvements
 The big change in the audio portion of MS Pro 7 is the addition of audio groups.  Here is a screen shot of the Audio Group Mixer.  You can solo a track (only that track plays, the others are automatically muted), mute, adjust balance, and volume, all in real time.  Well, there is some lag, but almost real time.  More on that later…

Group Mixer

 

There are 5 groups that are each “fed” by a specific audio track in the project, i.e. Aa, Ab, A1, A2,…  You can assign which track is fed into which group using the group tree shown below.

 

It’s very easy to assign a specific track or tracks to a group by simply dragging it into that group.  There is also a track layout as shown below.  You’ll notice that there are 7 tracks shown since I have 5 audio overdub tracks in this project layout.  Aa, Ab, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, yields seven tracks.   

Ulead should have labeled each track in the track mixer their actual names in the time line for the sake of consistency.  i.e. Aa=1, Ab=2, A1=3, and so on.  This labeling scheme would create a stronger association between the track layout and the time line layout.  Interestingly, if you left click on the track number, the time line track designation (Aa, Ab, A1, etc.) does appear.  As I said, I think it should always be labeled as in the time line.

Track Mixer

 

The Audio Level Meters
 Since this is the first version of MS Pro that includes audio metering, and my background is primarily in audio recording, I took some extra time to do some testing of the meters.  This is what I found:

The metering levels for a sine wave signal that registers -6dB in Sound Forge 6.0 registers at a level between -12dB and -24dB in MS Pro 7.  This is not good as I have done a lot of work with SF 6.0 and am quite confident its audio meters are accurate.  The metering calculation for a 16 bit sample is dB=Log20 (amplitude/32767) since there are 65,536 different possible amplitude levels for a 16 bit value (2^16) and they range from -32768 to +32767 for digital audio.  At first it would appear that the meters are simply marked incorrectly, that’s what I thought until I checked some other things.

Using the fader to increase the level by 4.6 dB brings the level up from somewhere between -12dB and -24db to 0dB!!!  Definitely not right.  Something strange is going on here and Ulead should attend to it.  I suspect some incorrect math in the programming. 

There should be a peak hold option for the meters.  They jump around quite a bit and it is difficult to locate an average value.  I like to “master” my audio for DVD at a level of -16dB.  Impossible using MS Pro 7’s current metering inconsistencies.

The meters should not be segmented, the colored bar should be solid.  The segmented meters as they are right now sometimes line up with the dB measurement (0dB), and sometimes they don’t (-6dB).  Do away with the segmented meters.  One of the things I didn’t like about the move to digital equipment in the 1980’s is that good old analog VU meters started disappearing.  I miss the nice VU meters on my old Urei 1176LN compressor, but I digress.

The scale for the meters should be linear with selectable ranges, 0 to -12dB, 0 to -24dB, 0 to -48dB, and 0 to -96dB would be good user-selectable choices.  Usually, when you are working with meters you need the fine precision of the 0 to -12dB scale.

This is a good first effort for Ulead in terms of audio improvements but the metering problems above make them largely colored lights since you can’t depend on them to react correctly. 

 

Audio Automation via the new Auto-Write function
 Ulead has also added a function they call “auto-write” that is accessible from the audio mixing panel options menu.  This “auto-write” function allows automation of track volume, pan, or volume and pan.  In the world of audio recording, automation refers to the ability to move a fader (ride a fader, to use studio lingo), while a song is playing in order to record the “moves” of the fader.  Let’s say you have a vocal track that has a few spots where you would like the volume louder.  You can “ride” the fader during the song, pushing up the volume on the sections requiring a boost in volume.  The mixing console would “memorize” these fader moves and replicate them on playback.  This used to be the domain of professional studios using recording consoles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.  These consoles use motors to actually record the fader move, and then physically move the fader during playback.  Today, of course, this can all be accomplished in the digital domain without any mechanical parts.  I think the MS Pro 7 manual is a bit cryptic in describing this feature so I’m going to go through its operation in detail. 

To use the “auto-write” feature you first select what functions you would like to automate.  As mentioned above, this can be volume, pan, or volume and pan.  After selecting what you will automate, you select auto-write on the track you are going to automate.  This is done by selecting the little pencil icon located at the bottom right of each track shown on the mixing panel above.  Next you select the auto-write mode you would like to use.  There are three possible modes, default, dub, and replacement.   

In the default mode whatever volume or pan setting is before starting playback is what will be written to the track, no changes are permitted.  I guess this is useful if you’ve found the correct level and pan for a track or a section of a track and want to make that setting permanent.  In order to “run” the automation, you drag the cursor to the position in the project where you want the automation to start and press play in the mixing panel.  Press stop when the region you want to automate is finished.  In order to make MS Pro 7 temporarily remember this automation you select the two sixteenth notes icon at the bottom left of the track.  Now you can play back the area you just automated to see if you achieved the desired result.  If you are happy with the result you can select the checkmark at the lower left of the mixing panel to apply this automation to the track.  Alternatively, on the lower left of the master track this is an icon that clears the automation.  After you apply the auto-write you will see the change in the audio track on the time line view. 

The default auto-write is of limited value since you can’t make any real time moves, the dub and replacement modes are more flexible.  When using the dub mode, you set the volume and pan controls to where you want them for most of the audio track in question.  After beginning the auto-write process, you can drag the volume or pan controls to different positions while the track is playing, but after releasing the control it returns to its initial position.  This is useful for “riding” a track when you need to boost it or duck (lower) it every now and then.  As with all automation, you have to practice a few times to get the desired result. 

The last mode, the replacement mode, is similar to the dub mode except that the control will stay at its current modified position after you release it.  As you can see the auto-write modes range from most restrictive (default) to least restrictive (replacement).  I should also mention that the auto-write function can be used on individual tracks using the track mixer mode or on groups of tracks using the group mixing mode. 

Additional features are always welcome, and the auto-write feature is a nice one to have.  That being said, there is a bit of lag from the time the volume or pan adjustment is made until the time you hear it.  In order to use this function, you have to learn to anticipate when your move is coming and make it ahead of time.  Perhaps faster computers or more efficient programming will make this function more useful (faster to respond) in the future.  Still, it’s nice to have.  I can remember mixing on an analog mixing console 10 years ago.  On some mixes I might have 5 or 6 hands on the faders at different times, everybody had to memorize their moves during the final mix.  For most of my audio automation needs in MS Pro, I drag the control points located on the audio tracks in the time line view. 

 

No adjusting audio filters in Real Time
 Finally, there is one essential feature missing from the audio section, the ability to adjust audio effects while previewing them in real time.  This is a must and should be near the top of the list for the next update.  Many users use dedicated two track audio editors such as Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge 6.0.  There are many direct x plug-ins accessible to MS Pro loaded by Sound Forge in addition to the ones that come with MS Pro that are very difficult to use because you can’t adjust the parameters in real time.  Unfortunately, some of the parameters of many third party plug-ins aren’t even visible in the audio filter dialog box in MS Pro.

 

Audio and Video Templates
 Here’s another time saver.  You can save audio and video templates for quickly creating audio and video files..  Simply click “Template” and select a default template or one you’ve created. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I would like to mention that there was an audio problem with the program as it was released.  The issue had to do with a variance in audio levels of overlapping audio tracks.  There was also a problem with systems with MS Pro 7 and an Intervideo WinDVD loaded.  Upon normally shutting down MS Pro, a veditor.exe error would appear after the program was shut down. I am happy to say that Ulead supplied users with dll’s which corrected both problems within a few days.  The new dll’s also corrected these problems on my Compaq EVO n600c Win2000 notebook computer. 

 

AC3 Audio Support
 MS Pro 7 also has the ability to encode and decode AC3 audio (dialog shown below).  After creating my first AC3 audio encoded MPEG-2 file I noticed that there was no audio when playing the video on my computer using WinDVD Platinum or in Ulead’s DVD Workshop.  There WAS audio when playing this video in my set top NTSC DVD player.  One of the DMN forum members by the name of Ed Baldwin helped me out here by informing me to add PLAYAC3=1 to the [VIODRIVER] section of the DVDWS.ini file.  After making this adjustment to the DVDWS.ini file AC3 audio encoded MPEG-2 files played with audio in WinDVD Platinum and DVD Workshop.  I currently have the “old” 1.3 patch installed.  I also want to thank Ed Baldwin for all of his help in helping me to decipher the intricacies of MS Pro and DVD Workshop’s Smart Rendering logic. 

For those of you who aren’t aware, AC3 is an audio compression format that is the DVD standard for NTSC DVD players.  It has the ability to encode up to 5.1 sound tracks (front, center, left, two rear surrounds, and a subwoofer output), using bit rates ranging from 128kbps to 448kbps.  I have not made direct comparisons of the AC3 codec versus the MPEG codec available when creating DVD compliant files in MS Pro 7, but assuming the sound quality versus bandwidth is about the same between the formats, the main advantage of using AC3 audio would be greater compatibility of DVD video disks created for NTSC set top players.  As you know LPCM (linear pulse code modulation) requires an enormous amount of storage space in comparison the compression schemes mentioned above (five to 10 times more depending on the compression ratio).  That space can be used more efficiently for the video signal. 

The two audio modes available when selecting AC3 audio are 1/0 (C) and 2/0 (L/R), corresponding to mono and stereo output formats.  I was hoping to be able to encode up to 5 channels, with each of the audio groups corresponding to one of the five AC3 audio channels.  Perhaps that is possible, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do it.  Still, the AC3 audio support in MS Pro 7 is a great addition. 

I also noticed that you cannot select AC3 audio when setting up project preferences.  Unfortunately, this makes using smart render with clips that have AC3 audio impossible.

 

 

Smart Render Logic Explained
 I should also mention that videotools.net also has developed a frame server tool that functions with MS Pro 7.  This small easily installed program allows MS Pro 7 to frame serve a project from the time line into programs such as TMPGEnc.  This program “serves” the rendered, but uncompressed video to the secondary program.  Although the MPEG encoder built into MS Pro 7 is of very good quality, there is a small but significant improvement gained by using TMPGEnc for MPEG encoding.   

Here is one method to use TMPGEnc for encoding the video portion of a DVD compliant file and MS Pro 7 for encoding the AC3 audio portion: 

  1. Frame serve your project to TMPGEnc and encode it using LPCM audio.  You will have to save it as an elemental stream when selecting stream type in TMPGEnc, ES (Video + Audio).

  2. Import the video and audio portion of these streams into MS Pro 7.  After selecting MPEG as the file type, go to “Options” and select the bit rate of your TMPGEnc encoding and VBR or constant bit rate.  Make sure “Smart render” is checked in the “Options” first tab.

  3. Select AC3 audio in MS Pro 7.  I use a bit rate of 192kbps for stereo sources.

  4. When you save the file, if you made the correct settings, smart render should be working and MS Pro will NOT re-render the video, it will only compress the audio to AC3 format and multiplex the file.  You will know smart render is working because there is no video in the rendering window, it should stay gray.  Also note that MS Pro will appear to hang at about 98% finished, its okay, just give it a few minutes! 

 

Before getting into “smart rendering” logic, a few informal definitions are in order.  Multiplexed (often abbreviated “muxed”) audio/video is also called a system stream and means that the audio and video parts of a movie are contained in one stream or file.  A *.mpg file is a multiplexed video file, when you play the single file, you see video and hear sound.   

An elemental stream (sometimes abbreviated “ES”) is one of the audio or video streams that has been created by separating the audio and video from a multiplexed video file.  The video extension for an MPEG-2 elemental stream is*.m2v.  The audio extension for the corresponding audio elemental stream could be  *.wav (for LPCM), *.mp2 (for mpeg layer II audio), or *.ac3.  When you use the “split” command with a MPEG file in the MS Pro time line, you are splitting the audio from the video and creating elemental streams from a multiplexed one.  Sometimes working with the elemental streams is necessary, as in the method described above for using TMPGEnc and MS Pro 7 to create a multiplexed video file that uses TMPGEnc MPEG video encoding and MS Pro 7 AC3 audio encoding.

 

Here is a summary of MS Pro 7’s Smart Rendering Logic:

When using multiplexed (system) VBR files created in TMPGEnc or MS Pro 7, MS Pro 7 will smart render these files if you select a bit rate at least as high as the highest file in the time line, select VBR, and select the correct field/frame option.  To test this I imported three MS Pro 7 encoded MPEG-2 files on the time line encoded at 3000, 5000, and 8000 VBR, and a TMPGEnc CQ90 encoded video.  All had AC3 audio.  Using VBR, bit rate 8000 and AC3 audio, all four files were combined into one with no re-rendering. 

If you import elemental stream VBR video, or create one in the time line by splitting the audio and video of a multiplexed video, MS Pro 7 will only smart render if all files were encoded using the same encoder and with the same settings.  I tested this with a TMPGEnc VBR CQ encoded elemental stream and it did smart render.  Multiple elemental streams with different encoding parameters did not smart render.

Constant bit rate files, whether multiplexed or elemental will only smart render if bit rate settings are exactly the same for each file and the project template is set accordingly.

 

Here is a summary of DVD Workshop’s Smart Rendering Logic:

When using multiplexed (system) VBR video files in DVD Workshop, as long as the bit rate settings are greater than or equal to the max bit rate of the video file and VBR is set correctly, DVD Workshop will NOT re-render the video.  If you uncheck the “do not convert compliant files” box, and select different audio setting, only audio will be re-encoded and you will see a “audio file is being converted” message.  So, you can use VBR video’s with different bit rates in DVD Workshop with out re-rendering.

If you are using elemental VBR videos, then all of the videos must have been encoded in the same manner and the system template must be set to the max bit rate of the files and VBR set.  Note that this means that it is currently impossible to use more than one elemental stream MPEG-2 video in DVD Workshop without re-rendering unless both (all) of the files in the project were encoded with the same settings.  If you do have all files with the same setting and don’t check “do not convert compliant files” but select different audio attributes, you won’t receive a message saying audio is being converted message, but it will be converted to the new settings.  You’ll note the operation will complete much faster than if video was also re-rendered.

If you are using constant bit rate elemental or system videos, they all must have the same bit rate and DVD Workshop’s bit rate must to set to that exact same bit rate for smart render to function.

 

If you have the AC3 Power Pack for DVD Workshop and want to use it to encode only the audio portion of the file, you have to follow the rules above to avoid re-rendering AND make sure do not select “do not convert compliant files” so that your AC3 audio is encoded as you specify in the “make disc” settings. 

If you have DVD Workshop and the AC3 Power Pack, here is a workaround to convert LPCM audio to elemental streams with different video settings without re-rendering: 

  1. Import the first of your elemental streams into DVDWS and drop it on a title.  Add the LPCM audio track to this elemental video file, by left clicking on the video.  Go to “finish.”

  2. Set up the “make disc” template to match the settings of this video and select AC3 audio 192kbps.

  3. Uncheck “do not convert compliant files.”

  4. Check “add converted audio files to library” and “add converted video files to library.”

  5. Check “Create DVD directory” and click start.

  6. After the operation is finished, go back to the edit page and you will find the multiplexed MPEG-2/AC3 video file.

  7. Complete steps 1-6 for all of your videos.

  8. Use these multiplexed videos in your final DVD project with the video bit rate set above your max bit rate if VBR, or equal if CBR.  Also make sure “do not convert compliant files” is checked so that no re-rendering occurs.

This method uses DVDWS to create AC3 audio encoded files that all have the same attributes so that smart render will function.

If you use MS Pro 7’s ability convert the LPCM audio to AC3 while smart rendering the elemental video created in TMPGEnc then you get the best of both worlds; TMPGEnc for video encoding and MS Pro 7 for AC3 audio encoding.  You can individually create each multiplexed file for DVD Workshop with AC3 audio already encoded much easier (and cheaper!) in MS Pro 7 than in DVD Workshop with AC3 Power Pack (as described above).  Just select “do not convert compliant files” and use bit rate higher than the max in any of the files and no re-rendering will occur.  Note that each of these files must use VBR encoding.  The only feature you lose by not having the DVD Workshop AC3 Power Pack is the ability to convert menu audio to AC3.  Not a bad deal since AC3 is included in MS Pro 7!   

So, there appears to be a flaw in the smart rendering ability of MS Pro 7 and DVD workshop; although both will not re-render VBR multiplexed videos with different max bit rates settings, they will re-render elemental stream VBR videos with different max bit rate settings. 

Finally, I should point out that advanced MPEG encoding parameters can be accessed in both MS Pro 7 and DVD Workshop by adding Advance=1 in the [VIODRIVER] section of the msp.ini  and DVDWS.ini files.  After making this change, you’ll notice the “advance” button in the compression tab of output options in MS Pro 7.  If it doesn’t seem to be working for you, make sure you search for all of the *.ini files and make this change to all of them.  Also be sure to make sure your folder options are set to show hidden files, in case you have them hidden.

 

Additional New Features

Keeping Original size of Images Automatically
 When you import an image file there is a check box that will keep the original size of the image by automatically inserting a moving path.  This is a real time saver when working with images that don't have 4x3 aspect ratios. 

 

Interpolate Frame Size with Logarithm
 This is my personal favorite.  Notice the “Interpolate frame size with logarithm” check box.  Have you ever noticed when zooming in on a still image that the zoom seems to accelerate as the zoom progresses?  This is because the as the zoom progresses, the area being zoomed is being increased by a squared factor (area=length x width), not a linear one, which is how the time slider is moving.  The result is a perceived speeding up or acceleration of zoom ins and deceleration of zoom outs.  By using a logarithmic function to offset this effect, the apparent zoom in and out stays constant.  The end result is a much nicer looking zoom, more like what you see on the History Channel.  If you watch the time slider while previewing a deep zoom in with this function enabled you can actually see the slider slow down as the preview progresses.  This is good work by Ulead.  This is not a function that serves well for advertising on the side of a box, but it is a very important function for the end user.  I hate to get greedy, but if Ulead would add the option to slow down the beginning and end of the zooms this would be perfect.

 

  

New Video Filters
 There are quite a few new video filters as well, and some of them are quite interesting.  I am glad to see a decent “film” effect that simulates old scratchy, shaky film.  There is also a cool effect called “bubbles.”  I don’t know if I’ll ever have a use for it, but it is fun to play with these filters.  All filters that can be played used in real time by the minimum specified system as per Ulead are designated by the “R” in the upper right portion of the effect thumbnail.  My system could play back many filters not designated with the “R” in real time. 

 

Transition Effects
 Of the 113 transition effects included with MS Pro 7, all but 14 have the “R” designation on them.  For the record, I noticed that my system was able to render all transition effects in real time if the joining video sections didn’t have a high loading of other filters or moving path effects on them (or the transition time wasn’t unusually long). 

 

Copy and Paste keyframe parameters
 This is the first version of MS Pro that allows copying and pasting of keyframe attributes by left clicking on the keyframe or keyframe time slider.  Good news as my short term memory is not long enough to remember a number for more and 2 seconds!

 

New Summary Time Line View
MS Pro 7 has a new method to view the time line called “summary time line.”  The general time line (default in previous versions) displays the time line using a linear scale, the amount of the project displayed depended on which ruler unit you selected.  The problem with this mode is that sometimes short transitions or clips are just shown as vertical lines on the time line if proper scale is maintained.   

Summary time line, on the other hand, does not use a linear scale for displaying clips and transitions.  It employs a nonlinear ruler unit so that all clips and transitions are large enough to be viewed and adjusted.  Another advantage of this mode is the ability to clearly see all of the clips and transitions in a project much easier than using the general time line mode.  The disadvantage is that you have to remember that the proper scale of events on the time line is not maintained. 

I find the summary time line most useful when fitting the entire project into the timeline window.  The two screen shots below show the same project.  Notice that in the top screen shot (summary time line view) you can clearly make out all of the transitions and clips, whereas in the bottom one (general time line view), many of the transitions simply appear as vertical lines.  Both views are useful depending on the circumstance and I commend Ulead for adding this feature. 

 

Summary Time Line view 

 

 General Time Line view  

  

A/B Editing Mode
 Another new feature is called the A/B editing mode.  This mode can be turned on with a button to the left of the general time line button shown above.  When this mode is turned on, if you trim a clip that already has a transition by shortening it, all of the clips to the right of this clip will be moved to the left just enough to make the transition fit perfectly.  Alternatively, if you lengthen the clip, all clips following that clip will be moved to the right to make the transition fit correctly. 

If you shorten or lengthen a transition, all clips following the transition will move to keep the transition correctly positioned between the A/B clips.  This is another feature than can save you a lot of time if you know how it works and when it can be a benefit.  Next time you trim a clip and start to move all of the clips after it, remember to just engage the A/B editing mode.

 

16:9 Mode and Non-Square Pixel Rendering
 MS Pro 7 has the ability to edit using a 16:9 widescreen format.  I have to say that I haven’t tested this feature extensively, but I have discovered that it does allow for the importing of images so that you don’t have to apply a moving path to the image to preserve its aspect ratio.  First, select “use non-square pixel rendering” in the project settings.  After importing the image, right click on it in the time line and select “media source options.”  Select “keep aspect ratio” under stretch mode and the image will display letter boxed with the correct aspect ratio.  The short explanation of this is that while image files use square pixels, video files do not.  Non-square pixel rendering compensates for the difference.  I am still investigating the “use non-square pixel rendering” option.  

 

Auto Slideshow and the “Add to A/B Roll” Storyboard Feature
 Ulead also touts a new “auto-slideshow” feature for MS Pro 7.  After searching through the MS Pro Help file and looking through the manual, I couldn’t find any reference to auto-slideshow.  Finally, I figured out how this function works. 

If you navigate to “Storyboard” in the production library you’ll notice that you can import images and videos in a sequence to create a storyboard of clips.  If you right click on a clip and select “Add to A/B roll…” the following dialog appears.

You can select if you want a transition effect applied to the clip, if you want to synchronize the clip with cues on the time line, and if you want to apply an audio cross-fade.  Synchronizing the clips to  cues on the time line is quite interesting.  You can insert cue marks every two measures during a song and then have the clips automatically be inserted at these points, timing the clips with the music.  After clicking “OK,” you can position the clip into the time line as you normally would.  If you selected to have a transition effect or audio cross-fade applied, it will be automatically applied to the overlapping area between the current clip and the one preceding it.  This feature definitely speeds up creating image sequences (slideshows), or whenever you need to quickly insert clips into the Va and Vb tracks with effects applied. 

 

Global Filters
 On the “Project Settings” page you will find a “Global filters…” button.  This allows for placing video filter(s) over the entire project.  Quite useful if you need the same color correction filter or video effect applied over the entire time line.  This is obviously much easier than applying the video filter(s) to every clip in the project!  There are many ways to complete repetitive tasks in MS Pro 7, you only have to know how.

  

Windows XP work-around for importing large *.avi clips
 I have noticed that sometimes MS Pro will seemingly lock-up, or take a long time to import long *.avi clips that were captured using avi_io, a seamless file capture utility that can be found here, http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/  I actually haven’t noticed this happening in version 7 since I corrected it before I installed it, but must assume it would since this is really an WinXP issue.  What is happening is that WinXP “reads” the media file upon selecting it, and this takes a long time for large files. 

You can turn off this feature in WinXP by making the following entry in the registry:

  1. Open up regedit.

  2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler

  3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"

 

As with any Registry editing, you can seriously screw up your computer by editing registry values, so I must give the obligatory, “I assume no responsibility for registry edits.  Make this edit at your own risk.”  That being said, all you really lose by making this adjustment is the extra file details shown for media files in Explorer.

 

The Good, The Bad, and The Issues

The software real time preview function is a giant step forward.  On my computer many filters, transitions, and some moving path functions performed in real time.  Since MS Pro 7 “pre-processes” the video file while playing, the gains in moving to a faster cpu are enhanced since the faster cpu will have more cycles to “get ahead” of the time line during the light cpu loading sections of the project.

TV Out functions while using high quality preview, instant preview, and while adjusting video filters, transition effects, moving paths, and titles.

Scrubbing from the time line is displayed to the TV out.

Completely new, improved titler that includes animation and text effects.

Audio mixer with a track and group layout and the ability to assign tracks to groups.  Automation of volume and pan using the auto-write function.

Ability to encode and decode AC-3 audio tracks for fully compliant NTSC DVD video.  In addition, audio and video templates of often used setting can be created and stored for easy loading.

Ability to keep the aspect ratio of an inserted image files by having MS Pro 7 automatically apply the correct moving path.

Ability to perform deep zooms on images using a moving path without acceleration or deceleration of the zoom effect through use of the new “logarithmic interpolation” feature.

New transition and video filters including an old film simulation.

Ability to render non-square pixels for 16:9 widescreen editing.

Automatic slideshow feature.

Excellent stability on both my Dell 4550 desktop system and my Compaq EVO n600c Win2000 notebook.  No lock ups or crashes in over 3 weeks of use, and that includes LOTS of testing, as you can see from the length of this review!  I should also note that the testing platform is a very stable system so your mileage may vary in this respect.

 

Issues and Recommendations for the First Patch

Audio metering levels are not correct and adding 2db of gain using the fader results in a MUCH larger increase in dB as shown by the meters.

Label tracks in the track mixer Aa, Ab, A1, A2, … for the sake of consistency.

Smart Render using elemental MPEG-2 streams does not function correctly as it does with multiplexed streams.  When elemental streams of different bit rates in the time line should be smart rendered (with projects setting higher than highest bit rate file), the streams are re-rendered.

Impossible to select AC3 audio in project settings so smart render cannot be used with clips that have AC3 format audio.

In version 6.5 you could move the time line while video was playing.  This is now not possible in version 7.0.  I think that feature should be available; sometimes I like to follow the video so that when I stop to fix an edit, I’m at the spot in question.

Implement dual head functionality (TV Out) for NVidia video cards.

Bottom half of preview window black with horizontal resolutions not a multiple of 180.  Most likely a MS DV codec issue.

Audio dropout at approximately 2:05 when sending the time line to a dv camera when previewing from the time line, using the print to tape function, or export function.  There was a patch for version 6.5 that would allow the export function (but not play from time line or print to tape) to work correctly.  When applying this patch to version 7, a uvdv.dll error occurs upon starting the program.   This issue has been resolved with the latest patch, which should be released soon.  When sending video to the DV camera directly from the time-line, or using the "export" function,  or using the "print to tape" function, there IS NO audio glitch at 2:05!

Audio level inconsistency on overlapping tracks.  Resolved with new dll’s during testing period.

Veditor.exe error after normal program shutdown on WinXP systems with Intervideo WinDVD.  Resolved with new dll’s during the testing period.

  

Recommendations for the Next Release

The ability to drag the edges of video filter, transition effect, and moving path dialog boxes to change their size.  The preview screens in these dialog boxes should also scale with the size of the dialog box.  The default opening size of these dialog boxes should be user selectable and storable.  The contents of the preview window and source window should also scale with the size of the window.

Sometimes with longer video clips, the resolution of the source clip time slider bar is too rough.  A small movement in the time slider bar will result in a large movement in the video clip.  Add the ability to have the slider bar only access a portion of the video clip.  The area on top of the slider bar could be divided into 2, 4, or 8 sections (user selectable).  By clicking on one of these areas, only that portion of the clip would be accessible from the slider bar.  When none of these areas are selected, the entire clip would be accessible from the slider bar, as it is with the current version.

Implement my suggestions regarding the audio metering; peak-hold level, non-segmented metering, and adjustable linear dB scale.  Also, upon first playing back audio, there is an issue where the level stays peaked for a few seconds.

Allow for the adjusting of direct x audio plug-in parameters while audio is playing.  I think this is part of the real time aspect of this program.  Also, make all portions of third party direct x audio plug-ins visible.

Increase the responsiveness of the audio mixer so that fader changes are heard faster than they are currently.

The new titler seems to slow down as it renders a title with a lot of words, optimize the new titler.

 

Conclusion
 As you can see, I’m very impressed by MediaStudio Pro 7.  Ulead had made significant improvements to the real time rendering engine, TV out support, and the titler, as well as adding quite a few new features.  I think the fact that the Ulead engineers concentrated on what the program can do, and not how it looks demonstrates their dedication to making MediaStudio Pro not only a more marketable product, but a more usable and versatile product.  The user interface of MS Pro is, in my opinion, well designed and intuitive.  Giving it a facelift would have been a waste of valuable resources.  On the downside, the issues I listed should be addressed since all features of the program should function correctly. 

So, it is worth the upgrade price?  Well, you’ll have to decide that for yourself.  The upgrade price is not an insignificant amount of money, especially for someone who is simply creating a family video every now or then and finds VideoStudio too limiting.  In addition, version 6.5 is still a very capable piece of software.  Then again, when you consider the included AC3 support, it starts to look like a bargain.  For me it was a no brainer, there were too many new functions that I had to have to not only expedite my editing (RT and TV out), but to actually do the things I wanted to do (logarithmic moving path, AC3 audio support, non-square pixel rendering, and mixing font sizes in the titler, to name a few).  I like the path that Ulead lead has taken with MediaStudio Pro 7, evolution, not revolution.  

I would like to thank Terry Stetler, Jerrold Jones, and all of the members of the MURC Desktop Video forum for answering all of my video questions over the past few years.  Finally, I would like to thank Ed Baldwin at the DMN DVD Workshop forum for his help with the Smart Render logic.