Activation is ridiculous

[Jeff Harper]

I assemble my own computers, use raid, and have been doing this since 1995, back when SCSI was uknown to most people.

I cannot recall activation of any software as complicated as Neoscene. I will be doing a trouble ticket, but have not been this pissed in a long time.

Firstly, I purchased from Videoguys, which, unbeknownst to me meant I would have to wait from Friday till this morning to get a code.

Then it is necessary to read and take a ridiculous number of steps to activate, to find that, oh, it doesn't work.

Do I have to uninstall, or deactivate? What the hell is a hardware thumbprint? Don't answer, it is the same thing Vegas and Windows uses, but why do I have do deal with it?

I do not have this kind of time to spare, but apparently I will have to find it. I have people waiting on raw footage shot Friday that they expected Sunday.

But thanks first to Videoguys' process and now this activation process I'm having to make excuses. The truth cannot sound plausible, and makes me look inept or like a liar.

I have seen threads where people cannot deactivate or activate, or have other issues that should be simple to deal with, and they have to fill out trouble tickets? Does this really need to be this difficult? Entire blogs dedicated to these issues? What's up with that?

Piracy is not my fault, and I don't like having to pay the price for it.

[Jeff Harper]

Since I cannot log in to the Cineform site, for whatever reason, I cannot submit a ticket. Though I know my password, or I thought I did. I submitted a password request, and nothing yet. This is getting better and better.

David, I am sorry to rag like this, but this process is too much.

[David Newman]

File a ticket here Support Center we have confirmed the ticket system is up and working. Activation is weird, but functional, it is the weird part that trips people up. Now that we have bigger backers, I expect to will be replace it with a more expensive/normal service based licensing system -- we previously haven't been able to afford. In the meantime the system continune to use email.

[Jeff Harper]

David, I strongly suspected it came down to money on your end, and that a traditional form of activation such as Vegas, etc, would be expensive. And of course it would still not be foolproof.

As a much smaller business than yours is, I can empathize with the expense of things that you shouldn't even have to have to prevent people from stealing your software.

On the other hand, what a pain.

I have left the studio and returned, and am completely calm, but in the same boat. I filed a ticket soon after my last post, after I realized the support site requires a separate registration from the download area.

[Sorin Pricop]

Jeff, sorry to hear you are having problems with the Activation - but believe me a simple email to support - would have solved that problem in max 1 day.

I am a bit of a pain when it comes to that - when reinstalling or selling/ buying a new PC - i always forget to do the proper steps.
And believe me Cineform support was helping me every single time.

I'm not on the Cineform's payroll ... nor i have anything to gain from this. Believe me i understand your frustration - but they have to protect somehow the software. They've did a great piece of software and they are moving forward bringing new and usefull updates to that.

What i'm trying to say is that while i understand you - but i believe you were a bit too harsh in your statement.

Just my 2c

Best Regards,
Soreen

[Jeff Harper]

I've been meaning to return here and post, but I've been a bit sheepish to do so, not sure what to say.

I normally take a dim view of folks who explain a bad attitude with "I was having a bad day". But that is exactly the situation I was in.

Activation of Cineform products is not the simplest, but I certainly over-reacted and apologize for it.

And you are correct, support is amazing and extremely helpful. Just last night I uninstalled Neoscene priror to de-activation for an upgrade (in other words I screwed up) and I know I will get an email this morning to help me through it.

Support is not only helfpul, but very cool. My original activation issue was likely my fault, but they didn't point that out and make me feel like an idiot, they just told me what to do to fix it.

I have had another issue with an aspect of the program, and Cineform support went waaay beyond what would be reasonalbly be expected to make it up.

My conclusion is that despite any small issues with the activation of the product, we are dealing with a great bunch of folks at Cineform, and I'm happy to be part of the circle of folks using it!

[Matthew Amirkhani]

HI Jeff,

I am in the same boat as you. You probably have come across my issues with Cineform I have lost my password and requested 5 TIMES for them to email me a temp pasword but nothing has happened to this day yet.
I am very sorry to say this but I think a couple of guys running the company that when one goes on holiday everything comes to a hault.

[Jeff Harper]

Matthew, maybe it would be better to fill out a support ticket? I don't know. Also, you mention password, what is that? Do you mean an activation # or something like that?

[Matthew Amirkhani]

Jeff, In order for me to submit a support on Cineforme site I need to login. I need to type in my email address and my password which I don't remmemeber.
As I have mentioned I requested Cineform for a temp pass but...... and this goes back weeks ago.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Jeff,

I must confess I have had trouble with getting my software activated. Made me feel dumb as a post.

I have two renditions of neo on two computers, last January I had to phone and we solved it quickly.

this last week I emailed jake directly and got it straightened out, but it was not easy from this end!!


I to feel that somehow the system needs to be less bugged, or at least less painful. I taught computers for years (sense apple 2E), have 6 pc's in the building and this seems barely managable.

It should not be so hard!!!


dale

[William Urschel]

Because of my many prior, extremely enervating experiences in updating Cineform, some drug out forever or inexplicably delayed (while other experiences were unexpectedly soooo easy), gentlemen, I have found a 100 percent satisfactory solution! Which is to say that it has been many, many months since I have updated Cineform Neo 4K - I am more than satisfied with the program's operation and features in its old configuration, and now avoid the dread of any further updating!

[Roger Shealy]

Jeff,

I understand your frustration. I've recently upgraded computers, and later lost a hard drive. Reinstalling Cineform was a bear. I ultimately resorted to email, and got things resolved. I find the process of activation quite cryptic and the delays of when issued a code and the code being accepted make you lose confidence in the process.

I'm glad to hear they are in the process of upgrading to a better activation process. It's good software.

[Andreas Caemmerer]

Activation and deactivation is really cumbersome. Right now I'm trying to deactivate my MacBook.
How to do that???

Why not going iLok? We have over a dozen iLoks in our studio workflow. It's pretty convenient. Switching licenses is a breeze.

-Andreas