Womble's new editor The Mpeg Video Wizard at DVinfo.net

Will Lau · December 2nd, 2003, 12:30 PM

I was just looking for a decent HD editing program that wouldn't cost me my first born and finally my dreams came true. I downloaded the trial version at www.womble.com last night and it cuts pretty good! It doesn't play the cuts real time 100 percent of the time but it sure is better than the software packaged with the HD-1. It's simple but it works well for short length projects. Comes with a titler and transition effects. And it's only $150!!

I haven't tested putting the edited footage back to the hd camera yet, but if it's like Mpeg VCR (thier other software) it should be ok.

Has anyone else given this program a try?

-Will Lau

Heath McKnight · December 2nd, 2003, 01:11 PM

Virtual PC, here we Mac users come?

heath

Paul Mogg · December 2nd, 2003, 04:07 PM

I have to say I felt a little ripped off by Womble, as I just bought MPEg2VCR for $120, and they didn't tell me there was a new version coming out, and they won't upgrade me to the new "wizard" program for free even though MPEG2VCR says it comes with one year of free upgrades. They justify this by saying that the "wizard" program is a completely new program and not just an upgrade, which it quite obviously is. Seemed a little shady to me. But if it works, I might just pay the $50 for my "free" upgrade anyway, and put it on virtual PC.
Please let us know how it performs as MPEG2VCR seemed full of bugs to me when I tried it.

Will Lau · December 3rd, 2003, 08:02 PM

Well i tried spitting back the HD footage to tape.

I had a hard time rendering the .m2t files on the automatic settings, it kept crashing on certain shots. So I re-edited the problem shots, which were many on my 5 min piece, and it finally rendered completely. But before my camera could recognized the footage I had to use mpeg-vcr to convert it to a transferable file.

There were a lot problems along the way and the out come was pretty much unusable. My titles never transfered, my audio was out of sync by seconds and there was picture freezing between cuts. The good thing is I contacted Womble about this and they were very helpful in taking my suggestions in making thier program more JVC HD freindly. So right now they are doing real tests with JVC m2t footage. So maybe not now but hopefully in the future Womble could have an upgrade that will meet HD standards.

p.s. I also downconverted my HD to a dvd compliant file with Wizard and it worked great! So for those that are just burning your material to ntsc dvd, this works like a charm...for me anyways.

Paul Mogg · December 4th, 2003, 05:59 PM

Thank you for posting about this. I suspected their first version would be full of bugs, and you've just saved us some money until they come out with one that actually works and has been tested with the HD1OU. Perhaps you could suggest to them to post here when they've got an upgrade that actually works, as the interface on the new version certainly looks to be improved over the old MPEG2VCR. I hope I'm not being too harsh about this, but it really irks me when companies come out with software that just plain doesn't work, or that they just haven't bothered to test thoroughly.

Cheers

Will Lau · December 5th, 2003, 05:26 PM

No problem, actually Womble never stated they developed the editor for HD specifically, but if we help them steer their develpment towards HD this might be a cost effective to way to edit for us in the future. So any tests done with program, please forward your bugs reports and problems to them and I'm sure they'll address them, it' only in their best interest.

Cheers-Will

December 2nd, 2003, 12:30 PM	#1
Will Lau New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 13	Womble's new editor The Mpeg Video Wizard I was just looking for a decent HD editing program that wouldn't cost me my first born and finally my dreams came true. I downloaded the trial version at www.womble.com last night and it cuts pretty good! It doesn't play the cuts real time 100 percent of the time but it sure is better than the software packaged with the HD-1. It's simple but it works well for short length projects. Comes with a titler and transition effects. And it's only $150!! I haven't tested putting the edited footage back to the hd camera yet, but if it's like Mpeg VCR (thier other software) it should be ok. Has anyone else given this program a try? -Will Lau

December 2nd, 2003, 01:11 PM	#2
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Virtual PC, here we Mac users come? heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

December 2nd, 2003, 04:07 PM	#3
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	I have to say I felt a little ripped off by Womble, as I just bought MPEg2VCR for $120, and they didn't tell me there was a new version coming out, and they won't upgrade me to the new "wizard" program for free even though MPEG2VCR says it comes with one year of free upgrades. They justify this by saying that the "wizard" program is a completely new program and not just an upgrade, which it quite obviously is. Seemed a little shady to me. But if it works, I might just pay the $50 for my "free" upgrade anyway, and put it on virtual PC. Please let us know how it performs as MPEG2VCR seemed full of bugs to me when I tried it. __________________ Paul

December 4th, 2003, 05:59 PM	#5
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Thank you for posting about this. I suspected their first version would be full of bugs, and you've just saved us some money until they come out with one that actually works and has been tested with the HD1OU. Perhaps you could suggest to them to post here when they've got an upgrade that actually works, as the interface on the new version certainly looks to be improved over the old MPEG2VCR. I hope I'm not being too harsh about this, but it really irks me when companies come out with software that just plain doesn't work, or that they just haven't bothered to test thoroughly. Cheers __________________ Paul

December 3rd, 2003, 08:02 PM	#4
Will Lau New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 13	Well i tried spitting back the HD footage to tape. I had a hard time rendering the .m2t files on the automatic settings, it kept crashing on certain shots. So I re-edited the problem shots, which were many on my 5 min piece, and it finally rendered completely. But before my camera could recognized the footage I had to use mpeg-vcr to convert it to a transferable file. There were a lot problems along the way and the out come was pretty much unusable. My titles never transfered, my audio was out of sync by seconds and there was picture freezing between cuts. The good thing is I contacted Womble about this and they were very helpful in taking my suggestions in making thier program more JVC HD freindly. So right now they are doing real tests with JVC m2t footage. So maybe not now but hopefully in the future Womble could have an upgrade that will meet HD standards. p.s. I also downconverted my HD to a dvd compliant file with Wizard and it worked great! So for those that are just burning your material to ntsc dvd, this works like a charm...for me anyways.

December 5th, 2003, 05:26 PM	#6
Will Lau New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 13	No problem, actually Womble never stated they developed the editor for HD specifically, but if we help them steer their develpment towards HD this might be a cost effective to way to edit for us in the future. So any tests done with program, please forward your bugs reports and problems to them and I'm sure they'll address them, it' only in their best interest. Cheers-Will