Edit Review — Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.0

When I went to see the new MediaStudio Pro 7 at the Ulead booth at NAB, I quickly realized that Ulead had progressed further than anyone else in making HDV editing no more complex than DV editing.

All other shipping HDV solutions for Mac and PC force editors to capture HDV in a utility separate from the NLE. There are two disadvantages to capture not integrated into the NLE. First, you have to deal with software from two vendors. If something doesn't work, you'll have trouble with support.

When loaded with Ulead's HDV plug-in, MediaStudio Pro 7 is a unified capture and editing solution for HDV material, which is unique among HDV editors currently on the market.

The major problem involves pre-pre-edit, pre-edit, and post-edit batch capture. We'll look at the first one first. Assume you logged your source tapes based on timecode. Now you want to enter these timecodes into a Capture Decision List. This requires two capabilities: a capture log function and the ability to get accurate timecode from the playback device.

Unfortunately, none of the capture utilities I have reviewed obtain timecode from JVC HDV devices. Without timecode, batch capture is impossible. For this reason, no Capture Decision List facility is built into the KDDI, CineForm, or Apple utilities.

Next, let's look at pre-edit batch capture. What happens when you've captured clips using an external utility and imported them into your NLE — and your media disk crashes? You cannot quickly recapture hundreds of source HDV clips. Even if every clip had timecode, there is no way to move bin data back to an external utility.

Looking at post-edit batch capture, we also encounter a problem: When a separate capture utility is employed, we cannot batch-recapture material used in the final project timeline.

Many post-edit functions — such as moving a project from one NLE to another, and batch-recapturing HDV from a timeline that holds proxy clips — require integrated project batch-recapture. Ulead promises this when you install its HDV plug-in ($299) into its MediaStudio Pro 7.0 ($495). And, it is a function one expects in Premiere and Vegas when they release support for the Sony HDR-FX1 HDV camcorder.

MediaStudio Pro 7.0 is the latest version of the Ulead editing package. MediaStudio has six integrated modules: capture, video editing, audio editing, CG graphics, video painting, and DVD authoring. The capture component, which we'll examine later, supports batch capture and recapture. The video editor has trimming, editing, and titling tools plus realtime audio-mixing tools, and a library of filters, motion paths, and transitions. The audio editor has realtime audio filters.

Ulead's CG Infinity is a vector-based motion graphics generator that creates animated titles, rolling credits, and video overlays. Video Paint provides compositing and rotoscoping tools. You can also create special effects and paint over video. MediaStudio Pro's DVD authoring tool allows the creation of scene-selection menus, navigation buttons, and intro videos.

After installing MediaStudio Pro, I installed the HDV plug-in. Ulead notes that HDV capture and editing require a 3GHz P4 with at least 512MB of RAM. My PC had 1GB of RAM and a 3.2GHz P4. With the software installed, I plugged in the JVC camcorder and turned it on. A hardware wizard walks you through installing the JVC driver. When you launch the capture utility you must set it up for HDV capture.

By following a convoluted setup process, I set the Ulead utility to use the “HDV MPEG Capture Plugin” (select HDV — JVC) and “HDV 1394 Device Control” (with “JVC” as the Active Device). Once set up, HDV deck control should be active, and you should see valid timecode. You can now use the VCR buttons to control a JVC camcorder. However, the app would often crash at this point.

When you play HDV using the capture utility, you'll see video on screen, but not hear audio. (Sometimes the video would disappear.) I marked multiple clips and saved them in a batch capture log. Then I initiated a batch capture. The capture appeared to go fine. However, when I examined the clips, none of them was longer than one second. Each clip seemed to have been captured at the correct starting time. For some reason, after 20 to 30 frames, no more HDV video was sent to the file. After many conversations with Ulead support, this problem could not be overcome. Ulead claimed it had never encountered such a failure.

Thankfully, the Ulead editor was able to import HDV clips captured by the i.LINK utility bundled with the JVC camcorders. I decided to import clips I had previously captured. To work with HDV, you must set the Default Field Order and Default Display Aspect Ratio to frame-based and 16:9. When you start a project, choose “JVC HD-NTSC MPEG” as the Edit File Format.

Next I edited the clips into a timeline. My impression of Ulead's video editor was that it offered no compelling capabilities over those of Premiere Pro. Titles and transitions played smoothly. I found that applying the Color Balance (Red, Green, Blue) correction did not hurt playback performance. However, applying the Auto Correct Color Correction filter affected playback significantly.

Once I had an edited timeline, I exported it as an HDV (720p), MPEG-2 Transport Stream. The export of a 1 minute, cuts-only timeline took 161 seconds — longer than KDDI, Vegas, and Premiere Pro/MainConcept.

Next, I selected File > Export — DV Recording. That's correct — you select DV Recording to output HDV. Now select the HDV-TS file. Next, open the VTR control window. You can use device control to locate where you want the recording to begin. Unfortunately, the software often crashed when I tried that. Despite this, I was able to record HDV to my JVC camcorder.

Because of the short clips, I was not able to try a batch recapture of a timeline. To accomplish this, one needs to import a DVP file that holds a project. This file is automatically generated each time you save a project in the video-editing component.

Because MediaStudio Pro can perform batch conversion of clips, you can use this to batch-convert HDV to a proxy format. If you use 16:9 DV as a proxy, you can see timeline playback on a widescreen NTSC monitor connected to a DV device in turn connected via 1394 to your computer. Because current JVC camcorders use NTSC rather than HD color space, this is a great way to perform accurate color correction. The capture problem prevented me from trying this.

I believe the problems encountered with MediaStudio Pro were due to working software that is fragile. I suspect the code supporting an HDV camcorder's connection with the computer is not robust. Under some conditions the code works perfectly; under other conditions it does not.

If you need MediaStudio Pro 7.0's features, check for a software update before buying. I've no doubt that with time the kinks will be worked out. When this occurs, Ulead will have a very complete HDV solution.

Company: Ulead
Torrance, Calif.; (310) 896-6388
www.ulead.com

Product: MediaStudio Pro 7 HDV plug-in

Assets: HDV capture utility is integrated with NLE; six modules include capture, video editing, audio editing, CG graphics, video painting, and DVD authoring.

Caveats: The code that supports an HDV camcorder's connection with the computer does not seem robust.

Demographic: HDV editors who want integrated capture and editing.

Price: $495 for MSP 7; $295 for Ulead HDV plug-in

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