Customer Reviews

VideoWave 4.0

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

First... I should come clean about my experiences with MGI products...up to this point it was not very good. But I had read good reviews on the product so I took the risk and bought the program.

VideoWave now has me becoming a MGI fan.

The program is easy to install and use and I am very pleased with the mpeg2 videos that I have produced with the program. For the average person, this program is all you need. Good editing, transitions, text fly overs and background music. I have had no computer problems with the program at all (MGI's downfall in the past). I am running the program on a 450 PII with Windows ME.

The program is fairly easy to learn and you'll be editing in no time.

With this program you can almost create a video that your neighbors will WANT to watch!

FYI: I was happy enough with VideoWave to take a chance on MGI Photosuite 4.0...which so far...so good!

MGI Video wave is an eccellent program for editing and produceing movies in a variety of formats. its ease and quickness makes for good slideshows, or full movies. you can import stills, or video and add music and effects. GReat job MGI! 5 stars...

VideoWave 4 is an excelent program with a lot of features.

For most of my editing I use StudioDV, which came along with my Firewire card, as StudioDV has the best capture function - using batch capture to record and entire tape in about 150 MB.

However - StudioDV lacks these features found in VideoWave: - Effects like swirls on movie clips - Adjustment of color and brightness of the clips - MPEG-2 output

I use VideoWave for special effects and touch-up of clips where color balance or brightness needs a fine tune.

I wish there was a zero stars option. In 20 years or computing, this is one of the weakest packages I've run across. Several features - most notably the "darkroom" - simply don't work. The documentation is only about 30 pages and omits many critical steps. The help file is even worse. No mention anywhere on the packaging that support is fee-based. Customer service stinks (I used to manage a customer service call center so I know poorly or non-trained customer servce people when I hear them). After paying for support, the technician's answer to my issues was "Well, I know it works, I've seen it work, it must be something with your computer" - of course he had no idea what it could be. To test this, I installed it on another, completely differently configured PC. EXACT SAME PROBLEMS. Don't waste your money or your time. Reviewers who gave this 5 stars must be shills - nobody could be satisfied with this junk.

I agree with the other reviewers. I was able to capture video from my camcorder just fine. I was able to create a "storyline" by editing from my video and even create a few interesting transitions. But I was completely unable to figure out how to add audio clips to my video, such as music. The manual was completely useless. I thought it cost a lot, but would not waste my money if I knew I couldn't create the movies I wanted to. I would be willing to pay more to get a product that works.

The product appears appealing though simple. Although the documentation and tutorials are skimpy, with enough effort one can figure it out. The problem is it crashes every time I try to save my editing result. And there is no help in producing VCDs. The troubleshooting guide and online help are silent on the problems I am encountering. The company does not respond to email requests and requires payment for telephone help.

This software appears to have all the bells and whistles necessary to produce high quality videos. However, I have had a high degree of frustration and wasted time with this product. I had to install a second 60GB HD just to produce one video over 8 min. I have also experienced constant snags on my final production whenever I use the dissolve transition. The music editing capabilities are also very limited. (...)

In a word, this software is TERRIBLE. I'm using a pretty straightforward Windows 98 system with a 733 MHZ processor. The program has crashed so many times on me that I have simply lost count. The website offers little to no support other than to remove any other video editing software that I have on my system. As ridiculous as this is, I did it, but still with no luck.

I can almost accept a program that doesn't work from the start. But one that sporadically crashes after you've spent good time capturing and/or editing video is simply a sign of bad programming. With all the negative press, you think they'd offer a cheap upgrade to Version 5. But, no such luck there either.

This is one of the very few programs that I have just removed from my system and thrown in the trash. It does not deserve any more of my time. Nor does it deserve any of yours.

If I can save even one person from embarking on the same disasterous journey that I have with this useless piece of garbage, then my time writing this review was well spent.

I wish I had an alternative solution to suggest, but I am still in search of one myself...

Captured my digital video easily, stores everything in a neat library, the Storyline with drag and drop makes editing intuitive, transitions are easy to create, sound editing easy to master. Manual is nearly worthless--had to buy a separate book that covered VideoWave. Help files just as bad. Final production snagged repeatedly and gave no clue why. Most irritating is that any effects can't be viewed until the video is produced, which is very time consuming. I'd check out other programs first...it's possible that this is the best you can do in this price range.

After spent over $400 upgrading my computer and software. The software does not support sony trv20. MGI should anticipate this problem and has an downloadable patch available. The software supprt is nonexistent with waiting time on phone last forever and finally, I gave up.