First the pros: I like this program. It's pretty simple and easy to use, yet gives you a decent amount of flexibility in creating attractive DVD menus, and a fairly full set of templates. With properly compliant mpeg2 files, import is fast and since there's no conversion in that case, producing a DVD is fast. So far I haven't worked with HD or tried importing avi, but previous versions were very slow to process anything but compliant mpeg2. (I use VideoReDo for editing mpeg2, btw - excellent product but the authoring is minimal.) There's support for motion menus, background music, custom still or video backgrounds, most of what you'd want to customize a menu. And you can save your own templates. There's a component for direct video capture which I've never used.
Now the bad parts - I'm using a Windows 7 64-bit computer and installation was a nightmare. Oddly enough, the Try Before You Buy version installed smoothly, but the real version didn't behave the same way. On my first attempt, it hung while installing codecs. I stopped the process, and after that it kept giving me a 'failure to load dll' error. Finally I got rid of that by using System Restore to go back to before the initial installation. Tried again, and it hung again - I waited about half an hour and it was really and truly hung. On a hunch, I went into Program Files (x86) and set the protections on the Ulead MovieFactory 6 folder to allow full control to the 'Trusted Installer' process, and it successfully zipped right through the rest of the install.
Incidentally (or not) during this whole mess I also tried installing it on my Windows XP system. It hung at the same point but then continued and completed successfully after a few minutes. BUT - when I rebooted my computer Windows wouldn't start. Lovely. Following instructions on the Ulead website, I booted in Safe Mode and used System Restore to undo the installation. That worked, but the permanent fix is supposed to be to remove Roxio from your computer. So - that's their answer to an incompatibility with a very popular piece of software - get rid of it?? How about fixing MovieFactory so this doesn't happen?
And that brings me to my final complaint - it's now been two days since I submitted email requests for support on these issues, and no one has gotten back to me. I could call or use live chat support, but only if I'm willing to take off from work since they're only available M-F 9:00 - 7:00 EST. They don't even have a toll-free number for installation support.
For the price here on Amazon, this is a great package. I don't know if I'd want to pay the list price of $50, though. I knocked off two stars for the ridiculously difficult installation and for Corel/Ulead's lack of support.Get more detail about Corel DVD MovieFactory 6.0 Plus.
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