Roxio Support

[photoniks]

Has anyone actually been able to get a response from Roxio's "Support"? I installed EMC 9 and though I can copy a jpeg CD fine, I can to that with windows. When I try to edit a home video loaded from a DVD the edit screen freezes the computer. I have to kill the power to the computer to unfreeze it. I can copy a loaded video to a DVD but the resulting DVD won't play on my DVD player. In short this program is of no value to me.

I have a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4, 2GB ram, and 7200 rpm hard drive. Everything meets the "minimum" requirements on the box. They only thing I can see that might be the problem is my GPU whcih is an Nvidia GEForce4 MX 440. After much searching it seems that this card is not compatible with DirectX 9.0 whcih I do have installed on my computer. Is it my grapics card that is keeping this progarm from running or is this just more crummy software? If I had read the reviews of this software on Amazon.com there is no way I would have bought it. Sure enough a user reports crashes with videowave which is exactly what I am getting. I could have bought from adobe and probably had a better product--I suspect I would have at least gotten a response from the support group.

This is Feb. 6th---I sent my email for help on January 28th and still have gotton no response. As it stands now I am going to have to take my computer into Best Buy and pay a Tech to figure out why this crap will not run on my computer.

[Rafiki]

Rafiki,

This is another issue... best to handle it in the other thread.

 

Just off the top of my head, I would say that it looks like your computer is underpowered.

 

What are you doing down there? Nuclear physics? A quad-core Xeon!

Tom

Hi Tom,

 

Actually I want to produce a film and decided to buy a "grunt" machine since being involved in the IT industry, sitting around for PCs to do their work is not my idea of productive time, so I thought this Dell build would see me sweet. I've had issues with the HDD access speed on the 490 and seems to be a design fault, so Dell have agreed to take it back and refund my $$. Apart from that it's a rocket ship.

 

Sad part is since I bought EMC9 in September I haven't been able to create anything other than burn a few CDs, which I could have done with the installed (free) Sonic software. I've tried various threads and found one where someone else was having the same problem with video cutting and all seem related to DirectX.

 

My entire business (IT) uses Dells for all sorts of applications, yet it seems the forum clearly shows Dells have an issue with EMC9. I'd then ask why don't Roxio test EMC9 on some Dells and see if it is a Dell problem or a Roxio problem? Surely the large installed Dell base would make it in Roxio's interests to get it to work because if I had a dollar for everytime someone on this forum has suggested "update your drivers" as a stock answer, I'd be wealthier I'm sure!

 

I'm now at my wits end having run all the diags I can on DirectX, still to no avail.

 

If EMC9 doesn't work on my new hardware when I get it, then the I guess the CD will become an expensive coaster!

[Tom at Roxio]

I have a DirectxV9.0 compatible card (see signature), have DirectX9.0c installed, have tested it using DxDiags (all passed), have the latest drivers from NVidia (V91.47), yet STILL can't get any of the video components in EMC9 to work. Please see my post http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=17153.

Rafiki,

This is another issue... best to handle it in the other thread.

 

Just off the top of my head, I would say that it looks like your computer is underpowered.

 

What are you doing down there? Nuclear physics? A quad-core Xeon!

 

 

Tom

[aydeet]

I wish I had read the Amazon reviews... I have had my computer crash several times while editing vidowave I have a brand NEW DELL dual core.. (one month old) so its not my hardware! drivers..etc

[jhend]

Photoniks, I am a technical novice, but, EMC 9 is the second software acquisition from Roxio that did not work. The first, which was a upgrade to Easy CD Creator, damaged my cd burner resulting in replacement and a roll-back to an earlier version of ECDC. I am experiencing the same problems with EMC 9. It might be cheaper to just get another software package rather than replacing your video card which might come with other complications.

[gi7omy]

Problem with running tests on Dells Rafiki is there ain't no such animal as a 'standard' Dell - they come in all sorts and flavours and I doubt that Roxio would have the space to put even all this month's models in for testing, not to mention all the other box-shifters.

 

However, what does happen is that Dell obtains a modified version of the Roxio s/w to their specs and that's what's installed on their boxes. It's possible that there is some conflict between the OEM s/w and the full suite (not being down there I can't say for certain) and you would need to run a registry cleaner to completely wipe all Sonic and Roxio references out of the registry after uninstalling the Dell version.

 

Problems with Dells - possibly due to the fact there are a lot more of them out there in percentage terms, but as a rule of thumb, most of the 'I want a computer, ship me one right away' versions are built to the cheapest specs - onboard graphics that don't quite cut it. It's different in your case tho. One thing tho (and it's the reason why it's always mentioned) is that graphics cards can spend quite a few months moving round and sitting on shelves once they leave the factory and the CD that ships with them is usually out of date by the time it ends up on someone's desk, so updating the graphics has become standard advice.

[grandpabruce]

I wish I had read the Amazon reviews... I have had my computer crash several times while editing vidowave I have a brand NEW DELL dual core.. (one month old) so its not my hardware! drivers..etc

 

Your onboard video chip is the problem. New onboard chips are the same as old onboard chips. They don't cut it.

[gi7omy]

That is the height of nonsense

NO app will 'damage a cd burner' - you may have tried to flash the drive and that caused it, but no Roxio app will ever do that - you had to acquire the flash 'upgrade' elsewhere and in that case, flashing a drive is 'at your own risk' even if it is from the drive maker

[Beerman]

As a many year Dell buyer, I can say, if you get the pre packaged deals, you're wasting your money. The best way is to customize it. I get mine with the minimum of ram and add my own. I usually add my own dvd drives but use their dedicated video and audio instead of onboard stuff. Then, I wipe the drive clean, partition the drives and reinstall the OS and I've been very happy. In the last decade I've purchased 18 desktops and laptops from Dell and only twice did I have to use the warranty. Once for a hard drive (which I could have made work if I wanted to) and once for a new motherboard because the NIC went bad. They took care of me quickly both times.

Do not get the cheaper models as you do get what you pay for and this not only goes for Dell but all the major brands.

[sknis]

I have a DirectxV9.0 compatible card (see signature), have DirectX9.0c installed, have tested it using DxDiags (all passed), have the latest drivers from NVidia (V91.47), yet STILL can't get any of the video components in EMC9 to work. Please see my post http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=17153.

 

 

In that earlier post, you said you had a GeForce but in your signature, you listed a Quadro FX.

 

Double check on that video driver. I went to the nVidia site and thought that 91.36 was the latest for your "Quadro" specific card. Also notice that they do not "guarantee" the drivers from their pages. What they seem to suggest is that you choose the driver for the application. I don't see Roxio on the list but a competing company lists 91.36 as the one that is certified. Just for information, 93.71 is the latest driver for a lot of the "normal cards".

[Rafiki]

What do you mean you had to remove EMC 9 to install the video card driver? That makes absolutely no sense at all.

I uninstalled the old vodeo driver (V91.36) and rebooted, installed the new one (V91.47) at the standard XP 1024x768 desktop and rebooted then when I went to run EMC9 it asked me for the .msi package, which of course is embedded in the .exe I downloaded, so I couldn't point it at the .msi.

 

I also couldn't understand why EMC9 now wanted to reinstall iteslf so I cancelled the operation, but each time I hit cancel, it would roll back and start again! I couldn't stop it. The only way I could stop it was to kill the process and reboot. I tried again and it did the same thing, so I had to completely remove EMC9 and reinstall.

[gi7omy]

To get the .msi file (and anything else actually), right click on the download .exe file and 'Open With' Winrar or WinZip (it's a self-extract archive) and extract to a temp folder anywhere of your choice. The 'contents' file is the same.

 

You can run setup.exe from that folder

[Spartacus]

Hi Guys/Gals,

I'm a new kid on the block (Yeh 1943 was a good year). I have read all these posts about direct X and shut downs and whatever. You might as well be talking about Snickers for all the sense they make to me. All I want to do is to make my videos look nice and friendly with some transitions and titles and credits. I made what I thought was an OK movie (for training purposes) and rendered it and copied it to a dvd/cd then when I wanted to alter it put it into videowave and made some alterations. When I tried to play it back I got a dreadful noise and the dreaded 'Blue Screen' so I had to shut down the PC from the wall socket.

 

I've got a Packard Bell computer (IMEDIA MC 2469) with a 140GB hard drive and 1GB RAM.

 

Can anybody tell me what is going wrong in words of one sylable if possible. I know they shouldn't let old guys like me out, but I am good to the wife, kids and grandkids.

 

Incidently I've also got Pinnacle studio on my PC and thats not doing what it says on the box.

Tomorrow I'm getting Serif Movie plus 5 to see if that does what I want.

 

Thanks for reading this missive. Sorry it's so long winded. Verbosity is my byword

 

Regards

 

Spartacus

[photoniks]

Hi!

 

We do have support, through a variety of channels... RoxAnn, Knowledgebase, and our Web-based support system... http://selfserve.roxio.com/ ... and we have the best user forums anywhere, due to the support of many great Roxio customers who know our products inside and out. Our Customer Care department doesn't provide support through e-mail - sorry. The reason for this is that we use a database system to create support tickets, letting us categorize and track issues. If you use the link provided above, you can enter a new ticket, which is just as fast and easy as e-mail... but provides better visibility of issues for us (allowing us to focus our resources on the biggest problems first).

 

While we don't officially provide support and answers to issues here in the user forums, we monitor issues being reported and discussed, to provide answers to questions that our power users might not know, for instance.

 

I work in Product Management, where we plan for new products. I don't work in Customer Care... but I can tell you that we have a large and very competent organization. So, again... if you need immediate help, follow the "contact support" link provided... http://selfserve.roxio.com/

 

Tom

Photoniks - Easy Media Creator 9 requires a DirectX 9.0 compatible video card. See http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/creator/...quirements.html

 

This shouldn't be too expensive if you shop around.... about $40 at the low end. It sounds like your system is a few years old, so the video card is probably plugged in to an AGP slot. Just be sure you buy an older AGP card, and not one of the newer video cards designed to plug into a PCIe slot. And, of course, be sure it is DirectX 9.0 compatible.

 

Tom

 

Support? This is Feb. 20 and I still have not received a response. The web site is useless. I sent in a ticket for support: if there is no email support why the hell does Roxio have userws send in supprt requests by email?

 

 

After spending $306 to get a new GPU and power supply installed I can get the program to run: apparantly. I can't figure out how to use it from the manual or the "tutorials". Both are very brief overviews of the particular subject and do not explain how to actually do what the program is supposed to do. I don't doubt that a hardware upgrade would have been needed regardless of what program I bought. However since it appears that I will have to find a third party source to get instruction on how to merely operate this program I wish I had not bought it. There are better programs availible than this if it comes to having to get outside instruction on the operation of the program.

[photoniks]

Photoniks, if you post to the appropriate forum asking 'how do I...?', someone will be able to talk you through it

 

 

Thanks; it doesn't seem quite fair for me to have to rely on others to learn the program. I appreciate the help but wish there was a real manual to explain the vaious functions step by step. I see there is an "EMC 8

for dummies" book availible but none for EMC 9. Does anyone have experienc ewith this book? Is it worth trying and is it likely to help understand the program?

[gi7omy]

That'sd what we come here for - to try to help so don't worry about that (we are a worldwide bunch so there's always somebody around)

 

Manual - pdf version do you? If so, try here

[photoniks]

Photoniks, I am a technical novice, but, EMC 9 is the second software acquisition from Roxio that did not work. The first, which was a upgrade to Easy CD Creator, damaged my cd burner resulting in replacement and a roll-back to an earlier version of ECDC. I am experiencing the same problems with EMC 9. It might be cheaper to just get another software package rather than replacing your video card which might come with other complications.

 

 

Although it was pricey I do not regret upgrading--I had to get a new power supply since my computer had a 160 watt and the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS 512 MB which I upgraded to (had a geforce 4 MX440) requires at least 350 watts. I got a 400 watt installed. That didn't surprise me and though I did some changes on the computer package when I ordered it in Dec 2002 I don't recall if a different graphics card was offered--I doubt I would have appreciated the significance then. I suspect those who point out that the "stock" graphics cards on "off the shelf" computers are not necessarily up to handling demanding programs are right. I had to do a lot of research to even get an idea of the difference between those that were availible. I found a lot of info on Nvidia and Radeon as well as on graphics cards etc. at en.Wikipedia.org. Also www.gpureview.com is helpful.

 

The new graphics card does solve the freezing problem and seems to give a noticeable snap to graphics intensive web pages such as google earth.

[gi7omy]

Photoniks - it dawned on me after I posted - did you check the 'tips and tricks' section of the forum. That's where all 'good ideas' get posted. There's a good selection of tutorial videos (try this one)

[gi7omy]

You're right regarding the graphics capability

 

What happens with the program is that it utilises the graphics chipset to render (the load on the CPU is intensive and it needs that extra amount from the GPU)

 

You could try updating the driver first (the program also requires the latest drivers)

 

I can't answer re Tech Support - this is a users' forum and none of us work for Roxio

 

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html

[gi7omy]

Photoniks, if you post to the appropriate forum asking 'how do I...?', someone will be able to talk you through it

[Tom at Roxio]

They are right, you have a better chance of getting answers here. I submitted an email suppport request on Jan, 17, never to get a response. If you live in a different time zone where you have little time to call support, you might as well forget any other type of response from Roxio, Sonic, or whoever you want to call them. If they don't intend to provide support, they shouldn't offer it. For the most part, their program is good. If you do have any problems, the forum here is your only chance for assistance.

Hi!

 

We do have support, through a variety of channels... RoxAnn, Knowledgebase, and our Web-based support system... http://selfserve.roxio.com/ ... and we have the best user forums anywhere, due to the support of many great Roxio customers who know our products inside and out. Our Customer Care department doesn't provide support through e-mail - sorry. The reason for this is that we use a database system to create support tickets, letting us categorize and track issues. If you use the link provided above, you can enter a new ticket, which is just as fast and easy as e-mail... but provides better visibility of issues for us (allowing us to focus our resources on the biggest problems first).

 

While we don't officially provide support and answers to issues here in the user forums, we monitor issues being reported and discussed, to provide answers to questions that our power users might not know, for instance.

 

I work in Product Management, where we plan for new products. I don't work in Customer Care... but I can tell you that we have a large and very competent organization. So, again... if you need immediate help, follow the "contact support" link provided... http://selfserve.roxio.com/

 

Tom

 

Has anyone actually been able to get a response from Roxio's "Support"? I installed EMC 9 and though I can copy a jpeg CD fine, I can to that with windows. When I try to edit a home video loaded from a DVD the edit screen freezes the computer. I have to kill the power to the computer to unfreeze it. I can copy a loaded video to a DVD but the resulting DVD won't play on my DVD player. In short this program is of no value to me.

I have a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4, 2GB ram, and 7200 rpm hard drive. Everything meets the "minimum" requirements on the box. They only thing I can see that might be the problem is my GPU whcih is an Nvidia GEForce4 MX 440. After much searching it seems that this card is not compatible with DirectX 9.0 whcih I do have installed on my computer. Is it my grapics card that is keeping this progarm from running or is this just more crummy software? If I had read the reviews of this software on Amazon.com there is no way I would have bought it. Sure enough a user reports crashes with videowave which is exactly what I am getting. I could have bought from adobe and probably had a better product--I suspect I would have at least gotten a response from the support group.

This is Feb. 6th---I sent my email for help on January 28th and still have gotton no response. As it stands now I am going to have to take my computer into Best Buy and pay a Tech to figure out why this crap will not run on my computer.

Photoniks - Easy Media Creator 9 requires a DirectX 9.0 compatible video card. See http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/creator/...quirements.html

 

This shouldn't be too expensive if you shop around.... about $40 at the low end. It sounds like your system is a few years old, so the video card is probably plugged in to an AGP slot. Just be sure you buy an older AGP card, and not one of the newer video cards designed to plug into a PCIe slot. And, of course, be sure it is DirectX 9.0 compatible.

 

Tom

[photoniks]

Hi Guys/Gals,

I'm a new kid on the block (Yeh 1943 was a good year). I have read all these posts about direct X and shut downs and whatever. You might as well be talking about Snickers for all the sense they make to me. All I want to do is to make my videos look nice and friendly with some transitions and titles and credits. I made what I thought was an OK movie (for training purposes) and rendered it and copied it to a dvd/cd then when I wanted to alter it put it into videowave and made some alterations. When I tried to play it back I got a dreadful noise and the dreaded 'Blue Screen' so I had to shut down the PC from the wall socket.

 

I've got a Packard Bell computer (IMEDIA MC 2469) with a 140GB hard drive and 1GB RAM.

 

Can anybody tell me what is going wrong in words of one sylable if possible. I know they shouldn't let old guys like me out, but I am good to the wife, kids and grandkids.

 

Incidently I've also got Pinnacle studio on my PC and thats not doing what it says on the box.

Tomorrow I'm getting Serif Movie plus 5 to see if that does what I want.

 

Thanks for reading this missive. Sorry it's so long winded. Verbosity is my byword

 

Regards

 

Spartacus

 

 

If you are running windows XP try going to "run" in the start menu and then type in dxdiag you should get a "button" that will tell you which version of DirectX you have and allow you to test it to see if it is working correctly. I don't know if this is true for other windows systems or not. DirectX is a Microsoft graphics program--at least I think I am decribing it correctly. If you have been updating windows regularly you should have DiectX 9.0c which was the case with me. I discovered that my old graphics card was not capable of running DirectX 9 though most video worked fine. I had stalls in EMC 9 because my grapics card wasn't able to handle DirectX 9 and consequently couldn't completely run EMC 9--specifically the video parts-- the new video editing programs seem to all require DirectX 9 but just having DirectX 9 installed isn't enough your graphics card has to be compatible with it. http//en.wikipedia.org is a useful site for info on directx etc.

I'm sorry I can't tell you how to find out what card you have in your computer. I was able to find a chart on wikipedia that listed which version of directx would work with which nvidia based graphics cards. if you can find out what card you have someone should know whether it is capable of running the current version of directx.

I'm too new to this program to tell you what your symptoms mean but I suspect investigating the card would be a start.

[gi7omy]

You said that already

 

To reply - use the 'add reply' button at the bottom - not the "reply" one

[photoniks]

You're right regarding the graphics capability

 

What happens with the program is that it utilises the graphics chipset to render (the load on the CPU is intensive and it needs that extra amount from the GPU)

 

You could try updating the driver first (the program also requires the latest drivers)

 

I can't answer re Tech Support - this is a users' forum and none of us work for Roxio

 

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html

 

 

I did update the driver--or rather Gateway support (which works) remotely updated it for me. When I started the program per their request the computer froze again and I had to use the Microsoft Emergency Key ( power switch on surge suppressor). My son has an Apple with iMovie and it makes editing video look like child's play. It might be difficult to do but it seems to me that they could be more explicit as to what graphics cards are needed to run their software, maybe a list on their website. As far as I can see I am going to have to have someone replace the GPU, I am looking at the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS 512 MB DDR2. I don't relly know anything about how they stack up other thanwhat I can find in internet searches. I have an AGP connection I understand (4x) so I will have to use one compatible to my motherboard. Gateway support suggested I could use a PCI socket on this board but I understand the PCI is not as good as AGP which is not as good as the newest PCIe. In any case I will have to have someone who knows the equipment install it. There are apparantly different voltages on ADP cards and the newer cards are 8x so I will have to be sure it is backward compatible. My ~73 dollar EMC 9 program is now going to cost me several hundred dollars more. If I had known that I would have been tempted just to pay someone to edit the video tapes for me.

 

I realize this is a user's forum: It strkes me as funny that Roxio seems to rely on its users to solve problems with their products. I was curious, seriously, if anyone has actually been able to get Roxio's support to respond to them. I saw one post where the guy has been waiting I think over a month. although I would no doubt have to update my GPU anyway I really would not have bought this if I had read any reviews on it--I was relying on word of mouth reputation. This is definately the last Roxio product I will ever buy.

 

Thanks for the info. I have never had to learn anything about the GPU and in the past only new it was better to have a seperate card than have the the computer processor do the graphics. I still know relatively little about them.

[gi7omy]

It's not so much that Roxio relies on us - they gave us this forum to do our own thing really (well within reasonable limits)

 

Graphics card - if your box has an AGP slot (you need to open the case and look inside - all white slots are PCI, one brown slot set slightly back from the others at the end is AGP, black, it's PCIe

 

However - AGP8x cards are supposed to be backward compatible - read this:

 

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Will_an_8x_AGP_v...n_a_4x_AGP_slot

 

Pricewise they aren't that bad and 256 MB should be sufficient.

 

The Gateway updated drivers - you may find that they aren't the latest ones anyway (most box shifters use the ones they got when they bought in the cards, which could have been some time ago but the card makers will have moved on since then

 

btw to replace a card is nothing more than open the case, either remove a screw or punch out a breakaway blanker, pop the card in the slot, replace the screw and box it up. Then install the drivers that came with it (sounds easy if you say it fast)

[gi7omy]

To check on the video card (easy way) - right click anywhere on the screen, select properties and then settings. The details will be there - for fuller details, advanced, adapter