New User frustrated!

[hours spent]

I recently purchased Easy CD and DVD Burning (in Red Box). My goal is to put my photos and home videos on discs. I want to have them for my own use as well as to share with family. I was assured at the store where I purchased the Red Box that this software was simple and basic for what I wanted.

I'm finding that this software is not "user friendly" as I am used to experiencing.

There are no prompts to take me through the steps neither are there messages to tell me the status of my progress.

There is no "back" button, no way to save my work in progress, nothing.

I feel like I'm blind when I use this software.

After several hours and three "re-installs" I finally have a disc which will not suffice and will need to be redone.

 

Is there a full user's manual ANYWHERE? I can't even seem to find that.

 

I'm seeing in my near future a loss of my meager $30 investment and different software.

 

Signed,

Hours Spent!

[hours spent]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I'll try to explain in greater detail.

 

I'm trying to put some of my home videos on DVD. I was using MyDVD Express.

Some of my issues are as follows:

 

I found that I after choosing a video file to add, I had to create a title on the menu for it before adding the next video clip, because there's no going back to edit the menu once all the videos are added.

 

In addition, there is no indication as to whether or not the video was added successfully. On my first trial disc, I found that some of my videos were cut shorter than the file I had tried to add.

 

Another example, on two of my requests to add a video file, nothing appeared on the menu list so I assumed they didn't load and added them again. When I viewed the finished DVD disc one video was on there twice, which I could not see before burning.

 

Also another of the videos was in a different order than where I added it and so the movie title that I selected did not produce the expected result.

 

Another example, when I burned the DVD there was no message to tell me that the burn was successful or that the next step was to finalize or to save it, etc.

 

Perhaps, I just have a lot to learn before I can use the software to my satisfaction...but as I said before, this software is not like what I'm used to.

[Brendon]

Hi,

 

There is no manual for Easy CD & DVD Burning, since it is a one-off ultra-cheap version of Roxio software which has been skinned down to the bare essentials and then even some of them have been disabled. It is over two years old, and well "out of support" time.

 

However since it is a very small subset of the legacy software suite Easy Media Creator 9, if you download the PDF manual for EMC 9 from HERE you might well get some pointers on how to operate the few pieces of EMC 9 which make up Easy CD & DVD burning.

 

There is on-line help available in Easy CD & DVD Burning, but in most cases the help files have NOT been altered to reflect the severely reduced functionality of this 'product'. There's a better discussion on some of the disabled features in this topic.

 

I suspect that a lot of your problem is that you only have access to MyDVD Express, a very simplified piece of Sonic software, rather than their MyDVD application. I guess the shop assistant was accurate on the "simple and basic" bit, but (s)he has obviously never used the software [a point I have to make too often] so was guessing in saying it was what you wanted - especially as it is so old.

 

Still, I hope the EMC9 manual helps you to some degree.

[hours spent]

Hi,

 

There is no manual for Easy CD & DVD Burning, since it is a one-off ultra-cheap version of Roxio software which has been skinned down to the bare essentials and then even some of them have been disabled. It is over two years old, and well "out of support" time.

 

However since it is a very small subset of the legacy software suite Easy Media Creator 9, if you download the PDF manual for EMC 9 from HERE you might well get some pointers on how to operate the few pieces of EMC 9 which make up Easy CD & DVD burning.

 

There is on-line help available in Easy CD & DVD Burning, but in most cases the help files have NOT been altered to reflect the severely reduced functionality of this 'product'. There's a better discussion on some of the disabled features in this topic.

 

I suspect that a lot of your problem is that you only have access to MyDVD Express, a very simplified piece of Sonic software, rather than their MyDVD application. I guess the shop assistant was accurate on the "simple and basic" bit, but (s)he has obviously never used the software [a point I have to make too often] so was guessing in saying it was what you wanted - especially as it is so old.

 

Still, I hope the EMC9 manual helps you to some degree.

 

 

I appreciate the suggestion and may download the manual and have a look at that.

I have one more question:

When in MyDVD Express there's a window called Project Settings. In that window there's an option that reads "Pre-render menus in preview." Can you tell me what that means?

[Brendon]

No, sorry - I've never used that.

[Jim_Hardin]

I appreciate the suggestion and may download the manual and have a look at that.

I have one more question:

When in MyDVD Express there's a window called Project Settings. In that window there's an option that reads "Pre-render menus in preview." Can you tell me what that means?

It only concerns the Preview and nothing else. Al menus have to be rendered but Preview takes a shortcut by not rendering complex menus unless you specify it. Otherwise it could take 5 or 10 minutes to see a preview while waiting for it to render.

[Jim_Hardin]

What exactly do you mean by ”put on disc”???

 

There are Data Discs with files on them and there are VCD’s and DVD Movies. Each is different and yield different results.

 

Obviously a Data Disc is merely a copy of a file placed on a disc.

 

The Red Box is as simple as it gets for a complex job like Video.

 

The Home menu outlines the use of each program and the Help files take you through the steps. But no one makes an automated process.

 

[hours spent]

It only concerns the Preview and nothing else. Al menus have to be rendered but Preview takes a shortcut by not rendering complex menus unless you specify it. Otherwise it could take 5 or 10 minutes to see a preview while waiting for it to render.

 

 

Thanks!

[lynn98109]

What exactly do you mean by ”put on disc”???

Presumably, you have WinXP or higher. WinXP is capable of burning data CDs.

 

To burn data DVDs, you do need a program like this one. If it's anything other than a data disc, then other answers may come into the picture.

 

I think that is what Jim is getting at when he is asking what you mean by "put on disc". It's like asking what the baseball score is, and being asked which teams you are referring to.

 

Lynn

 

 

[Brendon]

Thanks Jim.

[Brendon]

You don't need to explain what Jim is thinking, Lyn.

 

He has this software, and has run it. Have you?

[bimicher]

I recently purchased Easy CD and DVD Burning (in Red Box). My goal is to put my photos and home videos on discs. I want to have them for my own use as well as to share with family. I was assured at the store where I purchased the Red Box that this software was simple and basic for what I wanted.

I'm finding that this software is not "user friendly" as I am used to experiencing.

There are no prompts to take me through the steps neither are there messages to tell me the status of my progress.

There is no "back" button, no way to save my work in progress, nothing.

I feel like I'm blind when I use this software.

After several hours and three "re-installs" I finally have a disc which will not suffice and will need to be redone.

 

Is there a full user's manual ANYWHERE? I can't even seem to find that.

 

I'm seeing in my near future a loss of my meager $30 investment and different software.

 

Signed,

Hours Spent!

Since you have not indicated at all what you are doing or what program you are using, its hard to offer any help.

I don't understand what prompts you find are missing, a "back" button for what? Your project can be saved at any point as you go along, What exactly do you want to save?

 

Perhaps if you were to explain what you are trying to do, an easy way of doing can be found.

 

The Help system is more then adequate for the simple jobs.