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Hurry Shop - Roxio Creator 2009 Ultimate
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List Price: $129.99
Our Price: $99.99
Your Save: $ 30.00 ( 23% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Roxio
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: DVD-ROM
Brand: Roxio
EAN: 0815227009350
Feature: Includes everything in Roxio Creator 2009, plus over $300 in extras--BIAS SoundSoap for noise reduction, SmartSound SonicFire Pro for creating soundtracks, and more
Format: DVD-ROM
Label: Roxio
Manufacturer: Roxio
Model: 242300FM
Platform: Windows
Publisher: Roxio
Release Date: 2008-09-17
Studio: Roxio
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Features
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Includes everything in Roxio Creator 2009, plus over $300 in extras--BIAS SoundSoap for noise reduction, SmartSound SonicFire Pro for creating soundtracks, and more
Capture your videos shot with your standard, HD or AVCHD camcorder; transform your footage into a movie using Creator 2009's flexible video editing tools, perfect for all levels of ability and interest
Make the most of your digital music with playlists for any occasion; Creator's new beat matching feature will automatically synchronize the rhythm from song to song
Make every picture perfect with Creator's touch-up tools and effects; create fun cards, calendars and other digital stories to share and enjoy with family and friends
Relive memories on DVD, on-the-go, or share with the world on YouTube or other popular destinations
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: List of features...My opinion...and problems
Comment: Let me break it down...
(I just got this, and have played with it for about a week. In this fist part I wanted to cover the features for those wondering what this thing actually does)
Media Import - is one of those organizer things. It detects and organizes your different files
Audio - Rips and converts CD's to MP3, WMA
Records Internet radio
Converts Audio Books to MP3
Tags audio (artist, title, composer, etc.)
Sound Editor - You are able to import and change audio
Create Music Discs - Create CD or DVD with MP3, etc.
Photo - Edit photos (crop, red eye, add text)
DVD - Copy DVD's, put video cam videos on DVD, add titles
Change file formats (ex. .MOV to . MP4)
Data Discs - Put data from your computer on a disc
Movie player - Watch movies on this
Sound Soap (Ultimate) - clean up hissing audio on audio and video tracks
Soundfire Pro (Ultimate) - Mix tracks according to BPM (I think) Mix audio tracks to put over your video (So basically, you could make a music video)
Bluray - (Ultimate) I think the Ultimate comes with the Bluray plug-in, but the box says you must purchase it in one section. I'm pretty sure it comes with it. One interesting feature concerning Bluray is that you can use your existing burner to burn Bluray, and if I'm reading the box correctly, burn Bluray onto regular DVD's?
Disaster Recovery (Ultimate?)- Back up your hard drive
Other stuff - If you want to work with .MOV, you have to download Quick Time from Apple,
Product comes with a 250 page booklet which is a nice touch, although the deeper features of the product are not covered
You can take recorded Tivo and convert the files to be watched on DVD or mobile device
If you have the right hardware, you can import old LP's, VHS and cassettes and manipulate them (I think you can clean up the audio with SoundSoap)
You can make calendars, greeting cards, etc.
*******
My Opinion (after one week)
The good - you get a good sprinkling of decent apps all in one package. It's user-friendly, and lets you prepare stuff with tags for big names like YouTube, PSP, iPhone etc. without having to be bothered by file types etc.
The bad - A lot of the functions I have no use for. Why use Media Import and Data Discs when Vista already does this?
Sound Editor is cool, but I have Sound Forge (which I'm assuming most people don't, so this could be cool for making ringtones, etc.)
Movie Player - Do I really need another movie player?
Photo Editor - (Why buy, when GIMP is the nicest freeware out there?) The user friendliness of Roxio makes it easy to touch up a photo or remove red eye, but lacks more sophisticated functions.
Making Slide Shows - MS Movie Maker does a great job already
So why did I buy it? - I wanted to convert and burn audio and video file formats. $100 is pretty steep for this function, but it's all in one place now. The "Ultimate" plug-ins might be worth it in the long run, especially for the Bluray. I'm going to play around with SonicFire and SoundSoap to see if they're any good.
I guess Roxio is for people who don't know (for example) how to send something to their mobile device, and they need a program to do it for them. Other than that, I'd say it's a good program, but it seems like it is a "doubling up" of programs that I already have on my computer. But for those who don't have all of these programs, or want a main program to manage all your media, this one isn't bad.
Video files supported -
Input (dvd, WMV, DivX, HD DivX, DMF,DVR-MS,MPEG-4, H.264, MP4 (PT. 2),DV-AVI, 3GP, .TS, TiVo, MOV
Output (DVD, WMV, DIVX, 3GP, 3G2, MPEG2, MP4 (PT. 2), MPEG-4
******
After using the programs:
burnt a DVD movie in something crazy like 15 minutes! (Impressed with this) Importing the DVD breaks it down into chapters, etc. so you can just import Ch 3 of a given movie.
Converted a medium sized file from DVD to MPEG-4 and it took a few hours (longer than I expected given the fast speed of the DVD burn)
burnt an MP3 disc in about 5 minutes
*******
PROBLEMS - and there are many!
ANNOYING CRASHING!!!! - Tried converting video file, and keep getting the message " Roxio VideoConvert has stopped working "
Tried converting another file to MP4 (h.264). It took a few hours, the converted file didn't work, and when I went to try to convert the original file again, I get the same "Roxio VideoConvert has Stoped Working" message. It seems that VideoConnvert corrupts the original file somehow, and it makes Roxio crash if you try to use the original file again. I'm definately very disappointed with the video conversion, and it's one of the main reasons I bought the software.
Another annoying occurance - tried converting a video file with a thing called SyncIt! The nice thing about this feature is that you can select a device that you want your file to go to (ex. mobile device) and it is supposed to convert the file so that the device can play it. First of all, the whole SynchIt! window is tiny (about the size of two desktop icons) Why it's so tiny, I don't know, because SynchIt! will use 90% of your processor, so it's not like you'll be doing anything else with your computer during the meantime. Next, it took an hour to convert the file. During that time, my mobile device went to sleep. Instead of asking me to wake it up, or saving the file, it just said something like, "process cannot be completed" and shut down. So I wasted a few hours of my time, and maxed out my processor during that time....for nothing.
Tried to burn a movie but accidentally put a coaster (bad disc) in, and the burning program tried to burn for like 10 minutes before recognizing that the disc was bad.
Program (home screen) won't fit to screen and you can't drag the sides to make it smaller. The result is that I can't see the bottom of the page. How can a program not fit right on a screen?
Lightscribe drivers weren't installed. Had to run a diagnostic that referred me to a page that had the drivers. http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadsection/Windows/index.aspx?id=1106
The big icons and clean look take a way a lot of the functionality of drop down menus. It's so spartan that there are no menus to check on settings for things like setting screen size or what drive is linked to a certain program.
Burnt a music disc. It puts a propriatary file called "Launch" and with the "user friendliness" there is no way to peruse what actual files will be burned to the disc before you burn, so you can get rid of this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Still reliable and innovative
Comment: When I got Creator 8 I needed the dual layer burning feature. Now I need HD video burning, better music and video features, and portable device conversions. That's the reason I upgraded to Creator 2009. Like others I wonder if anyone is confused with the dropping of the version numbers and using the year to name the suite. I also got the Ultimate version this time to get the tape converter device.
I agree with others that the interface is much easier to use. With so many programs it's a big deal to be able to navigate around. IT still has user-friendly burning programs. Even making an HD formatted disk on a dual-layer dvd standard burner was straight forward. It also doesn't hurt that it's a way to save money on disks, especially in these uncertain times.
The music features have been pumped up. Ver. 8 did not have custom music tracks like 2009. Sometimes a well known song detracts from video/slide shows so some background music is a good feature. Another new thing is the playlist can be generated from one to many songs and then transferred to the ipod. It supports other devices but I only have an ipod to try it on.
In the video program arena there is no comparison. The programs are much easier to learn and have more tools. It is also helpful that it takes cell phone videos and photos since I have a lot of them. Both the photo and video programs work in layers so you can make one change and save or delete as you work on the same file.
I saw a list of video converters that work with the program and it is extensive. Since I bought Ultimate Roxio has there own brand included. My mom wanted to take a bunch of home video tapes to the drugstore to get them on dvds. The price though would have been outrageous. I took over the chore myself. Once I started the conversion I could go on to other things and cut off the file whenever. All the tools are in the suite to edit the video, label it, back it up, add a soundtrack, add titles.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Labeler does not work; Sonic Solution Customer Care is poor
Comment: Although Roxio Creator 2009 claims to have a disk labeler allowing the printing of disc labels and jewel case inserts, it is seriously flawed in that it will not capture and insert track information into its templates. Apparently this has been a known fault for several iterations of the program, but it has received no attention. Contacting Sonic Solutions via email results in no response nor any service ticket generation. Email messages go into a black hole. Don't expect reliable technical support from them.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Much better from menus, apps, and features
Comment: In many ways Creator 2009 has evolved for the better. My older version disappeared from my usage when I upgraded to Vista. I'm back to using Roxio Creator and needed the BD plugin and tape converter to boot so I settled on the Ultimate box. My new pc has a BD burner. The burner software was okay but there are better graphics and backgrounds in the roxio menu creator. It has specific HD quality menus for the high end disks which is another plus.
Much is being made of the new Smartsound that makes music tracks. Older versions didn't have this and it was always on my wish list. There's over a thousand tracks so I can get set the mood for my slideshows and videos. I can't though compare it to other music programs since I've never used one before. I wouldn't upgrade for this alone but it's useful. The Bias soundsoap is a more advanced noise filter and remover than I've ever used. Tapes scratch and tangle easily so it is a necessity for the converted digital audio. Wise choice.
Photo and video programs use familiar key controls and tools. I haven't seen how far I can go with them but for ordinary changes they suffice. Music playlists can be made with even one song. Of course I got better results picking a few songs though. The playlist itself could be exported to my ipod, another plus.
I could only touch on a few of the suite's features since it is packed with a lot. The unique ULtimate features though stand out enough for me to see its value.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Takes advantage of better pc speed and power
Comment: For me version 8 was the ultimate. It brought me into the digital media world and I've been archiving and organizing my media. My dad had a bunch of old home movies on vhs. I decided to get Ultimate 2009 with a video converter. The converter is very small, like a thumbdrive. Before I started I used the new roxio utility to backup the hard drive. I know there are a lot of programs that do this but since it's included I won't slack off about backing up.
Starting the conversion wasn't very hard. Whatevers playing on the vcr shows in the roxio creator window. After I found this out I freed the vcr from the tv and moved it closer to the desktop. It captured video in 720 x 480 resolution. My next step was editing down the video. The video programs are so much better than the one in 8. I think it is worth getting the hang of videowave even if its more difficult than cinemagic. It does a lot more and I had tighter control over the cuts.
Next step was making a dvd. Old tapes didn't have HD quality so I didn't use that feature. I made a virtual disk first so I could make another copy easilly. I chose the dvd-vcr format to make it work in the dvd player. The dvd menu selection is also much better. Even my dad was able to use it like a store bought movie dvd. The virtual disk made the extra copy creation fast.
Just using a few features I can see that there are many improvements from version 8. I didn't use any versions in between so I can't say anything about them. I'm happy that I could make an archive of the videos so easily.
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