Two quick questions about purchasing…

[John Rofrano]

[Scott Matthews] “1) When installing, can I choose NOT to install parts — for example, if I don’t need DVD Architect? Or, with Suite, if I don’t need Sound Forge or something else, can I choose not to install that, but still install later if I decide to?”

I can’t answer this because I’ve never purchased the suite but I’m guessing these are all separate installers. I’m not sure why anyone would pay for a suite and then not install all the parts. They take up a tiny amount of hard drive space. (I’m talking 372MB for Movie Studio, 298MB for DVD Architect, and 269MB for Sound Forge.)

[Scott Matthews] “2) If I download the trial from Sony, and purchase a copy from some vendor, do I simply enter the licence code that comes with my purchased copy into the trial?”

Yes, the trials can be unlocked with a license key. No need to re-install.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Scott Matthews]

[John Rofrano] “I’m not sure why anyone would pay for a suite and then not install all the parts.”

ha, you’re right to ask, I’ll tell you exactly why:

I went to purchase a copy of Movie Studio 12 (not the Suite) from Amazon, and they had it there for just $46.99 — and (oddly) Movie Studio Suite was just $2 more ($48.99) — so I figured I may as well get the Suite, even though I don’t immediately need the extras.

Also, I mostly work on a laptop with an SSD, and so space is a bit of an issue.

🙂

[John Rofrano]

[Scott Matthews] “Movie Studio Suite was just $2 more ($48.99) “

That seems a bit cheap. The lowest I saw Movie Studio Platinum Suite 12 on Amazon was $60. Make sure you are getting the Platinum version and not the regular Movie Studio version. Understand about SSD size limitations. I’m pretty sure they give you 3 installers and even if they don’t you can download the software from Sony’s web site. As long as you have the license keys that’s all that really matters.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Scott Matthews]

Yeah, it’s $62 now — don’t know why it was $48.99 earlier today, guess I got lucky.

And, fwiw, the downloaded Suite Trial installer has separate checkboxes for Movie Studio, Sound Forge, and DVD Architect.

Next, looking forward to digging in! Thanks for the help.

[John Rofrano]

[Scott Matthews] “Next, looking forward to digging in! Thanks for the help.”

You’re welcome. I assume we’ll see you back here with questions. 😉 Enjoy,

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Scott Matthews]

[John Rofrano] ” I assume we’ll see you back here with questions. ;-)”

I do have one, if you have a sec…

I gather video files tend to have 48KHz audio, and my audio application (Ableton) is now set to 44KHz, though I can change that.

My plan is to record audio in Ableton, export a WAV, shoot AVCHD in my camera, drag both file into Movie Studio, align the audio, and then export an H.264 file, which will also go to YouTube.

Is there a “right” sample rate to choose for the audio? eg, leave it at 44KHz because that’s the most common for audio? Or switch it to 48KHz because that’s the most common for video? (or even some reason to use 96KHz?)

I’m hoping to avoid the “opps, should have set that differently” moment later on.

[Matt Crowley]

I bought Movie Studio Platinum HD 10 suite off Amazon a couple of years back when it was current, and I got the same kind of deal – genuine HD Platinum Suite was about the same price as plain old non-Suite. The installers are separate (or you can at least choose which parts to install).

Video tends to have the audio streams at 48kHz, as that’s the normal for DV, DVD, AVCHD and more. 44.1kHz is pretty much only for audio CD. If your audio projects in Ableton or whatever are mainly going to be used in your videos, then record/mix at 48kHz. If you need a 44.1kHz audio file later then you can just render out from Ableton or Vegas as 44.1kHz.

[John Rofrano]

[Scott Matthews] “Is there a “right” sample rate to choose for the audio? eg, leave it at 44KHz because that’s the most common for audio? Or switch it to 48KHz because that’s the most common for video? (or even some reason to use 96KHz?)”

I would change Ableton to record at 48KHz. 44KHz is the delivery format for CD’s, but the delivery format for video is largely 48KHz/16 bit which will give you better quality anyway.

Of course you could always record at 96KHz and down-sample to 48K but that’s up to you. What you don’t want to be doing is up-sampling from 44K to 48K because (as you may know) you can’t make something out of nothing so the quality won’t be as good as recording at 48K to begin with.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Scott Matthews]

So if I import a 44KHz wav into my Movie Studio project, when rendering out the new video file, it’ll upsample that audio to 48KHz — rather than have a 44KHz track within the video?

[John Rofrano]

[Scott Matthews] “So if I import a 44KHz wav into my Movie Studio project, when rendering out the new video file, it’ll upsample that audio to 48KHz — rather than have a 44KHz track within the video?”

Yes. The file will be up-sampled to 48K and you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. I should sound fine.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com