VideoStudio 19 Ultimate Installation Failure: This Procedure May Help You
January 16, 2020
DarkCyber has never in our previous 16,000 posts provided a fix for a problem with commercial software. We are providing a fix for Corel’s VideoStudio 19 Ultimate for these reasons:
- Corel technical support responded to our trouble ticket but provided zero useful information
- There are problems on the disc with the packaged version of the software to make the resulting installation malfunction
- None of the posts on the Corel user forum provided a fix for what seems to be a common problem—No filters for special effects were installed
- The Corel download page for the program offers two files, but each is different. Careless, coincidence, lack of motivation, indifference, or some other reason? We don’t know.
Context
A local group was unable to install VideoStudeo 19 Ultimate VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on their Windows 10 computer. The big problem was that the software would appear to install on the boxed version of the software. On the machine used by the group, the install typically took two to three hours. But the software would not provide access the “filters,” which is Corel’s word for “video effects” or “FX.” Annoying. You bet. That’s what triggered a request for DarkCyber to help out this group.
Symptoms
1. Program crashed when started
2. Filters (video effects) were not available
After quite a bit of fooling around, we hit upon a solution for a computer running version 18362.
General Approach: A Bird’s-Eye View
1. Examine the failed installation
2. Install VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on a different machine
3. Move the needed files to a USB stick
4. Copy the files from the working VideoStudio 2019 Ultimate installation to the installation of the software that did not work.
What You Need
This fix is not perfect, but it was one which worked for this particular volunteer group.
Here are the steps you may want to follow:
1. Install VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on a Windows 10 computer. We used a spare from our shop which was a clean install; that is, no other software had been installed on the computer. No plug ins, third party anti virus software, nothing. Verify that the program loads and that the components are available; for example, filters (which VideoStudio sometimes calls FX).
2. Get a USB drive or comparable storage method and copy this one file
vfilter.rsf
and these two folders:
vft_plug
vfx_plug
Here’s where you should be able to find these files on your computer:
vfilter.rsf is located at:
[root drive] \Users\ [user name] \AppData\Roaming\Ulead Systems\Corel VideoStudio Pro (x64)\22.0\VFilter.rsf
For the machines we used, the default locations were that the vft_plug folder was at:
[root drive] \Program Files\Corel\Corel VideoStudio 2019\vft_plug
The location of vfx_plug was at:
[root drive] \Program Files\Corel\Corel VideoStudio 2019\Vfx_plug
The Fix Which Worked for Us
We had to do several steps. None was difficult once we determined the names of the files and their location. Corel does not provide this information to its customers. We don’t want to speculate about why the company does not address this problem. A number of VideoStudio 2019 Ultimate owners have this problem. Therefore, we are posting this as a report of what worked for the non profit group. We used a legal copy of the software. We used a “clean” Windows 10 machine. No clean Windows 10 computer? No legal copy of the software? Well, you may be out of luck.
The Steps We Followed
The procedure we followed for vfilter.rsf was:
a. Navigate to the location of vfilter.rsf
b. Rename the file to vfilter old.rsf
c. Copy the version of vifilter.rsf from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, you are substituting the files from an installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 which works.
The procedure we followed for the folder and its files vft_plug was:
a. Navigate to the location of vft_plug
b. Rename the folder to vft_plug old. (There is no need to fiddle with the files in the folder)
c. Copy the version of the vft_plug folder from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, your are replacing the vft_plug folder from the machine with the working installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019.
The procedure we followed for the folder and its files vfx_plug was:
a. Navigate to the location of vfx_plug
b. Rename the folder to vfx_plug old (There is no need to fiddle with the files in the folder)
c. Copy the version of the vfx_plug folder from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, your are replacing the vfx_plug folder from the machine with the working installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019.
Wrap Up
Corel support was not helpful. Corel documentation was not helpful. Most of the citations returned from Bing, Google, Yandex, and Boardwatch queries were not helpful. Therefore, we had to find a solution because the non profit group lacked the funds to buy a more robust video editor or find staff to learn how to use one of the open source options available.
For us, we rebooted the computer and launched VideoStudio Ultimate 2019. The Filters (FX) were accessible under “My Favorites.” Note: Our fix did display animated icons in the Filters (FX) panel. The user has to click “My Favorites” to see the installed Filters (FX).
The other functions of the VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 software were working when we left the office of the group contacting us.
If you find a quicker or improved way to get this low cost video editing software to work, use the comments section of this blog.
Stephen E Arnold, January 16, 2020
Into R? A List for You
May 12, 2019
Computerworld, which runs some pretty unusual stories, published “Great R Packages for Data Import, Wrangling and Visualization.” “Great” is an interesting word. In the lingo of Computerworld, a real journalist did some searching, talked to some people, and created a list. As it turns out, the effort is useful. Looking at the Computerworld table is quite a bit easier than trying to dig information out of assorted online sources. Plus, people are not too keen on the phone and email thing now.
The listing includes a mixture of different tools, software, and utilities. There are more than 80 listings. I wasn’t sure what to make of XML’s inclusion in the list, but, the source is Computerworld, and I assume that the “real” journalist knows much more than I.
Two observations:
- Earthworm lists without classification or alphabetization are less useful to me than listings which are sorted by tags and alphabetized within categories. Excel does perform this helpful trick.
- Some items in the earthworm list have links and others do not. Consistency, I suppose, is the hobgoblin of some types of intellectual work
- An indication of which item is free or for fee would be useful too.
Despite these shortcomings, you may want to download the list and tuck it into your “Things I love about R” folder.
Stephen E Arnold, May 12, 2019
Kentucky Technology: Stick with Horse Racing
February 21, 2018
Who knows if the information in “KFC: Enemy of Waistlines, AI, Arteries and Logistics Software” is steroid infused or faux chicken.
I loved the factoids in the write up for three reasons:
- I live in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, where fried squirrel is almost as popular as fried chicken with those herbs, spices, and what nots.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken has, according to local legend, had some squabbles in the software barnyard. Does Taco Bell system play nice with the fried chicken outlet systems? What about restaurant management software from folks in the even deeper South down Atlanta way?
- Kentucky Fried Chicken is famous in certain circles for the perfect celebratory feast. In Chicago, so the chatter goes, the buckets are a required food stuff after an event.
Here are the factoids I noted:
- Self driving cars think the KFC logo is a stop sign. (I watched the Yandex self driving car video and it sailed right by what appeared to be fast food joints. If I spot a Yandex car braking for a bucket, I will pass along the information.)
- A software glitch nuked some important information.
- A shift to DHL from an outfit called Bidvest created a chicken shortage in some UK KFC outlets. No chicken? How does one fix this? Hit the Waitrose? Nah, shut the friend chicken shops.
Are you hungry for a two piece meal with the mandatory biscuit? Tip: Don’t tell the human at the counter to skip the biscuit. You have to wait if none are sitting on the ready line. Don’t like it? Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, February 21, 2018
Proprietary Software Cheats Users
November 16, 2017
Cory Doctorow is an outspoken defender of net neutrality, technology education, and user rights. He has written and spoken about these subjects and shares his opinion on BoingBoing. The science-fiction magazine Locus recently published one of his new essays,“Cory Doctorow: Demon-Haunted World.” Doctorow discusses how software can be programmed to take out the human factor of like and steer things in favor of corporations who want to gobble down dollars.
Cheating is a well-established enterprise that originated long before the digital revolution, but it is getting smarter as technology advances. While in the past it was cheating was more of a danger from outside forces, it is now nestled within the very things we own.
The software allows companies and literally anyone with the know how to cheat you out of money or precious time. Rather than cheat en masse, the cheating is coming to your home because it is so much easier to infiltrate the individual now. Even scarier is when he uses an alchemy metaphor, explaining how alchemists were cut-rate lab technicians who believed spirits, God, and demons influenced their experiments. The technology used for cheating has a similar demonic presence and that is not even the worst factor.
Doctorow pulls out his trump card when he explains how outdated technology laws from the 20th century still had standing today when it is more than obvious they need to be repealed:
What’s worse, 20th-century law puts its thumb on the scales for these 21st-century demons. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1986) makes it a crime, with jail-time, to violate a company’s terms of service. Logging into a website under a fake ID to see if it behaves differently depending on who it is talking to is thus a potential felony, provided that doing so is banned in the small-print clickthrough agreement when you sign up.
Then there’s section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998), which makes it a felony to bypass the software controls access to a copyrighted work. Since all software is copyrightable, and since every smart gadget contains software, this allows manufacturers to threaten jail-terms for anyone who modifies their tractors to accept third-party carburetors (just add a software-based check to ensure that the part came from John Deere and not a rival), or changes their phone to accept an independent app store, or downloads some code to let them choose generic insulin for their implanted insulin pump.
Follow Doctorow’s advice, read, test, learn, and just combat ignorance.
Whitney Grace, November 16, 2017
Elsevier Makes a Brave Play to Steal Wikipedias Users
October 9, 2017
Is Wikipedia about to be unseated in the world of academic publishing? Elsevier thinks they can give the crowdsourced, yet flawed, info hub a serious run for its money. Money, being the key word, according to a recent TechDirt article, “Elsevier Launching Rival to Wikipedia by Extracting Scientific Definitions Automatically from Author’s Texts.”
According to the piece:
Elsevier is hoping to keep researchers on its platform with the launch of a free layer of content called ScienceDirect Topics, offering an initial 80,000 pages of material relating to the life sciences, biomedical sciences and neuroscience. Each offers a quick definition of a key term or topic, details of related terms and relevant excerpts from Elsevier books.
Seems like it makes sense, right? Elsevier has all this academic information at their fingertips, so why send users elsewhere on the web for other information. This extraction system, frankly, sounds pretty amazing. However, TechDirt has a beef with it.
It’s typical of Elsevier’s unbridled ambition that instead of supporting a digital commons like Wikipedia, it wants to compete with it by creating its own redundant versions of the same information, which are proprietary. Even worse, it is drawing that information from books written by academics who have given Elsevier a license.
It’s a valid argument, whether or not Elsevier is taking advantage of its academic sources by edging into Wikipedia’s territory. However, we have a hunch their lawyers will make sure everything is on the up and up. A bigger question is whether Elsevier will make this a free site or have a paywall. They are in business to make money, so we’d guess paywall. And if that’s the case, they’d better have a spectacular setup to draw customers from Wikipedia.
Patrick Roland, October 9, 2017
Trust the Search Black Box and Only the Black Box
September 21, 2017
This article reads like an infomercial for a kitchen appliance. It asks the same, old question, “How much time do you waste searching for relevant content?” Then it leads into a pitch for Microsoft and some other companies. BA Insights wrote, “The Increasingly Intelligence Search Experience” to be an original article, but frankly it sounds like every spiel to sell a new search algorithm.
After the “hook,” the article runs down the history of Microsoft and faceted search along with refiners and how it was so revolutionary at the time. Do not get me wrong, this was a revolution move, but it sounds like Microsoft invented the entire tool rather than just using it as a strategy. There is also a brief mention on faceted navigation, then they throw “intelligence search” at us:
Microsoft’s definition of “intelligence” may still be vague, but it’s clear that the company believes its work in machine-learning, when combined with its cloud platform, can give it a leg up over its competitors. The Microsoft Graph and these new intelligent machine-learning capabilities provide personalized insights based on a user’s personal network, project assignments, meeting schedule, and other search and collaboration activities. These features make it possible not only to search using traditional methods and take action based on those results, but for the tools and systems to proactively provide intelligent, personalized, and timely information before you ask for it – based on your profile, permissions, and activity history.
Oh! Microsoft is so smart that they have come up with something brand new that companies which specialize in search have never thought of before. Come on, how many times have we seen and read claims like this before? Microsoft is doing revolutionary things, but not so much in the field of search technology. They have contributed to its improvement over the years, but if this was such a revolutionary piece of black box software why has not anyone else picked it up?
Little black box software has their uses, but mostly for enterprise and closed systems-not the bigger Web.
Whitney Grace, September 21, 2015
Natural Language Processing for Facebook Messenger
September 15, 2017
In its continuing effort to evolve from a basic networking site to a platform for services, Facebook is making Messenger smarter. Silicon reports, “Facebook Bakes Natural Language Processing Messenger Platform 2.1.” The inclusion allows developers to create more functionality for organizations that wish to conduct chatbot-based business through Facebook Messenger itself, without having to utilize another site or app. Reporter Roland Moore-Colyer quotes Facebook’s Vivien Tong as he writes:
‘This first version can detect the following entities [within users’ messages]: hello, bye, thanks, date & time, location, amount of money, phone number, email and a URL. This is the first step in bringing NLP capabilities to all developers, enabling brands to scale their experiences on Messenger.’
The natural language processing capabilities come courtesy of Wit.aim a company Facebook acquired backing in 2015; its services have been available to developers for some time, but were not made native to the Messenger Platform until its latest iteration. Alongside in-built natural language processing, the overhauled Messenger Platform contains software development kits for developers to easily integrate payment services into Messenger and make it easier for to switch customer conversations from automated chatbots to human customer services.
Ah, yes, payment services are crucial, and being able to reach a real person is a sanity-saver (and a client-keeper.) Moore-Colyer notes this development is one in a series of advances for Messenger, and that Facebook’s embrace of smart tech extends to fighting terrorism within its platform.
Cynthia Murrell, September 15, 2017
A Brilliant List of Open Source Localization Tools
August 24, 2017
Open source projects over technology developers the ability to access technology usually locked behind pay walls. One trouble with open source technology is language translation and the ability for developers to localize their projects. Language continues to remain a barrier in our technology driven world, but there are tools to overcome it. OpenSource.com curated a list of, “18 Open Source Translation Tools To Localize Your Project.”
The curator understands the pains of proprietary software:
The proprietary versions of these tools can be quite expensive. A single license for SDL Trados Studio (the leading CAT tool) can cost thousands of euros, and even then it is only useful for one individual and the customizations are limited (and psst, they cost more, too). Open source projects looking to localize into many languages and streamline their localization processes will want to look at open source tools to save money and get the flexibility they need with customization.
The list includes tools for machine translation, which is a hot commodity. Software that can generate a digestible and accurate translation from one language to another is a must have for many localization projects. The list recommends checking out Apertium and Moses. Computer-assisted translation tools are a must have for all translations and language students, because they can save hours of looking up information in dead tree lexicons. They also work in real time, saving more countless hours, so you should check out OmegaT, Subtitles Translator, and Anaphraseus. If you are working with multiple translators on your project you will need to utilize a translation management system to organize everyone-think SharePoint. Jabylon, Zanata, GlobalSight, and Pootle are some good TMS software to check out. Also included are localization automation tools that can ease your work burden, such as Okapi Framework and Mojito.
Whitney Grace, August 24, 2017
Time to Ditch PowerPoint?
August 23, 2017
For decades, Microsoft PowerPoint has been used for making presentations. That is all set to change as a recent study indicates that PowerPoint presentations are ineffective.
According to an article published by Quartz and titled The Scientific Reason No One Wants to See Your PowerPoint Presentation, the publisher says:
Because the human brain process information both visually (using shapes and colors) and spatially (using location and distance, the researchers said, ZUI helps audiences by locating the information in a place, allowing them to mentally retrieve it later.
The problem with the study is that it appears to be too promotional. For instance, the article says tools like Prezi are better for making presentations because it offers a lot of animated options. Why not then use Gifographics or stock videos then?
The effectiveness of a presentation mostly depends on the person presenting it. Many speakers completely do away with any type of tools so that their audience can concentrate on what the speaker says. Moreover, the presentation can be made effective if the slides are designed professionally. Don’t be surprised if, in the near future, all presentations are made using VR headsets for that truly immersive experience.
Vishal Ingole, August 23, 2017
Software That Detects Sarcasm on Social Media
July 20, 2017
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management has developed Sarcasm SIGN, a software that can detect sarcasm in social media content. People with learning difficulties will find this tool useful.
According to an article published by Digital Journal titled Software Detects Sarcasm on Social Media:
The primary aim is to interpret sarcastic statements made on social media, be they Facebook comments, tweets or some other form of digital communication.
As we move towards a more digitized world where the majority of our communications are through digital channels, people with learning disabilities are at the receiving end. As machine learning advances so do the natural language capabilities. Tools like these will be immensely helpful for people who are unable to understand the undertones of communication.
The same tool can also be utilized by brands for determining who is talking about them in a negative way. Now ain’t that wonderful Facebook?
Vishal Ingole, July 20, 2017
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