DVrack activation bug!

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Panamaniac
I paid for DVrack Saturday 6th with three days left on my trial. When I entered the activation key it crapped on me. The icon didn't work, when I clicked on it nothing happened. I rebooted... but it didn't help, the software launched but I got the activation screen with the trial button disabled saying the trial was up. I tried registering and re-registering and got on both attempts a "Registration Failed" message.
I have been e-mailing and talking on the phone with SeriousMagic who still offers the support for DVrack... they have told their techs about it and they are working on a solution. They recently claimed that the bug appeared this week and that there are others on the same boat as me.

I called Adobe suggesting a discount for the troubles but they didn't like the idea.
 
There have been loads of activation issues with DVRack Pro. The activation scheme is outsourced to Softwrap and I have had to both phone as well as email files to them. They ultimately got it sorted it, but it is a terrible scheme and I can rant forever about it (but will rant more in my review of the product).

Ned Soltz
 
I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone how horrid Product Activation is. It takes away your ability to use the product you paid for without first asking the distributor for permission...

So not only is Product Activation oppressive, but as you can see, it is not always reliable.

It's a shame such a decent program such as DV Rack would use Activation. I would have quickly purchased it, but I refuse to buy any software that had mandatory Product Activation.
 
What is even worse with the DVRack activation scheme is that they totally outsourced it to another company. That means that SeriousMagic/Adobe tech support can't help you with activation problems but instead must send you to Softwrap. That's another phone call, another 10 minutes on old or voicemail and then, once you reach someone, several hours to overnight for Softwrap to re-key your app. Once again, the honest are penalized.

Ned
 
I was just about to buy the download of this program when I came across this thread. It scared me to death. I'm not sure I want to drop $499 USD on a program I can't activate. How many people have had this problem?
 
Ohhhhh!!!! So Soft Wrap is a different company, that makes soo much seance! I is sad that a company that can/could develop great products such as DVrack, good enough for Adobe to want to buy it, ends up choosing such a sucky company such as SoftWrap... It's been a full WEEK today, a WEEK!!! seven days of my loaning them $500 and them inadvertedly taking my HD capabilities away from me (I ha three more trial days!)

FilmCrazy, call them first and tell them your operating system computer so on and so forth first (hopefully they won't lie) I wish I wasn't scaring you but I can't say otherwise. Keep in mind that the prolem sould be solved eventually for everyone, and this doesn't change the app in any way, it still rocks...

DOWN WITH :kali: SOFTWRAP!!!!
 
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Actually, I just checked the trial version of DV Rack. I was signing up for HD 2, but my free trial version says SD. Ummm... what's going on?
 
Whole civilizations have passed during the time it's taken me to activate that damn program. Bad planning, bad execution and nobody seems to care.
I would love to have all that wasted time back.
 
I actually got as far as filling out the checkout form and I decided to read dvxuser first (my spidey senses were tingling I suppose). I'm not sure I want to buy just yet, because if I can't activate the product right after the download, my weekend will really suck.
 
I ran into an activation problem...l literally was transferred back and forth from softwrap reps to adobe reps three times. While I was on hold once again I figured it out for myself. You can install an update prior to opening the program. Try going to the dvrack web site and seeing if there is an update. This may be your answer. it was mine. Good luck
 
The problem we have here is a terrific, unique product with a lousy activation program. Essentially, if you need the app, you just have to put up with the Softwrap activation mechanism until Adobe gets the word that its customers hate it. Meanwhile, they will get you straight. It just sometimes takes a few days. Also remember that Softwrap is in London so for those of us in North America, there is a time difference.

Ned
 
I had a guy from Adobe tell me that I only have one choice, and that is to return the order within the 30 days or the sale would be final!!!

If YOUR program created a folder that cannot be deleted, and YOU don't have the faintest clue on how to delete it, and this is the cause of the delay... then I AM WORKING FOR ADOBE AND LOANING THEM MONEY!

I say if you've tried to buy something and instead you turned out to have loaned a wealth company some hard earned money, for more than a week? PM me your last name and purchase date and I'll talk to them about a discount!

Any suggestions on how to approach them, or volunteers with experienced in this sort of riot/organization would b greatly appreciated.


9 DAYS and counting! By the time they open on Monday it will have been 10, double digits!?!

I am very sorry if I sound unprofessional, but I simply had enough... Many of us here appreciate the few good *solutions* around here, and most think there should be a few more of them... we don't need bad corporate management spoiling a single one of them.

I expected much more from a name like Adobe.
 
Having problems too

Having problems too

I paid for, and downloaded DVRack HD 2 from Adobe's website today. I activated the program successfully (at least that's what the window says). Then I tried starting the program and it keeps asking me to reactivate the program. I stopped trying after the seventh try.

Then I tried to download the HD patch (found on Serious Magic's website), but it gives me a window indicating that I first need to PURCHASE (?!?!) DV Rack HD (which I already have - I can see the file on my computer).

What in tarnation is going on? Has anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do to fix it?
 
I had the same activation problem, and after a few phone calls to softwrap, they fixed it without telling me. So while I waited for the promised email from them, it was already fixed. DV rack, of course, lied and told me they had never had that problem before!

BUT THAT'S JUST A MINOR PROBLEM with this BS software. The damn stuff automatically drops all of the pulldown frames from a 24P project, without warning, by default, and without any way of correcting this problem. I am trying to cut a 720p/24 project that was recorded half on DV Rack and half on P2. Since the correct project setting for the P2/24fps footage (since it is over 60) is 720p/59.94, the DV Rack stuff plays like the keystone cops while the P2 stuff is perfect, and there is no way to conform it without running each DV Rack clip through Time Warp or some other motion app to extend it to the same length as the correct P2 stuff. (A kind of pseudo pulldown insertion, which usually only works in interlaced projects.) This is the DEFAULT for DV Rack, and there is NO WAY to change it (according to their manual.) Fortunately, the audio was recorded double system, so it is restorable. God save us if we had run it through the HVX. The only way around it is to record into DV Rack as AVI type 1 (which almost nothing uses) then run it through their decoder. Their decoder will convert it to AVI type 2 automatically, and "forget" to screw up the footage by dropping pulldown frames. (I realize that they are trying to save HDD space this way, but the choice belongs to the DP and the editor, don't you think?)

By the way, their dropped-frame stuff is NOT PN footage. Their manual specifically states that they do not support PN, so it can't be treated that way. What they have is a kind of two-headed monster that spits on any NLE while it is spitting (substitute "h" in the last word for "p") on you.

Do yourself a favor and either don't buy the crap, or throw it away if you already have before you accidentally use it.

If you are considering buying this dog of an app, hold onto your money. It is worse than useless; it is an absolute destroyer of projects.
 
TwoHatCat,

Have you had the same problem with shooting in 1080 24P or 30P? Cuz that's what I'd really like the program for. But if it's going to give me similar problems, I'm going to ask for my money back.
 
TwoHatCat, part of the problem is with the editor you use, and the fact that it can't mix different frame rates in the timeline or allow you to change the framerate of a clip.

In Edius for instance, I can mix and match footage that was shot at different frame rates and resolutions, and event formats, freely on the timeline. I can also take a clip and tell Edius that a 60p clip is 23.98, 24p, 25p, 30p, 50p, or whatever, and it will reinterpret the file in realtime.

Nobody ever claimed that DV Rack or any other product supports PN, because they can't -- PN can only be recorded to P2 media. What it does, and what a number of other products support (or shortly will support) is a pseudo-PN recording mode where they automatically drop duplicate frames. The upcoming V3.0 firmware for the Focus Enhancements FS-100 will do this, for instance.

The result is 24p video with no duplicate frames, and no pulldown needing to be done in your editor. This extends the recording capacity, and saves time that would otherwise be spent in post.

Finally, DV Rack 2.0 HD does in fact let you control whether automatic pulldown is performed. The following is a quote from the documentation:
Pulldown with DV Rack
If you shot your clips with the camera set at a frame rate below its native frame rate (such as 24P), DV Rack automatically skipped the "extra" frames to keep the size of your clip files down. Because the pulldown frames have already been removed, be sure to disable pulldown in your NLE so that it does not remove additional frames.
Notes & Tips:
One exception: With the DV File Format set to AVI Type 1 and a DVCPro video stream, DV Rack does not remove pulldown frames (and it records to AVI Type 2 format because no NLEs support Type 1 for DVCPro).
Click to expand...
Thus, if you select AVI Type 2 (the newer AVI format, and the only one that supports DVCProHD), pulldown is done for you. If you select the old AVI Type 1 format, pulldown is not done, and DV Rack still writes a AVI Type 2 file. It's a kludgy implementation and not obvious without reading the documentation, but it does give you the control you are after.
 
I have no problem at all with 24p .mov files which I would edit on the Mac side in FCP.

As far as GreenFern's activation problem, call the toll free number for activation support which gets you to Softcode. They will fix it for you.

Ned
 
GreenFern said:
I paid for, and downloaded DVRack HD 2 from Adobe's website today. I activated the program successfully (at least that's what the window says). Then I tried starting the program and it keeps asking me to reactivate the program. I stopped trying after the seventh try.

Then I tried to download the HD patch (found on Serious Magic's website), but it gives me a window indicating that I first need to PURCHASE (?!?!) DV Rack HD (which I already have - I can see the file on my computer).

What in tarnation is going on? Has anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do to fix it?
Click to expand...

same happened to me... their software is not the issue here, some may hate it and others can't wait to get it working, yes, but we are talking about wether the thing will run. I am very interested in your individual experiences with the software since I want to get it, but we are trying to figure out why the hell it doesn't run... and that is a SoftWrap prolblem not a Serious Magic problem...

If anyone knows how to delete the SoftWrap folder installed from using the trial from your computer please help!

Then if anyone knows of a particular way we have to perform the activation steps so that we don't run into any other probems, please make it known.
 
You can't delete the Softwrap folder since that is part of the whole activation scheme. It may be a pain, but call the toll free number to Softwrap, give them your particulars and they will help you activate the software. Once I finally got activated, I have had no problems.

Ned
 
Quote:

[Finally, DV Rack 2.0 HD does in fact let you control whether automatic pulldown is performed. The following is a quote from the documentation:Thus, if you select AVI Type 2 (the newer AVI format, and the only one that supports DVCProHD), pulldown is done for you. If you select the old AVI Type 1 format, pulldown is not done, and DV Rack still writes a AVI Type 2 file. It's a kludgy implementation and not obvious without reading the documentation, but it does give you the control you are after.[/quote]


THoff, if you read my post you will see that this is exactly what I said. Nevertheless, the option of pulldown removal or not is something that belongs in the production team's arena, and the default should not be forced into the least usable format mix, leaving the most sensible solution to a half-assed work around. This is one example of a poorly thought out bit of coding. The problem is not with my NLE, it is with DV Rack, and it runs throughout that company.
 
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