Vegas 5 Trial Frustrations -- aside from the UI :D

vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 12:54 PM
Uhm, okay. I installed Net 1.1 today after having already installed the 5.0a trial. The Network Render app opens and gives me an error, telling me it has to close. So, I repair Vegas, and still the render app errors and closes.

Now I've reinstalled the trial, only I cannot get past the registration page :( It keeps intervening and telling me I've got to register, and ultimately each success does nothing.

What gives?

- jim

Comments

laffTrax wrote on 4/21/2004, 1:03 PM
I was in the same boat.

I don't know why we were forced to install Net 1.1 (can anyone explain?) in order to install the demo - but i did, and then i was stuck on the registration. (they never FORCED us to register the DEMO version before, even the new DVDA2 demo does not).

But, i just filled out all they asked for, tried again, and it worked. So, i guess i really don't have an answer to your problem (sorry!), but all i can say is try again.

BTW, i don't see the big problem with the UI or slightly altered look. I think it looks cool. It seems to me, just an example of humans reacting to change in our predictibale manner.

But, what's up with that Net 1.1?
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 1:11 PM
Arrgh. I've reinstalled the trial twice now, repaired it twice, and rebooted twice. TRied and retried to register with more than one email. Now I guess I'll have to...reinstall Net 1.1?

Argh.
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 1:15 PM
just a bump.
SonyJDodge wrote on 4/21/2004, 2:50 PM
Vitamin_D,

Give us a call. If there is a problem with the install of the trial, we want to know about it. 1-800-577-6642. (you might need to wait to call until tomorrow though, we're almost done for the day).
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 3:18 PM
Oddly enough I've just noticed that the installer now says that my trial period has expired. Obviously that's ot the case, and it gets worse:

I uninstalled the trial, deleted all the registry values related to Vegas 5, rebooted, and re-ran the trial installer (it's labeled "vegas50-trial.exe"). Now I don't even get the option to run in trial mode, I'm just thrown to the serial number screen.

I'll be calling sometime tomorrow, I guess.

- jim
Rogueone wrote on 4/21/2004, 3:26 PM
I read somewhere that the Vegas 5 trial can only be installed ONCE per machine. Apparently, if you un-install the demo and attempt to re-install it, it won't take. Maybe that's what's going on? I can't remember where I saw that, otherwise I'd post the link
TheHappyFriar wrote on 4/21/2004, 3:55 PM
Did you change the date on your computer accidently? I had an install of mcafee one time tell me the free updated expired (after a week of using it!). E-mailed tech support and they said the date/time probley changed on my computer (back, not forward) and the software thought i was trying to fake it out. They gave me some reg entried to delete.

oh. you already said you did that. :( Are you sure you got EVERYTHING? did you search the registery for all instances of "sony" "vegas" "veg" etc?
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:08 PM
...you simply cannot change the date -- the installer won't run and alerts you to the fact that the date isn't correct.

*sigh*

and now I can't find my acid serial number...

- jim
SonyPJM wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:12 PM
Once you get your installation problems worked out, have a look at the
Network Rendering section of Vegas' help documentation. If the
problem is what I suspect it is (a DNS related error), there's a pretty easy
fix for it in the troubleshooting section.
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:16 PM
I don't suppose you've got an understanding as to why the install won't work properly, eh? Now it installs but not as a trial -- i.e. I just get prompted for a serial with no "back" button and so no way to proceed as a trial user :/

- jim
SonyPJM wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:18 PM
The .net framework is used in Vegas' scripting and Network Rendering features.
SonyPJM wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:29 PM

I don't know the exact details but I just learned that it is a known
issue and we're trying to fix it... wish I could be of more help to
you right now.
filmy wrote on 4/21/2004, 5:11 PM
In reading the thread this sounds like what I had happen - I said this in some other post but i got it installed and it kept asking me to register. All I would get was the "Your trial has expired" over and over again with an option to "buy now". I was about to uninstall it when I got a screen that asked to "register now" or "Register Later". So I clicked on "Later" and I ended up up back into that loop again. So next time I tried "Register Now" and it kicked me to another screen that said somehing like "Register online" and I said Yes or whatever. Than I got *another* screen asking if I wanted all my info (??? Personal info I guess) sent to Sony and I clicked "No" - suddenly I got this pop up saying it was connecting to Sony and sending info. (???) After a while I got a "Thank you for registering. You have 30 days remaining in your trial."

Ok - so all is fine and good - so today I get the "you have 28 days left" message, which is fine. But now I just tired to open it and I am seeing what you are seeing - the "trial has expired" or the "Please register" screens. I didn't do anything...really. Does Vegas 5 now have one of these evil "phone home" trojans that sends info to Sony and changes reg entries whenever it feels like it? Something got changed between this A.M and this P.M to have Vegas want me to re-register.

So I am currently sans working trial. Why can't one just type in "Demo" or whatever like the good ole days?


p.s - ok so I have tried 3 more times. It is just a full on loop. It connects to SOny and says "Thank you for registering" and than it opens and says "You trial has expired". Try to open it again and I get the register screen again. Than so on and so on.

Have to say this is BS. I am uninstalling Vegas 5 now.
vitamin_D wrote on 4/21/2004, 9:55 PM
p.s - ok so I have tried 3 more times. It is just a full on loop. It connects to SOny and says "Thank you for registering" and than it opens and says "You trial has expired". Try to open it again and I get the register screen again. Than so on and so on.

This is exactly my problem to a T.

Kudos to SonyPJM for being such a quick and honest presence. Even with all my gripes with 5.0a it's stuff like this that makes me proud to call myself a Vegas user.

You guys keep at this and I might buy that upgrade after all :D

Just do me a favor and spill the beans about media management updates that are going to innevitably make it into 5.0b, k? :D :D :D

- jim
vitamin_D wrote on 4/22/2004, 12:17 PM
I spoke with a thorough and helpful Ted today and he let me down gently with the news that the trial can only be installed on the same mahcine once. Unfortunately for me, and for other users no doubt, trying it on another machine isn't an option.

*sigh*

- jim
Rain Mooder wrote on 4/22/2004, 12:49 PM
Well, I hope they let you install each subversion (v5.a, .b, .c, etc.) once.
Otherwise a lot of us who are not upgrading will never get a chance to
demo the features we want if they get added on subsequently.
filmy wrote on 4/22/2004, 5:01 PM
>>>the trial can only be installed on the same mahcine once.<<<

Well that would lead to the comment that I had read and asked about before - the cryptic 'you can't uninstall the demo'. However in my case I did not ever uninstall (Well it is now uninstalled because my 30 day trial ended after a day and a half) so the comment doesn't resolve the cause of the sudden "Please register" message over and over again, after it already was, and after it was already working.

I am guessing this is the result of what was mentioned months ago - that the 'next version of Vegas' would use some sort of phone home/activation feature that might not always work. In my case this would explain the "Connecting to Sony" type screens followed with "Thank you for registering" followed by "Your trial has expired" followed by "Please register"...and that would also make what vitamin_D says he was told - you can only install it once - make sense. Obviously every time it phones home Sony must think you installed it again, even if you didn't. Good lord - lets hope the non-demo/trial doesn't do this!
p@mast3rs wrote on 4/22/2004, 5:52 PM
So why wouldnt using a firewall and blocking Vegas from calling home work? More importantly, what happens when I am using my software and am not connected to the net and cant phone home?
vitamin_D wrote on 4/22/2004, 6:17 PM
...it wouldn't work because Vegas then couldn't be registered. Maybe if you got a phone registration this wouldn't be an issue -- dunno, though.
mhbstevens wrote on 4/22/2004, 8:15 PM
This makes me feel Vegas4 useres might want to stay with V4 for 6 months or so until the V5 has been debugged.

How will we know when this is?
wobblyboy wrote on 4/22/2004, 8:28 PM
Every time I run Norton system check, it resets the date on my computer and all kinds of things start happening. I now know to reset each time.
wobblyboy wrote on 4/22/2004, 8:40 PM
I don't think anyone should complain. If you are a Vegas user you know how good it is, don't bother with the trial just buy it. To get the new version for $199 is a steal. I just bought it and started running. All seems to run fine. I had one little problem with jerky preview in DVDA2. Posted on the DVDA forum and got an e-mail message from a Sony Tech within one day with a solution. Where else do you get that kind of service. These guys really listen and pay attention. Notice almost all of the DVDA concerns have been addressed in the new version. Notice when you post on this forum the Sony guys and gals respond instantly. Nobody else does this. Be happy and say thank you.
filmy wrote on 4/22/2004, 9:23 PM
>>>Be happy and say thank you.<<<

I am happy - I uninstalled my 1 1/2 day demo when it expired. :) In my 1 1/2 days I got to see at least 3 things I liked - the right click on media to assign 24p/pull-down, saving layouts and the 3d work space. I would love to say I got to see more - but I really didn't get a chance to play all that much. I spent most of my time trying to register a stinking demo, even after it was already registered.

Since I can't ever install the demo again I will wait for a while because for $199 I am not going to upgrade just because of 3d space (Which Satish basiclly is offering for free with WAX) and the ease of right clicking on media in the media pool or saving my Vegas layout. Yeah I know there are other cool things - but I didn't get a chance to play with 99% of them, let alone really dig into the overall Vegas 5 vibe...I would have been happy with a week even...but 1 1/2 days? Don't tell me it is gonna be 30 days and take my new wife away after 1 1/2!! :)

Oh, I still didn't much care to the HKI. :)
dust wrote on 5/4/2004, 4:02 AM
Hmm, if you're using Windows XP and didn't install any other software since Vegas (that you don't want to uninstall), you could try to use a restore point. Everytime you install a new software, XP creates a system restore point, and you should find a system restore option in your startmenu. Unless you deactivated the feature, of course. This should basically reconstruct the full registry and allow you to re-install as demo (at least in theory).

Of course be careful about it, I never actually tried it and it might have some risks for the stability of your system.

You can also use some registry snapshot program that allows you to create undo .reg files. Of course this is of no help unless you do it before the very first installation procedure.

I think Sony puts some hidden registry entry (not marked as "Sony" or similar, and outside its own registry tree) where a flag is set that the software was already installed. The intention obviously is to deactivate demo completely as soon as it suspects something fishy was going on. I can understand this need, and it is common procedure (and much preferrable to dongle systems!). I'd prefer though if they just kept the number of days for demo usage as hidden entry, so you could not reset demo period to 30 days, instead of completely disabling demo. But maybe that wasn't done intentionally.

dust