Buyer Beware!! I have EMC 10, and I have found a multitude of problems, especially with the MyDVD program. If you want to edit photos PhotoSuite is actually pretty good, with only one small "bug" that I have found so far. However, in only owing this product for about 3 weeks I have had it crash so many times that I was ready to return it, and the sad thing is that I haven't even used all of it's features. Are there more bugs to come? All I can say is that editing a DVD was a complete headache and not something I would be willing to do again soon. And that's sad because it's specifically what I got it for.

Hi Mel,
I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with EMC 10. So I can better understand, could you let me know the method you purchased the product- either online download, retail store, or online store (such as Amazon)?
Look forward to seeing how we can help.
All best,

Kara
Roxio, A division of Sonic Solutions

I am specifically getting this for dvd use only and after what mel said, I don't know if i should!
Is it worth it?

I did not have any of the same problems Mel did, it never crashed for me.

I'm amazed that someone actually got EMC10 to install properly. I guess my own hardware just isn't compatible with it. Anyway, I'm very familiar with all the hoops that were necessary to install previous versions of Easy Media Creator. I actually got Version 9 to play pretty well with Vista, but I can't say that about Version 10. And, yes I did go through all the steps to perform a clean install as specified by Roxio. I carefully removed all traces of the former Roxio software and cleared the registry before attempting to reinstall EMC10. How about this for an idea? Why doesn't EMC check for past versions during installation and actually remove it? Who should no better about their own code than the ones writing it. Anyway, to repeat myself, this is not the first time that I've went through all the motions. Past versions have required some of the very same frustrating proceedures. On the up side, some of the apps can be pretty good when they actually work.

Any advise between EMC 10 and Photoshop Element 6 with Premier 4 bundle? I have EMC 8.0 and it works OK but had many issues in order to make it work with XP, ATI graphics card and Windows Media software. Is there a list of softwares the EMC 10 compatible with and the once to watch out for?
Chirag

I find the product extremely slow and difficult to work with. I've already ruined 4 blank DVD's. Error messages are obtuse or non-existent and programs often hang.
For example, MyDVD express will not display fonts correctly - they are blank unless I change font type to gradient. Adding a new movie may take up to a minute or more just to display a directory.
Version: 1.0.044
Build: 100B44B, R03
Serial Number: K5-6C1V2-DZV0T-JCU6H




Sid

I have used and enjoyed roxio products since the days of 1x cdrom drives, and I have to say, this is the worse experience I've had with a product. This thing simply won't install. I even reformated my drive and it still won't install on my vista pc. I had high hopes for some of the pieces of this product, but I'm at a loss. I'm not the only one that has had this difficulty, so beware.... I understand some of the version 9 issues, but for a product to rave about Vista compatibilites and have basic install issues is shameful

-Joe

I also have not had any luck to date installing EMC10 on Vista. I have gone thru the Clean Install doing the steps verbatum but the program will not start. My V9 that came with my HP Pc was working well.

I agree, what a shame for Roxio to do this to past and potential future customers. Not worth the hassel. Very Flustrated.

MyDVD and also VideoWave were crashing my computer (an HP Media Center PC running Vista, with NVIDIA graphics). I got these programs to run properly by going into the "Options" menu on MyDVD and changing "Rendering" from "Hardware" to "Software." The program comes out of the box checked "Hardware" for rendering. But it has some kind of fatal conflict with my video drivers, I think, leading to the infamous "blue screen of death" style of crash. The conflict disappeared by choosing software rendering instead of hardware. This was a very frustrating problem until I tried this solution. BTW, if you check this option for one of the programs in the suite, it appears to change it for all.

Last version I could get to work was 7.0. Since that time nothing but problems...not with install but getting EMC to work. Won't consider buying 10.0, but might see if I can download a copy.
Downloaded demo of Adobe Premiere Elements 4. As with most Adobe products, it ain't simple. Tried to remove an effect, couldn't for the life of me figure out how, then it crashed. Not for the faint of heart.
Now moving on to demo of Nero. Fingers crossed.
Oh yah, picked up a Macbook Pro to use their video editing programs. They don't crash but pretty rudimentary.

Roxio EMC 10 under Vista. MYDVD seems to work ok through preview and encoding. However, the output DVD is junk. Tried the suggested drive emulation and loading the drive image file for preview - result worse. Also, slideshows just come out black. Have not gotten one usable product out of EMC 10. Have uninstalled and reinstalled. No difference.
My opinion of Roxio products is no longer good.
Going to look at Nero. I want something that works.

i just purchased emc 10 online and downloaded it. I have an hp running vista and i abolutly love this program. i mainly purchased it to move my video from my mini dv camcorder to dvd.(windows movie maker sucks). the plug and burn feature is awsome. i would highly recommend this product.

I have had BIG problems with EMC 10. The tech support really does not help. I have errors with Video Wave and MYDVD. Runtime errors in C++. I had problems with CinePlayer and MPEG-2 codecs.

When you talk with them by phone, they say do a clean install. I have done thisabout 10 times. EMC 10 will work for a few days, then crashes again.

Finally, the thechs and Roxio throw up their hands. They blame windows XP Pro. I have 2 different Geeks from 2 different companies and a Dell Geek say there is nothing wrong with Windows.

The techs at Roxio/Sonic said something was wrong with my sound card. I got an upgraded card. Still had same ERRORS.

This is the first company in all my considerable computer experience who does not seem to care about the customer or have 2nd tier support.

Buyer Beware!!

Yes, Buyer beware. I wish I had read these comments before buying Roxio EMC 10 a few days ago and installing it on my XP Pro computer last night. It just doesn't work right and hangs all the time. I just opened a case with their tech support so we'll see how it goes, I may be wasting my time.

My wife has Roxio 9 Basic that came bundled with her HP XP Pro laptop and it works fine. That one was free but has limited features. I may see if I can downgrade to Roxio 9 since they broke it when Roxio EMC 10 came out. There are lots of complaints on Roxio's own user forum at their website.

I'm having a devil of a time just getting this thing to install. I even thought I may have picked up a virus (not from EMC) so I did a restore of my computer from backup! Still can't get it to install. It takes forever then when it appears to be getting close to finished it says it's rolling back the install!

Also it warns that it must uninstall .net 1.1! WTF!? .net 1.1 can't be on a machine with Roxio software...that's crap. I bought online from their store, so I'm going to get the 30 day refund.

This program crashed several times for me at first. I had to uninstall programs completely unrelated to Media Creation to get it to stop locking up when I was saving video files to usable formats. (Why would I have to completely disable my automatic Media Center features is beond me.) After that though, it started working perfectly. Has some weird quirks when you are running other programs that are unrelated to what it has to do though.

I have been a very happy owner of Versions 5 and 6. I decided to buy Version 10 online with the Sonic Store. I am having enormous problems with components crashing (like audio editing and creator classic) after a 20 minute long installation! It's like going back to a 25 year High School reunion and saying, "What happened to you??!"

I have been very happy with Roxio over Nero in the past, but I'm feeling VERY uneasy with this product.

I run a pretty clean XP pro setup with a Pentium 4 with 2GB of RAM. I am not a new-bee. I have installed and uninstalled TWICE and cleared my registry, but the crashing problem remains.

I see that CNet has still not done a review and the product has been out for some time.

I am considering going back to Version 6 if I cannot get this resolved fast.

CW

I got a prompt email from Roxio support indicating that my previous installation of Roxio was causing conflicts. They provided uninstallation instructions here.

This worked and the installation was successful. So, I'm keeping EMC 10, but am very concerned at how BIG it's gotten and how long it takes to install.

I appreciated the good tech support. Features are important, but keep in mind that regular users will need to be able to install...Roxio should have been able to detect the version 6 installed.

Thx,
Chris W

I purchased a Sony FZ31Z with a Blu Ray Drive. It came with EMC V 9 which worked fine. Wanted BD features so I purchased EMC V10.

What a mistake to purchase V10. Spent days, countless clean installs, countless support messages and now my version 9 does not work.

Support supplied a link for V10 update to cure problems. 719mb on a slow download. And it still ill not install!

Stick with V 9. I am going to get my money back for V10 but has cost me much more in time and effort.
It's the last time I buy from Roxio period!

Now I have to Restore my computer to factory default and spend hours downloading updates and re loading all my software.

Ian

Hey All -

I'm seeing mostly install issues here, so I'm going to take a shot at those first.

@#19, Chris W suggested using our clean install instructions and he's spot on. This is the best way to resolve any type of installation issue. We have two:

Clean Install Instructions for Creator 9 & 10 on Windows Vista
Clean Installation of Easy Media Creator


Make sure you follow the steps exactly. Let me know how it goes.

Jon
Roxio Customer Care

Suggestion - a better uninstall application. I just went thru the clean uninstall instructions word for word ("clear out cookies and browsing history"? really? - seems a bit ridiculous just to install an application). Also, since the instructions are so long, perhaps some software company could write an uninstall program (heck, a batch file) just for this purpose? ;)

I'm actually also a bit perturbed to see that this thread was closed as I am currently experiencing this, and there's been no clear resolution other than to perform a "clean install" - and by the way, these are "clean UNinstall" directions.

It's a bit of a cop-out to uninstall and re-install, especially since it appears to be mostly affecting those who are upgrading from an existing Roxio product.

I'd say find the root issue and remedy that. If that doesn't happen, the the same mistakes may be made in the next version.

I'm exhausted. Endless trouble ticket dialog. Followed many good suggestions from these comments. Nothing works. I'm probably going to have to eat the $150 EMC 10 Deluxe cost and re-install my four year old Videowave.

Very disappointing.

Wow... People still waste their time & money on Roxio?? Return EMC 10 and purchase the latest version of Nero...You won't regret it! Hell, there are atleast 5 other inexpensive media burners that are better than this crap. Ha, Roxio...

Oh & thanks to the brainchild in comment #7 who posted his serial number...Uh-Duh?!

Brian thanks for the Nero advice. The one component of Roxio that I am hooked on is Cinemagic. I don't have the time or interest to edit video and I like the simplicity of that program.

Does Nero have a program that functions somewhat like Cinemagic?

Yea, I do believe Nero Vision4 will do the same thing but I'm not 100% sure. If you are looking to make DVDs with Video files from your computer or external source, including adding soundtrack & menus, than Nero can do everything you want.
Whether or not it's as easy as Roxio, it is still as powerful & far more stable.

The ultimate fact is, if you want a machine that can handle video & video editing with power & user friendliness in mind, then you have to purchase a Mac. PC DVD Authoring programs will always give you some sort of headache either because of your machine's hardware or because of the multitude of hands involved in the programming for the PC version.

I suggest you start educating yourself about video editing because a lot of the cool PC programs that are available definitely require a powerful machine(even for Nero or Roxio),the tenacity to learn on your own what the software is capable of,purchasing a rather thick book to read or sifting through internet forums for whatever product it is that you are using.

Oh, *BTW* - Whatever you do... DON'T use Windows Vista for any video authoring! That OS is such a memory & Hard drive hog! But, don't worry Microsoft is ditching that P.O.S.O.S. in like 2 years. Just back-up all your important stuff, reformat your hard drives & re-install WinXP because MS is releasing SP3.

I've had nothing but problems trying to install EMC 10 on a new, fast quad-core Vista PC. First, the download crashed, and would not re-start where it left off. After about 12 hours, I finally got the install files downloaded.

The product won't work. It displays messages like "skin image menuseparator.png found but cannot be loaded." Exactly how is the average person supposed to deal with that? The product should work out of the box(or download), shouldn't it? W'ere not all software engineers, that's what we're paying the product developer to do!

Follow the .png message with multiple instances of "the feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." Hey, I didn't design this software, how am I supposed to fix its bugs?

And then, "Try the installation again using a valid copy of the installation package "tools.msi", followed by missing BMPLE.mis, followed by missing COPY.msi, and on and on.

Why can't the software find it's own files?

And, of coursem "runtime errors" aplenty.

I'll try (again) to uninstall and reinstall, but I'm not very optimistic. I am NOT about to re-install Vista, which probably won't do anything anyway except waste more of my time. An uninstall and reinstall takes enough time as it is. And I've already spent a lot of time reading forums about this software.

I'll spend maybe one more day on it, then ship the darn thing back to Roxio. They're unlikey to issue a refund, of course, but I'd rather not have any evidence of the product sitting around my house to remind me of the experience!

A software mess for me. Can't use it.

I've had virtually all of the problems noted here so far. I have uninstalled and reinstalled at least 10 times. And YES, I HAVE followed the "clean install" processes that have been suggested. I have deleted registry entries and performed all those other detailed and time-consuming steps which one should NOT have to do with a decent product. If the program can't even find it's own files, what good is it? If the product isn't fully compatible with Vista (even if it's Microsoft's fault), it shouldn't be sold until it is. Roxio finally gave up trying to help me and gave me a link to request a refund.

I cannot even get to the install process. I downloaded the two download options from the Roxio website when I purchased EMC 10.1. I tried to install the program one (not the content one), and it wanted me to install Microsoft .net SDK program. So, I did. Then it was telling me that it needed the Visual J# .NET version 1.1. It gave me a website address to go to. I downloaded that and installed both programs. I also restarted my computer.

Every time I try to run the Roxio EMC 10 program to install it, it keeps wanting to install the microsoft .NET program. I keep installing it, and that's as far as it goes. After it tells me that it has been installed, all the boxes close. When I try to run Roxio EMC 10 it starts it all over again. How do I get to the next step???? Both of these programs are now downloaded and installed in my computer.

Couldn't get 9 to work on Dell E521 w/ amd athlon x2 3 GB Ram. I got hooked into the low cost upgrade to 10 and much to my complete lack of surprise.... 10 won't install properly either. Yes I have followed the clean uninstall which is amazing since that is what failed with version 9. Did everyone at Roxio who knew how to author a windows installer file leave?

Well so far I have installed the EMC 10, 3 times, used up 10 dvd disks to make a simple video,and still no video of quality has been produced using this software. Unfortunatley I did not find this information until after I purchased the software at a local computer shop. So is it worth my time to try the tech support or just work on the problems on my own and save the time and aggrevation of being BSd to death by Roxio personal. What gives with Roxio. They claimed that EMC 10 would work with vista perfectly. Sorry not so.
TTFN

After contacting roxio support as I could not install roxio 10 for the 10th time, I used the msconfig instruction given to me by the chat live support free chat tech Victor, and he assured me that msconfig was used by many to disable the programs and to install EMC10 without fear of it crashing. Well, my computer CRASHED as in REFUSED TO BOOT. I spent $350 to get my data back, and to have it go back to a destructive restore. Now that I have a totally clean computer, the EMC10 STILL DOES NOT INSTALL. I am trying to reach the Creator 10 support line, but the person there was so swamped that I am still trying to install.

I'll admit that I contacted Roxio support to help with an install of this, but I found them hugely useful. They were very caring and responded quite quickly to my questions. They had the program up and running in no time.

I believe there is a compatibility issue with Roxio and XP media center version. My computer came with Sonic and it worked fine. I purchased and installed EMC 9 a year ago and had nothing but problems, lockups, messages this software need to close tell Microsoft about this problem (with no response or fix) , etc. I contacted Roxio tech support and followed all of there recommendations without success. I wonder if they test what they do? A few weeks ago I installed a second hard drive with XP home version and to my amazement EMC 9 works perfect in every respect.

Hi Ed -

Sorry to hear you're having problems with Media Center and Creator 9.

My guess is that you over-installed an older Sonic app with Roxio Creator 9 and it created some conflicts in the registry.

You may want to perform a clean install.

Be sure to remove entries and folders for the original Sonic application as well.

Jon
Roxio Support

I've had similar problems with EMC 10 I had installed it on a quad core xp x64 machine and it continually crashed with the MYDVD module so I put another drive in the machine and installed xp pro service pack 3. Tried running it with clean installation worked fine. Updated it and put Panda Antivirus and it began crashing on the Mydvd module, especially on creating chapters for added movies. Went into msconfig and disabled non-essential startups including the antivirus and everything worked fine. Went back to my xp x64 installation did the same thing and now it worked fine as well. I tried troubleshooting the error messages and got nowhere. Found this out from trial and error thought it might save someone else the time I wasted going through this. Also a wise idea is to go into the programs directory and create shortcuts the actual videowave and mydvd exe and put them on your desktop or in your menus individually. They seem to work better launched separately.

Ditto, ditto, ditto on all install problems with EMC Suite 10 with WinXP SP2 Home. I've followed all the clean install (or UN-install)instructions and find that Windows Installer Clean Up utility won't remove the DirectXServiceInstall [9.0.0]. That seems to be the show stopper with no advice forthcoming.

Jon from Roxio Support, what say you?

I purchased EMC10 today and have tried all afternoon to install but no matter what I do it will not install. Can't get it to load install page. After reading the above comments, it is going back to the store tomorrow. I am so disappointed. It appeared that it would be a great software.

I've tried, and gave the software to Parker bros. who I'm sure will make good use of it. I have never in 10 years experienced a program so poorly written.

I love Roxio when it works but I have had a lot of crashes in the past. I finally went to the Roxio web site and downloaded the number 9 on my XP and the number 10 on my Vista. (You have to have the full version on your computer in order for this to work.) So far they are working properly.

Hi all -

I am a Roxio Support Agent. I can answer questions directed to Jon.

@#39 - Laura J. Dwyer,

The clean install instructions should resolve the DirectX issue you are seeing. Your problem may be too specific for this thread or system related and may need a personal touch of one of our techs and let us know how it goes. Please contact support and fill out a free web-ticket (you must be registered) at: Roxio Support.

I also see some comparison between EMC 9 and 10. These products have been replaced with our latest version - Creator 2009 (sorry, the job states I have to shill *a little*).

Regards,

David
Roxio Support

Love the Drag-to-Disc feature but have had many problems with EMC. Bought 3 copies of version 9 and could not get Drag-to-Disc to work on any of the computers... even after "clean" installs. Finally went back to ver 7.5 and got it working. Just repeated the whole cycle after a hard drive failure. (Some of us are a little slow to learn.) Was considering ver 10 upgrade. Glad I came here first. I'll stick with version 7.5 and look into Nero.