Expression Encoder 4 Identity Crisis

I started to play around with Expression Encoder 4 Screen Capture doing some recordings when the software showed me this dialog:

ExpressionEncoder1

Strange, this is the version I installed from my Ultimate Super Extra Complete Top of the line Expression Studio 4 that I downloaded from my Ultimate Super Extra Complete Top of the line MSDN subscription.

I went to the Expression Encoder 4 page and surely, the Pro edition is bundled in Expression Studio 4 Ultimate.  Hummm, is this what I have?  Well, the about box reveals something interesting.  What I have is Expression Encoder 4 Pro (without codecs).

ExpressionEncoder2

Doh!  What’s that?  This version is not even listed in the Expression Encoder 4 page!  Is this why I can’t record for more than 10 minutes?  Wait!  This is a limitation of the standard version.  You known, the Not Pro version.  What’s wrong with my (without codecs) version and who the hell are you mister (without codecs)?

First of all, the version included in the MSDN subscriptions is the Pro version without codecs.  Because of distribution and royalties reasons, Microsoft can’t bundle these codecs with the software we get in our MSDN subscriptions.  If you need them, you can buy the full retail without the (without codecs) for a mere $50US ($85CDN - yeah, go figure!) from the Microsoft online store.

[EDIT: the final price is $199 in the US store and $279 in the Canadian store]

OK, great.  The identity crisis of my Encoder 4 Pro is now resolved but what about that 10 minutes limit?  Isn’t that a limitation of Encoder 4 (not the Pro or the Pro without codecs)?  Another identity crisis?  Well, it’s a known bug and from what I learned, a fix is on its way.

Identity crisis solved (well almost).

Bookmark and Share

5 Comments

  • I just upgraded to the paid version myself just yesterday I don't understand why a download would be almost twice as much in Canada as it is in the US I got my paid version for live broadcast the subscription model doesn't come with that either hope to have fist live broadcast up and running today I was planning to use screen capture of a lot of stuff in the future haven't tried it on encoder 4 yet glad you wrote this post for the heads up

  • This has been burning my backside for weeks now.
    Noticed with Encoder 4 in Expression Studio 4 Ultimate I couldn't import mp4 like I was in version 3, so I posted in the Expression forums.
    Go there and you can read all the rants.
    What burns me isn't just that this is a hole in the Ultimate version but that on my same Windows 7 screencasting system I've already got the codecs to import mp4 into Encoder v3, which means I still have to use v3 with Encoder v4 unless I shellout the extra bucks for the codec version. Can this get any more confusing? ;-)

  • Yikes! You're right, the price went up from $50 to $199!

    BTW, they ajusted the price in the Canadian store to $66 from $88!

  • so how do you resolve the WITHOUT CODECS version? by buying the full retail?
    Is there anyway you can buy the codec separately?? or install the codec from some other vendor that have more common sense. those that doesn't quadruple the price in several weeks maybe.

  • I assume you probably already know this by now but I wound up here when searching for the solution. The version that is downloadable from msdn is not service pack 1. If you install it and then download and install the service pack it is supposed to fix the issue.

Comments have been disabled for this content.