Hi Tony and Ben,
Let us know how you get on. Thanks
Dafydd

Hi Dafydd,
Thanks very much for sorting out version 2704 - It has worked for me - I was able to burn 2 slideshows without having to reinstall the software. Sorry for not replying sooner but life conspires against you sometime (work!) and I’m unable to get on with my hobby. I was being a little dense, and it took me a few goes to sort out how to install version 2704 – First I thought it was a patch – Anyway so far so good – Thanks again
Tony
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit SP1
Core i5
12.0GB RAM
nVidia Geforce Gt 520
500 g HDD
750 g HDD
HP DVD Rewriter
LG BD Rewriter
Video cam Panasonic HDC-SD9

PowerDirector Ultra v8.00.2330
I have same problem with Create Disc stopping at 21% at 1 second left also. Doesn't matter if I just tell it to write to file or burn. I was trying to burn a DL disc using AVCHD. I can do that from Nero 10. I choose HD 1440x1080 which is the same resolution as my Sony HDR-XR550v. I don't know if it matters that it is interlaced video not progressive. I also choose Dolby Digital 5.1 as that is the sound that comes from my camera.

The other oddity is when I first came to the Create Disc the default menu showed my chapter photos, now it doesn't, but still shows the buttons to go to the next screen and they all work and shows chapters just no change in photos just the default ones. Can I tell what version I originally got, before reinstalling? I updated before even using it.

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Velocity Micro
Intel Core 2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz
RAM 6GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS with ViewSonic VX2255wm-4 dual extended display 1680x1050
Windows 7 Basic background no Aero
Hitachi 400gb system drive
Seagate Free Agent Xtreme external via Firewire 750GB contains video files
DH20A4H DVD burner

Hi All,

Have uploaded the 4 file types the Kodak PlaySport cranks out to the Cyberlink Video directory.

Have done a lot of testing of burning to AVCHD, from a produced file. I had some sucess. I was never able to burn AVCHD directly, however. There were anomalies - no explanation:

All of the following are AVCHD burn attempts of the produced file only. With my own files I applied minimal edits. I produced the downloaded files "as is."

(EDITS APPLIED BELOW)

I tested one of Andrew's Canon files (Andrew_24mbps_1080_25p) and the produce file burned correctly the first time. Then, using the same steps, it would not burn. I tried it maybe 5 more times. -Very weird.

I then tried burning formats other than the 1920x1080 from my PlaySport, using the SD options.

720p, 60fps burned correctly the first time, then failed the next two times.
720p, 30fps burned correctly 3 times in a row.
1080p 30fps, which I'd been trying for several weeks now, failed to burn correctly.

I downloaded one of Tony's Canon files (Tony_1920x1080_15MBps_CanonHFS100), and the produce file from it would not burn.

All of these failures stopped at 21% of the Authoring phase.

Had a chance to do a little more testing tonight, using a downloaded Cyberlink Video, a Canon Vixia HF11 file, 00014.mts. I could burn it directly to disc (AVCHD option), the only file I've been able to do that with. When I did test producing it, in my viewer screen, I got a full screen "SVRT3 Smart Video Rendering Technology" message, and it ran so fast, I assume it made no changes. This was also a first in my testing of PD8. When I produced, I selected the AVCHD 1920x1080 (no 24 bit) option. This burned twice successively when I tried it.

However, when I rendered 00014.mts at 24 bit, it failed at the fateful 21% authoring mark when attempting to burn. But as I'm working with PD8 and thinking through what is happening, maybe it makes no sense to try to burn a dvd at 24bit HD anyway, unless it's a pretty small file.

I have downloaded version 2407 and will install it next week and see what I'm into there!

Am heading out of town for the weekend. Will check back Tue.

Thanks for all the help,
Ben Windows 7 Pro, 64 bit
Intel i7-3930K 3.20 GHz, 32 GB Ram
NVIDIA GTX 580 1.5GB Ram
INTEL 240GB 520 Series SSD, 3TB Barracuda
LG BH14NS40 BD Burner
Kodak PlaySport: 1920x1080 @ 30fps, H.264(MOV), AAC

An update on version 2704, as said in my previous post, version 2704 now will successfully burn my 1920 x 1080 AVCHD slideshows. This morning when trying to burn slideshow 3, I notice that the option “Enable hardware video encoder” was unchecked, so I checked that box. PD8 crashed at 21%. I ran the same slideshow with the box unchecked, PD8 successfully burnt the disk. Just to make sure that the first crash wasn’t associated with anything else, I again run PD8 with the “Enable hardware video encoder” checked, again PD8 crashed at 21%. Hope this helps.
Tony
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit SP1
Core i5
12.0GB RAM
nVidia Geforce Gt 520
500 g HDD
750 g HDD
HP DVD Rewriter
LG BD Rewriter
Video cam Panasonic HDC-SD9

Disabling Enable hardware video encoder fixed mine, but I had to first figure out how to not select it as I couldn't turn it on or off, even though Cuda is turned on. I found that if I go to Produce, H.264, select Fast video rendering, select Hardware video encoder there, I can now go to Create Disc and select it. Definitely a bug as I shouldn't need to go through Produce to create a disc.

Now that I can get hardware video encoder checked I did a Burn to a folder and it completed. ETA 4hrs turned in to reality of 9h 25m to burn 2hr music video BD H.264 1440x1080 Dolby Digital 5.1. It only took 2m to burn the menu. What this tells me is that PD is enabling hardware acceleration by default and they must have a bug in their acceleration logic that causes it to hang at 21%. I can understand why they would want to default to acceleration otherwise they might be known as the slowest compilers around. I know the Produce didn't take anywhere as long and only the menus are additional so will have to do some further testing. Now I have to actually burn this file hope it doesn't take as long.

P.S. I disabled those ads also. If we could see the video being generated under Create like we can with Produce, maybe we could figure out what audio/video/effect it is hanging the hardware video encoder easier.

I did do the test with the sample video repeated 4x with chapters and it worked, so maybe it's larger videos that kick in Hardware encoding at some point.

I had 4/3/2010 8.17.11.9745 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS driver.
Updated to 7/9/2010 8.17.12.5896,
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 258.96
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Velocity Micro
Intel Core 2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz
RAM 6GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS v258.96
ViewSonic VX2255wm-4 dual extended display
K-Lite 32bit & 64bit
1680x1050
Windows 7 Basic background no Aero
Hitachi 400gb system dr

Error Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Velocity Micro
Intel Core 2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz
RAM 6GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS v258.96
ViewSonic VX2255wm-4 dual extended display
K-Lite 32bit & 64bit
1680x1050
Windows 7 Basic background no Aero
Hitachi 400gb system dr

HI All,
Have installed version 2704 of the software and have been testing the H.264 burning capabilities with my Kodak HD .mov files. I can burn them, both to folders and disc, either in DVD or Blu-Ray format. However, to do this, I have to disable the hardware video encoder (as mentioned by Tony and Ken.) I had not tested that switch in the current build of PD8, so I don't know if that would have worked there or not.
However, when I produce an H.264 file and subsequently try to burn it, it won't work. Every time, I get stuck at the 21% stage of authoring. I can produce an MPEG-2 file and then burn that to H.264 format. The results look good via PowerDvd on my PC, but I doubt if that conversion requirement is an optimal scenario for building a project in phases prior to a final burn. But, for now, I'll go with "If it looks good, it is good!"
I'm about tested out! I'm ready to actually work on my project, and hopefully will be able to successfully put it together.
Thanks again to everyone who chimed in with comments and suggestions.
Ben Windows 7 Pro, 64 bit
Intel i7-3930K 3.20 GHz, 32 GB Ram
NVIDIA GTX 580 1.5GB Ram
INTEL 240GB 520 Series SSD, 3TB Barracuda
LG BH14NS40 BD Burner
Kodak PlaySport: 1920x1080 @ 30fps, H.264(MOV), AAC