Hi Jeff,

I am only guessing here but I think you have found the problem most people are finding when moving to HD video. You really need a fairly powerful computer/graphics card to display the videos smoothly.

Having said that PD has an option under the preview window to choose the quality of the preview. If you click on the double rectangle under the preview window you will see options to change the preview resolution from High to Low.

You don't mention if you have problems playing your videos outside of PD. If you do you could try downloading Splashlite a stand alone player which has its own built in codecs from here.
http://www.mirillis.com/splash.html

Or you could download the KLite standard codec pack which includes Media Player Classic which plays just about everything I have tried on it.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/KLite-Codec-Pack-Standard/1094057842/2 My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Robert,

Thanks for the quick response. I can play the videos on my PC if I convert them to mpeg, and I can play them, again, on PD in the mpeg format. Do I assume that with my present graphics card, I can't play the mts files? If so, what kind of graphics card do I need?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Sorry my technical knowledge doesn't go that far. If you post a DxDiag file here I am sure someone will have some suggestions for you.

Here are the instructions regarding the Dxdiag file.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7958.page My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Thanks, Robert.

Please note that this may not solve your problem, but be aware that if you download the files from the camera directly to your computer hard drive they will have a .MTS file extension and will be numbered sequentially starting with 000. If you download them using Pixela they will have a .m2ts file extension with date sequence numbers . There is no difference between the .MTS and the .m2ts files. If you want to, you can simply rename the .MTS to .m2ts. The Pixela software you have should have a player in it, which will play these files no matter which extension they have. Look for 'ImageMixer 3 SE Player' or something similar. PD will treat them the same with either extension, too. If you are new to editing, you may think about the possibility that your computer may need a bit of a boost to accommodate HD video files.
Please stay tuned in to the forum as I'm sure more help is just a post away. The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

Hi Jeff,

I thought I would jump in and add some additional info regarding the stuttering .mts playback in your preview window.

I shoot on HD 1920x1080 in m2ts and have limped along with a video card (ATI Radeon 2600 Pro) that just barely alowed me to edit in Power Director. The more PIP tracks, transitions, Power Tools, that you add demands more and more from your computer system. I could create short projects say 3-5 minutes in length, but as the project got longer the stuttering got worse.

I now have a new system using Two video cards (ATI HD radeon 5770 in crossfire) that I built myself and have been in the process of creating a new project. I also have a water cooled Intel i7 920 Processor in my system with 6 gigs of triple channel ram. Bottom line....it stutters a bit......not nearly like it used to, but I understand how taxing it is on a computer to playback everything that is in the Timeline of Power Director in "realtime".

It is not the softwares fault or my system....it's just the nature of High Defintion video editing. There is alot going on inorder to playback that amount of information in real time.


You can lower the resolution of the preview screen...there are three choices....High, Normal, and low. It can help smooth out playback by lowering the preview resolution.

Probably the best option and/or solution is to shoot your video in a lower resolution. Many of the members here have commented on shooting in 1280x720. The visual quality is still stunning and proves to be less demanding on a computer and Power Director to run it. I have also tested and seen the same result (stuttering) on other similar video editing software. So the problem exists with different manufacturers.

I do however highly suggest an upgrade to your GPU(graphics card). It can help significantly to improve the editing experience. And depending on the level of graphic card you upgrade to, it can also reduce the amount of rendering time required by utilizing the graphic card to render your final video production.

I hope this helps clarify some of your concerns.

Kevin
Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

Bob,
You're right. I used Pixela, and my files have the date on them, so I guess they're .m2ts. Pixela does play them, but they stutter there as well. Does that suggest it's my graphics card after all?

Cap'nKevin,

Looks like I'm in the market for a graphics card. Thanks for the feedback.

Hey, Hey, Hello,
The Pixela editor is a bummer, but the player works well on my machine.
For me, it plays all MTS and m2ts files of any size from camera and/or PD.
OS: MS Windows XP Professional SP3
MB: ASUS P5N32-E SLI
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 775 CPU 2.40GHz each
RAM: 4GBs
BD Writer: LG GGW-H20L, Firmware: YL05
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 640MB GTS, Driver 9/27/2009 6.14.11.9107 The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

Hi Jeff,

If you are in the market for a new graphics card, here is a link to a chart showing how all the current GPU's stack up in a bench test evaluation. It helped me get an idea of where I was with my graphic card capabilty and where I wanted to end up.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality-update-3/3DMark06-v1.1.0-3DMark-Score,1697.html

I hope this helps you in your search!

Kevin
Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

I really appreciate your responses, Bob and Kevin; I've got a better idea what I need to do. Thanks.

Jeff,

I'm using a Canon HG20 camera which records at 1920x1080i 24 Mb/s. My computer setup is a Q9300 at 2.5 GHz and I have an NVIDIA 9500GT video card. I would say that my system is the bare minimum for HD editing if you want to edit the mts files directly. I would suggest a video card from ATI since it can render both MPEG4 and MPEG2 using Stream technology.

If you upgrade your video card you will be able to play your videos with a lower end CPU. My home theater PC plays my mts files perfectly using ATI integrated graphics (HD4200) but it has HD video acceleration so my low end dual core CPU runs at less than 5%. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

That gives me a lot of specifics, James; thanks.

Jeff, one thing to keep in mind if you're going to upgrade your video card
is that the higher end graphic/video cards need more power. I was in the
store last week to purchase an ATI FX 5770 card, but was told by the
sales person that the 300 Watt power supply that came with my new
HP Pavilion PC was too low wattage for the ATI 5770. The minimum
requirement for the 5770 card is a 450 watt supply. He said that I COULD
install the card and not upgrade the power supply, but the motherboard
would overheat.

I returned home, did some research into the 5770 and video card
power demands in general. Turns out he was right on spot. Video cards
are pretty hungry for power when doing editing, or playing games. Add in
the other computer components and 300 watts is a bare minimum power
supply. It's too bad that PC manufacturers choose to cut corners in this
way because an underpowered machine causes all types of failures over
time...from the hard drive to the video card and eventually the
motherboard itself.

The power supply looks like an octopus with so many wires connecting to
various components inside the PC, but I'm convinced that upgrading to
a more robust one is mandatory.. regardless of the Video Card installed.

So the bottom line Jeff is to make sure your power supply provides
MORE than enough wattage for your system, including the video card
you'll be upgrading to. If you "Google" PC Power Supply and Video
Card Power Demands, you'll find many resources to educate and guide
you on this subject. Good luck!!

-Allen in Chicago

Allen,

All things I never thought of. Thank you so much for the insight.

All stuff I hadn't thought of, Allen. Many thanks.

U-R most welcome Jeff. As of today, I still haven't upgraded my
card. I'm not sure if the gains will be worth the effort involved with
replacing the power supply. Seems like a major project. Guess
I just need to work up the nerve to take the plunge.

-Allen