Hi,
Now I will alter your title as it is not applicable and your vent is not what others experience.

Did you look at the readme and consider providing worthwhile information rather than "give vent"?

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7979.page

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7979.page#34439

So Part A B F and D apply.

read and provide.

WE ARE NOT CYBERLINK and your "vent" isn't appreciated here.

Thanks

Dafydd

I just purchased PowerDirector 8 as well and have found it to crash about as frequently as Kvon characterized in his original tittle.

I'm on a pretty standard i7 machine with Vista, a current ATI GPU, and very little other software installed. Every crash has been catistrophic for PowerDirector and never retrieves unsaved work. I have rebooted a few times, but no noticeable effect. Each crash has been after doing some action in PowerDirector, but each has been different (adding a clip, moving a clip, adding a transition, viewing an effect, etc.) Running 8.00.3022. working on a diagnosis file...

Are there any tips for keeping PowerDirector from crashing every 10 minutes?
Alternatively, any suggestions for software that doesn't crash?

Wow, PowerDirector just crashed without any files open and without any input from me...juest opened the program and it stopped. Help?

Dupp and Kvon,
please follow Dafydd's instructions. Provide info.
I often use PD8 on my little underpowered DM1 and it rarely crashes or freezes.
Many folks here to help, just help us, too!
Stick with PD long enough to sort this out and you will find it to be a blast video-editing. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

I guess I've been spanked For the record, my original subject - albeit maybe a bit inflammatory - was more accurate than what it was replaced with: Indeed, I've never seen any other software crash anywhere NEAR this often. And the substituted subject (System crashes...) is inaccurate. It's not the system that crashes (usually), it's the PD software. But I don't need to belabor this - point taken.

I'm away from home, and can't provide the system diagnostic info, but will do so when I'm home in a few days. In the meantime, here's a question: In general, I can think of 2 possible reasons why an application would crash so frequently ( and there's probably more)... 1 would be that the project file somehow gets corrupted over time as the project gets bigger & more complex. the other would be a possible conflict with something else on my system. I could test this by running PD on another machine and see what happens. May give this a try if I get the time... But -- it seems likely that #1 plays a factor, as I don't seem to have the crashing problem until I've been working on the project for a while and the project file starts to grow in complexity.

Any thoughts on this -- and or how I might troubleshoot it? (And I will provide the requested info when I get home)...

thanks...

I use pd8 everyday editing small clips together no special edits just cutting parts out, no more then 2 minutes each no longer then 10 minutes all together, at first it crashed once or twice every so often, i diskcleaned and defraged the computer many times and it seems to be getting worse, sometimes will ether cutting a clip out or just plain ol adding a clip a black square pops up on the bottom right hand side very often, it blacks out the video, audio is there but no video, so i try and remove the clip and put it back and it crashes, ill try to post on youtube and will have to stop and go back to the edit tab to try and remove the bad clip that was caused by switching tabs, iv been on here many times, iv downloaded the patch and followed instructions for people who have similar problems and nothing is helping, can anyone please give me some advice on how to fix this, i feel is tho that buying this program was a waste. i demoed it and had no problems, only when i bought the program did the problems start. also im on a alienware alx desktop running windows XP

kvon5784, when you supply the information request I think then we'll be able to assist you further. Asking us to guess only on what you've written is unfair to editors. we need the facts and data requested asap.

Codey, I understand the issues you're having and I'd like you to read: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7979.page

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7979.page#34439

So Part A B F and D apply.

If you provide the information requested. Notably A,B and F then you'll get assistance.

**************

All. Information is the key to unlocking the problems you're experiencing. Your next posts should include the requested information - in full.

Thanks

Dafydd

The larger a project gets, the more memory and processor power it will need. That is the nature of video editing, not a bug in PowerDirector. I spend about 20 hours a week editing video and rarely have a crash. You might try producing the video in smaller chunks and then combining them. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

I would suggest reinstalling and paying attention to all the advise in the readme. Don't skip Quicktime install.

**************************
Microsoft DirectX® 9 runtime library must be installed in advance. If you purchase the Internet download version or the free trial version, you have to download this module from the Microsoft Web site or from other Web locations. Microsoft DirectX® 9 can also be found at the Microsoft DirectX® 9 download page on the Microsoft web site: http://www.microsoft.com.

In order to avoid most compatibility issues, please close all other software and utility applications, including virus scans and instant messaging software.

Other third party codecs that installed QuickTime alternative codecs, such as the Storm Codec or K-Lite Codec Pack. We suggest that you uninstall these codec packs, and install the official Apple QuickTime 7 Player. After QuickTime is installed, try installing CyberLink PowerDirector 8 again.

Don't forget to get the latest patch.

There is advise on the forums about changing settings in Preferences. One setting creates lower quality versions of your HD video in the background so you can edit easier. That can crash you when not doing anything. Disable it. Also the autosaves can crash you every 10min. turn it off and then manually save often. If you're crashing from those maybe your hard drive needs chkdsk run against it.

Install your latest video drivers. 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

I am having virtually the same issue only a little more "interesting"...i am working on a 8 minute video and the program crashes now whenever i try to add a transition (I save after every change i make) AND after I try to produce it somehow deletes an individual random video (say 1 out of 25) but leaves audio so I have to go back, figure out which file is missing and reinsert it and edit it down.

Any other suggestions than just turning off other programs or restarting my computer?

I have a PC with windows 7, 8GB of RAM, a 2.80 GHz core i7 CPU which is about 8 months old

Extremely frustrating software...

More extremely frustrating it’s that no one reads Dafydd and KenR recommendations. Relax, do some Yoga, read all the post again and follow the “suggestions” in order to have a chance to help you.

By the way KenR,
Its interesting that you have mentioned “.. the autosaves can crash you every 10min”, because that solve me a lot of troubles with PD (actually I don’t use autosave). I have post about the autosave problem a few times and there is only a couple of members that have experiment that issue. Nice to ear it from another member.

tylerdurden777

Which part of my post and KenR's did you not comprehend? ALL or SOME?

ALL: INFORMATION IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE ISSUES.

Grasp what has been posted as guides and give data and you'll get assistance.

This thread is going nowhere until answers are provided in the form (and as attachments) we have requested.

Dafydd

Hello,

Here is the requested diagnostic info - some of this I provided in my initial post but I'll include it all here again for clarity.

* PD version 8.00.3022
* I've attached 2 text files: the DxDiag results, and text from the windows event log for the 9 most recent PD crashes.
* What happened: It's crashed so many times, here's the narrative for a few specific scenarios that I can recall, plus one that just now happened.

1) I opened PD, made a bunch of edits to my existing project, including inserting chapter markers, and opening the create disc module and experimenting with different title templates. I shut down PD, and after the application window had gone away and it appeared that a normal shutdown occurred, I got an application crash notification from windows - the event log for that one is the first in the included file (the mfc90u.dll fault).

2) Here's one that's happened several times. I open PD, and it never completes the loading of the project & media files... During the very last status window of this loading process which says "Project 99% - Updating timeline data", it hangs. The actual tiles in the master video track (it's opening in the timeline view) never appear - it seems to be crashing in the process of creating that data.

3) One time it hung in the middle of rendering an MPG file. Options selected in the Produce module were MPEG-2, BD 1920x1080 profile, and United States (NTSC) video format. The options for Dolby Digital 5.1 and Enable preview during production were both UN-selected. This was the time it hung the whole computer, and I had to do a hard reboot.

Please let me know if you need more info - happy to provide.

Thanks!

kvon5784
Are you saving the project file at regular intervals?

You can either click the floppy disk Icon (Save Project) to save the current Project to the same name. or you can Ctrl+Shift+S to save as a different name.

You seem to be closing Power director without saving the changes you made in your edits.

If you get a crash, sometimes the project file is corrupted. You may be able to use one of the autobackup project files. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Yes, I'm saving at REGULAR intervals... (you only have to lose a big chunk of work 1 time to learn that lesson!).
Also - forgot to mention previous post - I have the autosave project option turned OFF.

You should turn the auto save back on.

That has saved my project a few times.

I do save often also, but I have had PD8 lose the project file completely. Because of the 5 min autosave, I am never more that five minutes away from my last edit.

I moved the Autosave location to where I wanted the folder. Easier to find that way, and I set the autosave time to 5 minutes. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

1. A screen shot of your project please showing the Edit user interface and large enough so we can read the file names.
2. File sample of the video in use by you - 5 to 10 seconds and attached to a reply please.
3. Where is the source material for your projects stored Internal/External Hard drives?
4. What is the address location of your files and folder names - give an example please?
5. What "home made" menu's and Titles have you created and are used in your project? Please show us a screenshot of the display, the content files used and perhaps make available the menu as an attachment (for dissection).
6. XP has it's limits when carrying out editing on a large HD project. I'm very interested in seeing what selections you have made. I see you only have a 512mb graphics card which is insufficient to edit 1080 and preview in full.

HD edit/video is a resource hungry demanding product which drains the capability of a weak system to the edge. I'd like to see your answers.

In the meantime please take a look at some members set up (mine has changed to a w764bit): http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/8445.page

Dafydd

1) Sounds like you mean the edit module, timeline view? Here's the screenshot.

2) "File sample of the video in use by you" -- I should clarify - the projects I've done so far (which ALL seem to be plagued by frequent crashes) are mostly slideshows of still photos. This recent project has a few short video clips (details below), but since previous projects used NO video clips (all jpgs) and still had crash problems I'm inclined to think the video is not the culprit. This time I used 5 different video clips, ranging in size from 2.39MB to 105MB. And that was for a 3 sec clip - probably higher def than I needed. At any rate, if you need to see samples of these clips, because they're already so short could I upload to an FTP site somewhere?

3) All source material for the projects on internal hard drive.

4) See enclosed screenshot for project directory structure. All jpg files are in the directories under "output". The main project file is in the "video" directory, along with all the movie clips. (That directory's file listing is shown on the screenshot).

5) No home made menu's or titles. All titles were generated in the PD "Title Room", and I used one of the stock menu templates for creating the DVD.

6) I've had problems with my graphics card causing conflicts with other apps (and maybe PD as well?!?), and have decided to get a new one. I see from looking at other members setups that cards with nearly 6GB of display memory are is use, so I'll definitely look at upgrading that. Because you're right - I notice that the preview rendering with those high def video clips just doesn't work with the setup I've got.

Let me know if you need anything else... Thank you!

HI,
Ok, I've re-read your previous posts and along with the latest information.

1. when was the last time you defragmented your hard drive?
2. when was the last time you clean out the temporary files?
3. Take a look here as well at the number of temp images and wave form text files. http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/9621.page
Specifically: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/9621.page#41704

4. From the images supplied I don't see any image content in the selection - have you removed them? Do you normally remove them from your project display?
5. I would prefer a full timeline screen shot of the Edit interface as well please.
6. I note you either have a Color board or replacement file in the tracks - not sure which.
7. re the directories.jpg - Mix matching video file content can be problematic when the frame size and frame rates vary. I'm sure you are aware that even where a declared frame rate of a video from a source is supposed to be 29.97fps or 25 fps that some cameras don't actually provide that rate in reality, making merging of files awkward in the least.

I hope you have the right codec to read all the collection of files you have for your projects, installation of a codec pack will help (like ffdshow).

8. The audio files may be encrypted to prevent use.

For the moment my suggestion is:
1. Create multiple pds files and then reduce the content in the timelines so you have smaller projects.
2. Edit and produce your smaller projects
3. Bring those new video files back into PD8 and with the aid of SVRT create a finished product.
4. I have been recommending editors to save regularly and I see that Carl has eluded to this already. Please save many times. For example in a 3 minute piece I would save anything from 80 to 100 times.

I think upgrading your PC and graphics card will help you a great deal.

I have answered this thread from memory, if I've made any mistakes, sorry.

Dafydd