Hi Debra,
I am still struggling with PD5 and, from what you say, I am very hesitant to invest more money and time in PD6. My program predictably crashes while trimming clips, especially when using the markers. Everything else seems to be working more or less correctly. However, when trimming, I lose lot's of work because I have to reboot the computer. Did you get any useful response from technical support? Because I sure didn't. Thanks,

Enrico Enrico

I upgraded from PD5 to PD6 last week. I'm experiencing FAR fewer crashes with PD6 and I find the added benefits of PD6 very much worth the upgrade. I wish I'd upgraded sooner.

Hi Enrico,
Support was marginal, they just had me doing the same things that they tell everyone else on this forum. I still have crashes, but much less often. And I save the project as I am working on it every couple of minutes. I have an external hard drive that I keep all my video clips, photographs, etc. to keep power director happy and running. I also scan with Nortons all the time to keep everything perfect. This software is very "highstrung". PD6 is worth it, if you have the patience for it! I have not completed my first movie yet since getting pd6, I hope it will work. Good Luck,
Debra

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. Unless tech supports comes with a real solution, which I doubt, I'll take up your advice and upgrade to PD6. One question. Did PD6 pick up the project saved under PD5?
Enrico

I did not even attempt to start a project in my previous version, which was pd4 and carry it over to pd6. I anticipated incompatibility between them and from what I read, it is a distinct possibility. I started a brand new project when I upgraded and ended up deleting all previous projects. I feel better knowing that it is the software that has problems, for the longest time I thought I had a satanically possessed computer
Remember, praying hard helps a bunch!
Debra

My PD6 crashes all the time -- it's even crashed the computer a few times.

I find support very shaky. They tell you to upgrade your compter, reinstall PD, etc. And then you're back where you started.

This was ranked as the best editing program out there, and if this is the best, what's the worst like?

I haven't checked them all, but the two PD5 project opened perfectly in PD6. I've seen made some edits to one and successfully burned to DVD.

Thank you all for the helpful hints. Enrico

Hey Enrico,
I owe you an apology, I was getting cocky because pd6 was actually working fine for all of a day or two then, poof, it crashed... OK, my computer is almost sterile, it is soooo clean. It has to be the project I am working on currently. I have almost 3 hours of video that I am editing down to an hour or less. PD6 works fine on everthing else, but now I can not open this project anymore, it crashes everytime. I think I need to upgrade to 1g or more memory. I currently have 512 mb. I have done everything else, maybe this will work. I am going to take care of this within the next few days (I am obsessive with my movie making) I will let you know what happens. This is like a reality show We uns may figure this out yet!!
Hang in there all,
Debra

Hi Debra,
Take heart. I have 4 G of memory in my computer and, even though I have MS Office and a couple of other programs running on it, the computer is very clean and my movies are about the size of yours. At this point I am unwilling to commit more money to Cyberlink, unless tech support comes back with something useful. I spoke with Ulead and their technical department. They assured me that their program is rock solid and on top of it they have phone support. So after this movie I may switch. Enrico

Hi All,
I've been having crashing issues sometimes often and othertimes not at all. I've been using PD6 for only a few months but after pulling my hair almost completely out from using other programs, I gotta say, I would so much rather deal with the crashes and perhaps find a work around or how to avoid them in PD. I'm just hoping that it gets better for us all...which would mean they (tech support) would find somewhat of a fix. My computer too is next to sterile, but here are some real band-aid fixes I've had to figure out on my own:

1. When I work with a lot of video...I truthfully have to defrag almost daily.

2. When that box pops up that say somehting like "an unexpected error has occured and PD needs to close" , I just drag it over to the right side of the screen where only a small piece of the title bar can be seen (to be able to drag it back into place) and keep on working...even saving...especially saving. Sometimes I work for 45 minutes like this, but it beats the constant re-booting.

3. I keep my H/D as cleaned off as possible...and as Debra said...keep any un-used video off...because boy is it picky! And the prayers sure haven't hurt.

But over-all, I think PD can do so much more (easier) than any other program I've used. I absolutely HATED Roxio, but I really liked Arcsoft Showbiz DVD (hope I can say this here), but for serious video editing, it's very, very limited. I think it's only for the "cute" videos.

I'm getting ready to post a different kind of crashing problem...concerning the use of audio clips...so don't freak when you see a similar post. I just hope someone has a solution

Thanks to everyone for posting and helping out in my desparate time of need!

Nora