Misrad,

Go to the… Directors Chair > Edit > Preferences > Editing, and in the Timeline field, uncheck the "Add An Effect And Title When Using Freeze Frame" box.
I wonder if even though you are removing the Sepia effect later, that there are still some remnants of it remaining somehow. By not automatically introducing the unwanted Sepia to the freeze in the first place, should eliminate that as the possible culprit to the darkening you describe.

JL wrote:

Are you seeing difference between the various settings with your setup or just throwing topics and see if they stick?

I think the Cap'n is trying to contribute to the "conversation", in the same consistently helpful and friendly manner, that many members and visitors to the forum have benefited from.



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EDIT:

Upon reflection and a great nights sleep...why leave an interesting topic of conversation....especially since I was having so much fun!! The barrel is still full of good apples.

Kevin
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Quote: I am exiting this topic ...well...none of my tidbits are sticking...I should stick to playing darts. But I am confident that "Jeff" will figure it all out and let the world know the answer.

On to more friendly troubleshooting elswhere.

Kevin

Nope, you won't see that happening. Have a good one, I'm gone.

Jeff

Hi everyone,
I have had the pleasure of corresponding, chatting etc to all of you here at one time or another. I have a great deal of respect for each of you and I'm pleased when I have the opportunity to enter a discussion with one or more of you.

Was there a need to cause upset here? The answer is, no there wasn't.

Please kiss and make up!

Dafydd
[Moderator]

Hi All,

Thank you for your thoughts as to a solution Dafydd....actually I don't even have a word or phrase to describe it....but I would prefer to limit my kisses to my family, wife, and adorable twins!!

Now that the room is filled with open minds again....I would like to say to any members new or seasoned that may be reading this topic. It has been my observation that there are many problems that users are confronted with. Some can be duplicated and then accurate solutions can be offered. Other times the problem can't be duplicated and various solutions are offered in a hopefully logical step by step process to assist them in solving their problem. These solutions are based on personal experience or from reading similar positive troubleshooting paths in similar related topics in this forum.

It is my opinion that if any member can not duplicate a particular problem on their system, it does not preclude them from participating in the open discussion on that topic. Some members may be better prepared to offer solutions because of their experience but ALL are welcome to participate and I can only hope that the tone of any discussion will be in a positive and friendly manner. It is unproductive to do otherwise in my opinion.

Warmest Regards XXXOOO,

Kevin
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Well said Kevin. I agree with that.

Now about those kisses you don't give. Is it ok if I get blown a few the next time I see your wife and twins



Dafydd
[Moderator]

Pucker up Dafydd!!!
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I will endeavour to send a video mail over skype of me puckering up!

How do I do that? As if......

Dafydd
[Moderator]

Quote: Misrad,

Go to the… Directors Chair > Edit > Preferences > Editing, and in the Timeline field, uncheck the "Add An Effect And Title When Using Freeze Frame" box.
I wonder if even though you are removing the Sepia effect later, that there are still some remnants of it remaining somehow. By not automatically introducing the unwanted Sepia to the freeze in the first place, should eliminate that as the possible culprit to the darkening you describe.

JL wrote:

Are you seeing difference between the various settings with your setup or just throwing topics and see if they stick?

I think the Cap'n is trying to contribute to the "conversation", in the same consistently helpful and friendly manner, that many members and visitors to the forum have benefited from.

Hello again, I've tried your solution and removed the Sepia effect, but the "light effect" still remains. I have 2 files with the same format that I created first in PowerDirector and then in Corel Pro X3.

I really have tried to continue with PowerDirector because I like it but if I can't get rid of this "light thing" I will consider to move to Corel )-:

Here are the 2 files (one created in Corel the other in PD), see if you can spot the difference.

http://www.how-to-play-soccer.net/corel-and-powerdirector.zip

I hope that I can still get rid of that on some way...

I think I have to do this in two steps: If I should have done something differently, please let me know. But it was the best I could do.

Here is the Corel video with a Video(Screen Capture image) and a Freeze Frame(Screen Capture Image)

Both images were brought into photo Shop and almost every pixel in the sky had RGB values of R 255 G 255 B 255.

Please see attached screen shots.
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Here is the Power Director video with a Video(Screen Capture image) and a Freeze Frame(Screen Capture Image)

Both images were brought into photo Shop and almost every pixel in the sky had RGB values of R 255 G 255 B 255.

Please see attached screen shots.
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So does anyone see any difference with the various images? I used the following players with identical results. Images were produced capturing from Splash Lite player with the Snipping Tool found in Windows 7.

Players used to display video clips
Windows Media Player
Splash Lite Video Player
Quicktime player
Power Director 8

My thoughts are that I didn't see any difference with any of the images with my 50 year old eyes, and it was confirmed using the Eye dropper tool in Photoshop using a 5x5 pixel sized dropper for averaging purposes.

All I think this proves is that on my system the way it is configured...There are no visible differences between the video and the paused still images.

I am not saying that it doesn't exist on his system...only on mine. If that helps..Great...if it doesn't...that's great too.

Only trying to help.

Kevin
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Hi Mirsad,

Once again, at simple normal viewing, I do not see a difference or "darkening" on either the Corel or PD version of your video. I did download your whole project and tested it. And I will place my long and boring write up on my testing, below, for you or anyone who may be interested in reading it.

Hi All,

I download the 325MB project that Mirsad provided. It didn't appear to be a traditional "Packed Project" folder, as there are several .pds files contained. (Any project that I have ever packed, only contained one .pds file.)

Before trying to load Mirsad's project in "my" PD8, I went to my Preferences and switched my PD8 to the PAL format, so as to conform with Mirsad's Pal project. And I ensured that my PD8's aspect ratio was set to 16:9 in my Preferences.
Initially, I could note open any of the downloaded .pds files in the folder. Every time I tried, I got the "Browse" pop-up window.
But by locating the files in Mirsad's folder, I was able to open the various versions, and settled on the BMP version for further investigation. (Or at least the amount of investigating that I am capable of, hahaha.)
And upon first playback of this project in my PD8, I saw NO noticeable change in brightness values between the video footage and the Freeze Frames/Snapshots.

But here are a few other things that I did observe. (And I don’t know if some of them necessarily apply to Mirsad’s "darkening" issue.)

- The H.264 AVC footage resolution is at 1920x1080 - which is a 16:9 aspect ratio.

- Each of the snapshots have a resolution of 640x480 - which is a 4:3 aspect ratio.

- The words "My Title" appear on each Freeze Frame, so the... "Add Titles and Effect when using Freeze Frame" option was definitely ON, when this timeline was built. (I know Mirsad has now turned this option off)

- There were no Fix/Enhance tools applied to any of the footage or Freeze Frame/Snapshots

- When I opened the BMP project version, the preview screen suddenly changed to 4:3, thus introducing those black borders at the top and bottom of the 4:3 preview screen, that framed the 16:9 footage and Freeze Frame/Snapshots. I found it very odd that this change to 4:3 would occur.

- I then changed the projects aspect ratio to (or back to) 16:9, and now the 16:9 footage did indeed fill the 16:9 preview screen. But the Freeze Frame/Snapshots displayed at about 75% of the preview screen, with a 25% black border surrounding the still image. And upon again checking the properties of the Snapshots in the timeline again, they were 640x480 (4:3).
Why do the Freeze Frame/Snapshots, extracted from 16:9 footage, have 4:3 aspect ratio properties?

Note: At this point I used "save as" to save this project to a .pds file, and named it... Mirsad-1. Then, in order to confirm, I opened a new project > imported some 16:9 (1280x720) footage from my archives > created a split > clicked the Freeze Frame button > Freeze Frame/Snapshot was inserted. I then checked the Properties of the Snapshot, and it’s aspect ratio remained at 16:9 at the expected 1280x720 resolution, as this is the normal way PD8 works for me.
So now I was even more puzzled as to why Mirsad's Freeze Frame/Snapshots dropped down to 640x480 (4:3) from the 1920x1080 (16:9) footage that the Freeze Frame was extracted from. So I can only assume that something is being done incorrectly in the procedures used to create this project. Though I'm sure what it may be, or if it is also the cause of the darkening that Mirsad is seeing on his end.
I then closed this confirmation test, and re-opened Mirsad's project (from the Mirsad-1 .pds file I created earlier.)

- I noticed that now that I had changed Mirsad's project's aspect ratio to (or back to) 16:9, as mentioned above, that the text in the titles looked stretched out like they do when text is stretched from 4:3 to 16:9. So this can only mean that the text was originally applied to a 4:3 background (I think). Which again causes me to wonder why 4:3 segments were introduced into a 16:9 project? If one's footage is 16:9, it seems to me that one would want to maintain 16:9 throughout the project. Which always happens for me, even with snapshots, in a production that is created from/with 16:9 footage.

- When I tried to introduce the exaggerated brightness values to the production (just as I mentioned in one of my my earlier post/reply), this time, in PD8, I could not see the value changes that I did observe when viewing Mirsad's "Produced" file in VLC Player. I only saw, and was distracted by the stills jumping down to 4:3 when they came on the screen.

So, what are my conclusions? Well, I'm even more confused than I was before I tried testing Misrad's project here.
- I can not cause or replicate the darkening.
- The aspect ratios are mixed up.
- When Mirsad's 16:9 footage, in the project library, is dragged down into the Master track, the preview window (and project?), changes to 4:3.
- Freeze Frames, purportedly created by just clicking on the Freeze Frame tool, have properties of 640x480, though they are Snapshots extracted from 1920x1080 footage.
- When "I" create a Split and make a Freeze Frame of "Mirsad's" footage, the Snapshots remain at 1920x1080, and display at 1920x1080 in my timeline.

So... perhaps these aspect ratio and resolution changes are causing the darkening that some do indeed see? Yet, through it all, I can not replicate the "darkening issue", and I am totally confused by the resolution differences, and the mixed aspect ratio changes, that are contained in this project.

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Hello Kevin, thanks for the reply. I checked the images but I am not sure what you are trying to show me with them?

I attached the 2 videos above just to show the light/dark switch between the image and video in Powerdirector while I couldn't notice this type of problem in Corel.

Sorry if I misunderstod your suggestions.

Hi Misrad,

I was simply pointing out, that as far as I could tell...there was no variation between the moving video and the paused video on my system as you had described. I took captured stills from each section of both the Corel video and the Power Director video...basically I didn't see the video change at all. By taking a sample with PhotoShop eyedropper tool I attempted to place some basic data on what I was seeing with my eyes. If the image was getting darker on my end then the RGB data I took would have been seen in the data. At least that's what I would think...maybe someone might offer a better way to verify if an image is getting darker.

I am not an expert as I have previously stated....it was my attempt to try to say that I am not experiencing the "switching" you are referring to. This might be helpful to someone else that has the expertise in diagnosing the problem...Cranston has also provided some very interesting observations as well. I am not sure what it all means...I am as confused as Cranston....

But I thought I would throw what I could for data out there and hopefully it might stick to something, sort of like egg on my face

Kevin
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Hello all, I figured it out. I invited a friend who is pretty skillful with graphic and he did some thing with my graphic card (no idea what) and suddenlty this light thing dissapeared. I must just say thank you to all and you guys should be proud of yourself because this is the best support I have ever got and not even the one's you pay for are even near the help I've got from you.

I have just a small question not directly related to this topic but what type of application do you use to edit a freezed screenshot from PD? I have been trying to use some integrated tool in PD but it keeps displaying an error telling me that it is no available. Also, when I Google and search for it on the PD site I can't found it anywhere.

Thanks again, /Mirsad

If possible, it would be worth finding out what he did so that if anyone else has a problem like this it might help??

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

Hi Misrad,

I would be interested too. If it was a setting or a re-seating of your graphics card it does explain why most of us could not see the problem you were describing because it was only visible to you through your display apparently.

Glad that it is fixed though......does anyone have an aspirin?

Kevin
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Hello all, well, I asked him and he said that he only resetted the factory settings because according to him, some old program have adjusted them without asking for permission to do so and that's what caused the problems.