Considering purchase

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Solved by

Feb 20, 2012 09:04

Hi there, could use a little advice here before purchasing.

I've been into video editing for many years, but have not been at it, so to speak, for some while.

Need a new editor as I'm now using an HD video cam and want a more up to date editor than that which I had been using.

I have a blu ray player and have to hand a version of Power Producer that enables me to drag video files together and make a blu ray disc, no probs. But no editing power as I don't have a version of Power Director installed.

So I've downloaded the trial version of PD10

Seems to work just fine, but I've noticed that the playback of my clips within the timeline is choppy and blurred in contrast to the files playing in sharp contrast and focus when clicked on in the movie library.

Is this a limitation of the trial version?? It makes sense that it is so, otherwise I could just download a version for 30 days and get a whole lot of HD editing done for free.

But if the blurred and choppy bits are part of the real purchased programe, I'd be somewhat put off!!

All good wishes, and look forward to any advice or responses.

The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

MARK_W

Newbie Joined: Jan 06, 2012 08:50 Messages: 44 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 09:26

Hi Loveclose
I think you need to set the "preview in the media viewer" to a higher quality.

See picture attached

Cheers

Mark


Filename	Preview.jpg	Download
Description
Filesize	12 Kbytes
Downloaded:	146 time(s)

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 10:17

Thanks Mark for your pic, I've upgraded the preview quality to 'high'.

Still a bit grainy by comparison to the original, but I'm counting on the rendering to be as good as the original - is that the case??

Cheers! The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

MARK_W

Newbie Joined: Jan 06, 2012 08:50 Messages: 44 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 10:29

Hi
Not an expert on the rendering side at all, and have never burned to blu ray, but in PD10 under Produce there are lots of options regarding the Quality.
Sorry, not much of a rely this one.

Mark

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 10:35

That's ok Mark, no probs, appreciate the advice.

I guess what I'm trying to ascertain is if the final quality of the finished article is as it should be, ie better than preview.

Must be the same issue for DVD maybe??
The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

abslayer

Member Joined: Jan 17, 2012 09:17 Messages: 85 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 12:31

Final quality of the finished Blu will be great just like your input video
PD dosn't always look it's best in preview window

abslayer

Member Joined: Jan 17, 2012 09:17 Messages: 85 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 12:57

O O the forum police are going to get you .

Seriously though PD has it's problems but I have found for editing video it is one of the best I have tried.

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 13:43

No disrespect Tom Thumb, but unless I'm mistaken, Avid is Pinnacle in drag??

Having bought Pinnacle 9 some time ago and been rather annoyed that my hard earned cash did not open all the content I expected, well that was the end of the line there I'm afraid!!

Whilst I appreciate any advice, I've learned not to advertise other folks' products on a product specific forum!!!!

The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

Gordon 7

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jan 29, 2012 15:45 Messages: 24 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 15:10

RE preview quality:

I don't know about PD10, as the trial version didn't support HD for me, but I've noticed in PD8 that having 'enable file processing' ticked in Preferences, General, results in a lower timeline preview sharpness for HD (once the shadow files have been generated - yellow symbol on library file turns green). Unticking it brings timeline sharpness back.
But this lower sharpness does not happen on the produce preview and doesn't affect final render.
What does lower the final render quality (definition) for me is enabling 'Hardware video encoder' on produce page. But that's on my system - people should do their own tests.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 20. 2012 15:14

Gordon

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 15:31

Gordonis -

You're right. People should do their own tests. In some cases, with the PD10 trial, that's IMPOSSIBLE! Whilst I wouldn't jump in here and (unhelpfully) suggest using a competing product, I think it's very strange marketing practice to have a trial version that doesn't allow a proper trial (e.g. if your camera records in AVC & produces .mts files).

Just to clarify about "file processing" (shadow files). Using these is only necessary for lower end PCs working with HD content. It allows smoother editing, because PD makes a set of lower res proxy files (mpg) of all your video clips. I've had them turned OFF from Day 1.

The Hardware Acceleration issues apply only to some ATI drivers http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/21636.page NVIDIA users don't have the same problems.

Cheers - Tony
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KentuckyRandy

Member Location: Kentucky USA Joined: Oct 27, 2010 09:39 Messages: 81 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 15:53

Quote: Gordonis -

You're right. People should do their own tests. In some cases, with the PD10 trial, that's IMPOSSIBLE! Whilst I wouldn't jump in here and (unhelpfully) suggest using a competing product, I think it's very strange marketing practice to have a trial version that doesn't allow a proper trial (e.g. if your camera records in AVC & produces .mts files).

Just to clarify about "file processing" (shadow files). Using these is only necessary for lower end PCs working with HD content. It allows smoother editing, because PD makes a set of lower res proxy files (mpg) of all your video clips. I've had them turned OFF from Day 1.

The Hardware Acceleration issues apply only to some ATI drivers http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/21636.page NVIDIA users don't have the same problems.

Cheers - Tony

Tony,

I would welcome a PD10 updated trial, that included all patches and Bluray output. That's what keeping me from purchasing PD10. BTW: I am an Avid/Pinnacle long time customer.

Randy Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 15:59

Quote: That's what keeping me from purchasing PD10.

... and Randy, I'm sure you're not alone!

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KentuckyRandy

Member Location: Kentucky USA Joined: Oct 27, 2010 09:39 Messages: 81 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 16:03

Quote:

Quote: That's what keeping me from purchasing PD10.

... and Randy, I'm sure you're not alone!

Tony,

I am being 100% honest here. I learned a HARD lesson with AS-1 ............. never to purchase a NLE without the trial. Regardless of how long you have used past versions. That is no guarantee that new ones will be usable.

Randy

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 20. 2012 16:04

Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 20, 2012 18:34

For the record, I've not used the shadow files option.

Probably for the same reason other don't either! The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

Bubba in TX

Senior Contributor Location: Central Texas Joined: Dec 12, 2009 21:32 Messages: 1332 Offline

Feb 21, 2012 15:18

Like Tony suggests. a lot of us have used all the video editors at one time or another or still do....

I have used Pinnacle.... it could not do near the things with titles that I can in PD. And titles and transitions are what I use the most. Hundreds of each in each project. Picture based slide shows with hundreds of pictures.... very little video.... seldom less than 1 hour long.... mostly around 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours... (I use D/L DVD's)

I never use shadow files....

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 21. 2012 15:20

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Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Feb 22, 2012 05:50

Hi members,
I haven't seen anyone mention the following.

1. CyberLink provide a 30 day trial which does have limitations.
2. CyberLink also offers a 30 day refund policy on the full version, for that they expect you to carry out their un-install and non-use instructions.

That's 60 days of trying out. I always thought that to be pretty good from a software company.

Info: http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/faq-content.do?id=2317

Dafydd

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 22, 2012 07:05

Thahks for all the posts folks.

Gettin close to making a decision

Interestingly enough, Cyberlink features prominently on many 'top 10' vids on you tube - pretty much always the no.1 choice....

Only decision regarding the PD10 is whether to go Deluxe or Ultra on a 32bit OS. I note a previous post that says I will loose some functionality of the Ultra version on a 32bit OS.

Other than those mentioned, is the Ultra version worth the extra 10 squid or so on a 32bit OS?? The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 22, 2012 09:10

In addition to the above, I've just compared the two products on Cyberlink's home page.

I note that blu ray disc burning is not possible with the delux version...

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/compare_en_US.html

So a few direct questions!!

1) am I right in assuming there is no blu ray disc burning possible in PD10 Deluxe?

2) will the blu ray disc burning feature available in PD10 Ultra be compromised by my Win7 32bit system?

All advise gratefully received......then off to spend me dosh....
The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....

HalCon

Senior Contributor Location: Charlottetown, PEI Joined: Mar 01, 2008 10:36 Messages: 719 Offline

Feb 22, 2012 19:50

Loveclose,

On question 1, you are correct, there is no BD burning in PD10 Deluxe.

On question 2, I am running PD10 Ultra on my 32 bit XP platform (specs below) and am currently burning BD and playing around with converting 2D to 3D with very good results. I do have to wait for things to happen though, due to my 32 bit operating system.

I am missing out on some of the advanced features that are only available with the 64 bit version, so I will be updating to Win7 64 bit as soon as I can afford it.

Hal
OS - Win11 Pro, Alienware R13, CPU - Intel Core I7-12700KF 12 CPUs), 16g DDR5 4400 RAM, Video - Geeforce RTX 3080ti 12g, PD11 & PD365
My YouTube

Loveclose

Member Joined: Feb 20, 2012 08:49 Messages: 76 Offline

Feb 23, 2012 02:54

Thanks so much for your reply HalCon.

I for one can thoroughly recommend your upgrade to Win7 when it happens. I've found it to be one of the most stable and forgiving OS's I've used.
The meek shall inherit the earth, if that's ok with everyone else....