Hi,

I recently bit the bullet and bought PowerDirector 6 for my jvc camera. I was using the express version before and was also using PowerProducer. I like the software and think I'm getting some good use out of it although it's been quite a learning curve. Even so, I have a couple questions I can't figure out:

#1 Sound - I like to put in my own music. I want to fade it in and out at the beginning and ending of my slide show before it goes into the video clip. At first, I couldn't get it to do anything with the audio mixer and then I realized I had it in the voice section. In the music section, the audio mixer has some capabilities, but I can't fade in or out just at the beginning and end. It does the entire clip as a fade in or out. If I use the mouse, I can click on the sound line and it turns into a red dot. I then have to try to click around it to make a gray/black dot. I have to be careful or I drag the whole line down. Then I drag the gray/black dot down to the corner for the fade out. This is cumbersome and I'm not sure I'm doing it the right way, but it's the only way I've got to work. It's hard to see the dots and sometimes I get more than one and then I get the sound going up and down and I can't figure out how to fix it so I just delete it and start over. Is there any easier way?

#2 Menu Music - When I first started doing this, I could pick a song to play during the top menu screen and I could cut it and edit it or have it play the whole thing. Now, it only picks the first part of the music for a few seconds and then repeats. I can't figure out how to change it to play longer or the whole song. Was I doing this in PowerProducer and it doesn't do it in PowerDirector?

#3 Editing a Song - I would like to use a sound clip from the middle of a song (i.e. a chorus) and it only lets me trim it from the beginning. Is there a way to cut out the middle and use it?

#4 Magic Movie - When I tried the Magic Movie feature, it gave me some background pictures and effects that I don't see anywhere else. Are these accessible some other place or just in Magic Movie mode?

#5 Aspect Ratio - My husband wants all our movies in the 16:9 aspect ratio. The first couple I did were in 4:3 because that's what it defaulted to and I didn't know any better. When I tried to convert them to 16:9, I lost everything in my storyboard although my pictures and videos were still in my library. I couldn't figure out how to get it back so I rebuilt it. Is there a way to convert without rebuilding and is there a way to get the software to default to the 16:9 so I don't accidentally build in 4:3?

Thanks so much for your time and help. This is definitely fun even though it's work. I've checked out your website and it's been very informative.

I look forward to learning from your expertise

~Ginger