A fantastic tool for PowerDirector!

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Solved by

Jan 01, 2014 18:50

As this tool does not compete with PD12 in any way, I figured it would be Ok to mention it here:

As I mentioned in another thread, I recently bought a program called "Phantom Disk" (only $20US!) that does something extremely useful for people who regularly burn disks: It creates virtual blank disks, such as DVD-R or BD-R, and then mounts them in a virtual drive which Windows (and thus all programs that burn disks, such as PD12) sees as a drive with a blank disk in it. Now you can try out your disk ("preview" within PD12 is useful, but it's an emulation) without possibly wasting actual disks. Then, if you like it, just copy it to a physical disk!

It emulates just about any kind of disk you can name, including BD-R/BD-RE (single and dual layer), every DVD variant you can name (-R, +R, -RW, +RW, single layer, dual layer, etc) and CD-R/RW.

I've been looking for a program that does this for a while, such as TotalMounter (very poorly reviewed, buggy and doesn't work with Windows 7) and Daemon Tools (supposedly does what Phantom Drive does, but their website doesn't mention this feature). Phantom Drive does the trick very well!

And no, I am not affiliated with that company at all. It's just a very very useful program for people that burn disks on a regular basis, whether it be for video, audio or whatever.

Toodles!
Russell1967

p.s. You might be thinking that a program like Virtual Clone will do what this one does, but it doesn't. It just mounts already created ISO files (which Phantom Drive can also create if you want). Supposedly MagicISO or PowerISO can do it, but they cost a lot more and I have not been able to confirm that they can actually do the same thing as this program.

Sorry for the long post, but this program is THAT useful, at least to me. System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

Rob1492

Newbie Joined: Jan 20, 2012 00:52 Messages: 47 Offline

Jan 18, 2014 00:29

If you want to explore this product, Phantom Drive (not Phantom Disk) is found at http://www.phantomdrive.de/en/ and they offer a 30-day trial.

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 18, 2014 22:27

Yep, you're right, It's Phantom Drive. Thanks for the clarification. I've already used it several times to test a few burn projects. Works like a charm! And very simple to understand.

Another tool which I have purchased, but not received yet, is a Samsung 250GB SSD drive. Every site I looked at that had reviews for this drive gave it 5 stars. I'm looking forward to giving this drive a test drive with rendering a large project. I'll let you know how it goes.

Russell1967
System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

All vodi

Senior Contributor Location: Canada Joined: Aug 21, 2009 11:24 Messages: 1431 Offline

Jan 19, 2014 21:06

Russell,

Good suggestions.

FYI - I was in your town recently and was amazed how many ponds have alligators in them. Are they real or fakes ? Give us a sample of one if you can. Win 10, i7

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 19, 2014 22:15

Unless you're on the Jungle Cruise at Walt Disney World they're all real! It's not uncommon in some areas (mainly out in the "boonies") to see alligators crossing the street or just laying on the side of the road warming up. They rarely bother anyone and there are surprisingly few reports of attacks, even in the areas where they are more common (Near rivers or freshwater lakes, etc). Now, if you're air boat riding out in the swamps, then they're all over the place. But even there, they pretty much do what they can to get out of your area.

Gatorland Zoo is near where I live, and they have all the alligators you could ever want to see in your life!

Russell1967 System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 19, 2014 22:18

Quote: Samsung 250GB SSD drive. Every site I looked at that had reviews for this drive gave it 5 stars. I'm looking forward to giving this drive a test drive with rendering a large project. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd be interested to know what it scores on your Windows Experience Index. I recently bought a Crucial 256 GB SSD, and while it provided a great improvement in my performance, it only scores 7.2 (of a possible 7.9) on that index. I would have expected an SSD to max it out, as a Samsung 120 GB SSD does on another computer I use for TV, Netflix and such. As of now it's the limiting factor in my system, my GPU scoring 7.9 and my Processor/RAM scoring 7.5.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 19. 2014 22:28

Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 19, 2014 22:27

Hmmm... On mine, my hard drive is a 5.9 (Boo!) while everything else is 7.3 to 7.6. Replacing the hard drive should make it the top scoring element, which would make the 7.3's the new "low". My graphics card is an ATI HD 4850 w/1GB: A few years old, but scores reasonably well. I'll bet if I OC'd my processor and replaced my graphics card with something more recent I could score close to a 7.9, but that's a lot of money just for a better score. If it meets my needs, that's good enough for me!

Also, does that SSD (Crucial) drive have a high speed RAM buffer (in addition to the core memory used for storage) and/or other facilities to speed up reading/writing? What is that drive rated as far as max read/write rates and iops? There may be some setting you can adjust to get better performance.

Russell1967

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Jan 19. 2014 22:31

System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 19, 2014 22:32

Quote: Hmmm... My understanding is that the Windows Experience Index score is the score of the *lowest* performing area of your system

True, which makes my "total" score 7.2. I would have thought that the SSD would max out, giving my "total" score 7.5 (my processor/RAM score). Not much difference, but every little bit...

I'll look into those other areas. I've already updated the firmware on the drive, which didn't change anything.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 19. 2014 22:38

Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

Jan 20, 2014 00:11

HI,
My Experience index score is
7.7
7.7
7.8
7.8
5.9
and I am running i7 2600@3.4Gh with Geforce 560ti 1Gb memory 12GB on-board memory windows 7 premium 64Bit
no overclocking
Jim

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 20. 2014 00:12

Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

Visit GranPapa64's channel for your YouTube experience of the day!

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 20, 2014 09:36

Looks like 5.9 is pretty standard for those "old" type drives. That was the score on both of my computers before I replaced the C drives with SSDs

Don't think it has anything to do with this, but PD12 has been freezing up on me lately and I've been having to exit with the Task Manager. Fortunately it only does it once, usually soon after I start editing, so I've made a habit of saving my projects early and often during the process. When I installed this SSD I installed an image of my C drive rather than a full clean install, so I suspect I'm going to have to grit my teeth and do a format & reinstall in the near future. It's always sumpn'! Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 20, 2014 22:37

@BillyR: Was PD12 installed on the old C drive and did it freeze at that time, or did the freezes start when you imaged the old C onto the new C? That shouldn't have made any difference as it's the same thing from the OS's point of view. Any other new hardware or software additions or changes recently that may have coincided with the freezes?

Russell1967

p.s. Speaking of SSD drives, there seem to be two main types - SLC [single level cell] and MLC [multi-level cell] (There's also TLC, which is really MLC with 3 cells instead of 2 [triple level cell]). SLC is more reliable and faster than MLC or TLC, but holy cow is it more expensive! Intel has a 32GB (yes, only 32) that is about $425US. These are designed for super critical environments that have to be super fast and super reliable. But anyways, MLC drives have come a long way and they are getting close to the performance of SLC drives at 1/10th the price.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 20. 2014 22:37

System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 20, 2014 22:58

Quote: @BillyR: Was PD12 installed on the old C drive and did it freeze at that time, or did the freezes start when you imaged the old C onto the new C? That shouldn't have made any difference as it's the same thing from the OS's point of view. Any other new hardware or software additions or changes recently that may have coincided with the freezes?

Can't remember whether I had installed PD12 before migrating the C drive or if I still had PD11 on the drive at the time. PD12 has always done this, though, ever since I first started using it whether on the old drive or the new one. It's not a big problem, since when I reopen it most of the time it tells me it still has temporary files and do I want to keep them, and I can start back where I left off. If not, I can open the project, which I continually update during the editing process. Also I usually use Color Director in the process of editing, and that sometimes does the same thing. However sometimes everything goes silky smoothly like this morning, when I edited a 30 minute 50 year-old TV show, adjusting color, sharpness, etc. in Color Director, volume in Audio Director and cutting out the commercials in Power Director without a hitch. Tomorrow I'll be doing the same thing with another episode of the same show and we'll see how that goes. One never can tell.

As far as programs I'm always installing/uninstalling programs but I've never been able to attribute a malfunctioning program to something I've installed, but I suppose it's possible. Not likely though, IMO. Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 21, 2014 13:32

OSes can be so fickle. I have only had PD12 freeze on me one or two times, and other people have regular freezes. Having a quick look at your system specs shows that you certainly aren't using a mom & pop email machine, so who knows what it can be? Do you have other programs that you use regularly that freeze a lot?

On another note, your mention of Audio Director made me think of the Wave Editor that comes with PD12: Why does it strip the ID3 tag info off of MP3s when you import them, even if you're going to export them again as MP3s? I was modifying the volume levels of some MP3s I had - a lot of them - and was chagrined to discover that all of the tag info had been removed. Had to find a free MP3 tag editor to re-insert the info into EACH file again. Time consuming, but it worked. Would be nice if "Keep ID3 Tag info" was one of the options in Wave Editor...

Russell1967 System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 21, 2014 16:04

Quote: Do you have other programs that you use regularly that freeze a lot?

Nope, it's been a long time since I've had any freezes except for PD12. I edited another episode of the Beverly Hillbillies this morning, and for the second day in a row no freezes. Strangely enough, though, the resulting 21:30 file took about 1:10 to render (to MP4 @ 2920 kbps), while yesterday it only took about 50 mins. to render the same size file.

Quote: On another note, your mention of Audio Director made me think of the Wave Editor that comes with PD12: Why does it strip the ID3 tag info off of MP3s when you import them, even if you're going to export them again as MP3

Don't know if it's possible to keep the tags in those circumstances, but I'm not very knowledgeable on that subject. My issue with the Wave Editor and Audio Director both is the lack of a declipper (or if it's there I can't find it), which even some freebie MP3 editors have. I record classical music off the Internet and other sources, convert the tracks to MP3 in one of those freebies, tag them manually and load them onto the 12 GB hard drive in my car. Saves a lot of fiddling around with CDs at 79 mph! Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 22, 2014 19:17

"Saves a lot of fiddling around with CDs at 79 mph!"

Well, at least you're not driving 80... LOL

Wave Editor is a pretty basic audio editor, so I wouldn't expect it to be included in there, but I'd be surprised if de-clipping isn't included in Audio Director - possibly under a different name. I just checked Wave Editor and it isn't there.

Russell1967

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 22. 2014 19:18

System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Jan 22, 2014 22:32

Both WE and AD can utilize VST's to increase their use-ability.

http://plugins.gersic.com/index.php?searchFor=clipping&Submit=Submit&action=1

Do you know how to add VSTs? 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

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 23, 2014 11:53

Quote: Both WE and AD can utilize VST's to increase their use-ability.

http://plugins.gersic.com/index.php?searchFor=clipping&Submit=Submit&action=1

Do you know how to add VSTs?

That's a new abbreviation for me, and I can't even find out what it means on the site you linked. I did a search on how to install them, though, and it seems that, after extraction, the file needs to be dropped into the Plugin folder for the program. Unfortunately I'm unable to locate the Plugin folder in the Audio Director or the Wave Director folders in the Cyberlink Program Files. There's a Plugin folder in the Cyberlink Shared Files. Is that where it goes? Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Dafydd B

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

Jan 23, 2014 13:13

WE = Wave Editor

CyberLink's abbreviation for the following is ADR and not AD.
So,
ADR = AudioDirector

CyberLink abbreviations for some of their other programs:
PHD = PhotoDirector
PDR = PowerDirector
CDR = ColorDirector

Dafydd

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 23. 2014 13:15

BillyR

Senior Member Location: Southeast US Joined: Jun 19, 2013 14:33 Messages: 156 Offline

Jan 23, 2014 13:51

Haha. VST is the abbreviation I was talking about! Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Russell1967

Senior Member Location: Kissimmee, Fl USA Joined: Aug 10, 2013 23:35 Messages: 165 Offline

Jan 23, 2014 21:28

Why, that's Volcanic Seismic Techtonics, of course! Actually, it's Visual Studio Technology, an open source way to expand the capabilities of audio editors and the like.

As far as importing VSTs, it should be as easy as accessing 'Effects->VST->Import VST Effect' from the top menu.

There are lots of free VSTs around the internet. Google is your friend!

Russell1967 System specs: Windows 7 Professional x64; Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard with i5-3579K 3.8Ghz processor with 32GB RAM; Zotac GTX 760 w/4GB; 1xWestern Digital 1TB 10,000RPM HD; 1x Samsung 840 Pro SSD System Drive