Quote: Is there any good technical reason for me to have to wait about 30 seconds (after stop recording) for a 2-second narration to show up on the timeline? My project is about 30 minutes long with a mix of stills and video clips. It seems like the narration time delay gets longer as I get further into the project's timeline.

I used to get around this by capturing a test narration and bringing it into the project timeline. This would reduce a sometimes 2-minute wait time down to seconds, until I close and then open that project at a later time. Then I'd have to do this trick again. With PD 13, that trick won't work. What is going on here? Does PD have to read all the timeline objects prior to this point before deciding to place the current narration at the current spot?

What an irritation!

Bill

There are many factors that go into how fast a Voice-Over recording takes to show on the PD timeline.
30 seconds for a 2 second recording is too long.

When is the last time you did a drive cleanup? Windows Explorer, Right click > Properties. Click Disk Cleanup. (On General Tab).

One being the length of the recording. Short recordings show faster.

Another being your computer's performance.
The faster the computer the less time to show on the timeline.

You could record your voice over in external software (Audacity), that would create a separate Audio file you could import into PowerDirector.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Thanks, Carl, but what part of my system hurts my performance - see my signature? Tech support says my system is adequate.

Now I'm experiencing audio dropping out during preview, yet the audio information is normal everywhere I investigate.

Recently I increased RAM to 16GB because I noticed that the 8GB filled up to about 90% at seeming random times, when like 25% seems to be normal. Now I'm noticing that the same happens to the new 16GB of RAM! It seems to do that about the same time my audio drops out. Getting out of PD and returning to it removes the problem, but later it returns.

Along with that, the Rendering Preview function, which solves my poor resolution issue - and shadow file feature - seems to affect the background music, especially when I use the "Constant volume" transition at the start and finish of the clip on the audio track. The music insists on playing at full volume until I play with the setting, like moving up to 12db and back down to where I had it.

Strange things are happening with my Live PD 13.

My production of projects has stopped again! Sigh.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: Thanks, Carl, but what part of my system hurts my performance - see my signature? Tech support says my system is adequate.

The part where you say 2.7 GHz CPU. A 4 GHz would be faster.

I agree Adequate. Not super fast.

I am happy with my current computer (in Sig), but it is getting old, there are faster computers now. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

I did everything I could while still avoiding leaving my W7. I've got so many apps loaded on my PC and am not confident if I move to W8. So I'm waiting for W10 after it is out for a while. I'll still have to deal with programs as to whether they can be reloaded and run in 10. Ugh. What a pain. Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: I did everything I could while still avoiding leaving my W7. I've got so many apps loaded on my PC and am not confident if I move to W8. So I'm waiting for W10 after it is out for a while. I'll still have to deal with programs as to whether they can be reloaded and run in 10. Ugh. What a pain.

You can still buy Windows 7 64 bit.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416804

I plan to stick with Windows 7 64 bit for a long time yet.

However from what I have been reading, Most of the bugs have been ironed out in Windows 8.1.

Windows 10 is likely to be a repeat of the problems with Windows 8. Microsoft has dumped a Windows 9.

Windows 7 was the first Windows release in years that was a good OS. Windows 7 64 bit beat Windows XP hands down.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

But why can other providers of this kind of software have analmost instant save or appearance on the timeline? Surely software design has progressed rather than regressed as PD's slow response on so many aspects.

Don't get me wrong. I love PD! But there are some aspects that could easily be made much better, like this issue. Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: But why can other providers of this kind of software have analmost instant save or appearance on the timeline? Surely software design has progressed rather than regressed as PD's slow response on so many aspects.

Don't get me wrong. I love PD! But there are some aspects that could easily be made much better, like this issue.

I am sure that is true, but would you be willing to pay twice or three times as much for Powerdirector?

There are few things in PD 13 that bother me on my computer system, I think it is the best Powerdirector so far.

I have been using Powerdirector since Powerdirector 8 Ultra. Believe me, PD 13 is way better.

Edit:
I did a Voice Over test of 14 seconds, I use a USB Headset with Microphone. It took about 2 seconds for the Audio file to appear on the timeline and in the Media Library.


Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

I don't know if this is of any help. I'm using PDR12. I don't have anything special in the way of audio recording hardware. I just use my Logitech Webcam mic (USB).

I just did a voiceover test of 1 minute duration and it took less than 5 seconds to appear on the timeline. I have a five minute project with video, still images and a separate audio track on the timeline.

Have you updated your audio card driver? Have you looked into possible hardware conflicts? Maybe plug your mic into a different port?

Just taking wild stabs here. There is no way a short clip should take that long to show on the timeline. Mike B.
|>>PowerSpecG311 PC(2014)<<||>>Windows®7Pro 64-bit OS<<|
|MB:AsRock FM2A88X Extreme6+|CPU:AMD A10-7850KQuad 3.7GHz|RAM:8GB DDR3|GPU:MSI Radeon™R7 250 1GD5OC|
|HDD:Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB|HDD:WD Red 2TBx2|RAID:SansDigital TR5M+B 2TBx3|BD-R:LG BE14NU40 Ext|
|Camera:Canon Ultura miniDV|WebCam:Logitech C910|ADVC110 Analog/Digital Converter|
|PowerDirector12Ultra.2930|PhotoDirector5Ultra.5424|AudioDirector4Ultra.3522|Cyberlink MediaSuite10 OEM|

Thanks. I thought you had a great idea! All along I have been using a mic plugged into a USB port. So I used another mic plugged into the mic port of the PC. No change in response. It took over a half minute for PD to show the 2-second audio test with that new mic on the narration track.

I'm mortified that this didn't help. Sigh.

bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

On second thought, this should not have solved it. In PD12 I could work around the problem by using the mic in the Capture tab after opening a project, create a test audio clip, and place it on the audio track in Edit. This resulted in 5-second delays when creating additional narration clips, rather than the 1/2 to 2-minute delays. If I returned to a project after leaving PD, I had to repeat this first step, along with setting the volume level, and the three parameters, a mute the sound during recording (why can't PD remember this and spare me re-entering all that each time?). PD13 now has denied me of that work-around. Now I raise the issue again.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: On second thought, this should not have solved it. In PD12 I could work around the problem by using the mic in the Capture tab after opening a project, create a test audio clip, and place it on the audio track in Edit. This resulted in 5-second delays when creating additional narration clips, rather than the 1/2 to 2-minute delays. If I returned to a project after leaving PD, I had to repeat this first step, along with setting the volume level, and the three parameters, a mute the sound during recording (why can't PD remember this and spare me re-entering all that each time?). PD13 now has denied me of that work-around. Now I raise the issue again.

Bill

Have you checked for a updated Audio Driver?

I do not know what Audio Chip you have in your computer, but you can go to the Chip Manufacturers Web Site and download their latest driver for your chip.

Many Computers are using the Realtek Audio chip.
http://www.realtek.com.tw/default.aspx

Run Dxdiag.exe and look for the Sound Devices section. Dxdiag will tell you what chip and the date on the driver.
Instructions Part B.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/40225.page
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Well, isn't this interesting: I broke my 18-minute project into two and added some new narration to each. The narration appears in a matter of seconds! I tried it three times. In the second half that had no narration or background music, then the other half filled with many short narrations, then the same with background music (thinking there may be an interaction).

ALL tests allowed narration to appear in seconds! So my earlier observation was that as I added narrations toward and beyond halfways into the project, the narration appearance lag got worse.

What explains this? I did not check my audio driver, but now don't think I should have to bother.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: Well, isn't this interesting: I broke my 18-minute project into two and added some new narration to each. The narration appears in a matter of seconds! I tried it three times. In the second half that had no narration or background music, then the other half filled with many short narrations, then the same with background music (thinking there may be an interaction).

ALL tests allowed narration to appear in seconds! So my earlier observation was that as I added narrations toward and beyond halfways into the project, the narration appearance lag got worse.

What explains this? I did not check my audio driver, but now don't think I should have to bother.

Bill

I do not have an answer.

Another mystery about computers. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Thanks, Carl, for listening to me and offering thoughts.

It's not convenient to split the shows for my narration addition step, but this work-around works. But now I notice that all the Preview Rendering went away, so I can't view this in HD without jerky preview, without painfully waiting for the hours of rendering to complete again. And if I do it again, then when I combine the two halves, I'll have to render it again. You see, I like to view it on my large HDTV in the next room before I burn it to DVD because when I show it at senior centers, I know how it will look on the large screen. That's when I need the Preview Render version to make sure it all runs smoothly.

And now, for some reason, each save takes twice as long. What it gives on one hand, it takes away on the other. Sigh.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

OK. Now I changed all my workflow to accommodate all sorts of issues. I created a DVD of four projects lasting about an hour total.

It played on my PC. Went to my DVD players for my TVs and it said wrong country.

I used 24 FPS film to overcome my jerky Canon camera .MOV files at 23.976 fps. I did a test burn some days ago of one project and it played on my TV player. Now this for real project burn is rejected.

What is going on? I'm mortified again!

I tried ImgBurn and copied the iso file to DVD. Same problem. Sigh. HELP! I'm out of ideas.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: OK. Now I changed all my workflow to accommodate all sorts of issues. I created a DVD of four projects lasting about an hour total.

It played on my PC. Went to my DVD players for my TVs and it said wrong country.

I used 24 FPS film to overcome my jerky Canon camera .MOV files at 23.976 fps. I did a test burn some days ago of one project and it played on my TV player. Now this for real project burn is rejected.

What is going on? I'm mortified again!

I tried ImgBurn and copied the iso file to DVD. Same problem. Sigh. HELP! I'm out of ideas.

Bill

Depends on the DVD player. Cheap USA player will only play a NTSC DVD (30 fps).

The American standard is 30 fps. (NTSC).


Canon G12 camera that makes 24 fps 1280x720 videos @ 20 Mbps.
Canon HF R100 is 30 fps 1920x1080 @ 17 Mbps.

I have zero problems mixing 24 fps and 30 fps videos.
I mix videos from both cameras on a regular basis.

I produce 30 fps videos from that mix.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

I'm sorry. False alarm. I am now on the Live PD 13 and there was an update that I forgot about. Apparently it changed some settings to some default including PAL. I went back to the Produce Tab and made sure NTSC was chosen. I was worried that 24 FPS would not work, and I rushed to conclusions.

I did another burn and it works beautifully!

Sorry for false alarm.

Thanks for everything!
Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Carl, one more comment. Earlier I had mentioned that my saves took nearly a minute to complete after I divided my project into two for faster narration recording display.

Well, after all these years, I now know what "New Workspace" is for. I can copy part of a project and paste it into a new workspace where the library is maintained as before.

I recently used "New Project" again and this time I noticed the library was blank. So on the next project I used the workspace method to copy and paste into two projects, and the saves are reasonably quick again. I'm still learning after all those versions since PD8! Obviously, it takes PD a long time to save if the project's library is empty.

Thanks again for your help.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Carl, this IS my LAST comment on this topic: The divided project now processes my narrations down from about 35 seconds down to seconds. YES! But now the quick saves jumped up to 17 or more seconds.

Just now I noticed that the green bar for marking Preview Rendered parts were retained along with my library with New Workspace method - the New Project method lost it all - but that somehow Workspace method dramatically increases my time for each save.

It doesn't make sense, but I guess it is what it is.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM