It seems to me that adding a video on a picture.

If you just use a mask to cut the black part and only leave the video.

Use mask rectangular, disable maintain aspect ratio, adjust the video size. AMD-FX 8350 / 8GB DDR3
SSD SUV400S37240G / 2-HD WD 1TB
AMD Radeon R9 270 / AOC M2470SWD
Windows 7-64 / PD16 Ultimate

Hi...

Thanks for your reply.

Will the mask also hide the frame and shadow of the video when I create them?

I have solved the problem for now, by re-encoding the video to a different format. One that Powerdirector seems to understand.

It seems to me that Cyberlink should have tried using the software before selling it!

Also, making the patch specific to a particular build also seems to be an odd way of engaging your customers!

Still, thanks for your answer.
For now I'll go with re-encoding videos to PD friendly formats until I find out whether or not masks cover up frames and borders!

Cheers...

A moderately satisfied customer.

Dear moderately satisfied customer -

What's the source of your AVI file? It looks like it was shot on a smart phone, but it's Shaun the Sheep. How did that funny border get there?

Just about every day, I import AVIs from a few different sources - never an issue. Now, of course, AVI is just a container & not a reflection of what it contains. There should be no need to re-encode.

Perhaps, if possible, you could attach a short sample of the kind of clip that's giving you the problem. I'd be a little bit surprised if it was PDR causing the issue.

Cheers - Tony
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*FIXED*

The video is a TV series I downloaded from the internet.
It plays and edits on other programs (VLC, Movie Maker) just fine.
I downloaded some utilities to detect if the file index was corrupted but nothing was flagged.

OK, if you are having the same problem with .avi files here's how I fixed the issue:

ROTATE the video 90% using the FREE program at the link below.
(Avoid the minefield of the Baidu crapware and you'll be OK!)

http://www.freemake.com/how_to/how_to_rotate_video

Now, when you import the video into your PowerDirector project, you can rotate without the black borders or the necessity for masks.
The thumbnail images on the timeline will still be 90 degrees off but that's an issue I can live with.
The rotation process is fast but this will depend on your computer and the length of the video of course.

I have since used this method to process my videos through PowerDirector and the results are perfect.
There's no loss of quality after the video is rotated using 3rd party freeware.

I hope this helps others who have been sold software that can't be updated online through the 'patch' system.