PD 19 Unable to See .MV4 Files?

DarylGS01

Newbie Joined: Jun 29, 2021 18:26 Messages: 5 Offline

Solved by

Jul 13, 2021 22:54

Hello

'm encountering a major problem with PD 19. I created a video in another program and saved it as Video1.M4V. Later, I brought Video1.M4V into PowerDirector 19 to do some editing and enhancements. I saved the PD project as a Enhance.PDS.

To better organize, I moved some of the files into separate folders (i.e. Audio folder, Images folder, etc.). Naturally when I try to open Enhance.PDS, it prompts me to go find the missing files for the project b/c they were moved. I begin pointing to the new locations with no problem UNTIL it asks for Video1.M4V. It DOES NOT SEE ANY .M4V files at all so I can't load that file into my project any longer!

I ran it and the video plays just fine so the file is not corrupted. I can also drag it into PD 19 by itself and it works fine. Does anyone know what the problem might be that it will not EVEN SEE this .M4V file when prompted to browse for it? Can it be corrected or is there a workaround? Any help would be appreciated.

DarylS

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 13. 2021 23:17

JL_JL

Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline

Jul 13, 2021 23:37

The issue occurs because *.M4V is not a valid video media extension for PD. So the browse box to locate does not find it as it does not expose any *.M4V files.

One way around would be to edit the pds file manually. If you are not familiar, I'd strongly suggest working on a backup copy. The edit would be to simply change the M4V to MP4 extension in pds and the real file so PD browse exposes the file.

You can also rename the source to say one.mp4 and then when browse is looking for one.m4v point it to one.mp4 which can be seen as mp4 is a valid media input file.

Jeff

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 13. 2021 23:43

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jul 13, 2021 23:47

EDIT: Basically what JL_JL said!

While PD can play .mv4 files, that's not a supported file type as shown in the Format and Device Support section here.

Often you can rename .m4v clips to .mp4. Try that and see if it plays normally in your other media players

If that works, there are a couple ways to add that clip back into your project. The first is to open ENHANCE.PDS in a text editor like Notepad and search for ".m4v" Change that to ".mp4" and save the project as something like ENHANCE-1.PDS and when you open it in PD, it will prompt you when it can't find the renamed .mp4 clip.

The other way would be to open the project and point PD to all the other clips, then manually import the renamed .mp4 clip (or the .m4v version if renaming to .mp4 causes problems) from its current folder. Next, drag it onto the timeline in each place where the original clip was. If you have a blank/black placeholder on the timeline, drag the new clip on top of it and choose Replace.

Note that you may have to make some adjustments to the starting/ending points if you've got several trimmmed sections of the original clip on the timeline.

In that case it might actually be easier to use the first method of manually editing the .pds file so that all the trims and other edits will remain intact with the renamed clip.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 13. 2021 23:49

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jul 14, 2021 01:40

I have never had a problem importing .m4v files to PD. It is the default export format of HandBrake unless one changes it to .mp4 in preferences. While this is the case with File/Import/Media Files… it is not the method I use. Simply click and drag any or groups of files, including .m4v to the media library from Windows File Explorer. They work just fine on the timeline.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jul 14, 2021 02:05

BTW: I recall this same issue asked about 4 months ago so I did a search on this forum and got 113 hits. It was solved by optodata on his last comment after a two page thread here: https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/20/15095.page . That should be the method of import if you have .m4v files. I never responded in that post as I have no issue at all with my method of importing and did not experience it.

JL_JL

Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline

Jul 14, 2021 03:21

Quote BTW: I recall this same issue asked about 4 months ago so I did a search on this forum and got 113 hits. It was solved by optodata on his last comment after a two page thread here: https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/20/15095.page . That should be the method of import if you have .m4v files. I never responded in that post as I have no issue at all with my method of importing and did not experience it.

That is for simple importing, in this case the OP moved the files. That same feature to select "All Files" is not there when PD is asking one to browse and locate moved files, hence a different approach is needed.

Jeff