Hi, Newbie here and I'm just diving into PD (which I'm thoroughly enjoying so far) so maybe I'm missing something -

My workflow goes like this - when I'm recording video, I separately record the audio with a good microphone and a field audio recorder. The in-camera audio then gets relegated to a "scratch" track.

I then process the separately recorded audio in Audacity and make it sound much better than the crappy camera audio.

Here's where the problem starts with PowerDirector - in other video editing software, I bring the good audio file into my video editor and replace the audio from the camera with the Audacity-processed file and then cut and slice the video/audio as required.

BUT in PD - (and you can see the photos I took of this), when I combine the new audio file with the video file - the TIMELINE CONTROLS DISAPPEAR. I've used the "link, unlink" function, the "group" function, tried exporting the audio file from Audacity in a bunch of different formats including M4A and nothing works!! WTH????

I can "link, unlink" the ORIGINAL crappy camera audio to the video and the timeline controls have no problem with that. But if I try to REPLACE the camera audio with the separate audio file (cut to exact lenght) - the timeline controls simply disappear!!!

Anyway, is this a known problem? Is there a workaround? I'm really enjoying assessing PD, which I think is an excellent program, but this could be a deal breaker.

Photo 1 - MP4 video file with original audio - everything is GREAT. Timeline controls are OK.

Photo 2 - MP4 video with "split" original audio - Timeline Controls are OK.,

Photo 3 - MP4 video with deleted original audio - Timeline Controls are OK,,

Photo 4 - MP4 video with substituted audio - Timeline Controls go on vacation!!!

Anybody have any insights, workarounds or what have you???