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Hi again, DJP. It seems Rocket Science might be an easier subject than a cam-corder's refusal to interface with a computer(ha-ha!). The reason I asked if you had a second DV-camera/recorder was based on my friend having two from the same maker(Canon, I believe). If you have a recycling centre nearby, keep an eye out, you may be able to pick one up fairly cheaply, as people are discarding tape-based camera/recorders in favour of SD card-based units. I'm actually on the look-out for a used Video-8 or Hi-8 camera as I have some tapes in that format that I want to copy, but my poor old Samsung has died the death on me. I saw a couple of models at a recycling centre near my home but they were missing their power-packs(batteries and recharger kits). Pity! They were stereo Hi-8 jobs too, would've come in handy if any of my friends had stereo camera tapes they wanted put on DVD. I'm still lookin'! In the meantime I continue to use my trusty Panasonic SDR-S71. Hope you eventually sort out your interface problem. Sorry I couldn't have been more help to you. By the way, in your post before last, you appeared to have a problem with "keyboard gremlins", letters missing or jumbled in some of the words! It's a real bugger when that happens!
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As I stated(glad to hear your solution worked, by the way), MPEG2 is the standard file type for burning DVDs for home-movies, and for commercially made feature movie discs. This assumes you're going through the process of creating a menu, setting chapters, etc. as a Power Director project. Generally speaking, DVDs are predominantly MPEG2, however, I found that storing(archiving) video files as compressed AVI(a typical feature film stored in such manner takes up about 690-to-750 megabytes, a friend gave me a disc sometime back which had, among the five so-stored titles, the Aussie comedy feature, "Young Einstein", I tried loading it to my TV's inbuilt DVD player and, to my surprise, it played!). If you wish to store your MP4 to disc, just copy it to disc like you would a word document or bitmap image, publisher document or any other file you may want to store. If you store your MP4 to disc in this manner, it may or may not play on your domestic player, depending on what type of files that player can handle. You could store an MPEG2 in the same manner but its far better to store video files away on an external hard-drive.
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This is amazing! I've not before seen a problem, and attempted solutions suggestions run to two pages in all the time I've posted here!
Dave456's solution may be worth checking out. This might also be a good time to consult the instruction manual booklet for your video-camera as there may be a few points you may have missed in previous readings.
As your camera is DV Tape-based, it is the fact that it uses a type of tape cassette, which sits it somewhere between the analogue and digital worlds in-so-far as it behaves like a digital camera for shooting video and downloading shot content to a computer for storage and editing, but also like an analogue camera for playing tapes through a TV with video monitor inputs. There may well be something in Dave456's comment about the camera being in "VCR Mode", which likely means the camera has been set up for analogue playback through monitor. As I said, consult your instruction manual, there maybe something you missed before which might have the answer you've been searching for.
Something which just now occurred to me, do you own another(second) DV tape-based camera, possibly of a different brand? That other camera may be compatible with your computer system. As you are(likely) in America, where the NTSC colour system applies, the DV tape will play on that other camera, and you may find yourself with an arrangement whereby your Sony camera will be for shooting your epic adventures, and your(other-branded) camera, permanently setup at home, is for download to the computer!
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I personally would wonder why you wish to crop 16:9 down to 4:3 at all. As a general rule, LCD or plasma flat-screen TV sets are in the 16:9 aspect ratio, whether they have digital-only tuning, or incorporate optional analogue tuning, or analogue on its own and require a set-top-box to receive the digital services. There are few, if any flat-screen sets with 4:3 aspect ratio(in the old terminology, "Academy") screens. Are you intending viewing your DVD on older cathode-ray-tube sets? I see so many of these older sets being tossed on the rubbish-heap of late, when, because they have A/V connections, are still useful, if not for viewing broadcast TV, at least for checking content of VHS or Betamax(or even analogue Video-8 or Hi-8 camera) tapes before copying same to computer via capture card for transferring to DVD, in which case, they're already 4:3. But in cropping 16:9 to 4:3, you're squeezing the image horizontally while stretching it vertically, not a good look at all It would make W.C. Fields or Edgar Buchannan look like they've been on a severe diet! 
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Barry The Crab's solution has merit, and I note Barry has suggested converting to MPEG2 as well as me. MPEG2 is, as I stated, the standard file type for video on DVD, both for commercially-made, and home-made discs. Barry also suggested checking the brand of the disc, while you're doing that, also ascertain the type of disc, whether it's DVD+R or DVD-R. Some DVD drives happily handle both, others require exclusive use of only one of either type. To this end, check your DVD drive as well. Producing your MP4 to MPEG2 and renaming it leaves you with a master that can be called upon at any time in the future for excerpts to be lifted from it or(providing you haven't added any inbuilt titling to the MP4) reproduced with new titles and graphics at a later date.
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Hi, DJP! It seems Tomasc has come up with a possible solution which had not occurred to me(silly me!) The fault may well be with the connector, at either end(at the computer end or at the camera's end). It might be prudent to have the lead checked out by your Sony agent, or, as Tomasc suggests, "...try spraying the 4 pin connector on the cable with WD-40 and blot it dry"(quote). If you're able to purchase a replacement lead with these connectors, much the better, and problem possibly solved. And the analogue option is there as a back-up, just-in-case... and from my experience with my friend's DV camera copied to computer in such manner, the picture quality loss is so negligible as to be unnoticeable!
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Hello, Sam2099. I think I may have found your problem... attempting to burn MP4! The standard file type for DVDs, both commercially-made and home-burned, is MPEG2. There's no loss of image quality, and if you burn at DVD-SP, you'll fit more than 2 hours worth of content on your disc.
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Hi, DJP! I think you may have misinterpreted my comments! Yes, your camera is tape-based while mine are SD card-based. But this is not the point of what I was trying to say. The point I tried to get across was this: If one method does not work, use another! A friend of mine had a couple of DV-based cameras from the same maker, one model slightly more advanced than the other, but both recording to, and playing back from DV digital cassettes. At the time I was still using PD7 on a Windows XP computer. I did not have the software for either of his cameras, so I connected them up via their analogue RCA connections(Yellow=Video/White=Left Audio/Red=Right Audio) and fed the signal in via the capture-card device that took its signal normally from a VHS video recorder(I've got a switching box to select input from the VHS or other sources) It meant I had to record everything in real-time but still was able to copy in the content - and maintain its 16:9 aspect ratio for later editing. As well as the USB port on your camera, you'll also see RCA connectors for analogue output, these are usually connected to a TV so you can watch what you've shot before you edit it(helps to identify what's on the tape so you can see what's for keeping and what to ditch!). If, by chance you have an old VHS or Betamax deck, just substitute your camera for the VCR via the RCA connectors into your capture card and away you go! What I explained about how I was able to use the content from my SD card recordings, is that there's another angle to getting your content into your computer. And if or when you're able to get your USB interface up and running again, you'll have an alternative method to fall back on in future. Hope this finally clears things up(I might've explained things somewhat clumsily in previous posts). Cheers!
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Hi, Stevek! I was already aware that DJP's camera was tape-based(DV-tape, to be precise), but DJP's problem(Hi, DJP, by the way)is that the camera won't "interface" with his computer. Apparently there's a compatibility problem between the camera and Windows 7, upon which platform DJP runs Power Director 9. My last suggestion was a "when all else fails" measure, and used my own SD card-based cameras and how I was still able to access content without the software drivers as an example. The point I was trying to make, and DJP, I'm certain you understand this, is that there was a way around the problem, even if it meant treating the camera as if it was analogue instead of digital, for the time being until proper drivers or driver updates or upgrades could be found to get the USB interface(or is that word. "interface" too "old-hat" nowadays?) working again as it should. I expect I'll find the software discs for my Panasonic cameras somewhere among my bits & bobs, in the meantime, I have another avenue to access my cameras' contents.
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Here's a fun idea for you if you like to play around with Windows "Paint"! You can create your own graphic titles there, save them as bitmap(BMP) or JPEG files and superimpose them onto your video. I do this quite often, creating 3D-effect titles to superimpose on my video work. I must one day sit down and plan out a step-by-step guide to doing this. As they say in the classics, "Watch This Space!"(they don't really say that in the classics but the line sounded good).
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And, with all due respect to Stevek, Fenman and Carl312, in the event that you cannot get Power Director to "recognise" your DV cam-corder for direct digital capture, there's still that option I suggested of feeding the analogue output(A/V connections) through a Capture-Card. I have a couple of SD card-based digital videocameras, and have misplaced the software discs for them, but I'm still able to copy the content of those cards onto my computer by the following means: A) remove the SD card from the camera and insert into separate USB card-reader(the computer's inbuilt SD card slot doesn't seem to recognise them while an external card reader will do - funny, that!), or B) connect the camera(whichever one I'm using) to the computer as if I still had the software, the camera effectively acts like an external hard-drive. Once on my computer, the files appear with a .MOD extension instead of the usual .mpg, plus I have to do my own "sorting out" of when they were created, using the "properties" option. A small price to pay to be able to continue using my digital cameras.
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Hi again, Martinray! It seems your DVD player might be a first-generation entry-level model(in other words, a basic no-frills model) which, while being able to play home-burned discs, seems to have issues with any disc burned to other colour systems, like the German-created PAL system. As you noted, the disc is single-layer(designated as "DVD-5") typically 4.7 gigabytes. So that's one bullet dodged, but the vintage of your model, and its apparent lack of compatibility with colour systems used elsewhere would be your drawback. Surprisingly enough, DVD players today are quite cheap, as far as Australia is concerned. You could walk into a Betta Electrical, or a Harvey Norman store, or even a Dick Smith Electronics shop anywhere in Australia and, for an outlay of $55 to $75 or $80, pick up a fairly good player that will handle DVDs made to PAL or NTSC system standards, and, in the case of commercially-made DVD movie discs, are multi-region players. Quite frankly, though, the idea of region-encoding just adds an entirely unnecessary extra level of incompatibility, that we, as consumers could well do without! Lucky for us that our home-burn discs DON'T have that feature, otherwise how would your cousins in Sweden be able to play the discs you send to them? Just as an after-thought, next time you're in contact with them, ask them if their player is NTSC-compatible, might save a lot of headaches!
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Hi again, Martinray! Your domestic DVD player gives only monochrome image and blinking due to frame rate differences between PAL and NTSC? Check the instruction manual(if you still have it) for your player, you'll likely see it has instructions for playing DVDs made in other colour systems(usually PAL, many players do not handle SECAM, it's a waste of time to provide compatibility with that worthless system!). Follow the instructions and your player will then handle your disc without problems. Some players have automatic detection of colour system which picks up the difference as soon as you load the disc. And sometimes, a home-burn disc won't play on a domestic player, not because of colour system differences, sometimes it's due to the disc drive in the computer, and at other times it might be the software(other than Cyberlink, that is). I had NTI video editing software on the computer before the one I have now. Apart from being painfully slow at rendering and burning discs(it had to go through about 6 or 7 long, tedious steps), some of the discs would not play on the machines of people I may have given them to(my own analogue camerawork or that of others who wanted their old VHS stuff converted). When I got hold of my first Cyberlink PD programme, it was a massive step forward. Fast rendering and fast DVD burning!..... WUNDERBAR!!! I copied the NTI resources(sound effects and other stuff) but uninstalled the programme and have never looked back!. So it's likely that another software was used by your cousins, or their disc drive may have burned it and rendered incompatible. or perhaps a third possibility, have you checked if the disc from your Swedish cousin was a DVD-5(single-layer) or a DVD-9(dual-layer). Domestic players won't handle home-burn discs if they're dual-layer, regardless of how they're created. Dual-layer DVD-R or DVD+R discs are fine for archival puposes*, but that's about it for them. Cheers!(*Keyboard gremlins! Should've read "purposes!)
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Hello, DJP! I take it your camera is tape-based, using these ultra-small DV cassettes, so this cancels out what I might've otherwise suggested(I'll leave the suggestion until the end of this reply). Instead I might suggest you connect the analogue output of your camera via a capture card device and feed it into your computer in this manner. There'll be no perceptible image quality drop and you can still feed in the 16:9 aspect ratio of your clips. The only drawback is you'll need to operate the tape transport functions(play - rewind - fast-forward and picture-search) from the camera's own control buttons. This would, of course be in real-time. This is but a small price to pay. This could be an alternative method of transferring content until such time as you are able to resolve your interface problem. As to the suggestion I would've made if your camera was SD Card-based. This would involve removing the card from the camera and inserting it into a card-reader which is connected to your computer via USB. It's then simply a matter of copy(ctrl+c) the content from the card, then paste(ctrl+v) the contents into a folder wherever you may have it, in Videos or Documents or anywhere else, even on desktop. The content would be ready for edit in a few minutes.
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Hi, Martinray. I would've thought that a disc created in the PAL colour system will work in nearly all countries that use this system. There are a few countries that used a hybrid version of PAL, adapted to a USA-type power system(power delivered at 60Hz line frequency as opposed to 50Hz, around which PAL was designed). PAL has been proven to be the superior colour TV system. NTSC a distant second and the French SECAM, not worth bothering about - total crap! Thing to do here might be to look up the CCIR system for each country, which tells you the type of colour system used, number of channels, channel width, and so on. PAL is the preferred system across most of Europe, including the Scandinavian countries, Britain and Australasia(Australia/New Zealand). There should be no compatibility problems in any of these countries. As you are, like me, a hobby videographer, your disc is of home movies(assumedly), thus there will not be any region code embedded in your disc.(commercial DVDs have this and it is the element that restricts where a disc can be used). Hope this info is of use to you. Cheers!
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Hi, Mitcham. I hope you understood my last post. As I was typing it, some keystrokes didn't register! "Fou" was supposed to be "Found"! I refer to this as "Keyboard Gremlins". When you tap away at your computer keyboard, writing a post to this or any other website, when you review what you've typed and found some letters missing from words here and there, making you look like a complete illiterate goose.... That's Keyboard Gremlins!
Cheers for now!
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Hi, Fenman. I don't see the jerkiness AFTER producing(rendering) my clips. It's only during the editing process. After I add each piece, I play it through in "Clip" mode(portion highlighted) and trim down to exact minutes and seconds(loose frames deleted if number goes beyond each full second or falls short of the next full second, e.g. from 4 frames past the last second to 1 frame short of the next), this way my videos run to a full minute/second count without loose dangling "bits". Once this is done I add the transitions, typically 3-5 seconds long. It's while viewing the clips after the transitions are added that the jerkiness appears. Stop and start with space-bar and get smooth flowing play back again. I'll persist with this for a while longer but if it gets too annoying, then I'll re-install PD8 raw from the installation disc WITHOUT the upgrade patch 3022.
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Hi, Mitcham. Glad to be of help. Also, I fou burn your DVD as an SP, you'll get more content onto it. Burning as DVD SP will allow over two hours of content(2 hours and 20 minutes, or thereabouts), and I found once that burning as DVD HQ, not only cuts down disc capacity, on some domestic DVD players, causes the image to freeze on screen. So, as DVD SP, you gain in DVD capacity, and alleviate possible image freezing problems. Cheers!
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Mitcham, I'd suggest to produce as MPEG2 as well, but to DVD SP, to conserve disc space on your computer, smaller file size without compromising image quality. And I'll have to amend a remark I made sometime back re: DVD LP, For editing from digital source(MOV file from digital camera SD-card) I found no loss of picture quality there either. I was forced to produce as a DVD LP after an item froze while trying to produce as a DVD SP movie. This was because there was a rather involved Video-Reverse effect applied(my great-nephew was bouncing on a trampoline, you can imagine the effect I created) I used the resultant DVD LP as the base for adding narration, then re-rendered in DVD SP with no loss in image quality.
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This sounds similar to another problem about speed variation, solution is similar as well. Amadauss, I suggest you scroll through the subjects in the forum index for Power Director(Previous Versions), go back a page or two, if need be, to find a subject similar to yours, you may find a solution similar to yours there as well.
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Hi, all! After using Power Director 7 for a number of years, I recently stepped up to PD8, thanks to one of the contributors, who sent me his copy as it was now surplus to his requirements. However I feel I must comment on the performance of PD8 in relation to viewing clips in Edit mode. As I view the movie I'm editing, each time I come out of a transition, the movement becomes jerky, rather than smooth. I have to stop, then start to regain the smooth motion(hitting the space-bar, stop/start). Is this to do with the upgrade to build 3022? And if so, is it wise to reinstall the raw version WITHOUT the upgrade patch? Another thing I've noticed is that when I use the video-in-reverse effect for comic purpose, attempting to view the effect in edit mode, the effect does not flow as it should. Again I get this jerky rough effect which doesn't show me how well the effect works. It's not until I've produced(rendered) the final clip that I see the results of what I created. I made reference to reinstalling PD8 as I had used this method some time ago to put a stop to PD7 crashing on me during editing. I made the fatal error(to me) of downloading an upgrade build for PD7 and that's where the troubles started. On reinstalling PD7(when I was using it on a Windows XP computer), the problem was fixed - no more crashing! So I wonder if that's the way I should go here, reinstall PD8 from the disc without the upgrade patch? One other thing, I'd like to be able to produce my clips without having to set up each time I open the Produce window. Meaning, I want to set default parameters so that it will be automatically set to MPEG2 at DVD SP quality each time I select Produce.
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