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Hello all!
In regards to the disc menu when burning one of my videos to disc, I tend to take the "path of least resistence", meaning I tend to use only the pre-existing templates, changing only what's necessary, from "My Videos" to whichever title I want, and perhaps reposition the title a little. Beyond that, I don't change much at all. I found PD5 and 7 much more compliant when it came to creating "custom" menu templates but not so easy with PD8 or 14, That's the drawback, it inhibits a user's creativity. Thus far I've only used PD14 to author one disc successfully(an earlier attempt failed) and that problem hangs on the ability to set the grade of video to be authored, as I've commented on elsewhere. But for menus, PD14 has effectively discouraged me from trying to create my own templates. Such a shame, really, as personalised DVD menus add that bit extra to a home-made video presentation.
Neil.
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Hello, OffTheMark!
The camera you're looking to buy(sony a6300) may well be very good for shooting at low-lux but there are many dedicated videocameras that are also capable of shooting in such low-lux conditions(low light levels). As you're doing real-estate "walk-through" videos, is such a capability all that necessary? Surely, a house or flat(as we call them, rather than "apartments" in Australia) is shown at its best in well-lit videos. But if low-lux is what you need... I've watched quite a few ghost-hunting videos on YouTube, and the sort of videocamera sought by just about all of the producers of such videos is one capable of shooting in low-lux situations(night-time shooting in old houses, factories, etc). The other difference is that dedicated videocameras these days shoot either MP4(H.264) or AVCHD and in 16.9 aspect ratio, whereas nominally-stills-cameras, if they shoot video, might only shoot in 4:3 aspect ratio. And note, I emphasised the word "might" in that sentence.
And for slowing down a video, yes, it's possible, but it's up to you whether you want to apply such an effect, and where it would be appropriate. That's something only you can determine.
Neil.
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Hello, Shadowman!
I've just now downloaded the PDF file of Optodata's "instruction manual" for Magic+PD(or Magic+YUV). As I stated, what I wanted to avoid was extra-large AVI files clogging up my hard drive, even temporarily! If Magic+PD was able to produce those compressed(smaller file-size) AVI's, that would be the ideal. The only practical method for me would be to have another external drive, dedicated to the purpose of housing the temporary AVI's until I've finished editing my video..... not practical due to the cost of those external drives! Reading the PDF, even briefly, tells me that what I wanted wasn't possible. Heck, the programme doesn't even handle the "workhorse" MPEG2 files... Damn! I may need time to fully digest the PDF file... Leave it with me.
Neil.
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Hi, again!
AIS suggested I use Magic+PD to convert(decompress) my MP4 camera shots before importing them into PD for editing, but again I want to know if I can get them into this AVI "Cineform" file type I've seen mentioned elsewhare on this forum. I figure that must be the type with the small file size. I definitely want to avoid like the plague any file type that's going to gobble up hard drive space.
Neil.
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Is it possible to use a Wacom tablet to paint in powerdirector? I am not good at drawing with a mouse.
Thanks
Well, Kimsie, you could always try a rat!(ha-ha) But seriously, these "tablet" devices, do they have enough "oomph" to run a programme like Power Director? Obviously the only way to install would be by download as these devices have no disc drive(I've seen one belonging to a friend) I think these tablets were designed for limited usage, I somehow don't think they were designed to be used like a desktop or laptop computer.
Neil.
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Come on Neil
Get a grip, I even gave you the link to the site. How can you think it's "not available".
Thanks, Tony, for saying what I needed to say.
Robert
PS Mattc might find it a useful thread too
[url=http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46177.page
]http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46177.page
[/url]
Okay, Shadowman(Robert), As you can see, I've used your link and downloaded and installed Magic+PD(YUV),as you see by my comments. Does this produce the compressed AVI files as used to download feature films? I've had a friend give me some features in AVI that had a total file size of around the 650-to700 megabyte mark. It would be good if I could use Magic+PD to convert my videos to such a file type and size, it would free up a huge amount of space on my external drives.(I have two external drives dedicated to video content, one is a 1TB drive for keeping feature films and TV shows, the other, a 2TB drive for home movies).
So that's what I'd now like to know.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Okay, I did it! Now what? The Magic+PD has been downloaded and installed but I thought it would incorporate into the Power Director 14 folder( and behave as a plug-in). It has a separate shortcut icon on my computer. I'll toy around with it and see what it does. but if it causes problems, it gets the order of the boot!
Neil.
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Hello AIS & Shadowman!
Firstly AIS(Al), Sorry, but a lot of what you said went completely over my head. As for SVRT, I find myself avoiding it of late as when I've used it in the past, it seemed to cut a portion out of the overall running time of my videos(only a few frames, but enough to render the result as less than the length of the video before rendering, this I select the option to view the clip as it renders, that way I know if I've missed any transitions and can cancel the render in order to make my corrections).
Now, Shadowman(Robert), I'm not sure if Magic+PD is still available. Optodata has not been seen on this forum for quite some time either. If it is, I'll think about it but I'm wary about patches applied to Power Director after an experience I had some years back with PD7. After applying an update patch to PD7 it kept crashing on the most minor of tasks. Uninstalling PD7, then reinstaling raw from the disc and PD7 was back to full operation without the crashes. So that has made me very wary of update patches. I did apply the one-and-only patch available to PD8 when I stepped up to that version, and had no problems, but I put that down purely to good luck more than anything else. I'm especially wary about aplying any patch to PD14 lest I have to go through the whole "rigmarole" of reregister, or reactivate when I reinstall after having to uninstall due to problems caused by a patch of any kind. PD14 is nowhere near as straight-forward to install as was PD7 or PD8. With those two versions you just loaded the disc to the drive, let the disc unload its "bag of goodies" onto your computer, When it was all done you just opened the programme, filled in your details and the CDkey and that was it! Power Director was up and running! Now though(and I suspect this has applied since PD9) the internet has been required to complete the activation and the CDkey is no longer enough to activate the product, a massive retrograde step, in my view. I don't want to have to go through all that again as if I was installing PD14 for the first time. Should Magic+PD cause problems, that's what I may face in attempting a repair by reinstalling. There you have it. You might think my fears are groundless but I don't. "once bitten....!"
Neil.
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Well, I'll leave this one alone now but I stick by what I said:-
Subtitles: carried on DVB signal or embedded in DVD/Blu-Ray disc, called up by command on remote control as or when needed(purpose: for deaf or hearing-impaired people to follow movie or TV show).
Captions: superimposed onto video image to either give translation to another language(e.g. English translation of what's being said in German or other language) or to describe what's happening on screen, or simply to identify a date and location for a scene.
That's as I've always taken them to be.
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Tony!
What Carl said is more-or-less a recap of what I said. Subtitles(like those carried subliminarily) on a TV broadcast, can be called up if required by use of a button on a remote control, likewise the subtitles on a DVD/Blu-Ray disc when played on the appropriate player. Captions, on the other hand, are on screen for everyone to see,like those on the foreign movies screened on SBS TV here in Australia in languages other than English. They are not called up by any button, they're just there! I'm sure you remember the old joke about SBS when it first started, "read any good movies, lately?"
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, NomadicBroos!
As I'm to understand subtitles, as opposed to captions, subtitles are supposed to be embedded into the video and called up when required by the designated button on a DVD(or blu-ray) player's remote control, otherwise they remain hidden. Captions, on the other hand, are on-screen info which, once the video is rendered, can't be removed, can only be "covered over". The subtitles, once embedded and the video rendered, also cannot be removed, but by design, they don't appear unless called up by the button on the remote control, thus there's no real need to remove them.
For myself, I tend to use captions to describe a scene when I can't be bothered putting in a narration track. Subtitles(like those on broadcast TV) are only called up to aid those with loss of hearing, the same idea is applied to DVDs and many feature movies contain embedded subtitles for that purpose, or, alternately to provide translation into another language other than English(or into English if the movie is spoken in another language). So there you have it!
Cheers!
Neil.
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I've said this before and I'll say it again!
The option to burn discs at DVD-SP, which was available up to PD8, should be available in PD15. I know quite a few on this forum tend to "run down"(deride, in other words) that option, as they reckon the picture quality isn't as good as DVD-HQ. My own experience there has been a freezing, stuttering disc after buning at HQ, plus the capacity of the disc is halved(effectively). But burning at DVD-SP, the playback is smooth and stable, no freezing, no stuttering, and the picture quality is about what you'd expect from a standard definition digital broadcast, not at all bad! Maybe I'm wasting time commenting here as PD15 is only a couple of months away from release, so if PD15 won't have authoring at DVD-SP, then hopefully it will be in PD16 when they start planning that version.
Neil.
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Neil
Reading your suggestion makes me think of Tony's suggestion,above. It seems exactly the same except in Tony's, the text scrolls across the screen bottom which I believe is what OP required. I have never seen the likes of "breaking news" on any TV station being scrolled upwards as you suggest. Useful, I suppose, if you are lying down after a good night out.
Robert
Hi, Shadowman(Robert)!
What I suggested could be adapted for right-to-left scroll, and if the text is to be repeated,, just copy/paste the exact same text and have it loop 3 or more times, I was under the impression J.I.R1 wanted a kind of closing credit-like sequence. Just a thought!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hello, Dave[MacFurse58]!
Just as a matter of interest, are you in my old stomping ground, Stockton? or elsewhere(anywhere from Carrington to Wallsend)? Anyway, welcome aboard! Doubtless you've read quite a bit of this thread before posting here yourself. As I said earlier, I find myself in agreement with AIS(in South Africa), Karab44(in Poland) and Bonagege(not quite sure where he is) in regard to what has or has not been included in PD14 or what's likely to be or not to be(bit of Shakespeare there, ha-ha) in PD15.
AIS's comment on bells & whistles fairly summed it up, really. It's not surprising then, that you found PD14 to be a somewhat "steep" learning curve. Really, your experience is at odds with what Power Director is supposed to be - a straight-forward, easy-to-use video editing programme. If you(and others like you) were having difficulties getting your head around Power Director 14, then someone really has stuffed up somewhere!
Surely the attraction of a software programme like Power Director(or any other programme for any purpose) should be ease of use and to quickly learn how to use it! Any halfway-decent software company should make that their #1 goal! Bells & whistles(gimmicks) only get in the way of such a goal and, in the end, make life difficult for an end-user or potential end-user. result: lost sale and another customer going elsewhere.
Anyway, once again, welcome to the forum, it's good to have a novacastrian on board!
Cheers!
Neil.
Had to change bracket type, ended up with unwanted "smiley" emoticon
Got notification that I had a reply to my post on this thread, clicked the link only to find it was my own post This situation is a nuisance. It really needs sorting out!
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In reply to J.I.R1's query, I did a bit of thinking on how to loop a scrolled text(if that's what you're chasing, J.I.R1), The effect depends on the available time left toward the end of the video(I should point this out, a bit of mathematical calculation required) If the initial scroll is to be 15 seconds, this will be looped three times.
- Open title room and select the default "My Title" or the the "end credit" title and apply it to the title track, enter in all the details.
- If using the "My Title" default, you'll need to select the scroll effect from where the option is given, Text, Effect, Motion. If using either of the two "end Credits titles, the upward scroll(which you require) is already set.
- When you've filled in the details as you need them and the scroll up effect is in place, copy(Ctrl+C) this and play the effect through to where the last line of text almost disappears off the top of the screen(should be around the 14-seconds mark), click on the empty video track above the title and paste(Ctrl+V) the title there(As Carl 312 says, the video track can double as an extra title track). Click on the title you've just pasted, fill in your new details, then play till the last line is almost gone(again around 14 seconds).
- At the 14-second mark on that second lot of text, paste again on the title track(your original text will reappear, clear it and type in your new text). You should now have a looping scroll text.
As you've inserted the new "loop" at the 14-second mark, the total sequence should run 43 seconds. You'll have a scroll loopX3.
Hope this has been of use.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Quite honestly,
AIS, Spyder and Bonagege have summed it all up neatly! AIS in particular has hit the nail on the head with his reference to "bells and whistles", this is what I've been saying(in a roundabout way). Bells & whistles are basically "gimmicks" put in to make the product appeal to the end user but they add nothing valuable whatsoever to the end product, if anything, they rob the product of ANY credibility. Personally I loathe and detest gimmicks! Look at what has been added since PD8. Some of it has been very useful, other features still had glitches which may or may not have been fixed by patches. The cross option for transitions is a case in point. I started using this but reverted to overlap because I noticed the momentary freeze-frame at the beginning and end of the transition, that is a definite glitch! Also, while on transitions, if "cross" is selected as the default behaviour in preferences, only the video transition is inserted, the audio component of the transition has to be added manually, whereas in overlap the two components are laid in automatically, that also is a glitch. These things should've been fixed BEFORE PD14 was released, and if the cross feature dated back to PD9 and the problems were present there as well, then the problem should've been fixed before PD9 hit the streets. As AIS has pointed out, Another user (Karab44) summed it up in a recent post on the Suggestions for PDR15 thread. His suggestion was "Fix all the PD14 bugs and performance issues first". [color=color: #000000]I fully agree! It's interesting to note that PD8 remains the only version of Power Director that had only the one "patch" applied to it. How many "patches" were applied to the versions before or since PD8?
Neil.
I,ve tried three times to get rid of the colour on a portion of the text where I didn't want it. The text should be black after where I quoted AIS quoting Karab44, but I'm stuck with it(it's the reason I rarely use colour in these posts).
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Neil is there a way to add empty transition? I made a video clip where are a lot of cuts. Is there also any way to add that transition for each cut automatically?
Edit
Oh I just see sj53 says transitions didn't help here...
Cheers
A.
Hi, Karab44!
Empty transitions? Is there such a beast? I can maybe suggest the "no effect" option but I don't think that would suit your purpose. As to automatically adding transitions, earlier versions of Power Director(I think) offered such a facility, but the transitions would all be the same type(e.g., all "fade" or "wipe" or other choice), there was also the option in PD7 and 8 to "copy" the transition into clipboard and "paste" it where you wanted/needed it. I used that by setting my transition("fade") at say, 5 seconds, copied it and pastd it in as requred as a sort-of placeholder, I'd then go through and replace the fade with a more elaborate transition effect, as suggested by the previous/next scene. PD14 regrettably does not allow such cut-&-paste utility, such a shame, really, as such a utility is really useful and proved so in PD7 & 8. Automatic insertion of transitions might be an idea for PD16, seeing that PD15 is about to be unleashed!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Tony and Neil
Agreed - Pity we have to keep buying annual upgrades hoping it improves. Don't know of any other software that expects their customers to do that. It's a reasonably priced NLE but I've had to buy three versions in three years and I'm now hoping they get it right the fourth time??????
How many of the PDR14 suggestions were added? - even assuming Tony is right and 50% are valid requests 
AlS, I have been quite pleased with the growth of PD and enjoyed each new version more than the previous. Nobody held a gun to my head to buy them as they were released, either.
As for Neil's comments. So negative, and with no merit, really. Many of the best improvements are not flashy features, for instance the right-click mouse options have multiplied steadily over the years. CL does listen to ideas, but with a limited time schedule, and workforce, sales versus developement, what is actually trending in the camera industry, look at the power you get for the price. If you want big-time perfection and unlimited plug-ins, and all that, fork over the $$$$$ for the big dawgs software, I rarely have problems with PD since my first version 5.
The comments I made are my personal perceptions, right or wrong, Okay? They may appear negative to some but I'll stick to my views.
Neil.
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MP4 is a lossy format.
Thanks, Barry!
Okay, I take that on board, but I'll comment that the loss in quality seems negligable(hardly noticable) compared to say, re-rendering from MPEG2 to MPEG2 again, there seems to be a noticable degree of degradation there, but MP4 to MP4? not quite as noticable. I can live with that as likely I'm only going one generation away from the original raw video clips in their(HD with shadow files) state, sucked in from the camera's SD card.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Tony and Neil
Agreed - Pity we have to keep buying annual upgrades hoping it improves. Don't know of any other software that expects their customers to do that. It's a reasonably priced NLE but I've had to buy three versions in three years and I'm now hoping they get it right the fourth time??????
How many of the PDR14 suggestions were added? - even assuming Tony is right and 50% are valid requests
Thanks, AIS!
You've summed it up far better than I could! Likely there'll be a new thread start up shortly after the launch of PD15 titled "Suggestions For Power Diector 16" and I wonder how many suggestions fom end-users like us would beincorporated in PD16! Most likely none. Cyberlink(and other software makers) employs these technical "brainiacs" to develop the next generation of a given software, they may probably pile the table with printouts of these suggestions from us end-users. How many of those suggestions, do you think, might still be on that table at the end of that discussion process to determne what's in or out? My guess: Zero, Zilch, Nichts, Nada, "goose-Eggs"! That's as I see it, rightly or wrongly.
Cheers!
Neil.
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To Playsound and Barry The Crab!
My comment was not so much seeking a solution to a problem, more like making a comment, an observation on the nature of these "shadow files". As to whether MP4(H.264 AVC) is a lossless file type, I just wanted to know if that was correct, it would justify my using the format more as an intermediary, when I have a lot of clips and it looks like the resultant video may total 90-or-more minutes in length, then I'll break it down to shorter sequences and join them all up later. No need for PDS files, just the sequences, numbered or alphabetised to keep them in the order I want them in their own folder.
As to my rider which was deleted, I had my reasons for that but they are personal and I won't go into them here.
Neil.
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