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I found that you can change the aspect ratio from anything to anything using "Designer Tools".
In my case I needed to change a 4:3 video that was pillar boxed to show a 5:4 movie into a new 4:3 movie stretching the 5:4 image back to 4:3.
This is how it worked (PD16 at least)
1. select the clip with the wrong aspect ratio
2. Open Designer > Mask Designer window that shows the clip with a frame with handle bars
3. Uncheck the "keep aspect ratio"
4. Change mask to fit image (which may be moving the vertical sides inwards to touch the real image sides)
5. Exit mask Designer
6. select the same clip and open Designer > PIP designer
7. Uncheck the "keep aspect ratio"
8. Specify the right width and height (in my case: 5:4 (=1.25) to 4:3 (=1.33) means height 1 and width (1.33/1.25=) 1.086 or both numbers multiplied by the same number to increase image size)
9. Shift the resulting image to touch right hand black bar (basically to cover the entire 4:3 black image rectangle shown)
10. Exit pip designer
Repeat this for each clip, perform additional editing and produce the final result.
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That option is no longer part of PD 11.
My GeForce card is a GT635 now using drivers 9.18.13.2702 from 2013-08-29
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It's Nov 2014 and the issue still plays. Recently got a new pc with Win 8 and GeForce videocard. Rendering trouble my old pc did not have. Went into "device manager", looked up the video driver, rolled back to previous version (fortunately available) and bingo: it all works. I'm not a gamer so the old version will suit me fine I hope.
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The earlier update 2930 did not give me the error anymore. But I must state I only used the DVD facility once. It still is not very useful for DVD authoring. Too many restrictions and lack of flexibility in this area.
In response to earlier: DVDs require MPEG2 not MP4 file format. So using MP4 may not work - it does require a conversion to MPEG2 although I think PowerDirector 9 can do that in the process.
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After two months that's rather difficult. The trial version has been replaced by the retail version. And there, low and behold, the eye is there again in the title track.
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It may not be a big help, but most Hauppage video cards seem to ignore copyright/macrovision signals and simply do what they are supposed to do: capture the video. Once on disc you may use PD without problems.
Alternatively, if you can record your stuff onto a DVD recorder (through its AUX or CAM inputs) and that is not so sensitive to noise, you may record your movies in MPEG2 format on a DVD disc and subsequently rip it to hard drive for any further editing.
Both ways worked for me.
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This is odd indeed.
When I purchased my version, I got a confirmation screen in the IE8 browser with 3 "download" buttons. One for the PD9 program, one for its content pack and the third as the promotional extra "holiday package".
Only two of which could be started simultaneously. I made a printout of those pages (in PDF format, but paper would do too) not to loose any of the information, including the order ID and stuff you need if you have to contact Cyberlink in case of problems.
A few moments later an email arrived confirming my purchase and with a repeat of the download links and the license key. So my printout was not really needed. But better be safe than sorry.
If you did not get an email perhaps your internet provider or some spam filters of your own intercepted the email, marked it as "spam" and did not forward it to your mailbox. This has happened to me several times in the past for normal confirmations of trustworthy companies and the provider needed to make exceptions for these to bypass the rules.
Some spam filters have strange "rules" by which they determine something as spam. E.g. the presence of multiple URL links in the message, the message being composed mostly of a picture (I think the confirmation email looks like this), the sender address does not accept email itself (another frequent reason), mail was sent by distribution list etc.
So check with your provider and ask if their spam logs show an email to you coming from cyberlink.us.cs@digitalriver.com with title "CyberLink Corp. US – Order confirmation for order #9999999999" (insert or leave out your own orderID).
Somewhere during the already started download the webpage with the download and confirmation information timed out and disappeared (that is odd...). But the first two downloads continued and completed. I needed the email confirmation to start the third download and that completed too.
It was with the public Cyberlink website where I got problems to download the update to build 2504. For some reason IE8 could not do it - I needed Firefox as browser to get the 170 MB of the update.
I would assume and hope that Cyberlink's Customer Support does respond to a complaint you make (generate a Ticket) regarding the failed download.
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Dick,
Can we skip this ranting on Cyberlink in this post? This post is not about that. Your initial post is and seems more suitable to keep a thread in a discussion.
Your initial posts did make me worry but I tried it in the end after going through several other posts in this forum.
And I got the software and the update (though that did not go completely smoothly) and at least sofar things work the way the trial worked. And stuff doesn't that didn't in the trial. But to go ahead was my decision. Hoping things will get better. And with 3 new builds since December it shows on one hand that quite a few changes had to be made from the original release (which is not a good sign) but at least they try and implement them, removing some bugs at least in relative short timespan (which is good).
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Quote:
I first started using PowerDirector 9 with Vista Home Edition I
I'm using Windows XP SP3 which runs fine for most/all I do.
I've seen enough problems with Vista in my neighbourhood of friends to avoid it where I can (as I did the ME version) on my current pc's. Partly since some software or drivers won't run under higher versions of Windows (such as Ulead's VideoEditor and DVD Workshop, where at some point I hope PD9 will do those jobs, but not yet).
I'll probably go to Windows 7 when a new pc seems needed.
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I did find that there was an update from PD9 as 2316 as downloaded to the current version 9.0.0.2504 (identical to the trial).
After the updade, the production of the H264 version worked - it took a 90 minute video about 96 minutes to convert.
However: this newer version suddenly limits the bitrate to 6000 kbps or higher - as did the trial. Somewhere in the upgrade the (for me wanted) feature to allow lower bitrates simply because some tv program captures use lower bitrates seems to have gone. So in a next update I hope to see the lower bitrates back too.
Something very odd is that the Cyberlink update software page lists the 2504 file, but if you try to download it using IE8, it aborts the download prematurely, leaving you with a 5 kB file that is clearly corrupt. I tried the download on another pc (laptop) using IE8 but same result. So on that laptop I installed Firefox as another browser and... voila: the 105 Mb update file came in correctly but slowly. It looks as if the Cyberlink site somehow disconnects the IE8 download - perhaps an acknowledge signal timed out?
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I meanwhile purchased PD9 (download and installation went without trouble). A project made under the trial version opened and I started to rebuild the output (removes the "trial" label), but I found some surprises (for the moment at least)
- The licensed PD9 version is running 9.0.0.2316 (as indicated from the "Powerdirector" text button top right).
I believe the trial had a newer version (24something), so I'll go look for an update. Strange that downloads not always provide the latest edition
- custom templates for H.264/AVCHD allows for bitrates from 200 kB onwards whereas the trial did not go lower than 6000
- the eye/cross icon is present again for the title bar
- unfortunately producing the 90 minutes video stopped after 3% (froze) if all h/w video encoders were disabled
- the same movie froze after 33% when hardware video encoder was enabled
But this is what version 2316 has. Some may be corrected in a newer release.
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I think the experience descriptions above need a balance. A little hesitant, I did bite the bullet and purchased PD9. I had a question on whether go buy the upgrade or full version given my PD7 OEM installed version that got removed by the trail. My question was misplaced but after asking again, Customer Support came forward rapidly and with lots of appologies for what had happened.
So I purchased my version, got a key and download location for the coming month, sat through a relatively slow download hoping all would end well and it did. The EXEs did run and PD9 got installed - even (I should not be surprised, but still) the old trial project files were read properly.
So things can go right also. Fortunately.
Now's hoping for some needed improvements on the current shortcomings of PD9 (but still better than the competition in my opinion). Meanwhile... I'll start using PD9 for real. But a trial month certainly allowed me to build confidence in the product.
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Quote:
Yes, the Cyberlink Customer Abuse Department in India is not very good.
I thought they operate from Taipei, Taiwan. From where I live, same direction though.
And possibly equally unfamiliar/uncomfortable with English as native language as most people in India. But in terms of customer satisfaction, response and total quality - most of those principles were developed/embrased/enhanced in Asia so you'd think Cyberlink acts accordingly.
Looking at their profile they claim one of their flagships is the Media Suite which contains PD also. But why does their latest Suite contain PD8 instead of PD9? Too much of a bargain otherwise?
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Quote:
PD9 is not as bug free as PD8 was - it's a work in progress since it is the first issue of a true 64 bit version.
User such as yourself can help in ironing out the demons within PD9 and making it better than most editors of it's kind.
I beg to differ in my case. PD9 is way better than PD8 which required me to save steps every 2 minutes on the risk of the inevitable crash that would come. PD9 hasn't crashed on me... that is...as long as I don't start it by double clicking a project file. I applaud Cyberlinks for daring to rewrite the entire product from scratch (perhaps PowerDVD could be next). And currently it beats any other product (on the parts where it works) I tried and threw out for sluggishness, crashes, etc.
I really like what I can do for editing (shortcomings excepted) but the end product creation sucks and that of course is why we use tools like PD9 in the first place. I need DVD images/BluRay images on hard disc and media and it really is short on delivering there without exiting through "produce" and go the shareware route.
I'd love to help with the ironing of the bugs as regular user, but this does require a Cyberlink that takes note. And from some responses in this forum I'm not sure they do other than through filing bug reports (and hopefully then do remove the bug). I've been in the s/w industry for a long time and always looked at user's responses - to get a feel for how a product was doing and which way it ought to go. In addition to bug reports for the official process. Should I forward the findings to some official landing spot (where?) at Cyberlink?
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Save and run (doesn't it say "run"?) downloads the entire kit in some temp folder and subsequently installs the product.
If possible, I'd go for "Save" so you can re-install later if needed without needing to repeat the download.
But this of course assumes you got a full download to start with and from what I read sofar, that is still a problem.
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In respect to inserting stuff where there is currently no room (other than allowing overlap transitions) in PD9 you can select all items to the right and group them. If on multiple tracks, also select "Link multiple tracks". That way you can move the group to the right to make room for the expanded first clip. And when done, right click on the gap and chose to remove it. The entire righthand group will then move.
A bit cumbersome perhaps, but it does work.
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Creative to write (not so flattering I imagine) songs about United Airlines. United is not alone here of course. Airlines usually like to exhaust complainers until they give up. One reason why the EC is now forcing airlines to cough up for all the delays they claim is not their fault, but really is part of the business risk.
As for Cyberlink: I do hope they listen to customers and respond in an honest fashion. Some claims may be unrealistic, but those that pay and don't get their download for whatever (technical) reason, should be assisted and made happy.
I haven't jumped yet, so I'll follow this case with interest.
As the article says "don't underestimate the power of YouTube and Facebook". I'll add "...and forums".
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Enclosed my findings of using PD9 in its trial version. The comments were noted down over the last 4 weeks although I've used PD9 only during 2 weeks due to other activities. They are too numerous to enter in a short post, so I enclosed them as a PDF file.
The findings follow the PD9 steps and each is commented on with "Liked" and "Shortcomings" remarks. Some of the latter may have a workaround that I am unaware of and did not find in this forum (which is really useful) or found out by myself. In that case, feel free to add corrections as replies to this note.
I hope these findings are useful for some other newbies and trial users to make up their mind.
Bottomline: I like the product for its Editing and Produce features, not so much for the (often not functioning) Create Disc features that I tried (DVD and AVCHD).
And some recent rants in this forum about being unable to download the paid version after payment and no helpful customer service response to this, makes me doubt if I want to jump at this stage. Cyberlink should take note of customer feelings if they care about their product and its users.
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Quote:
I have done the obvious - subdivided the timeline into four equal parts, each approximately 250 clips, 50-minutes in length
I encounter few crashes. (Why do I get any?)
The question I have is whether the quality of this final file will be as good as the quality I would get if I were to export a timeline to Bluray disc?
I've got no informed answers to any of them as I'm just a (trial) user of PD9 who likes much and dislikes a few things PD9 does. Fewer crashes seem to point to the way PD9 keeps track of what's done (partly in "undo" options: switching those off may get you even fewer crashes?) and 250 clips of about 10 seconds each should work (any number should) but possibly the overhead inside PD9 exhausts memory or address space (if it is all built in trees in memory) causing crashes.
The quality should be good if the part-products are not re-rendered for the final composite program. SVRT should then work properly (but my experience is mixed in this).
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Quote:
If there is time for argument there is time to fix the problems presented
The BEST WAY to fix problems presented is to eliminate them before they become a problem
2nd best is to fix them quickly when they do become a problem
technical talent and customer appreciation should not be on different sides of the ball
no one wins that way
Fully agree - which is why I re-issued the question. It is not a problem yet but in communication there are always 2 parties to tango... so I'll wait again for a response which hopefully is forthcoming.
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