Messages posted by afinepoint4u

Never mind. I closed the program down and reopened it. The movie plays correctly. I sincerely hope this is not a common issue. That is having to close the program each time a walk away to prevent it from misbehaving.

Reg

Hello all,

I was done with my project yesterday and saved it. I started up the computer today and reopened the project. Now the transitions are blank between clips. Yesterday the "blinds up", "blinds down" was behaving properly. Today the duration of each transition is just a blank screen. The intro and credit play properly.

It is as if a common command caused the transitions to go blank. I need to know so as to be able to avoid doing it again. I tried dragging another transition onto the timeline and it worked properly. There is also a "constant gain" segment that has appeared on the sound track directly below the first transition. I did not put it there.

Thanks,

Reg

Thanks,

The page#47810 discussion is way over my head.

I'll look at the others and see if they lend clarity or confusion.

Quote: Afinepoint4u,
That is a question I've asked myself often. I think you should start a separate thread for this question, as I'd love to see the replies it gets. My best guess is it depends on how the video will be used. But please start a thread for this.

Cheers!
KevinR.

Thread started.

Also thanks all for the feedback. Trial runs out in two days. Will probably buy. Looking forward to working with a better processor. Got an eye on an I7 Samsung. Just waiting for the back to school sales to begin.

I did do a search before posting this. I couldn't find this exact question.

Which format does one use and when? PD does give a small hint under the description on the produce tab.

For a 15 min or so movie PD creates the AVI in 30 min but at twice the size of the MPEG4 = too big for youtube without using tricks to batch upload. The MPEG4 is compressed but takes 4 hours to produce not counting uploading. I tend to do that production at night or when at work.

With the studying up I've done it appears:

AVI= little compession, large file and better video qualty.
MPEG= high compression, small file, lower video quality probably due to data loss caused by compression.
WMV = (Windows/Microsoft) compession used, video quality comparable to MPEG
MOV = QuickTime (Apple), forerunner of MPEG-4? = similar video quality?

I've also read that AVI doesn't dictate how the video should be encoded meaning the method of storage varies.

My computer is a Pent 4 2.6GHz with 2G RAM running XP Home. Slow I know but that's what I have to work with.

How about some heavies weighing in on this one. Teach me something.

Thanks

Wasn't sure whether to post this here or not but it may be connected with the upload issue.

AVI vs WMV vs MPEG4? Which to use to ease issues? The PD creates the AVI in 30 min but at twice the size of the MPEG4. The MPEG4 takes 3 hours to produce but is under the youtube max. Could the format be a contributing cause?

At least the PD9 works with my computer - albeit lethargicly.

However Powerdirector customer help seems nonexistent. Thank goodness for this forum.

Update:

Two videos have been manually uploaded to youtube.

First: WMV file created from the PD "Produce" page. File was saved in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Videos then uploaded from there.

Second: File in "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\CyberLink\PowerDirector\9.0". This file was created and saved by PD along with the others produced by PD. These were the files PD said were "successfully" uploaded. They are labeled Produce, Produce_0, Produce_1, Produce_2, Produce_3. I renamed the Produce_2 file and uploaded it.

Somethng else I found interesting. PD has also saved another copy of the videos in the same \9.0 folder. These have a file strip and camera icon and are labeled as I had saved them. When these files are clicked on PD opens and plays them. When the files labeled Produce_x are cliked on Windows Media opens and plays.

Since the videos are successfully produced by PD and manually uploaded by Youtube I'd say the issue lies in the auto-upload process. Why PD says it has successfully uploaded is a mystery.

The great inconvenience is the fact that I can't produce with youtube as the target. I have to return (after hours) find and rename the file if necessary, log onto youtube and upload.

Ideas?

Thanks for all of the help thus far. My trial period ends in two days. If I can't solve this by then there is no way I'll buy on hope.

Here's the files:

First file: Original specs: 3.21GB, 1280x960, 37 min. This file was split into two projects to be able to fit the 15 min youtube requirement.

First project was slightly under 15 minutes finished and uploaded without issue. The second, made from the same file, was 12 minutes and would not upload despite the green check and PD assurances.

Second file: Original specs: 2.43 GB, 1280x960, 23 min.

This file was reduced to a 14 video which also did not upload despite PD saying so.

James, you're right the system is lacking. The CPU is a Pentium 4 2.6GHz, 2.0 GB RAM. I do what I can with what I've got. We plan to pickup an I7 Samsung laptop but I have to be convinced that PD will work properly before doing so.

Kenj, I don't know how to create a WMV file in PD. If I do it outside of PD how does the file get edited?

Thanks all for the help.

I'll try with the WMV file. I am still curious as to why I was able to successfuly upload the first and why PD is saying videos have been uploaded when not. Could it be the trial version?

Day/month/year. Got it. Sorry shift work - working 12 hour nights.

Thanks for help.

Trial Version of Powerdirector9. Computer running XP Home.

I have successfully uploaded one video. The sofrware will not upload any others. I have tried three times to upload others. Each time after hours of chugging along it says it has produced and uploaded successfully. No video is uploaded. It says upload complete each time but nothing makes it to youtube. I am selecting Mpeg4 format.

Also why is the current date 9/7/2011 in this forum??

The company help areas are useless. I can not submit a question, my question is not in the FAQ and I will never pay for help especially for issues with a company's product.