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The other possibility is that two Microsoft updates occurred in early and late January on my Windows 10 Pro 64 system.
I've now run a test removing the Windows 10 update that occurred before the shuttle/Power Director problem occurred. Taking that update out did not fix the problem. So the cause of this disfunction must be something else.
Terry
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As to the older method with analogue-sourced material, be it from VHS or Beta tapes or Hi-8, or even regular Video-8 camera tapes, the loss of sync could be in the capture device(seemingly selective, an odd situation!) I doubt the problem's in the Power Director software(any version). As you've said, you bought a new capture device(digitiser) to finish transferring your Beta tapes and that has cured the fault. Have you tried the new capture device(digitiser) with that "cheap" JVC camera? Being JVC, it would, if analogue, use VHS-C cassettes.[zz/quotePostId]
Neil, I think you have me mixed up with the original poster. I was answering his question when I talked about using the Conopus box.
As you mentioned, the problem that I'm aware of isn't the editor, it is whatever mechanism is being used to convert analog tapes to a digital video file. My biggest problem was with Beta tapes, but not even all of them. When I was digitizing them with Pinnacle ISA digitizing board in my computer, some tapes did fine, but on others would create a digital file with as much as 6 seconds of audio-out-of-sync by the end of a tape. I could manage it by making smaller digital video files, but that was a pain.
I'm not an expert, but I read or someone told me that AVI files do not inherently lock the video content to the audio content from a timing standpoint. So if something happens during digitizing that gets the video content out of sync to the audio content, when it is finally passed to the AVI file, AVI records the audio out of sync and doesn't care.
The Conopus device that I mentioned had a proprietary internal coding that locked the video and audio in sync as it came into the box, and when it wrote that to the AVI file, they were still locked in sync. I never had any audio out of sync after I started using the Conopus. I did find, however, that my particular Conopus would create a digitized file that was a little darker than what I was getting from the Pinnacle board. I ended up solving that by adjusting the lighting of the video feed before it went into the Conopus box.
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I have read pages of the archived notes on this problem and it seems that it is an ongoing problem with Power Director. Then I read that the cause might be a cheap JVC camera I am using. Is this possible and the sync problem is actually in the camera and not PD14? Is it time for a new camera?
Was it a digital camera(Mini-DV or SD card-based) or was it an older analogue(Video-8, Hi-8 or VHS-C cassette-based) camera? If the latter, the problem might be in the capture card device. Just a guess. If the former, could be an internal problem. Others may know more.
I also had a lot of problems with sound out-of-sync while digitizing Beta tapes to AVI files. Eventually I had to buy a Canopus AVDC-100 digitizer to finish up my Beta tapes. I've not had those problems with Hi8 or the two digital formats I've used (D8 and .mt2s) files.
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I'm having a problem with my ShuttleXpress not working with PD14 (it had worked fine until recently). It may be something else like a Windows update. But ONLY PD14 is not working with the shuttle. Other Cyberlink sofware like Color Director and Audio Director still work with the Shuttle, as does other non-Cyberlink sofware. So I'm inclined to reinstall PD14.
I have file packs for the upgrade from PD13 to PD14. I also have two subsequent PD14 "patches." Somewhere I may have the original PD13 distribution pack.
Does PD14 have a "repair" option like some other software? If not, how far do I have to go back to do a reinstall?
Can I just uninstall PD14, and then just run the latest PD14 patch?
Or do I need to go back to the PD14 upgrade file, or God help me, all the way back to the PD13 distribution files and then to the upgrade to PD14, and then run both PD 14 patches? The last way sounds like a day's work.
Terry
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I've been using a Contour ShuttleXpress with Power Director (13 and 14) for years with no problems. Starting sometime in January 2017, the shuttle stopped working with Power Director, even though the shuttle still works with other software, including other software from Cyberlink (Audio Director and Color Director, that I seldom use).
I worked with people in the Contour forum, and it doesn't seem to be a shuttle problem. I've not updated Power Director since June of 2016, which suggest that isn't it a change in Power Director, unless something "broke" in PD. The other possibility is that two Microsoft updates occurred in early and late January on my Windows 10 Pro 64 system.
I've posted on the Microsoft Forum, and haven't heard anything back yet. Here is a link to that post with more details if you are interested. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware/shuttlexpress-stops-communicating-with-video/76a18acf-d66c-472f-80be-8dabf40b2692?tm=1486310071615
If you use a Contour ShuttleXpress or any Contour shuttle with Power Director, can you please reply here if you have or have not had problems? That way I can find out if my experience is a lone wolf problem, or something that is widespread.
Thank you for your help,
Terry
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Below is the latest response I received from Cyberlink Technical Support. My prior experience with Tech Support is that they keep asking for things like this, and never get to a serious solution. It's a little cynical of me, but it is almost they are trying to wear down the customer until he/she gives up. Since the DVdate utility seemed to fix the problem, I'm inclined to call that a solution, and move on with life.
Response from Cyberlink Technical Support:
"Dear TERRENCE ,Thank you for writing back.Regarding your concern, I would suggest you to upload the AVI file for our checking.I would suggest you to upload the Sent us the AVI file to our FTP siteTo upload the sample file to FTP site, please follow the below mentioned stepsA) First create a folder named CS001700110 on the desktop and put in the sample file inside this folder.Please follow the steps to get in to FTP location.1. Copy and paste the below link on the Windows Explorer.ftp://cyberlinkcs![]() ZEFMSP9@ftp.gocyberlink.com/VCDeepak/ 2. Enter the username and password below whenever asked.Account Name: cyberlinkcsNew Password: PZEFMSP9Please copy and paste the folder CS001700110 in this location.Also, please inform us that you've uploaded the information file at FTP.(If you are unable to upload the file in FTP website then you can also upload the sample file on Google drive/ Drop box and share the link with us)Please feel free to contact us back for any further clarification or for any assistance related to CyberLink Products. Use the below mentioned link to get back to us for your further queries:https://membership.cyberlink.com/support/service/technical-support.do Thanks and Regards,BhawnaCyberLink Technical Support"
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tomsac,
I received a reply from Cyberlink. They don't seem intested in fixing this. Here is the response I received:
QUOTE FROM Cyberlink support:
Dear Terrence,Thank you for writing back.In regards to your concern,I would inform you that as per the symptoms, the AVI video file which you are trying to import is specially encoded file and PowerDirector may not support the encoded AVI files.Therefore,I suggest you to transcode to some other format as a possible solution. You can use the below application/tool to convert the video file.https://handbrake.fr/ NOTE :I Suggest you to use the best quality option to keep the quality of the video.
Thank You and Best Regards,
Nandkishor
CyberLink Technical Support
END OF QUOTE.
I sent a link to them of this thread, and suggest that there isn't anything "specially coded." I told him that they should understand that there are other industry standards for AVI files that they should support. I concluded with this comment:
"Cyberlink advertises that it supports AVI files. Cyberlink must therefore improve the Power Director program to work with both Type 1 and Type 2 AVI files. If not, it must update its specs and advertising about Power Director's limitations on certain types of AVI files, so that potential customers will have a correct information when they make a purchase decision."
I'll let you know their response if I get one.
Terry
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I guess it would be futile to suggest to Cyberlink that they improve its ability to handle various "flavors" of AVI files. But at least I had you to help me.
Thank you for the update. It is okay to start a ticket with Cyberlink tech support. They may be able to get engineering to work on a solution if enough users need it or suggest some sort of solution.
Let us know if they have a solution or suggestion. It would help other users with the same problem.
I started a ticket with Cyberlink Tech Support yesterday. I'll keep you posted on what comes of that.
I've attached an MSWord file that has DVDate screen prints of four different AVI files that which had different means of creating or modifying the AVI files. Two DO NOT PLAY from the PD 14 timeline and give an error message. Two DO PLAY from PD14 with no error message.
It does seem like success of whether an AVI file plays or not from the PD14 timeline isn't just Type 1 vs. Type 2.
Thanks again,
Terry
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Thank you for the clarification. You are using a bundled version of Pinnacle Studio created in Y2000. The firewire captures are type 2 DV-AVI which should be compatible with PD14. Firewire DV-AVI Captures in PD14 are type 1 and they are not compatible with PS. My tests are with the retail unbundled versions of PS.
You could capture those 50 tapes again with PD14 and they should work in PD14. There is another solution that is lossless. Try this: Convert one of those PS captured type 2 DV-AVI files to type 1 using freeware such as DVDate : http://paul.glagla.free.fr/dvdate_en.htm . If this fix the compatibility problem then you can work on the others.
Let us know if this helps..
tomsac,
Using DVDate to convert the file to Type 1 seems to have fixed the problem. I loaded the converted AVI file into PD14, and moved it to to the timeline. It could be played from the timeline without errors. (But see below, it might not just be AVI type).
I then put the unmodified (Type 2) AVI file just after it on the timeline, moved the cursor to the start, and began playing on the timeline. The converted (Type 1 now) AVI file played fine. As soon as the cursor reached the end of the now Type 1 file, and the start of the original Type 2 file, it stopped playing and displayed the Media Source Error [Error Code 2].
I then did a little playing around with the converted to Type 1 clip, changing its speed with a power tool, doing a couple of splits, adding a transition, and "producing" it into an MP4 file. All of those processes worked fine.
Based on these samples, I'd concluded that it was a Type 1 vs Type 2 problem. But just to be sure, I pulled up a file that had been converted using Pinnacle, with the feed from a Hi8 tape that I digitized (see prior post). I knew that one worked okay in PD 14, so I took a look at it with DVDate, expecting it to be a Type 1. Surprisingly it was a Type 2 AVI, yet it works in PD14.
The difference that I could see using the DVDate utility was that the Hi8 tape didn't have a DV datecode and timecode, and Pinnacle didn't create one for it. So the problem might be Type 2 AVI files with datecode and timecode.
Regardless, I'm in a lot better shape than I thought I was. Thank you very much for sharing your expertise. I didn't even know there were two types of AVI files. I was getting depressed that I might have to go back and re-download 57 hours of D8 tapes through PD14. There is a good chance that the DVdate program you put me onto will batch process those files that I have to convert.
I guess it would be futile to suggest to Cyberlink that they improve its ability to handle various "flavors" of AVI files. But at least I had you to help me.
Thanks again,
Terry
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Thank you for the clarification. You are using a bundled version of Pinnacle Studio created in Y2000. The firewire captures are type 2 DV-AVI which should be compatible with PD14. Firewire DV-AVI Captures in PD14 are type 1 and they are not compatible with PS. My tests are with the retail unbundled versions of PS.
You could capture those 50 tapes again with PD14 and they should work in PD14. There is another solution that is lossless. Try this: Convert one of those PS captured type 2 DV-AVI files to type 1 using freeware such as DVDate : http://paul.glagla.free.fr/dvdate_en.htm . If this fix the compatibility problem then you can work on the others.
Let us know if this helps..
Tomsac, thanks for your helpful feedback. I like the idea of trying a file conversion and see if it will then load and behave properly in PD14. I will try that in the next few days, and report back.
FYI, the version of Pinnacle was installed on the computer at the same time the computer was built by a tech guy I knew at work. It was assembled in June of 2004. I was incorrect when I said it was version 5.4. (For some reason, I often make that mistake). The version installed on the computer was version 9.0 or maybe 9.1 or 9.2. Later I did a paid upgrade to version 9.4.3. After working through Studio's numerous stabiity problems, I decided not to upgrade anymore after that. If that changes any of your conclusions, please let me know here.
Again, thanks for your knowledge and suggestions.
Terry
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>>New info 08 Jan 2017: D8 Files that were dowloaded directly from a Sony DCR-TRV480 D8 camcorder via Firewire to my computer, and captured by Pinnacle Studio software and converted to .AVI tapes, are the ones that do NOT work well in Cyberlink, causing the problem described above.
Files that were originally from Hi8 analog tapes, and played back as analog on a Sony GV-D200 Hi8/D8 mini-deck, and subsequently digitized by a Pinnacle digitizer card in my computer, and captured by the same Pinnacle Studio software and converted to .AVI files, work fine with Cyberlink.
The English sentence ‘and converted to.AVI tapes” does not make sense since you did not use the same words in your statement below concerning the Hi8 capture.
I don’t think that once you capture dv from a camcorder that you want to write it back to dv tapes as you imply in that sentence. Both pinnacle and PD14 are capable of that though.
I have located my old dv and Hi8 passthru captures as DV-AVI using Pinnacle Studio and they play correctly on the timeline of the same and PD14 with no problems.
Can you try the dv captures that did not work in PD14 in your PS and let us know if they play in that timeline. There is a solution if it works. I am thinking that those particular captures that don't work in PD14 will not work in PS too.
I'll try to clarify by describing this differently. I'm not doing anything with returning the content back to DV.
Here are the steps for the two types of AVI files that I can create and have been tested on PowerDirector 14.
First type of AVI file:
1. Sony DCR-TRV480 D8 Camera --> DV audio-video code tranferred directly from camera to computer via Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable
2. Pinacle Studio captures the Firewire signal from the computer, and converts it to an AVI file.
3. The resulting AVI file works fine in Pinnacle Studio v 5.4, but it does not work correctly in Cyberlink Power Director 14. See my first post for discription of the problem when using this AVI file with PD14.
Second Type of AVI file:
1. Hi8 Analog video tape is played back by a Sony GV-D200 Hi8/D8 tape deck. Analog signal is output on S-Video cable and two RCA sound cables.
2. Analog signals carried by the S-Video and RCA cables are received by a Pinnacle breakout box, which leads by heavy cable to a Pinnacle ISA expansion board in the computer. That board digitizes the signal and is picked up by Pinnacle Studio v5.4 in its capture mode.
3. Pinacle Studio turns that digital signal into an AVI file
4. The resulting AVI file works fine in Pinnacle Studio v 5.4, and it ALSO works fine in Cyberlink Power Director 14.
One suspect: A different setting in Pinacle Studio is used for capturing a signal from a DV camera vs an analog signal. So one suspect could be the Pinnacle software producing a slightly different form of AVI file depending on that setting, which works fine in Pinnacle Studio, but but not the Cyberlink PD14.
Another suspect is differences in DV output depending on the D8 tape player. As stated above, when I use the DCR-TRV480 D8 camcorder to play back the D8 tape through the Firewire to the computer, Pinnace Studio creates an AVI file that works fine in the Pinnacle Studio software (but not the Cyberlink PD software).
But in the past, I tried playing back a D8 tape with the Sony GV-D200 mini-deck as a DV signal through the Firewire cable, into the Studio, and studio did produce an AVI file. When doing that, however, the AVI file did not work in Pinnacle Studio. I've not yet tried a file produced that way in the Cyberlink PD14.
Yet another option would be to use either the camera or the mini-deck to send a DV signal to my other computer that has PD14 on it, and use PD14's capture method to produce an AVI or other file. But to do so, I'd have to install an Firewire board into that computer. Also, I have over 50 tapes that are already converted from D8 DV to AVI files using the Pinnacle software, and I'm hoping that a solution does not involve re-doing all those. And there is no guarantee that the PD14 capture would solve the problem I'm having now.
Terry
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I've been using PD14 fine with .mt2s files from a Panasonic HD camcorder. I just tried to do some editing of an .avi file originally shot on a Sony D8 camcorder. If I select a file within that window, and click the play button, it will play just fine in the preview window, both video and sound.
But if I drag a video file from the libary to the timeline, and then click play, I get the Error 2 message, and the timeline marker does not move, and there is no video or sound playing in the preview window, which is just black.
It seems to be just the .AVI files that are a problem. If I add an .mt2s file to the set, I can pull that onto the timeline and it works fine from the timeline, even with some other .avi files on the timeline that won't play from the timeline.
>>New info 08 Jan 2017: D8 Files that were dowloaded directly from a Sony DCR-TRV480 D8 camcorder via Firewire to my computer, and captured by Pinnacle Studio software and converted to .AVI tapes, are the ones that do NOT work well in Cyberlink, causing the problem described above.
Files that were originally from Hi8 analog tapes, and played back as analog on a Sony GV-D200 Hi8/D8 mini-deck, and subsequently digitized by a Pinnacle digitizer card in my computer, and captured by the same Pinnacle Studio software and converted to .AVI files, work fine with Cyberlink.
I've attached an MS Word file with screenprints of how Cyberlink describes the two different types of AVI files if I look at properties, and I don't see any obvious differences. Its just that Cyberlink doesn't like one and is okay with the other.
Any suggestions on how I can get the D8 based .avi files to work on the timeline?
Any help will be appreciated. I have a lot of these files that I will want to edit.
Terry
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It is pretty weird that power director cannot change the speed of multiple clips at once. A 15 minute video that I'm working on has over 300 clips in it. To change them all, would take hours. I'll use the suggestion to produce it then change the speed of the production, but this is something that you should be able to apply to all or some of the selected clips all at once.
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Gary, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "upscale," but I'll guess that you are wondering how much of the gain was coming from the better camera resolution, and how much from the new Blu-Ray player with the HDMI cable (vs my old Sony DVD player that used an S-Video connection). Also, how much was due to going from new camera DVD to Blu-Ray disc.
I just went back and played an older DVD recorded with the D8 camera, and viewed it on both the old Sony with the S-Video cable, and the new LG Blu-Ray/DVD player with the HDMI cable. Then I did the same with the new DVD where the source was the new camera and PD13 software. In terms of quality improvement going from old DVD on the old DVD player to new Blu-Ray on new player, I'd swag that 45% of the gain was going from old player with S-Video to new player with HDMI connection, 45% was due to the higher definition camera and PD13 software, and a final 10% was going from new DVD to Blu-Ray.
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I've made vacation DVDs for years, most recently with a D8 camera (DV format .avi). Last year I purchased a camcorder with HD 1920x1080/60p capability (nominal 28 Mbps). So far I've only shot 1920x1080/60i (about 12 Mbps), which is the camera's default setting.
This week, I produced my first DVD using PowerDirector 13, MPEG-2 "HQ - Best Quality." I was VERY impressed at how much better the DVD looked than my previous DVDs.
I then used the same project file to produce a Blu-Ray movie disk (BDMV). PD selected MPEG-2 HD 1920x1080/60i. I played it on a 58 inch Samsung TV (1080p capable), connected to a DVD/Blu-Ray player through an HDMI cable.
At first I thought the Blu-Ray playback was no better than the DVD (despite the data file size of the Blu-Ray being 3x that of the DVD). So I paused the video on certain frames, and photographed the image with a 9 mexapixel camera mounted on a tripod. Comparing the Blu-Ray to the DVD images, there was a slight improvement in resolution in the details of the picture with the Blu-Ray.
All of this leads up to an unexpected conclusion: The Blu-Ray disk didn't seem all that much better than the DVD made by PD13.
And that leads me to further questions:
1. Am I overlooking something I should be doing to improve the Blu-Ray disk quality?
2. I understand that the Blu-Ray BDMV specification does not yet support 1080p progressive video. And I see nothing in PD13 to suggest it will output 1080p to a Blu-Ray disk. But I've also read on the Internet that there are ways to trick PD into accepting 1080p files. Does anyone have experience doing that? Does it improve the image quality significantly, or is it just beneficial for action shots?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Terry Quinn
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Barry,
I just tried your suggestion to put a fade on both sides of the split, and it works as you said it would. So that is a reasonable workaround. Thanks! ![]()
I'm kind of surprised, if it is that easy, that Cyberlink hasn't provided it as a transition. Is there a way to draw their attention to it so that they might incorporate it as a standard transition in the future?
Terry
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What I was looking for was a transition that you could drop between two clips, similar to the normal fade. But instead of blending the two scenes together, it fades out one scene (to black) including dropping out the sound, and then rises up immediately to the other clip, going from black to full clip and sound building up to full. The Pinnacle Studio software I bought 10 years ago had this as one of its basic transitions. It is useful as a fade where you are trying to provide a sense of more change between the two clips, sucha as giving a sense of a change in time.
I suspect I could create the effect by putting one black frame between two Cyberlink fades like we talked about above. But that would require copying that into the timeline as a set of clips every time I needed it. Is there a way to save a combination like that as a custom built transition, that could be added to the transitions screen?
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Thanks, Steve. I must have had a blind spot, because I'd even filtered to 2D transitions when I first looked for it, and still didn't see it. But it was there.
Is there a similar "fade from first clip to black, then immediately fade from black to the other clip" transition included with the software? I didn't see that, and I looked three times this time.
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I recently purchased PowerDirector 13 Ultimate w Premium Effects and Templates. I'm new to this software. I have used Pinnacle before. All I want to do is use a simple transition that will fade from one video clip to another video clip. All I can find in the transition set that came with the software are lots of more complex transitions that flip the clips, spin them, slide them, blow them up, etc.
How can I do a simple transition that fades from one clip to the other. That is pretty basic. I searched for that here on the forum and was unsuccessful finding it.
Thank you,
Terry
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