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Well, I am in the same boat. All my videos are in 4K and no means to put them on a BR like you can with HD BR. All we can hope for ist that an inovator like Cyberlink will add it to their features, like in PD17.
I am perplexed that PowerDVD plays UHD 4k discs, but PD16 cannot create them. Admittedly, few people have the comensurate CPU or 4k burning hardware, but it does exist and is not ultra-expensive. It is also wacky that someone retails Pioneer 4k optical (play only) drives with CL software that is suitable for HD but not UHD burning.
In the meantime I burn a UHD HEVC file to a BR disc and it works in a Samsung UHD player. No titles etc.
Is this simply a UHD 4k h.264 MP4 file burnt to a 25GB BD disc as if it were a data disc? Did you burn the disc with an ordinary BD burner (not a UHD one)? Will it work (and use less disc space) if you use h.265 format (which PD allows)? Will the Samsung player find and play the files automatically, using off-the-shelf firmware? Or must you hunt for the files manually or employ a file search feature unique to your Samsung model? In other words, what happens if you insert the same disc in your PC's BD drive (with or without PowerDVD)? Does your PC have UHD graphics and display? Or what if you insert the disc in someone else's UHD BD player?
CL has a list were you can request any features for the next edition and please do so, the list will close VERY SOON.
My fear is that CL, much like other NLE or video software publishers, has not updated disc creation features since about 2012, and may see little reason to do so if most video sharing migrates to online streaming. The paradox is that little, if any, online video will be streamed or viewed with 4k resolution. It is irrelevant to tiny mobile device screens. People with large 4k displays or home theatres are a niche. The sub-niche with an appetite to create 4k content may have little sway on market developments.
Conversely, pre-millenials fond of physical media may be the segment least likely to upgrade to 4k. They would rant if 4k discs did not play on a 1996 DVD player, or might not see any difference on a <55" screen at 15' distance, even with brand new eyeglasses. But it is not their fault that most video content is not optiized for 4k anyway.
That said, it would cost CL very little to enable PD to with UHD, more or less the same it can already do for HD, for optical discs. It will be even easier if one can create UHD discs with cheap 25GB BD-R media. CL would merely have to warn buyers not to expect this to work if their PC does not meet certain spec or if their disc player is not UHD. BD or DVD players that merely upscale HD or SD content would not qualify.
Eugene
[Moderation Note:
Hi Gentlemen, I altered the formatting to try to remove the issue of spanning the page. Hope it suits!]
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You say you are unhappy or bored with your results? First, do not be unhappy with your work! But there are ways it could be shorter and still draw more viewers.
You need story, conflct, drama, intrigue, suspense, humor.
Next time, have Margit and Kulli converse and argue over what they liked or disliked about a trip. The video content would be a mix of their talking heads, laugher and exasperation, and on-location antics. The men in the story would the the subject of their stories, with their misadventures serving as comic relief. Surely the men made mistakes, got lost, over-paid for something, got sick on cigars, or did something silly.
If you can't get them to volunteer for such a project, at least try more voice-over. Explain what you visited, what was interesting, funny, obnoxious, or scary. Don't just show flamingos: tell some story about they changed your life, or that you could only dream in pink for the next week.
It looks as though the weather was quite cool. Shots of people shivering and trying to stay warm--in Cuba, of all place--would be novel.
Watchable travel stories usually hinge on some sort of tension or conflict between:
- The protagonist, dreamer, braggart, thrill-seeker; and
- The cautious worry-wort or nay-sayer who is home-sick from day one, or becomes jealous and suspicious.
Imagine if one of the travelers appeared dressed in green fatigues, grew a beard, waved a machete, and vowed to return home to launch a rebellion. The story would be how the travel companions dealt with this.
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Does any Cyberlink or competing product support creation of UHD 4k Discs with a Pioneer BDR-S11BK or similar device?
I know that Cyberlink sells software that can burn to BDXL discs. However, the ads say nothing explicit about burning 4k content, and the products may simply burn 1920x1080 material to the larger discs.
Cyberlink also has an Ultra HD Blu-ray Advisor tool that tells people whether their PCs can play UHD discs. However, this does not appear to advise whether the PCs can burn 4k content to any sort of optical discs.
PD16 does not appear to support creation of UHD 4k disc images or folders that could be burnt to BDXL or plain BD discs. Without UHD content in h.265 codec, properly formatted for disc creation, one cannot create 4k discs that will actually play on UHD optical drives.
Various burner / player + software bundles insinuate "UHD support," but some may not actually burn UHD 4k content, but at most play UHD discs, if one has certain PC spec. If they burn DVD or 1920x1080 BD discs, that is not the full task people expect if they want to creat UHD 4k discs.
As of this date, I am not aware of any retail PC / software vendor that offers out-of-the-box capacity to burn UHD 4k content to BDXL discs that will play on any UHD 4k player. Since Cyberlink introduced h.265 support sooner than almost anyone else, I assumed the firm might offer UHD / 4k disc image creation and burning support by now, but apparently that is not so.
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PD15 nice if includes ability to burn 4K h.265 discs to standard Blu-ray BD-R or perhaps even DVD-R discs with menus.
Since PD13 beat the rest of the industry in supporting h.265 edits, my (mistaken) guess was that PD14 would introduce 4k disc burning.
Not clear if the disc player industry will achieve the original plan to introduce 4K-UHD h.265 disc players by late 2015. These might support newer multi-layer optical discs, but presumably be back-compatible with older BD or DVD formats. Meanwhile, however, could one create 4K UHD h.265 discs and put quite a lot on a mere 25GB BD disc? Could the next version of PowerDVD enable one to play such discs on a PC BD drive, even if the industry delays introduction of (expensive) dedicated players? No existing dedicted players I know of support h.265, or even true UHD, but a computer with the right graphics cards and HDMI2 connection to a 4k screen might be able to do this. Right?
Another (already tried?) idea: "playable" SDHC / thumb drive videos with menus. Most humble mortals who receive a flash card or thumb drive with video files can have trouble navigating about file trees to play files. If the content could be formatted with auto-play macros or appealing menus, it might be easier to share HD or UHD videos this way, even if optical UHD never attains popularity.
Physcial media still retains advantages, since most streamed video gets viewed in the default SD modes, and is not easy to monetize or protect.
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The PD14 description page has a Menu Designer section with a link to a tutorial that refers to PD13. Can any PD14 user confirm that the menu creation and customiztion options are the same as before?
Priod to PD13, the choice was to use an existing template, which might allow two, three, or more buttons or thumbnails per menu page, but not mixes, such as three on one page, 7 on the next, and 4 on a third.
The PD13 tutorial mentioned suggest that one can customize the count of buttons or thumbnails. However, it is not clear whether this frees one form the prior restriction that every menu page have the same numbers.
Something else: is it possible to add chapters that function as sub-chapters, or jump points, in a project without forcing PD to create sub-menus for each? My project consists of several extended files, each of which merits a menu button or thumbnail, but which also need some navegational back / forward options within each, but which don't justify a visible menu of their own. How done?
I would be wonderful if the Menu Stucture feature of the Disc Creation zone allowed one to drag and drop the chapters, as well as to create or delete sub-menus. Not possible?
Thanks.
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Was hoping PD14 might include an HEVC 4k disc creator that would enable people to burn h.265 files to existing Blu-ray media, not unlike the way HD can be burned to DVD as AVHCD-DVD and play on a PC or HD Blu-ray player. Actual 4k BD players might use new disc formats, but perhaps a PC with the right graphics card, and an HEVC-friendly PowerDVD, might play HEVC content? Not this year? Hmm.
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Cyberlink issued its last PD12 patch v3403 on December 3, 2014. Among other things, the purpose was to cure a problem where audio and video of clips became unlinked. The right-click to "link audio and video" appears greyed-out, yet clearly they have been unlinked. Most of the buttons on the tools row above the timeline disappear if a broken clip is highlighted. The video and audio portions of the clip become several sub-frames out of synch.
A 2013 Youtube video that illustrates one replicable sample of the problem, but the "solution" it proposed was to widen the timeline view to the maximum, re-sync the audio and video clips manually, and then to finish and export a project without ever closing it. This takes vast time if dozens or hundreds of clips must be repaired, and is not adequate if the corruption reappears every time a project is reopened. In my case, unfortunately, the solution suggested by the video did not work at all, since the "link audio and video" tool could be used only to unlink the clips, which made
Anyway, the v3404 patch did not undo the PD12 problem found in two projects initiated at the time. I could not simply right click to unlink, then relink the audio and video. Nor could the "group objects" command keep the audio and video linked. The darned problem is that, once present, it becomes impossible to add or modify content without causing the audio and video to become grossly out of sync, and many tools become inoperative.
I erronenously concluded that perhaps the v3404 patch would protect only new projects.
Recently, I began a another ambitious project, with all kinds of tracks and effects. Today I open the project and find that the video and audio appear delinked at various intervals in the timeline, but I can't spot any obvious causes. For instance, in one case the unlink appears after I inserted a sequenct of still JPG shoots between some MTS AVCHD clips. The JPGS have some "enhancements" applied, with key-framing, but there are no transitions. However, there is a place later in the timeline where I also did this, but the AVCHD clips that follow are properly linked. Occasionally, I locked the video line, and removed the native audio, replacing it with the audio portion of a clip whose video I did not use, but would that affect the audi-video unlink of other clips?
Do any PD13 users observe recurrence of the problem? My fear is that, if the PC12 3404 patch did not erradicate the problem, it probably persists in PD13. Yea or nay?
Any workarounds? To replace all the clips seems rather futile, if the video and audio simply unlink all over again after a project is reopened. To finish a project, without ever closing it, is also unrealistic.
I welcome any linke to a knowledge-base or user guide entry that offers solutions. My searched have been unsuccessful, particulary if I use words like "split," which harvests a vast number of separate topics.
If PD13 has conquered the problem where PD13 projects are involved, does this mean one can use it to open PD12 projects without seeing the video and audio portions of clips unlinked?
Thanks for any help or guidance.
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Quote:
Quote:
Nothing can be done to fix your project's issue* except unlink/link clips for your video/audio. Make sure you're using the latest patched version. Should have been fixed in one of the patches, just guessing you haven't updated or you've opened an old project.
Lots of reports for the bug, it has been around for a long while but it should be ok on any new project after the latest patch or even the previous one, for PDR12 has been applied.
http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/product-update.do
*Watch out, you might have the audio/video tracks shift by a frame or more out of sync. Expand the track and check.
Dafydd
A few weeks ago, I installed a PD12 patch that I hoped would prevent future cases of audio split from the video. Unfortunately, a week ago, I opened a recently saved project and discovered that audio and video files were split in some places, but not others. The function to re-link audio and video is disabled, even though the sequencing of the tracks had not been altered. However, unless the audio and video get re-linked, further editing of the project is hazardous. Thus, I must start nearly from scratch. I have now installed the very latest patch available, but remain skeptical whether it will suffice. The main trouble is that one cannot see whether the bug occurs without saving, closing, and then re-opening a project. Intermediate auto-saves of a project may help isolate the juncture at which the split occurs. But exactly what edit operations cause the issue? I lock, move, or alter select tracks or clips, but always avoid moving the audio or video of any track in a way that might de-link everything. When pasting in new things, I generally use the option that moves ever later clip on every track to the right. The odd thing is that the audio-video split seems to affect clips that I have not yet edited at all.
Has the problem occurred at all with PD13? Might occurrence be reduced by finishing all advanced editing for clips on the left end of a (short) timeline before adding and editing new ones on the right? Of course, that might handicap the ability (or let's call it necessity) to make changes later.
To date, this is the main "downer" encountered with PD. Is there a FAQ or Knowledge Base entry that diagnoses the causes and courses of prevention? Surely it has been reproduced many times. Why it defied the patch I installed in November is puzzling. Is the December patch any different with respect to that "known issue"? Very sad if the only advice for a corrupted project is to euthanize it. Why no function to link all audio and video for a timeline swath one selects?
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Since the PD13 forum may be most active, I re-post an unanswered PD12 forum query here. Obliged for any advice.
I want a mask whose size, shape, and opacity change over the duration of a frame. It gradually reveals, then encloses and obscures, a face that also moves a bit.
The PIP tools have a "focus" option that allows me to key-frame location and imperfectly alter size (the height and width buttons both change height and width simultaneously, not individually). However, this does not allow me to change the opacity at all.
On the other hand, the mask tab of the Modify tool allows me to chose any mask I want or create, and also to make all kinds of adjustments to shape, location, or opacity. But it does not seem to let me key-frame the mask so that it can change. When I invoke the key-framing, all the effects pass to the clip I mask and not to the mask itself.
The only threads or tutorials I find that address this pertain to products other than PD. Pinnacle has an advanced 3D editor tool that allows this as part of a crop / pan, transparency tool, and Premiere allows something similar. How to do it with PD?
Thanks for any guidance or tips.
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I want a mask whose size, shape, and opacity change over the duration of a frame. It gradually reveals, then encloses and obscures, a face that also moves a bit.
The PIP tools have a "focus" option that allows me to key-frame location and imperfectly alter size (the height and width buttons both change height and width simultaneously, not individually). However, this does not allow me to change the opacity at all.
On the other hand, the mask tab of the Modify tool allows me to chose any mask I want or create, and also to make all kinds of adjustments to shape, location, or opacity. But it does not seem to let me key-frame the mask so that it can change. When I invoke the key-framing, all the effects pass to the clip I mask and not to the mask itself.
The only threads or tutorials I find that address this pertain to products other than PD. Pinnacle has an advanced 3D editor tool that allows this as part of a crop / pan, transparency tool, and Premiere allows something similar. How to do it with PD?
Thanks for any guidance or tips.
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PowerDirector 13 does allow 1920x1080 50/60p Blu-ray creation, although some people await a patch to raise the compatibility with various players and allow bitrate over 24mbps. Very likely, many (particularly older) dedicated Blu-ray players will not play 1920x1080 50/60p discs, since their last firmware dates from when the only Blu-ray standards were 50/60i or 24p, with 50/60p limited to 1280x720 resolution. Some newer players may, while others may not, accept 1920x1080 50/60p. There is no formal Blu-ray endorsement or support, since there are no commercial discs that use it, even though AVCHD2 has been around since early 2010 on certain cameras.
XAVC-s is not presently a Blu-ray standard at all, so you'd have to select AVC or MPEG2 as the HD formats for disc, if you want it to play on an ordinary BD player.
Eventually, Blu-ray may be updated to include h.265 and real (not upscaled) 4k resolution, but probably not until 2016, if at all, because of a chicken-egg issue: no demand without content; no content without demand. Meanwhile, there are millions of folks content with mere DVD, or even VHS, resolution and don't perceive resolution differences. Lots of sports broadcast as "HDTV" does not even live up to proper 1280x720 60p due to low bandwidth and / or bad light.
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People might wish to try an SK player, http://potplayer.daum.net/#none, for HEVC h.265 files. Don't know whether it plays h.265 files produced with PD13, but on my (not very new) laptop Potplayer handles h.265 4k files from a Samsung NX1 without a hitch.
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Thanks for the reply. However, I'm curious whether PD13 can be used to edit the NX1 HEVC h.265 without pre-conversion. According to the stated specifications, yes, but it would be real great to have a PD13 user's testimony. That's why I furnished the links to Brawley's sample files. They can be downloaded and presumably imported into a PD13 test project to see if the edit functions are stable or hang, and whether the edited files can be exported as h.265 or h264 and retain most of their image and motion quality.
Potplayer (http://potplayer.daum.net/#none) is free and plays the NX1 files without trouble on my Toshiba Qosmio X875 with a 2012 vintage i7 3630QM CPU and NVIDIA GTX670M. Of course, the display is only 1080p, but the video clips are much more detailed, downsampled, than I experience with run-of-the-mill 1080p clips. If PD13 employs proxy files for h.265 4k, perhaps editing is no trouble, except for slower export "production." But that is only a guess.
Cinemartin costs money and is probably relevant only for people who want ProRes as an intermediate codec for fancy grading. That is way outside my need, resources, or skill. If PD13 can work with h.265 natively, and convert it to mp4 for streaming or AVCHD for Blu-ray, it spares quality loss to avoid rendering or recoding any more than once. My current interest in 4k is to get better 1080p results and also be able to crop, pan, and stabilize without quality loss when downsized to 1080p. We are still a year or two away from widespread sharing of 4k as 4k, but that will surely involve h.265, since the older codecs require too much bandwidth or disc space. The 5mbps "HD" one currently streams on YouTube should look better when h.265 or Google's own version gets employed. 4k video streamed at only 15mbps might at least be passable as UHD if the h.265 codec is employed.
Meanwhile, I am also waiting to see if the 1080 50p/60p Blu-ray glitch (bitrate cut from 28mbps to 16mbps) gets patched before biting the PD13 hook myself. PD12 spooked me for months because 1080p clips' video and audio tracks became separated and out of sync when one re-opened projects with lots of edit effects. A patch eventually appeared. Since PD13 is new, I suspect the best time to upgrade will be after the second or third patch appears. Meanwhile, perhaps there are some intrepid early adopters who might be curious to test the NX1 HEVC h.265 4k clips provided at the Imaging Resource file to see what happens.
The NX1 body price may fall slightly in two months. From a bargain-hunter's standpoint, the real question is whether Samsung will roll out a lower cost junior version of the NX1 in January. The other speculation is whether Sony will introduce an alpha APS-c or FF camera that has 5-axis IBIS, captures 4k internally. Whether they offer h.265 too may depend on whether Samsung's copper-circuit back-lit sensor offers advantages the others can't yet match. The competing models will prompt Samsung to trim its body prices some. Lenses will remain pricey.
I encourage PD13 users with fast PCs and an interest in 4k to download the h.265 HEVC files at the aforementioned IR site and report what happens. Thanks.
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At the Imaging Resource site, William Brawley has posted links to several video clips shot with the new Samsung NX1. They are in their original h.265 codec and have not been tinkered.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/11/19/samsung-nx1-4k-video-samples-and-new-full-res-frame-grabs-available-for-do
At this time, PowerDirector 13 is the only editing product that claims to support h.265. Other tools may transcode it to h.264 or maybe ProRes, but that seems like a slow workflow that adds to quality loss too. I can't help but think that CL cooperated with Samsung in conjunction with h.265, since the NX1 (and a budget NX model to appear in January) are the only enthusiast or semi-pro devices that use h.265 currently, although it has been used in some security cameras for a while.
But how stable or fluid is an h.265 editing process with PD13? Other threads mention encoding to h.265, which understandably might be slow. It might not achieve much, either, until h.265 streaming or playback becomes more widespread. However, h.265 will probably become mainstream by 2016, since it will be the only way to stream HQ HD, or any 4k at all, without monster amounts of bandwidth. It may also be at the heart of real 4k Blu-ray, if that ever comes to fruition. So it really is worth learning whether PD13 can handle h.265 and what sort of computer innards it takes.
I have used PD12, and might upgrade to PD13, once there is a patch that allows burning 50p / 60p Blu-ray at proper 28mbs and fixes other observed problems. The export to h.265 is one thing. Editing native h.265 is something else. Does PD13 use proxy files? How fast or slow can it handle edit effects like crop or pan? Must preview be limited to low resolution? Is there anyone out there with a PC rigged with a proper 4k graphics card and display too? I have a 2013 Toshiba gaming laptop that can play the 4k clips with Potplayer, but the display is only 1080p. How well does PDVD14 handle HEVC?
If conversion to h.264 is more or less mandatory, that is not good news.
Thanks for any comments, experiences, or guidance.
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