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Hello, Gram from FT!
Shadowman, has neatly summed this up but I might try to explain it a little clearer(if that's possible). Based on what you say, you start with a tape which has several different items contained on it. those old camcorders sometimes had the facility of date-stamping shots with date and time of shooting, if that info is present on the recordings, it will help you work out "what's what" on those tapes.
As you've already "captured" the content of one of these tapes, it's a simple matter of pulling the capture onto the timeline, viewing it until you get to the point where you wish to separate one subject from the next, at which point you simply "split" the video on the timeline. A symbol to look for here is two arrows pointing away from an "equal" sign turned on end(rough depiction: <-ll-> ). The material on the timeline after the split can be discarded. You won't lose it altogether, though, as the original "capture" will remain intact in the "media library". All you need to do is give this new short clip a name, and produce it. We'll assume for the moment this was the first item on the tape. Okay, having produced that clip, let's now clear this one off the timeline(highlight it and press delete, it won't be lost, just taken off the timeline, it'll still be in the library, alongside the capture). Pull the capture onto the timeline again, watch for the point where you split to make your first clip. Split there again, then highlight and delete the content before the split, view the content now until you get to the end of the next item, split there and delete after the split, simply repeating the process will separate each item into individual clips.
I did have another idea on how to do this, but after you said that trying to produce a "highlighted range"(orange area between two points) PD wanted to produce entire timeline, that scotched the idea I had. So what was explained in the last paragraph should help.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, Angela!
If PD14 is not completely "capturing" the content from the DVDs you've been given, it could be due to those at the TV station you're submitting to using a different software to burn the discs(just a thought). You say you can get sound and vision if working through your AVS editor, that may be your solution. Use the AVS editor software to "capture" the content off the discs, then import those captures into PD14 and see if you get video and audio that way. I can't guarantee it, but it might be worth a try.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hello, Jim!
While PD14 is open, look around top-left of the screen for a "cogwheel", clicking on this opens User Preferences. You may find the setting you're after in there.
Cheers!
Neil.
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No, they do not. But using this forum can help in lessening your problems. Give it a try.
Hello, HDedit!
That's a damning indictment of Cyberlink, surely! But it's one they need to take on board as a "wake-up" call to get their act together and start providing the service they're supposed to provide. A lot of users have a lot of varying issues with Cyberlink, and if Cyberlink doesn't start paying attention, there's going to be a lot of ex-users, giving up on Cyberlink product and going elsewhere for video editing software(or any of the other types of software that Cyberlink produces).
Neil.
This is a second attempt to post this reply(copying & pasting text from first attept which took far too long to upload, and eventually failed).
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Hello, Bestbass!
I noted that your problem might've started with those add-on patches. An earlier PD version I was using went "silly" on me once when I was editing some video in PD7, a pop-up appeared(I was "on-line" at the time, sometime after March, 2012) prompting me to download a "patch" for PD7 that was supposed to improve its function. It did exactly the opposite! PD7 which, prior to that patch, had worked perfectly, after the patch it became erratic, crashing often on the tinyest of things! Split a clip to add a transition.... CRASH! Pull a clip onto timeline.... CRASH! My solution was an uninstall, then reinstall from the disc without that patch, "All was well in the PD7 garden again!". Funny enough, when I got the next version(which I won't mention because some are getting annoyed with me for saying it, so I'll call it "Voldemort"[after Harry Potter's nemesis]... that which must not be named... ha-ha), I was advised to install a certain patch with it after installation, interestingly enough, for this "Voldemort" version, only one patch was ever created. Installation of that patch created no issues and the version worked fine and continues to do so alongside my current version, PD14 Ultra, but I've avoided patches for PD14, based on my PD7 experience, which brings me back to my suggestion to you. If you have your installation disc for PD12, uninstall, then reinstall without any of the patches. This might help with your issues.
Cheers!
Neil.
P.S., Tomasc and others have suggested looking at your Nvidia card installation, this tip is valid as a possible extra cure for your problem.
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Hi!
Skibum has just again made reference to this elusive "Cineform AVI". If I attempt to select AVI, even at the lowest setting, the file size when rendered would swallow up more hard-drive space than I care to use, that's at DV-AVI. If I select the only other option, Windows AVI, this will not support 16:9 aspect ratio, so either way, AVI is not for me. But Cineform AVI? I've not seen the option, nor am I likely ever to see it! It's just not there! As to stuttering and freezing, I too get this on occasions. But I just give a few minutes for the computer to "catch up" and continue working. If I click to hurry things up, the screen whites over and I get a message asking me to close the programme or wait for it to respond, I usually choose to close.
Neil.
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Hi, Fenman(Mike) & Longedge!
By reading the original post, It says the activation key was not lost, as reported by TribalFaerie, rather that it did not work correctly, and gave TribalFaerie the notion that what he/she thought was supposed to be a brand-new purchase through a supposedly reputable retail outlet may not have been so, as the activation process told him/her that the product was "second-hand" and the CDKey was already registered, which rang alarm bells in TribalFaerie's mind. The poster, David, came in later on the thread, reporting loss of his activation key.
But it all gets back to this unnecessary extra hurdle of having to complete activation of any Power Director version, from Vers.9 onwards. I discovered this, to my dismay, when purchasing PD14 Ultra(retail package bought from local Harvey Norman branch near me), and there was only the two discs in the package as well(the installation disc and the Extra Contents Disc) there wasn't the usual instruction manual that would normally come in such a package, instead, a user manual was on the installation disc itself, and no, it did not mention the requirement of the internet to complete the activation process(or at least I don't think it did).
No other software I've struck has had this requirement! Once the CDKey is typed in, everything is "up and running" and the software is fully activated. But Cyberlink are acting, to my mind at least, somewhat "precious" in putting in this requirement from PD9 onwards. As I said, and I say again to stress the point, it's an unnecessary extra hurdle and I'll say to Cyberlink: "before launching PD15 later this year, get rid of that internet requirement!" Because it will definitely alienate a lot of existing and would-be PD users!
Cheers!
Neil.
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What you say is undoubtedly true in part Neil but this being a public forum (I'm surprised at the term "your forum" as if you don't feel to have any investment in it) I shall feel free to voice my distaste when such as the original post appears. Thank goodness that for the greater part, regular contributors to the forum are courteous and are able to moderate their language.
I'm not going to dignify the topic of the post by discussion of the validity, if any exists, of what was said and am still of the opinion that the whole thing should be deleted.
Hi, Longedge!
In saying "your forum", I was addressing Cyberlink, who set this forum up initially. It's not that I don't feel to have any investment in this forum. I've made enough posts here(and copped some flak over some of them as well), to well and truly have a degree of "investment" here. But such as that outburst from Sibuscus, is going to occur from time to time with disgruntled Power Director users "letting off steam" over what annoys them and firing off shots at Cyberlink about them. Yeah, the language was intemperate, and the "F-word" was used there as well. As I said, this one's in the hands of the moderator, who may, in time, lock this thread.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hello,
This is a second attempt at posting(don't know what became of the first) but anyway, the OP on this is already 3 years old but nonetheless this matter is going to cause a lot of heartache and disappointment, and also a lot of refund demands from ex-Cyberlink customers! The requirement of the internet to complete the activation of the PD product, from Version 9 onwards will draw out quite a few angry, and likely very abusive posts(like one from Sibuscus on another subject). There was such a post on product activ-ation earlier this year, which had been likely deleted. I'm writing this as a "heads-up" to Cyberlink, regarding this, Cyberlink needs to urgently revisit this activation method and ditch it before it causes further grief. When I started using Power Director, it was 2011 or earlier, before I got my internet connection. The versions I used only required the CDKey to have them fully, and permanently active. It wasn't until March, 2012 that I was finally able to register the version I was using at the time(PD7) and join in on the forum. Thankfully the Internet was not required back then to fully activate Power Director. If it had been, I would not have bothered with Power Director at all! A shame really as there have been features in successive versions I've really found useful. So there it is, folks! Is the internet really needed for product activation now when it was never needed in pre-PD9 days? I think not.
Neil.
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Hello, everyone!
Sorry to have to say this but your forum will, from time to time, attract such posts as that from Sibuscus. These posts are borne out of frustration because a particular version of Power Director won't let them do what they want to do. Granted they're expecting too much from what is, basically, hobbyist software with some features that give a near-professional appearance to a finished video, but still these posters will appear here to vent their frustrations. The only real power here is in the hands of the moderator.
Neil.
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Thanks, I have been in touch with the station contact, but the department assigned to community access is not terribly technical.. For now, I produced, and they accepted, the mpeg format that is standard in the program. I will find out from the viewers how it looks, because the station people can only see it on their computers in another state. Thanks everyone. We can close this post now. Have a great week!
Hi Angela,
Get someone at the station to record it for you on a VHS machine(modern PVR set-top boxes only receive digital signals) so you'll get an idea of how it looked as it was broadcast. As this station has obviously missed the deadline for switching to digital and are still transmitting in analogue, the old museum-piece technology shall have one last "hurrah"!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, bcarl!
Oh, and Dan, aren't "ducks" normally found swimming around in ponds?(LOL). Made a goose of myself there, didn't I? I'll just go over to this corner here and quietly "quack(crack) up. Ha-ha!
Cheers!
Neil.
The Duck function spoken about is in relation to "Duck" a rock is falling on your head" Duck to lower your head or body, in the case of audio is lower the volume of the music while the Voice Over track is speaking.
Quote from a Dictionary:
Duck
To get or keep away from. v.shun, keep clear, avoid, dodge, duck, elude, skip out, skip town (informal), escape, slip away, eschew, fight shy of, steal away, give a wide berth to, sidestep, steer clear of, absent.
True, one bird is called a Duck.
Carl, please!
I was attemptimg to inject a bit of humour into the thread!(maybe a lame attempt, but what the heck, an attempt anyway) I did not expect a discourse on the dictionary definitions of the word "Duck"(at least I hope you were using the Oxford English Dictionary).
Richmond Dan was referring to a method in the audio recording software, "Audacity" which provided for attenuation of audio levels for music or other background sound when a narration track is inserted. Personally, I tried Audacity and found it wanting in some aspects of its use. I much prefer to use Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio for recording my narrations. My method of inserting such narration into a video via PD14 or earlier versions was detailed in an earlier reply.
Neil.
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tomasc, I tried copying using PD10 but it says it does not recognise the content of the disc.
That is a new one for me. I never used PD10 to try to copy any files from a dvd to a hard drive. That is a job for windows explorer. You could use PD10 to capture (record from that dvd). I don't suggest that anymore since it may be too complicated for you unless you read the user manual. I think that you are getting confused. Do one step at a time. Don't try to combine all these steps.
Try Carl312's suggestion. They should all work as described.
Hello, 7Phil77
I've tried this a few times, it's quite easy. Just load your old disc into your DVD rewrite drive, open the Power Director version you're currently using and select "Capture". The grey-out icons won't be usable, but you'll see that the disc with camera(AVCHD) will be highlighted, click on that and the drive will read the disc and tell you how big the file is and how long it plays, click on the red "record" button and capture begins. At the end of the process you have the video file ready to pull into your editing room to "have your merry way with it"(make any changes, snip out excerpts for use in other videos, whatever you wish). I just used a version of PD that no-one around this forum likes me mentioning too much, but just about all versions of PD essentially work the same way.
Cheers!
Neil.
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More than likely you disabled motion thumbnails, see pic.
Jeff
Just looked at that image, could easily happen by accidental mouse-click to untick the "Enable Motion Thumbnail" checkbox.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, bcarl!
Narrating a video can be a fiddly and time-consuming job, especially if you're dropping comments in as you go along, watching and recording narration in PD14(you end up also with a bunch of audio "captures" at the end of the process). I have my own workaround for this, I'll edit the video to completion stage as far as the video content is concerned and render it, then I'll come back to it and watch it through via Windows Media Player(I'm using Windows 7), with Microsoft Office "Word" opened. As I view the material, when I get to a point that will have commentary, I pause the video and type my commentary script. At the end of that process, I print out my script and read it into an audio recording programme(Sony Sound Forge), clean up the recording(taking out breathing noises, mute or cut), save as MP3 and import to PD14(or earlier PD version, depending on mood) and begin to paste narration track into potition. Put the entire narration track in at first point, listen for the end of first comment, split narration track at that point, cut the remaining of track, view to next commentary point and paste that remaining narration, keep doing this until all commentary parts are where you want them. Elevate the audio level if necessary by adjusting the horizontal slider for the track where your narration is(so that it will adjust the entire track), then, if your doing so, add your music.
Hope that tip helps.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Neil, in US there is no more analog TV signal... From June 12, 2009 for all big stations and from March 29, 2016 for the remaining Low Power TV Stations.
Hello, SoNic67!
For a second, I thought you had me, but I scrolled back to the original post, dated 21st April this year(2016), a month after low-power(including community stations) made the switch from analogue to digital(aside: I'm very surprised here because it requires a heck of a lot more power to cover the same area with digital than it did with analogue transmission).
Angela, it may serve you well to get in touch with that station and find out if their technical needs have changed. Judging though, from your OP, I'm not quite sure anymore. Has this station upgraded(has some benefactor stumped up the necessary "moolah" to buy digital gear?) or are they still plodding along in analogue, in spite of the March 2016 deadline?, Like I said, Angela, get in touch with them and find out what's going on. It's in your best interests to do so.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, bcarl!
Just to add my 2cents-worth, Have you tried using the horizontal "master volume" control for the tracks you wish to adjust? This control on each track raises or lowers the overall volume of the track along its entire duration, whether there are splits and transitions added or not. So you can lower the volume of the background music, and raise the audio level on your narration track, also you can attenuate the level of the "native audio"(sound picked up by the camera's microphone) in your video so it doesn't overpower your narration.
Oh, and Dan, aren't "ducks" normally found swimming around in ponds?(LOL). Made a goose of myself there, didn't I? I'll just go over to this corner here and quietly "quack(crack) up. Ha-ha!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Thank you contributors for trying to help me. My non-tech program person simply tells me "it must be 4 x 3" and gives me this attached sheet. But my question is, WHICH format is best, since the film is presently h.264.
I don't think a black box is a nice enough presentation... but I don't want a squished look. HELP! Thanks again.
Hi, Angela!
You won't get a "squished" look, but I'm afraid you're stuck with black vertical bars either side of the image if you happen to be able to view your production through the station you're submitting to, as they are only transmitting analogue, and analogue is firmly tied to 4:3 aspect ratio. As it happens, a lot of flat-screen sets have digital AND analogue TV reception capabilities so you'be be able to see your work broadcast if you lived in that station's service area, but because of the analogue standard, them ol' black bars are the price one must pay..... such is the "nature of the beast", I'm afraid!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi!
Seems to me American viewing audiences might be expecting a tiny bit too much! This is a small "public access"(what we in Australia would call "community") station that would have to "scrounge" bits of equipment from here and there in order to kit out their studios and such. Would it really "kill" a viewer if he/she had to watch content on his big, flashy 16:9 LCD or other type of screen, just because the image did not fill out the entire width & height of the screen? Luckily, Quite a lot of these sets have tuners that can receive analogue signals so, for the moment, small community stations, like the one Angela is contributing to, can continue to operate, and if they require content to be in 4:3 aspect ratio, and should that require the digitally-shot content from Angela to be reformatted to suit(letterboxed), then so be it!
As an aside, our national broadcaster is currently screening early episodes of the British cop show "The Bill" and also episodes of the Angela Lansbury, murder mystery series, "Murder She Wrote" in their mid-afternoon schedules. These old shows were made for analogue 4:3 aspect ratio screens, so black bars sit either side of the image on our screen, Big deal! Fans of these shows will still watch them regardless. So if you're intending to submit content, as Angela123 is doing, and if its a small community station(public access), just help them along by formatting your video to comply with their needs.
Cheers!
Neil.
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I tried your solution, but my appearance is already set to 16: 9 by default but I still have black bars. I do not know how to remove them.
Just by way of curiosity, of the image itself inside that "frame" of black bars, does it appear normal? Or does it appear vertically squeezed?, You might try to adjust it by selecting "Neither 16:9 or 4:3" in the Aspect Ratio Handling, With your clip on the timeline, right-click on it and you'll see "Set Image Attributes" a side-window will appear, in that select, "Set Aspect Ratio" and you'll have the window to set your clip's Aspect Ratio. The bottom(or third) of the three options is "Neither 4:3 or 16:9" Select that and try whichever option it provides. The only other idea I could suggest is if you have an earlier version of Power Director(as far back as, perhaps Version 9) still installed alongside Version 14, Import your clip to that version and see how it behaves in comparison to its appearance in PD14.
Beyond these, I don't have any other suggestions. In relation to the question I asked, if the image appears "normal" it could be a 20:9, cinematic aspect ratio. That would be very rare because hobby video cameras generally shoot 16:9(just a "thought bubble").
Neil.
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The problem lies in not being able to preview the track prior to use, to see if it "fits" the mood of your video. I rarely use SmartSound, but I don't completely rule it out, I just look for other sources. I recently dug into the folders for that earlier PD version(relax, I didn't mention that version) and found the music backgrounds for its menu pages and have taken to using them at the start and end of my videos(when I do use music). Not being able to sample the track leaves you stumbling around blindly in the SmartSound library. For the purpose of being able to use that preview function, I've opted to keep QuickTime on my computer. Those rascally hackers ain't a-gonna get at me while I'm off-line!
Neil.
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