Messages posted by bcf1ca

Quote

StevenG already answered about DVD Architect quite well. I may want it too.

Any of the AVC m2ts formats like 1080/60i, 24p, 720p60 produced should be compatible with making a Blu-ray without reencoding the video portion if the BD capacity is not exceeded.

Any of the Mpeg-2 with profile names starting with DVD should be compatible with making a DVD without reencoding the video portion if the BD capacity is not exceeded

The above is for PD. It may be different for DVD Architect. You have to experiment and find out.

Full uncropped menu thumbnails are available in the DZ. I created the chapter/titles thumbnails in all different shapes including rectangles.

Thanks to you both. Steve, I had looked at your excellent tutorial before posting and didn't understand that I could use PD's default DVD output settings to produce the file. I thought I would have to mess around with the output profile and didn't see how to match PD's settings to the Vegas settings shown in your tutorial. I just did a small test using PD's default settings (DVD HQ 720X480/60i) and DVD-A shows it doesn't need to be recompressed. Yeah! Thanks very much.

Tomasc, I looked at the various options in DZ and couldn't easily find any that didn't crop my chapter point thumbnails. I looked at your Cinema1 template, while it didn't crop my thumbnails, I need many more buttons than your template (about 9 per page vs your 3 in the template). When I used the Modify option on the template, I could add more buttons but your template buttons were not editable on my system. I would love to know how your created the buttons to get full frame thumbnails so that I could create my own templates with appropriate number of buttons. Can you share this technique? If I create a new template in 16X9 format, the thumbnail images are always cropped...

I appreciate your interest. Thanks again.

Hi all;
Having used PD 365 for almost a year, I have come to love the program/suite. It does everything I need it to do with one big exception-the templates in the Create Disc option are poor, often producing severly cropped menu thumbnails and buttons that don't match the aspect ratio of my projects. I have tried creating menus with Menu Designer but they exhibit thumbnail cropping too. So, I bit the bullet and got DVD Architect and used it to author my last project. If Cyberlink could emulate the capabilities in this product, I'd be a happy camper. It is very flexible and capable of producing what I need. However, it wants to re-encode the video file that I produce in PD when it comes time to produce a disc; has anyone figured out what settings to use for production of a video file that DVD-A doesn't need to reprocess? If so, I'd be grateful if you would share the settings for both Blu-Ray and DVD formats.
Many thanks,
Barry

Thanks to you both. This worked well.

Tomasc, I appreciate the fast response.
Tony, I appreciate the packed project and the time it took for you to prepare it.

I am amazed at the capabilities of this program.

Cheers!

Barry

I shot a video of a wedding where I could not use a tripod (bridezilla's wishes). I put the camera on my knee and managed to do a pretty good job but all of the shots exhibit a keystoning effect (a square image looks narrower at the top than the bottom or a trapezoid in geometric terms. I looked through all the video effects and Lens Correction in PD18 and there appears to be no effect to correct this. Does anyone know of a way to reduce/remove the effect?

Thanks in advance.

I recently purchased Director Suite 365, primarily for video editing multicam projects. I was very pleased with my first project and looked forward to my next project. However, the recent 2721 update to Power Director has broken a feature I use frequently. Specifically, the Crossfade option has disappeared when moving a video clip from one track to another when the source clip is overlapped on top of the destination clip. My workflow before the update was this:
1. I edited the project that was shot with 2 cameras in the Multicam Designer. The project used a separate audio file recorded using a digital recorder. The video clips were synced to this track. I inserted no transitions while in multicam mode.
2. I opened the multicam project in the Timeline.
3, I inserted a video track above Track 1. This new track would be used to hold a clip temporarily while I adjusted the length of a clip.
4. I dragged a Track 2 clip up to Track 1, being careful to ensure it did not shift left or right.
5. I dragged the left edge of the clip on Track 1 to make it a little longer.
6. I then dragged the lengthened clip from Track 1 back on top of Track 2, keeping the right edge of the clip in its original position.
7. When I released the mouse button, a mini menu appeared where I had 4 options, Overwrite, Insert, Insert and Move All Clips/Crossfade. I chose the Crossfade option.
The result was a short crossfade transition from the first to second clip and no change to the position of the rest of the clips on the timeline.

Here's the problem: after the update, the mini menu no longer has the Crossfade option. It only has Overwrite, Insert and Insert and Move All Clips. This can be seen in the attachments with this message. One file is from before the update and the other after the update to version 17.3.2721.0. The mini menu in each clearly shows the difference.

If the clips are on the same track and they are overlapped, the Crossfade option appears. It's only when the clips are moving from one track to another that the issue occurs.

I have submitted a ticket to support and am waiting for their follow-up. In the meantime, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue or could test to see if they see the same thing. Fortunately, I'd done a system image of my computer a few days before the update so I was able to restore my copy of PD to the earlier version and will delay installing the update until I know the issue has been resolved.

Thanks in advance.

Barry

Thanks to you both for your suggestions; I had noted the red/blue lines and used them in my project to ensure proper alignment. However, today I've noted something that is puzzling. I have 2 clips, one on track 1 and the other on track 2 and I want to overlap the start of the clip on track 1 onto the end of track 2 with a crossfade. I had done this earlier this week, using the Alt+Drop method to automatically apply a crossfade effect. Today, when I try this, I don't get the Alt+Drop option in the mini-menu that appears when I overlap the clips. I only get the Overwrite/Insert/Insert and Move options. The only thing that has changed this week is that I've applied the latest 365 update that was made available through the Application Manager. Is it possible that the update has removed the Alt+Drop option in this scenario? I still get the Crossfade option if the 2 clips are on the same track, but this doesn't work for me when I need to maintain the end point of the second clip (to maintain audio sync for the rest of the project).

I'd appreciate someone trying this who hasn't done the update and advising the result.

Thank you.

Hello;
I'm new to Power Director 17 and loving how well it works for me. I've edited in other packages for years but decided to try PD recently. So far, so good. One minor question though-if I separate audio from video, is there a way to move the video clip vertically to another track without shifting its horizontal position? In my other software, I could hold the Shift key while dragging the clip up or down which prevented it from moving horizontally. This let me make adjustments to the start or end point of the clip without fear of shifting the other part of the clip, maintaining audio sync. I'e checked the shortcut key list and cannot find anything.

Thanks in advance.

Barry

Quote Follow advice, from StevengG the best thing to do.
For your case now, an option add the videos in the timeline, track1 (camera 1) and track 2 (camera 2) or the opposite.
select the 2 video and Sync by Audio button, works well for 2 files, for many files it complicates but can be done
Sync ready, disable mute or delete the audio you do not want.

Thanks to you both.
Playsound: Yes, I realize having a dedicated audio recorder would be an ideal solution, but I've already shot the production. The facility in which I shoot is quite small and the audio quality from the in-camera microphone is fine. It would be tricky to position an audio recorder as well. In a larger facility, a separate recorder may be necessary.

StevenG: I think you are suggesting I work outside the Multicam Designer, correct? I tried syncing the clip from Camera 2 to the timeline video that the multicam process created and it messed up the timeline terribly. I see how syncing two tracks on the timelline is, but that defeats the purpose of the multicam process. If I'm not understanding you correctly, can you be more explicit please?

Regards,

Barry

Hello
I am evaluating PD16 with particular focus on multicam editing. I frequently shoot theatre productions; since there are long scenes in a typical production, my cameras produce multiple files as the maximum file size is reached. The problem is that when one file ends and the next one starts, there is a slight gap in both the video and audio, making it necessary to temporarily switch to a second camera to get the action during the gap.

I usually shoot with 2 cameras; camera 1's footage is to be the main audio source. Camera 2 is a static long shot camera that I I want to switch to when the footage (call it File 1) from camera 1 ends and resumes (File 2). In the editor I'm using now, (Magix VideoPro X), I would simply switch to Camera 2 shortly before Camera 1's File 1 ends and use Camera 2's video AND audio to cover the gap between Camera 1's File 1 and File 2. Typically, I'd run with Camera 2's footage for a short time, then switch back to Camera 1, using Camera 1's audio as the master audio source once again.

In PD16 Multicam Designer, I don't see a way to do this; if I change the audio source to Camera 2, it wants to use Camera 2's audito for the entire timeline. Is there a way to set the audio source for only the short clip from camera 2?

Thanks in advance.

Barry