Messages posted by JamalG

Quote Ugh... so all of a sudden today I have no audio in my Power Director 16 project timeline. Playback is silent and most audio controls are grayed out (ie Voice Over Room, Adjust Audio, etc.) Strangely... I can double-click a clip in a bin and then that audio plays fine. This is true for old projects as well.

Windows 10 did a "system update" last night so I'm wondering if that is the source of the problem. But... I'm not having any other problems with audio in other programs.

So... any ideas?

Thx.

Nevermind... I somehow accidently turned on "Non Real-time Preview" mode.

I didn't realize that setting would carry-over even if I didn't SAVE the project (and to old projects as well.)

All is good again.

Ugh... so all of a sudden today I have no audio in my Power Director 16 project timeline. Playback is silent and most audio controls are grayed out (ie Voice Over Room, Adjust Audio, etc.) Strangely... I can double-click a clip in a bin and then that audio plays fine. This is true for old projects as well.

Windows 10 did a "system update" last night so I'm wondering if that is the source of the problem. But... I'm not having any other problems with audio in other programs.

So... any ideas?

Thx.

Quote
However the issue I am facing is that when you view the video and move the mouse to look around, the next scene/room that then shows after the 7 second duration starts at where the last viewing position was left and not the 'start view' that I set.

That is just how 360-degree video works in a generic player (ie YouTube). It sounds like you wanting a more advanced player which is capable of doing a "tour". This type player can overide user input at specific timeframes and show a specific view. The Facebook 360 player does something similar to this, but it only activates the hotspots when the user is in a passive mode. You might check out Kuula or other 360 video players.

Seems like a basic function so I hope I'm just missing it somewhere, but...

Is there an master audio output monitor in PD16? I know about the Audio Mixing Room, but it seems to only show the individual track levels and not a master level. ALSO -- the Audio Mixing Room is a pain becuase I'd like to be able to view the levels while working in the Media Room/Transitions/etc. Is this possible somehow?

Thanks.

Quote Does it?

EDIT -- oops, I missed the reference to the Director Suite. Thanks, Jeff.

I think it depends on when you get it and what bundle is being promoted. When I got PD16 earlier this year it came with Audio Director and some Travel Packs, but no Color Director. Currently it looks like Color Director only comes withe the "Ultimate Suite".

Here's the comparison link:

https://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-video-movie-editor/compare-versions_en_US.html?affid=2581_1299_540

Quote they recommended setting my project to 30fps instead of 24fps

Sure... that'll help. Thanks, support! <facepalm>

I've had decent luck with shadow files so you may want to give it a try. It works well for timing -- not so much for color correcting/tweaking.

Also, as referenced in that video link above, there is a way to "render preview" and to "produce range". Both of these options are activated by first selecting a range (with the yellow IN/OUT handles) and then selecting the corresponding option on the contexutal menu strip of buttons just above the timeline.

I appreciate the input, but let me re-iterate... this is a RENDERING issue (not playback, not source, not levels, etc). In fact, I almost think PD is ignoring the level settings for some clips when memory is low. The exact same project will output different results (after PD restart) which can be heard and "seen" by looking at the waveform.

Possibly related (or not), does anyone ever have the thumbnails in the media bin get all scrambled? (ie change to "Cyberlink" text or other non-related images.) This sometimes happens at about the same time I have problem with audio and to my mind is another indication that the program/system is over-taxed and I need to restart.

Sorry -- I don't have time right now to easily post reference files. Maybe later.

Quote Are you monitoring your audio levels using the meters in the Audio Mixing Room? You need to keep the levels in the green. If your audio is peaking above zero or the meters show it as yellow or red, it is over-modulating.

Many people just assume that the levels of audio they hear when they play their timeline on their computer is a realistic representation of what the final audio will sound like. You really need to use the meters to check your audio levels!

If that's not it, consider the sources of your audio.

Is this music? Is it audio from the video itself? Is this narration recorded with a microphone? Each audio source can produce issues, depending on its specs.

Gotcha -- but I don't think that addresses my specific problem. Why would my output change from one render to the next without any changes to levels in the project? In other words.. I expect consistent audio output (bad or good) regardless of my current system load (or other variable).

Got another strange problem...

I've noticed that on some of my complex projects that the audio for select clips will get slightly distored at times. It sounds amplified or out of phase. The problem is noticable in the preview mode as well as the Produced output. The distortion is usually duriing a multiple layered audio segment and it seems to happen when the system gets over-taxed (low on memory maybe). I've come to realize that if I quit PD and then re-start, the problem will be gone (temporarily). This is a real pain as A) the problem hampers my preview mode and B) if I forget to re-start before selecting "Produce" the output is likely to be ruined.

Look at this waveform comparison:

(Ugh -- just realized I cannot upload a reference picture directly to this forum. Kinda lame.)

So... imagine... two waveforms which are distinctly different. Both are output from the same PD project w/o any changes to the project itself. The first was created when I noticed the problem and hit Produce, then the second was created after quitting and re-starting. Without any changes to the project, the audio output is not the same. It's as if a memory leak or other bug is affecting the Produce process for audio.

Known problem? Any ideas?

Quote Hi JamalG -

I can't see the issue either. Take a look at this packed project & to see whether it previews properly on your PC.

Cheers - Tony

Thanks for checking you guys.

I loaded that project and everything worked fine. So... I dug a bit deeper.

Now I think it also has to do with short clips and/or changing the duration. Here's what I did:

1) Opened your project
2) Did a "Set Duration" for each clip to 2 seconds

After that the 2nd and 3rd clip exhibit the glitch on first frame of the ending effect.

Curious if anybody else has seen this or can re-create:

Problem: there's a bump/glitch in my title during the end effect when using the UNITE effect as the starting effect.

Steps:
Add a Title
Add UNITE as starting effect
Add FADE as the ending effect
Click option for Motion Blur

Preview or Render and see if there is a one frame "UNITE" glitch near the end (ie during the FADE effect).

I've noticed this only appears when the Motion Blur option is checked.

Can anybody confirm, or is it maybe something on my end?

Thx.

Thanks all.

Just to be specific for all those who wish to re-create:

Add a video to timeline (probably optional).
Add a high-rez photo.
Select that photo and then click Fix/Enhance and select "Lighting Adjustment"
Now select "view properties" of photo on timeline and look at new path and size attributes.

Just for kicks, I tracked down the low-rez file in the cache file and added a huge red X to it via Photoshop. Back in PowerDirector I Produced the project and sure enough the red X appears in the final output. Unchecking "Lighting Adjustment" for that photo restores the image to its original size/resolution and withouth the red X.

- JG

I do use shadow files -- but that only affects video and not stills.

And yes, I'm talking about imported stills, not irregular camcorder footage. (I editted for clarity.)

But... I figured it out and it does seem to be a bug.

The low-res temp file is created and used whenever I select the "Lighting Adjustment" under Fix/Enhance. As soon as I check that box it creates the low-rez file with any other current adjustments and incorporates it into the project and uses it in final output. If I uncheck this option, the original file is restored.

Yes -- as mentioned above the results vary based on where you do the snapshot (still true in v16). Full-rez seems to be only available via the Library (and you may need file output set to PNG).

This is a very frustrating limitation as effects/fixes from the timeline cannot be output except at 1920x1080. Also frustrating because I work primarily on the timeline so it would be nice to be able to export full-rez from there and not be forced to go hunt down the clip in the library (which leads me to... why is there no "Find in Library" feature?!)

OK -- hoping somebody can help me out here as the content I'm producing with PowerDirector 16 is of unacceptable quality.

I'm importing high-resolution still files (4032x3024) into my project and mixing them with video on my timeline. Most of the images I will add some fixes/effects. Over time as I work on a project I notice that the image quality gets serioulsy degraded. Clicking on the "View Properites" for these images show that PD has created low-resolution tmp files in the \Cache\TmpPhotos folder. These files are varied in size, but are all pretty small in size (982x652). This bugged me because it made it difficult to eyeball additional changes to the files, BUT... then I realized that PowerDirector was actually using the low-rez files when I produced the timeline! It actually upscales the low-res files to my final output size. This is definitely the case for "Produce Range". I haven't confirmed it to be true for Producing the entire timeline, but I suspect this is the case.

Anybody else have this problem? This seems like a major deal.

EDIT: I figured out the problem -- see below.