Messages posted by Mike Hall

The PD2024/365 update was a massive step backwards. Honestly, I couldn't believe how much useful functionality was removed and extra mouse clicks were introduced to do the same simple things I could do before.
I thought about changing to other editing software, but I like PowerDirector very much so I just cancelled my 365 subscription and bought PD21 Ultra. My editing requirements are fairly simple and PD21 is more than adequate.

Quote

Thanks, that's exactly what I suspected. I'm definately looking to go back to PD17 as it does appear to be a lot smoother to use (though I'm still doing a bit of testing around this.) A real shame that I still have 8 months left on my subscription!

An alternative is to look at a standalone version of PD21 - is this available to buy?

Paul

Yes it is. I was a 365 subscriber for 3 years but after the PD2024 update I unsubscribed and bought PD21 standalone. I got it from Amazon as a software download for GBP 58.

Removed the 'Fast Forward' button in the Preview Module.
Made a change to 'Pan/Zoom' which is more timeconsuming to use with video.

Quote Are these changes for the sake of changing?

1. Playhead doesn't go to the beginning of clips anymore. Really? This should be an option because now I have to make extra clicks or use a keystoke to get there. Waste of my time.
2. Meta Music not sortable by duration? Waste of my time.
3. 5 AI generated images/sitckers. Why?
4. Moved things like Video stabilizer/Denoise to better looking "all in one" window, but it's worse now. I have to Click "Video Stabilizer" then click the check box. That's an extra step. Waste of my time.
5. "Video Speed" pops up a completely separate window overlay instead of displaying like Video stabilizer/Denoise do. Extra clicks to close the popup. More button clicks. Waste of my time.

Why is CL wasting my time instead of saving me time and effort? Why are things being changed just to change them, with no real user benefit (or configuration parameter to keep it the way it was)? This is getting really frustrating with every release. I've spent a bit of time learning PD, but I think I'm going to start looking at other options.

No steps forward and two steps back in my opinion. I don't mind GUI changes, but why remove some great features and create more work for video editors in the new version? Are the people responsible for issuing such a disaster actually PowerDirector video editors or just software engineers? Do they use their own product? Did they test this update with a panel PowerDirector users for feedback before releasing? I doubt it very much.
Cyberlink had better fix these issues soon, otherwise I'm off.

Quote I agree! I have a bit more time to look around for an alternative. Suggestions are welcome!

Is there a way of rolling back to the previous (and much better) version?

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Thanks for the info. That sure is a massive decrease in efficiency.

But they left it in for the audio files.

Oh well

It is a massive change in efficiency and Cyberlink need to restore this.

Yes, I agree 100%. Why remove this very useful function???

There are other changes too which are a step backwards instead of forwards.

1. Using 'Pan/Zoom' with video clips is now more difficult to use. I can't find the correct words to explain the change, but Cyberlink needs to restore this to how it was before!! And while they're at it - how about adding 'Ease in' and 'Ease out' to the keyframes in 'Pan/Zoom and getting shot of the curved lines joining keyframes which sometimes results in the zoom window going outside of clip border which produces black areas at the top/bottom/left/right sides of the clip.

2. Using the 'Fade' transition between two video clips results in a black screen shown in the preview window instead of showing the last frame of the first clip and the first frame of the second clip merged together. FIX THIS please!

3. Why get rid of the 'Fast Forward' button in the Preview module?? I don't want to use keyboard shortcuts or have to right click in the module and select 'Fast Forward'. I want to use BUTTONS so please restore this!!

Editing videos is now more difficult and time-consuming than the previous version (which I am trying desperately to roll back to). I don't mind a GUI change, but why Cyberlink choose to remove useful functions is baffling.

Quote With all the issues PD has had with timeline waveform generation for years, this is the new offering. Unbelievable on so many levels, they've clearly missed any user input through multiple years. Both track heights set at medium between PD21 and PD22.

Jeff

Yes, I agree. The new waveform display is definitely worse than the previous version. I hope this gets fixed in an update.

I updated to PD18 and have been having major problems with crashing.

Just doing simple things - anything - will result in the screen freezing, then turning white, then I need to choose to close the program. A message box says that its reporting the problem to Microsoft, then PD closes. This can happen every 5 minutes on average, but often just after a few mouse clicks.

2. Sometimes PD will freeze when loading a project.

3. Sometimes PD will freeze when saving a project, usually at the 60% point.

4. This afternoon, producing a 20 second, 67mb video took 45 minutes.

PD17 was a bit buggy as well, but nowhere near as bad as PD18.

If Cyberlink don't sort this out soon, I will definitely cancel my subscription.

Thanks,

Mike

Hello Everyone,

I have a couple of issues with the Crop/Zoom/Pan Power Tool. I hope I can explain these well enough:

When setting pan keyframes, PD17 will join the blue dots in the main screen with curved lines which sometimes take the crop window outside the viewing area so that black areas appear at the sides or top or bottom of the video, even though I ensure my crop areas are not panned outside of the main window. I assume these curved lines ensure that panning is smooth and not jerky, but sometimes these curves are totally excessive and can't be controlled. Sometimes I have to delete all the keyframes and start over. Is there any way to configure panning so that the curved lines joining the keyframes can be disabled?

2. It would help if I could change the skin colour of PD 17 to something other than black. This would make it far easier to see the black areas produced by the pan going outside of the video? Can I do this?

3. The small preview window on the right is way too small. Can I make this larger?

4. Is there any way of changing the thickness of the crop window lines? They are to thin and faint for me to see clearly (yes, even with my glasses!)

Many thanks,

Mike

Hi Tony,

Thanks to you (and everyone) for their advice.

I decided that doing a screen recording of a timer is the only way forward accepting that Cyberlink won't produce an mm:ss stopwatch that doesn't roll over to 1 hour any time soon.

After a lot of searching online, I did however find a fully configurable count up timer that does roll over to 60, 61, 62 minutes etc, ideal for my soccer highlights videos, here, which I think will work well.

Thanks again,

Mike

Hello everyone,

I regularly upload football (soccer) highlights to YouTube and would like to show the time of the match in minutes and seconds next to the score at the top left hand corner of the screen.

The 'Time Stamp' option under 'Text Masking' in FX is almost perfect except that there is not a time format for 'mm:ss'.

The minutes need to count up and show beyond 60 e.g. 75:12

Cyberlink sent me 3rd party solutions which do not resolve the issue of the mm:ss time format, and I have asked them to add more time formats to the Time Stamp special effect. However, I assume they willl have bigger and more pressing issues to deal with.

Does anyone out there know how of a solution I can use?

Many thanks in advance

Hi, I have also noticed that CPU utilization is very high when creating a shadow file. Can someone please tell me how (other than checking CPU utilization) I check when shadow file generation has finished?
If I hover my mouse over a newly dragged & dropped clip in the Media Room, a label shows which says 'shadow file generating...', but it also says the same thing on all the other clips as well which were added to the media room days before.
Thanks.