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Just an update to this thread, for anyone else coming across similar problems, I can confirm that since disabling Hardware Acceleration in the options no further crashes have occurred over the last six weeks or so.
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Several comments on this topic . .
The basic problem you outline seems to be that PD is not fast enough to keep up with the edit commands you are inputting, and harware acceleration is implicated. Issues around hardware acceleration are not unique to PD18.
I've regular contact with users of other editors and this issue is a regular there too - problems that disabling hardware acceleration fixes, and very occasionally ones that enabling it fixes.
Being 'not fast enough' is a function of the cpu on your machine as well as your work rate, rather than the program itself. A cpu with a fast clock speed does much better: eg, one with a clock of 3.4ghz is 33% faster than one with a 2.4ghz clock. For everything, not just PD. Generally (rule of thumb) a desktop will have or can be purchased with a fast cpu clock, whereas a laptop generally has a much slower one - to minimise heat generation, for one thing. There are apparently laptops (I haven't seen one but in this discussion elsewhare I was pointedly reminded that they do exist) with fast clocks, but they are expensive.
Next point is that it would be normal for an earlier version to work OK, compared to a later one which exhibits 'an issue'. The later versions of any brand have much more feature stuff jammed into them, all to be executed without user impact. More often than not, that just is not the case: more features means more work in the logic trees, even if they are features you do not use.
Hi. Thanks for your comments.
The CPU on the new machine is i7-10700K 3.8GHz. Cant get much faster than that without going to a i9.
The old PC had a 6th generation i7 - so quite a big step up, but as I said before the same problem affects both machines.
Its interesting to read that "hardware acceleration" seems to crop up in a number of threads, and certainly at the moment that appears to be the most likely culprit. I will update this post when I have tested sufficiently.
One other thought I had is that the nVidia drivers these days are split into two sub-types - a Gaming driver and a studio driver, with the latter designed for "creative" work such as this. Does anyone have any experience of problems using the gaming variety with modern versions of PowerDirector?
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Some further development.
I came across these forum posts outlining a similar problem:
https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/78341.page - this dealt with the issue arising in PD 17 after having no problem with PD 14
and https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/83038.page also had crashing problems. WIth this particular case, the user hadnt updated graphics drivers in a very long while - which isnt the case for me. But, the moderator highlighted a potential cause by having Hardware acceleration on in the PD options.
Having checked, I too have hardware acceleration enabled.
I have therefore now disabled this and will test.
Given that I have sometimes been able to edit without a BSOD, I will need to test for a few weeks to be sure that this is indeed the cause.
It is rather concerning that users might have to disable a feature to be able to use the product without a crash, but lets see.
I will update again when I can say for sure one way or the other!
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Since I like solving a good puzzle, is there a way that you can file-share a small project that is repeatably causing your machines to crash so that we can try it out for ourselves? I know there's not much solace in telling you that PD 18 rarely causes BSOD's for others. (I've never had Win10 BSOD on me - but then, I don't work with High res, big files or complicated editing.)
As you acknowledged, a BSOD usually means a hardware problem - especially in this day and age, where Windows 10 is fairly good about protecting itself in software. But I wouldn't rule out a "software" issue, as below.
The fact that two machines, independent of each other, are crashing is a puzzler.
But what is not independent is that you own both of them. Are they are on the same network/Internet connection at your house? (Same modem? Same router? Same IOT appliances?)
If yes, then my hunch is that you've picked up malware. Especially since, on your second, new machine, you said that everything was working okay for a few days. And then it BSOD'd.
So something changed in those few days. Presumably it wasn't hardware. (And I am assuming, since you worked in the repair industry, that you don't have both your boxes tightly caged up where they can't breathe. Overheating would cause a BSOD for hardware reasons.)
To test my hypothesis, I suggest doing a complete bare metal reinstall of Win 10 on either machine. With your ethernet cable unplugged. (Which means that you won't be asked to create an MS account. You'll be air-gapped.)
To do it perfectly clean, I suggest installing Win10 to a leftover hard drive that you have lying around, that has been Boot & Nuke'd.
Only install Windows and PD 18. Nothing else. (Well, except Comodo's free firewall, if needed below. Set it for "Custom" on the Firewall rules. It is very good at stopping threats. Even the US spook agencies complained how good it is.)
(If you don't have Win10 install media, you can download a Win10 iso for free. If you need certain drivers to get Win10 to work on your box, then USB them over only.)
I can't remember if PD needs on-line activation to work the first time. If it does, then plug your Ethernet cable in just for that time. (Try the trial version. Or, I don't know if CL still offers it, but at one time they were offering a free, slimmed down version. I suggest trying those so that you don't trip your license use on your purchased copies.)
Let's see what happens.
(If it still happens after a clean install, then I wonder how the line voltage at your house is? There has to be something shared by both computers that is causing this problem.)
Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, it is a puzzler, and very frustrating.
What is most frustrating is that my first machine, which I have had for 5 years, has never blue screened other than for this issue.
The second machine is about a month old, and for the first three weeks (typically using PD18 once a week) was also fine.
Having said that, when previously using PD18 on my older machine, it would sometimes behave for a week or two before demonstrating this issue.
With regards malware - I run a pretty tight ship and regularly check, so no I dont believe it is that. A malware cause would also typically not be restricted to just using one application and doing the exact same thing each time.
Neither machine is overheating, and both run at much higher temperatures when gaming without issue.
The only two facts that cover both machines are:
- That they are both nVidia cards (though different generations)
- That the problem occurs when trimming a video file on the timeline in PD 18
This isnt very "scientific", but it almost feels like if I am working quickly, trimming and moving a file on the timeline in quick succession, there is a higher chance of a crash than if I proceed more slowly and cautiously. With the older machine I put it down to the hardware perhaps not having enough muscle to cope with the workload - but now....
At first I thought it might be something to do with the specific video file being trimmed, and indeed in the past I have had PD "freeze" when trying to work with a video file that turned out to be corrupt. But that is very different from the entire machine BSODing.
But since I can actually restart the machine after a BSOD and edit the same file without a crash, the corrupt file theory is torpedoed.
The other piece of evidence is that the files I am editing have all been downloaded from youtube and edited into a montage.
They are all MP4 and downloaded using 4K Video Downloader. Next time I do this, I will check the specifications of each file to see if there are any differences and if there is any common denominator linking the files being used in that sequence to the BSOD.
For example, some video files are older, are a different screen ratio etc
That said, even if I find a link, the fact remains that I dont get this problem with PD 10 or PD 12.
Before purchasing my new machine, I resorted to using PD 12 to edit the sequence, then PD 18 to add the text elements - so I may end up doing the same again!
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Hi.
I very much appreciate you taking the time to look at this and advise.
However, I have to add that I do not believe the problem is hardware related due to the following reasons:
1. As I stated in my opening post, this issue exists on two seperate machines. Thats two different sets of RAM, two different graphics cards, two different windows installations. Two machines where the only blue screen crash occurs (at random points) when using PD 18 on both.
2. To be sure I have conducted Memory tests, hard drive tests and windows system file checks on both machines.
3. Both machines have had multiple versions of graphics drivers - these are always kept up to date.
4. The second machine is brand new with clean installations of Windows and drivers.
5. PD 12 works without any problem - no blue screen crashes. Only PD 18 has this issue.
6. Both machines have been used for gaming - graphically intense - with no crashes or blue screens using any other application. Again, only PD 18.
RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64 simply means the OS has detected a resource intensive process running which isn't managing its memory very well - this suggests that PDR itself has a problem, not that there is a memory problem.
Colorpicker is part of Windows Power Toys. I have now disabled this module since I dont use it, but it hasnt produced any problems or crashes for me.
Bottom line is that I might have bought into this being a hardware issue if it was only one machine, but the fact that the exact same problem is occuring on two completely different PCs and that only one version of PDR is causing it on both points the finger squarely at PDR 18.
So at the moment, my choices are to try out PDR 19, switch back to PDR 12 or find an alternative editing solution.
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You can download PD19 for 30 days and test it. It does not over right or remove PD18 at all it installs a complete new copy. I would DL it and where it crashes in PD18 I would then try the same edit in PD19 and see if you can get that to crash.
Also can you include the DXdiag in this post please.
Thanks. Trying PD 19 is certainly an option - the only problem with recreating the crash is that I often cant.
For example, earlier PD 18 crashed the machine, I then restarted and edited the same video (carefuly saving the project after every few changes) and was able to complete the edit without it crashing. It was the same on the previous PC. Totally random, but seems to be related to quick trims on the time line, as opposed to trimming the file from the list of files in the videos tab.
DX Diag attached
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Hi, hoping for some pearls of wisdom as I bash my head against the keyboard!
Firstly, I'm a long time PowerDirector user and happily edited away with PowerDirector 10 and 12 for many years - so not at all a novice.
Secondly I'm pretty IT literate as I used to work in PC repairs - so again, not a newbie!
Earlier this year I treated myself to the then newest version - PowerDirector 18. Big mistake!
Whilst editing it would randomly crash my machine - not just the application but the blue screen of death full whammy.
I went through all the usual troubleshooting steps, both hardware and software, to no avail.
Crucially, since I still had it installed, I was able to test editing the same video files on PowerDirector 12 with absolutely no problem.
I contacted Cyberlink Support and they were no use at all and just trotted out the same default questions about versions and dxdiag etc etc. I uploaded everything asked of me and they then asked for the same stuff again. So I eventually gave up with them.
Since the PC was getting on, I figured maybe there was some incompatibility or odd driver issue going on since it was causing a blue screen - although I had already updated graphics driver and checked for windows problems.
I returned to using PD 12.
A few weeks ago, I had a new machine. I should point out that this wasnt just because of the PD 18 problems, I was actually well overdue for a new one!
For the first few uses PD 18 worked like a charm. Then, earlier today - guess what? Yes, the same blue screen PC crash whilst editing.
Specifically, this seems to be when trimming certain video clips on the timeline, although I cannot fathom what makes some cause the crash and not others.
So this is a brand new machine, completely different hardware set up, but the same problem with this one piece of software.
I confess that I am about ready to throw in the towell with PD 18 - but I am unwilling to cough up for PD 19 or the subscription version given this experience.
So before the software gets consigned to the Recycle Bin I thought I would throw the problem out to you good people to see if anyone else has experienced the problem and may have some ideas?
Thanks for reading!
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This is very strange.
In ADR10, the default file type was the first in the list WAV.
With ADR11 the default is always M4A - which is half way down the list.
Since I never use M4A I cant understand why this choice seems to be remembered each time.
Could there be a link with Power Director settings?
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Is there a default file type setting in Audio Director 11?
Every time I produce a file the default save setting seems to be M4A.
On the previous version I always had this set to WAV, but I cant seem to find any way to change this in the settings or preferences.
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