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AHAH! YAY! I think I recovered my file. Either my computer or PowerDirector did a backup file which I was able to open. I might just have to downgrade my angry rant from hating PowerDirector to being mildly irritated with it... and return to hating my computer and Microsoft instead. Thanks for the help.
-Eric
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I spent all day editing a movie. When I go to open the file after having saved it, all I get is a pop-up stating "File Broken". Is there anyway to recover this? The more I use this PowerDirector program, the more I hate it. It is completely unreliable and glitchy.
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I'll give that a try. I never select the "Create a DVD folder" option.
Thanks,
Eric
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By any chance, was your Virus scan software uploading updates when your burn halted? My computer is a dinosaur, but I know that if virus scan runs an update, Cyberlink is likely to come to a halt do to lack of memory. I usually lock-down my firewall before attempting to burn a disk. I also shut down any programs on my task bar that are not needed. I've noticed the shut down usually occurs for me during chapter generation. It also seems to have some issues with saved chapters. I have found that if I open a project and re-do my chapters, it is slightly less likely to halt, though I have no idea why this is the case. I also found that if I take my multiple images or multiple video files and produce them into a single file before burning, Cyberlink is slightly less likely to crash. Even so, at least for my computer, I assume that the program will crash two or three times during a burn before I get one disk, therefore I run it over-night when I don't need to use my computer. If you are attempting to run anything else while your burning a disk, you will probably have issues. You might also want to search the forum. I recall some post about changing Vista settings to make burning more stable... but as I have XP, I didn't pay much attention to the post.
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Thanks for the suggestion Tony. I know I need a larger C drive... but I am just trying to extend my current computer's use until Windows 7 release. I already have approximately a Terabyte of free space using external drives. Unfortunately, as I am in a wheelchair, dismantling the computer to install a new drive myself is out of the question, and it simply isn't worthwhile to pay to upgrade a drive in a computer older than three years. My computer processor and video card is more than powerful enough to run any software, but the C drive is a tiny 14 gigabytes which was huge back when I purchased it. Just the operating system and virus updates alone take up nearly 12 gigs of the drive. My situation is not unique however. I know lots of people with massive amounts of space on external drives, but who can't run any new software because their computer has a tiny C drive. They are constantly frustrated as many, like me, have already cleared off all extraneous programs, defraged their drives, and their computers still malfunction anytime their computer uses the C drive as a default to store items. I can afford an upgrade when Windows 7 comes out and I am sure Cyberlink will work spectacularly when I do so. Most people I know can not afford to upgrade, or simply won't understand why their programs malfunction when their C drive is full. Many people that are the customer base for programs like Cyberlink won't even know that lack of space on C drive can cause an issue... especially when they have a D drive with a terabyte of free space. My hope is that by highlighting that issue in such a forum, perhaps it might make its way to the development team, and future versions will take into account that software should not be developed solely to run on the C drive.
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If PowerDirector is only designed to be installed on a person's C drive, I would think that would be a rather serious problem with the software that would need to be rectified or at least posted in bold on the site under system requirements. Your the moderator, so I'll abide by your word. But, I guarantee you that many people are running computers with their C drives filled to max and are encountering errors as a result. Most people I know are still using computers bought three to five years ago with less than a twenty gigabyte harddrive. Just virus updates and system updates alone will cause their system to become unstable. Granted, Cyberlink does state system requirements, but lets face it. How many people who buy Cyberlink software really have a clue how much space is on their computer? Someone running such a system can still run the software, but they have to move files to clear their drive.
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Yes, my post was a bit of a rant, and it really is directed to the developers of cyberlink and not the members of the forum. The reason I posted this is I know at least a dozen people, all of them like Billy Bob, who come to me to ask me to fix their computer... and it is always the exact same problem. I've been advised not to suggest people to install their Cyberlink software on any drive other than C... and yet the very reason most people I know have issues with their various software is their C drive is packed. Most people do not know how to install software to other drives, and software for the most part is not designed to be installed elsewhere... wherein lies the problem. My computer is old and a bit slow... I know this, and yet it is still twice as powerful as most of the people I know and help. I know what files I can remove from my drive... most people do not. All I am saying is that if I were a developer for Cyberlink, it might be good to keep this in mind when they work on version 8. It is afterall, an underlying cause of many forum post. Many people, especially right now, are trying to extend the life of their old computers. For the other in this forum, I also think it was worth noting that Cyberlink requires room on their C drive, and if your like me and can't remove any more programs and have already defragged, check your downloaded template, menu, titles files. These can be moved... though you probably should know what your doing before trying this.
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I've read other post in the forum of people having problems with AVI files. You might want to try to Produce the video before you try to burn it, or try to convert from AVI to another format. I had problem with trying to burn one video that was mixed with a large number of picture files. I found that it worked after I used Microsoft's Movie Maker to merge the picture files into a single video file. You might also want to check out your systems virtual memory. Video uses a ton of memory during the burning process. It sounds like your computer is much newer and more powerful than mine... I'm still using XP. There are a few forum post of users complaining of Vista problems. I am not sure if those have been resolved. Sorry couldnt be more help.
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Unfortunately, software fills up people's C drives all the time without being told. Unless you have a computer that does not have automatic updates, never use the Internet, and have no virus scan software... every time you turn on your computer, megabytes of data are downloaded, very often without notification, to an individual's C drive. Personally, as of the last few months, my computer has been downloading new virus definitions every ten minutes. Granted, these are tiny insignificant files if you have a computer less than two years old with a giant C drive as most software developers in corporate offices have. However, I suspect that many of the people using this software like me, have computers over three years of age bought back when twenty gigabytes was still a significantly large hard drive. Software is always developed for new computers, but what software developers do not realize that the average person can only afford to replace their computer on an average of once every five years.
I am not your average computer user. I use to write the software that would launch training applications for other computer software for a major corporation. I am not a novice and I am well aware I am pushing the capabilities of my computer running your software. The average computer user, and average user of your software however, probably does not know the difference between a gigabyte of data and a gaggle of geese. The average person is like Billy Bob buying your software because they just bought a new HD camera on sale at Walmart, plugged it into their computer, and has no idea how to get the video from their camera to a DVD. If Billy Bob runs your software and it crashes, he will simply be pissed that he spent 90 bucks on software that doesn't work, and never buy from you again. You won't hear from him aside from maybe a single post in your forum where Billy Bob who uses his CD tray to hold his beer will be told to defrag a drive, reinstall software, and clear their his drives. Billy Bob will have no idea what defrag means let alone how to trouble shoot a computer. He will then in turn tell everyone he knows not to buy the camera nor the software. However, if your software does work, Billy Bob will proudly show all his neighbors and friends his kids little league baseball video, and you'll make more sales to more Moms and Dads with new HD cameras they can't use. Simply put, you need to make your software crash resistant and Billy Bob proof. The number one cause for crashing software on old computers isn't that the processors can't handle it... it is simply that the person's C drive is full while they probably have a few hundred free gigabytes on another drive. So, why not check the drive space, and redirect files to drives with more space with a simple pop-up? It is a simple fix and it will remove about half the post to this forum. Now, I don't want to sound too sarcastic about this because quite frankly, no software bothers to do this. Unfortunately, Bill Gates isn't taking my post which is why I am posting here. In most cases, Billy Bob ends up calling me on the phone to fix his computer and burn a DVD of his kid's little league game. It would just be nice if he could do it himself and I didn't have to constantly search for files your software sticks on my C drive.
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Yes, I have the same issue and posted on this myself in post http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/0/6727/ENU.page#26943 Odds are you have the same problem. Software developers always write their programs assuming you have a computer less then two years old with several gigs of free space on your C drive. Naturally, most average people have computers at least three years old when a gig was still a lot of memory. All programs stick junk on your c drive, and if your like me, it is probably full just between virus updates and operating system updates. Every time you log online, files are loaded onto the c drive that are necessary for it to run. Check your C drive... if you have less then a gig free, that is probably your problem. Also, every template, menu, and add on you download, even if your program is set to another drive. installs itself on your c drive. Go to your cyberlink directory and move your downloaded files to another drive. That will free some space.
Typical alternate suggestions you will hear are all meant to clear out your c drive.
* Reinstall Cyberlink changing directory to free drive
* Run diskdefrag and scan disk
* Remove unnecessary programs
* Remove temp files
* It is time to buy new computer
Everyone I know has this problem with any new program they install. Unfortunately, developers who are using the newest computers never encounter this issue. It would take all off two lines of code to fix. Is reason Mac commercals are so popular. Most people are unaware of how critical c drive space is to computer stability.
-Eric
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I am running PowerDirector Ultra V7 7.0.2519
I think I found where the problem is, and I am sure many many people will encounter the same issue. When I installed PowerDirector, there was just enough space remaining on my C drive to handle it. I set the installation paths all to another drive which had lots of space available. I assumed that when I downloaded menus, titles, and templates, that the files were being saved by default to the same directory I set during installation. Instead, they were by default being loaded on the C drive.
I am a computer programmer myself, so I understand why software typically defaults to the C drive as every computer has a C drive. I wish that software developers would realize that many people find their computers become unstable when the C drive becomes too full. No one does this I realize, but it would only take a line or two of code to check how full the C drive is before any additional files are installed, and offer the user a simple pop up asking if they would like to install to another drive if there is insufficient room. It would make the program so much more stable and I suspect reduce the number of crashes by half. I bet that you probably write a dozen or so post telling people to defrag their drive and uninstall un-necessary programs. That is basically a way of saying, our program is filling up your C drive without us telling you... you have to clear it out.
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I keep running into a problem with PowerDirector 7 suddenly crashing during the DVD creation process. It keeps crashing at the 30% mark of initiating titles after clicking the Create DVD button tab. It seems to have something to do with chapter titles. When I delete my chapters on a saved project and recreate them, the process goes to the burn DVD before it crashes... usually around 10% complete. I have had a DVD successfully burn previously, but the repeated crashes is becoming frustrating. It will merely have a pop up stating that PowerDirector 7 has encountered a problem and must shut down. I am running Windows XP. I don't have a lot of free space on my C drive... but have removed all I can to free up space. Is there anything I can do? Based on it crashing in the same spot, and not crashing there when I remove chapters, it seems like there is some glitch in the program.
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