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My first attempt at answering got swallowed up in the "System" so here's a second attempt.
Hi, Donald8!
So you're hacked off at Cyberlink for not offering proper customer support....well, JOIN THE PARTY! This Director Zone website was created by people like yourself who decided to take a "hands-on" approach to Cyberlink's own "lack of care" towards their product's end-users, and provide their own assistance to end-users like yourself. Cyberlink, as we have seen, would rather spend their time and money in developing "new" product, and, like the "boffins" that they are, they'll fill this new product with as many "bells and whistles" as they can possibly cram into it, and let the end-user figure out for him or herself how to use it. That's where this website comes into the picture. The people who created "Director Zone" are indeed the end-users, just like you and I, who, having worked out how to use this software to best advantage, want to pass on that knowledge, via forums like this, to us, who are new to video editing, or have been at it for some time but are still "feeling our way" through this maze of technology.
So now it's up to you, chase your refund or hang on in there and let the folks at Director Zone help with your issues. Yes, Power Director 14 does have some shortcomings, I'm not the first to say that, and I certainly won't be the last, but at least through this website, and particularly this forum, I can find the help I need.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hello, Jerosmith1980!
This sort of thing often happened with DVD players(earlier models) where one model would play a home-burn disc without problems while another would display any number of "hiccups" in playing the disc, or refuse to play it at all, so it's more than likely it's one of the players that may have issues with your disc, rather than the disc itself. Try putting a lens cleaner across the player that "played up" on your disc and see if that helps. Beyond that it's probably the design of the player(its inner workings) that may be why it acts as it does with your disc.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, Jaime!
Gotta say I've never really cottoned on to Apple Mac, probably because the mouse has only one button(no left- or right-click), which would make using Power Director on such a sysetem a bit hard, as left- and right-clicking are required to perform several of the functions in PD, whichever version. Windows 8 looked totally alien to what had gone before it. XP, Millenium, Windows 2000, Windows 98 and 95 were all the same in start-up and shut-down proceedure, the tradition carried on to Windows 7, but Windows 8 was a radical departure from the norm and that's likely why a lot of people rejected it. Windows 10 seemed to get back to familiar territory, but with a bit of Windows 8 ideas still floating around in there, but for Power Director users, the new platform seems to have created quite a few headaches, as witnessed by the comments in the locked forum, and, I think, a couple of your comments are in there as well, Jaime.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, RattlinJack!
Good to see you've resolved your issues with editing and the software. I also note you've amended your profile to show you as from Lake MacQuarie rather than Newcastle(note the upper-case Q there, the name always looked wrong to me with a lower-case Q). I noted your completed clip ran to 17 gigabytes, A blu-ray disc will have "just enough" space with a bit left over for the file, should you burn it to disc, AVCHD rendering, I tried it once when editing a project for Rod Breis's Hunter TV, it took forever to complete so I vowed never again to render to anything other than MPEG2. When it takes well over an hour to render a 10-or-so minute clip in AVCHD against a few minutes to render in MPEG2, then MPEG2 wins that race and leaves AVCHD at the starting gate. Ouch!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, Mike & Carl!
My first proper experience of computers was through a Windows 95 set-up belonging to my eldest brother(no video editing, he wasn't into that), I later "inherited" an older Windows 3.11-based computer from a friend I'd made at the community radio station I joined in 1997 after she got a new computer running Windows 95. Again I didn't do any video editing as that old 3.11 beast wouldn't have had enough "grunt" for such tasks, and didn't have any disc burning drives in any case. It wasn't until I had the XP-based computer that I first got into video editing, initially with a programme called NTI Video Editor(ssomething like that). Then I came across Power Director 5, limited in its scope as it was, it was far superior to NTI, and from there on I got right into video editing... and it's all your fault, Cyberlink, for getting me hooked on this habit... ha-ha! Over that time I pretty-much taught myself how to use the various programmes and while I'm quite competent at using programmes like Power Director(from Vers.5 through to 14), the "innards" of a computer are, for me, a foreign country that I do not have the necessary visa to enter, so I leave the servicing side of my computer to those who truly know that side of the business.
Cheers!
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I'm almost certain I've posted on this subject in the past 24-48 hours but my post seems to have vanished. Moderator, have you any idea what might-ve happened to it? Come to think of it, I think it might've been not this thread, but a related subject. I'll have a search and see if I can find it.
Cheers!
Neil.
Yep! Did find the comment, it was in the thread titled PD11: How can I stretch 4x3 to a 16x9? though iy wasn't entirely similar to this subject.
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Well, it seems we're all agreed, thanks, guys!
Someone, somewhere once said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!", Obviously, no-one at Microsoft had heard that little gem of wisdom.
Mike(Fenman), It would be good if Windows 10 was the last version, then Microsoft would only have that platform to (periodically) update as required, and we, the end users, wouldn't have to be "chasing our tails" trying to get the latest and greatest. We could settle down to what we're familiar with and stop stressing because we know how the thing works and what we could do n it and with it.
Carl, I too have seen Windows 8 and thought it to be a mess. I decided to give Windows 8 the flick-pass and went instead to Windows 7 for the replacement for my old Windows XP-based computer, predominantly because of the similar presentation between XP and 7 platforms. 8 looked almost like a throwback to 3.1 but without the ease of finding wanted files or documents, or programmes. As i said, it was a mess.
CS, I'm almost certain that this discussion has turned up in more than two different threads. It's clearly an ongoing concern for a lot of us. A lot of the concern seems to centre around Windows 10's compatibility with PD14. This theme keeps popping up in several questions posted here of late.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Cheers!
Neil.
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Quote:
SVRT will not work on the clip as you are applying reverse.
I suggest un-ticking any hardware acceleration.
In the past, when I need a clip reversed, I produce it first, then use that clip in my project.
That clearly sounds like the way to go, and is similar to what I was suggesting elsewhere in another related thread. Thanks, Barry!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Quote:
Boy, Cyberlink's Tech Support is really disappointing. Take a look at their response to my request for help with glitchy video reverse in PD14 - they offer suggestions for improving AUDIO! This is "support"??!? Any FORUM readers have any suggestions for my problem? Thanks, --David
THE EXCHANGE:
My Inquiry Information
•Ticket ID: CS001559869
•Related Product: PowerDirector
Subject: Power Director 14 Video Reverse is full of glitches
2016/01/03 07:46
•You have one reply from the CyberLink Customer Support Team, at 2016/01/03 02:24
Subject: Power Director 14 Video Reverse is full of glitches
2016/01/02 20:20
1. This site won't let me upload a .txt DxDiag file!
2. Even when I isolate just a 10 sec. video without any sound, and try to use Video Reverse and produce it by itself, I get a half dozen or more black screen flashes - making the clip unusable.
HERE IS CYBERLINK's TECH SUPPORT RESPONSE:
Customer Support Response 2016/01/03 02:24
Dear David ,
Thank you for contacting Cyberlink Technical Support.
I understand that you are facing no sound problem after producing video with PowerDirector 14....
Yep, Clearly Cyberlink themselves clearly haven't got a clue, David! It's those on this forum website who are the clued-up people to turn to. Where would Cyberlink be without Dafydd, Cranston, Carl312, Barry The Crab, Ynotfish and all the others who put in so much of their own time(and possibly, their own money) to get this forum to where it is today? Hey gang, give yourselves a collective "pat on the back" for a job exceedingly well done!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Gee, Microsoft has been copping a hammering of late. Just reading through a few of the comments in that locked thread proves it. No wonder the thread was locked after 5 pages of comments. Seems to me Microsoft has a lot of "homework" to catch up on. Perhaps(and this seems often to be the case) they launched Windows 10 too soon and it still had several unresolved issues, and this sort of situation would, likely as not, go all the way back to the launch of Windows 95 all those years back. Those "unresolved issues" are apparently playing merry hell with users of Cyberlink product(particularly Power Director). Some may be blaming Cyberlink, others are blaming Microsoft, but it could be a mix of both. As for me, I'm still using Windows 7 and am running PD8 Ultra and PD14 Ultra(as well as a few other third-party video software programmes) on that platform. I won't be stepping up to Windows 10 until the computer I now use "carks it". By that time I'd expect Windows 10 itself to be superceded by Windows 12 or later version(s).
Cheers!
Neil
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Hi, Rebecca!
As JL_JL(Jeff) suggested, CLPV will do exactly what you want. It achieves this by trimming(cropping) a little from the top and bottom of the image(not too much) then stretching the image out to(not quite) the left and right sides of the screen. The method used at least guarantees that anyone appearing in these videos doesn't look as if they've been "raiding the refrigerator"(late-night pig-outs!). I've been using the facility myself, available from, as far as I'm aware, PD version 8(though it could've been available in PD Version 7), to process a lot of old VHS and Video-8 or Hi-8 camera tapes. A bit of "touching up" with the fix/enhance facility and(almost) no-one would be able to tell the difference between a modern digitally-shot video and one sourced from these old analogue sources, though what might give the game away is if the audio was only mono, which, in many instances, it would be. But if you had stereo cam-corders, the deception could work well and you could tell your unsuspecting friends and relatives: "Oh yeah! Sure I shot this with a digital cam-corder" while keeping fingers crossed behind your back! Ha-ha!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, SG!
Actually, that idea of Mike's isn't as "daft"(English colloquial = silly) as he thinks! When you start the "capture", whilst capture is running, rewind the tape(using the "picture search" of your camera), you'll see a blurred/mangled image, which you'll be editing out anyway, but you should be left with your complete clip, which you then edit in your own fashion.
Er... by the way, I added the explanation of "Daft" not to insult, but because Americans and Canadians reading this, may not be familiar with English or(for that matter) Australian slang words. Yet those of us in England and Australia are more than familiar with American slang, though I'm not too sure about Canadian slang.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Ha! Once again I get notified of a reply to my post on a subject, click on itin me email "in-box", only to reveal that the "reply" was, in fact, my own reply to someone else.... did someone just say something about dogs chasing their own tails?
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, David.
I haven't had the glitch that you've described, but I have noticed that if I try to put in more than one instance of my comic forward/reverse/forward effect, when rendering, will get through the first instance okay but rendering will screech to a halt on the second instance. But I think I may have a solution, in the clip(s) that will be processed to include the comic effect, create the effect then render that(those) clip(s) on its(their) own, then insert the produced clip(s) into the video at the point you intended the original unaffected clip(s) to be inserted(as if you were going to create the effect after assembling your movie). Admittedly I havent't done this myself, as yet, as I've only just now thought of the method.
Cheers!
Neil.
Hoping everyone had a great new year!
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Hi again, Bogus E.
There we have it! Thanks Tony(whom I note has just gone off-line, must be time for his breakfast! It is early morning here in Australia[east coast], 7.36am to be precise, on 2nd January, 2016). A trick to adding music is to add an extra audio track(usually below Tr.2, when clicking on "add extra tracks you'll have the option of adding a video and audio track below track 2, "Add 1 Video.... Add 1 Audio.... Where it says add 1 Video, just change that by highlighting the numeral in the box and type in "0" while leaving the "1" in place on Add 1 Audio. Insert yourfirst music piece on either of these audio tracks(if smartsound/magic music, stretch it out to whatever length you want) then add your next music piece on the other audio track, setting it so the beginning of the second piece overlaps the end of the previous piece. In radio presenting this is usually called "crossfading". Repeat the steps as often as necessary or desired, putting each successive music piece on the alternate audio track. I'd use something like this if I wanted to put a soundtrack of say, classic 1960s hits together on a suitably-themed video.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hello Bogus E.
Not entirely sure if Magic Music/Smartsound is restricted to one hour. Never actually tried stretching out that far. Tended to, if I was using the facility, extend out to about 15 minutes, then use another track for a further 15-or-so minutes, then a third track for another 15-or-so minutes, then, depending on mood, either a fourth track, or reprise the first track out to the end of the video. Assuming I'd be using Magic Music/Smartsound. Often I don't use any music, though in some videos I produce(like New Year's Eve fireworks that I shot, I used four tracks, excerpts from a budget-price LP of moog synthesiser music.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, qlaval!
This is an interesting(and welcome) development in Power Director. I stepped up some time ago from PD7 to PD8, the installation of the latter required the uninstallation of the former. But last year(2015, I'm writing this at 2.37pm, New Year's Day, 2016)I bought and installed PD14 Ultra, and the installation process DID NOT require the uninstalling of PD8 Ultra, so now I have both versions on my computer, which is just as well, because when it comes to disc authoring, PD14 Ultra falls short of my expectations. I'm one who wants to make the most of a DVD's storage capacity, I want to be able to, when necessary, pack at least 2 hour's worth of content onto a disc. This I can do with ease in PD8 Ultra but not so in PD14 Ultra. The reason is that PD8 Ultra gives me the option of authoring in DVD-SP, PD14 only allows DVD-HQ or "Smart-Fit" and I'm somewhat wary of Smart-Fit lest it chops out some of the content of my production in the authoring process, while DVD HQ only allows a touch over 1 hour's worth of content and if I play a DVD burned in HQ, it tends to stutter and freeze in a domestic DVD player, I've not had that problem with discs burned in DVD-SP. Having two versions of Power Director on your computer can prove useful.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, RattlinJack! Happy New Year!
I get it now, you've spread that 200 gigabytes over several cameras' storage(hard-drives and/or SD cards). so that the combined total of shots adds up to 200 GB.....Whew! That's a relief! A typical SD card, or micro-SD card goes up to 32 GB capacity, though the capacity of those cameras with internal hard-drives could go as high as 500 GB but a lot of earlier models only went as high as 80 to 100 GB. I generally have a 16 GB SD card in my camera which gives me about 4 hours in MP4 or AVCHD(Canon Legria HF R506) or over 7 hours in MPEG2(Panasonic SDR-S7 or SDR-S71, but the S71's screen went funny on me a few months back and I haven't used it since). So the combined total of those three cameras falls short of 100 GB, but then I'm not using them all at once these days. The trick with me is that the shots I take may be clips of a coule of minutes each, joined together(edited) to form the whole movie, but the movie itself may run to about 2 gigabytes, more or less. so my work is clearly dwarfed by what you're doing.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Quote:
Yes, I am trying to figure out how you can stabilize without cropping and zooming in powerdirector 14. Then use letterboxing instead... Alternately if you could stabilize on just up and down movements and use letterboxing just at top and bottom of the frame.
Hi Scott!
As Tony said, zooming/cropping might be unavoidable, but you could try Tomasc"s suggestion that may give at least a partial resoution to your problem. Please, keep is posted. I'm sure Tony(Ynotfish) and Tomasc will be interested in your outcome, as will I.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Ha-ha, I like this! I'm past my 60th birthday and RattlinJack's calling me "Young Man"!
RJ's comment: My projects are usually 200GB or more, "Wedding Videos"...... 200 Gigabytes! Ouch! That's 2-fifths of an average hard-drive's capacity swallowed up in one gulp! Digital indigestion! ha-ha! None of my clips come anywhere near that size of file. Surely that's gotta be a typo error - You may have accidentally typed in an extra unintentional zero and actually meant to say 20GB! I just don't see how a typical (produced) clip could get that big, whether it was MPEG-2, MP4, AVCHD, AVI or other file type. Such a file size would never go on a disc, even blu-ray discs couldn't accomodate a file that size. Uploading to YouTube would be absolutely impossible! Nah, It's definitely gotta be a typo error!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, All!
Reading through this thread of late, it's quite clear that users don't like to be "pushed" into buying the latest version of Power Director, or any Cyberlink product, or product from any other software maker, for that matter unless there's a genuinely valid reason to do so. Having the "latest & greatest model" is certainly NOT a valid reason! Upon buying and installing PD14 I found quite a few useful additions, like the ability to create one's own transition effects, for example. But where Power Director falls down badly is in the department of disc creation(authoring or "burning"). The clear lack of choice in this department is grossly disappointing and is a black mark against an otherwise excellent software programme. It's just as well I was able to hang on to PD8 Ultra for disc creation purposes as there I still had the choice of "burning" at DVD-SP grade to make the most of the capacity of the discs I use. Such facility as this is NOT available in PD14Ultra. The thread titled "Suggestions For Power Director 15" may well prove futile because I do not think Cyberlink will pay heed to any of the suggestions thus-far given by users like us. Cyberlink is, after all, a corporation, whose only loyalty(?) is to its shareholders, Cyberlink's only interest is in making money. End-userslike us are not important to them. Our views don't matter! It's what rakes in the moolah that matters to Cyberlink! If that comes across as cynicism, so be it. But we have to face facts here. Cyberlink may be just on the verge of releasing PD15 and we may well see it advertised on this website's home page within the next four-to-six months, and in the list of features for the new version, do you honestly expect even one of our suggestions become reality?..... Then you better shake yourself out of your dream state right now. It's 100% sure that NONE of our user-suggested modifications will be realised in PD15, 16, 17 or beyond.
Sorry to be pesimistic on New Year's Eve(11.07am 31/12/2015 as I write this), but that's the way it is with corporations!
Cheers & Happy New Year!
Neil.
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