|
|
Hi cmorris976,
Quote:
The clips come out of my camera looking great. It is just when I produce a movie through Powerdirector that it can become extremely pixellated like that.
That's good to know.
If you are managing to render out to MOV without sound but it still looks good, have you tried changing the audio setting from AAC to LPCM?
In PRODUCE click MOV, then the [+] button below the Quicktime profile drop down.
Choose a new profile name (like "Quicktime with LPCM").
Click the Audio tab and change AAC to LPCM.
Re-render and post back.
Like CubbyHouseFilms said, switch off your Anti-Virus, Firewall and as many programs you have running in the background (unplug your PC from the internet if you have to keep it safe). These really can interfere.
If it still crashes, can you tell us:
1. which version of Windows you're using (32bit or 64bit)?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/find-out-32-or-64-bit
2. how long the video is (time wise).
3. how big the Sony file is that you're dropping into PD.
4. and what information PD reports about it (right click the video file in the library and choose Properties, post back with Video and Audio).
Just trying to help.
|
|
|
I would spend on RAM if anything.
Video editing is a memory intensive/hungry application.
If you run a 64bit version of Windows, your RAM is only limited by what the motherboard can max out at.
Research the motherboards available for your budget, max out the ram on it (if you can), whack the AMD/Intel chip for your budget and I would recommend buying an end of line graphics card (that's still up to the job) that can handle hardware acceleration on sale.
Not a super-mega top of the range giga-quad job for the gamers! You can save a whole load of cash that way.
32-bit Windows max out at 4Gb, that's it.
Then you're thrashing the harddrive, and that's if the machine doesn't crash first!
If you're thinking of building this yourself, look at the power-supply's Wattage, and balance it out with the rest of the components. Your graphics card will affect the heaviest demand.
Hope this helps.
|
|
|
Can you hook up your camera to a TV and watch the footage to see if the noise originates there?
If the clips come out of your camera like, check the Sony website for any updates to the Camera's firmware or decoder.
Another suggestion would be to post a ticket on the Sony user forum.
Off the bat (if this is the kind of footage from the camera before you drop it in PD) I'd say there was a codec issue on the camera or you need a faster SD card media to record on at that video setting.
Tell us if this is your camera:
http://store.sony.com/p/Full-HD-Handycam-Camcorder/en/p/HDRCX190/B#reviews
|
|
|
*Using the trial version of PD11*
I can render a 2hr MPEG standard 4:3 PAL (4Gb) without a hitch using an intel i5, Win7 16Gb (in about 18 mins).
Could you tell us your video specs and resolution you're rendering, and how long?
Yes you could chop up your video into segments and then stitch them up again (if they're MPEGs) using something like "Fast AVI MPEG Joiner". It's loss-less and just stitches MPEGS together.
If you try to stitch them back up in PD I'm assuming it would render the segments again, adding more compression.
I don't know. Haven't tried it.
How many filters/effects are you using?
That all adds up to the overhead when rendering.
I know you said Win7, is it the 64bit version or 32bit?
(With 8Gb I would think it's the 64bit version).
|
|
|
Hi Mervyn,
I just looked at the options...
In PD you can click PRODUCE.
Choose your format (MPEG/MKV/etc).
Then set "Country/video format of disc" to United States NTSC.
Click START and let PD render it.
Find the file, watch it to check it's not too distorted.
If you're happy enough, burn it and post it off.
There will always be some loss when you switch between PAL and NTSC (vice versa).
It's not a bug, just the way the two are different.
|
|
|
Hi,
I was wondering if someone could shed some light on this query.
Looking at ColorDirector and AudioDirector as add-ons to PD Ultimate Suite, what's the difference compared with PD Ultimate and PD Ultra?
Don't keyframes exist in Ultimate / Ultra to adjust colour/brightness or are they just basic in that if you adjust anything it affects the whole clip/trim?
...a bit confused before committing to buy.
Also, lastly, when was PD 11 released? Just wondering in case it was close to a year ago and they might be releasing version 12 some time soon.
Thanks in advance.
|
|
|
I haven't tried it myself yet but what I could recommend is to render the video in NTSC format (just as you said) and watch it for quality control before burning it.
I would also save a version of the project as PAL and then do a "save-as" with a different name that is NTSC. Then tweak the project settings for NTSC there in case PD overwrites your PAL version settings on the fly.
A couple of things you need to know are:
1. NTSC uses a different frame size (width x height) than PAL, so the NTSC version might look a bit squished or stumpy.
2. NTSC frame rate is faster than PAL (29.5 versus 25), this can cause some distortion as well, sometimes faint lines can show up.
I don't think re-starting a fresh project as NTSC would make much of a difference *assuming* you shot the footage as PAL in the first place.
You would still be going from PAL to NTSC if you know what I mean, regardless of which software you used for an editor.
Hope this helps.
FWIW: I'm working on some NTSC footage that needs outputting to PAL, and I still get some slight distortions.
|
|
|
Hi Sparks64,
If I could throw a spanner into the works...
I'd start thinking about a replacement to be honest.
Upgrading to 4Gb wouldn't hurt anything, but even running 64bit windows on that would be like strapping a 2 stroke engine to a jet. There simply won't be enough horse power to run PD and edit videos. It will be frustrating like HDedit said: windows alone would use that up, thrashing the hard drive with a swap file bigger than the video you're trying to work with.
What if you upgraded to 4Gb and dropped down to 32bit OS? I think you'd get more mileage. Win XP Pro or Win 7.
When a new machine appears, whack a 64bit version of windows (Win7) on it and max out the RAM with at least 16Gb and watch that baby fly! RAM's so much cheaper now.
If you replace the GPU, and you get a good one, you could transplant that later into a replacement machine, possibly saving you money down the line. But as with anything, GPU's don't always come cheap unless you buy an end of line product which still works and has been replaced with something more exotic for the sake of the gaming community.
But definately look at the cores and balance it with the RAM it comes with.
Hope this helps.
|
|
|
I figured it out Kevets...
A couple of things make it seem wonky.
I believe that because subtitling is essentially positioning text characters on a layer above film, your last character of the top line of text becomes your positioning element/point of reference if you're aligning RIGHT.
If you're aligning LEFT, then your first character of the top text becomes your positioning element/point of reference.
For example (RIGHT alignment):
T = Top Subtitle Line, B = Bottom Subtitle Line
T: Mr Smith
B: Walkin' along
...the 'h' and 'g' are justified, near the centre of the screen. If you lengthen the TOP line by adding more text, the more to the RIGHT goes the BOTTOM line.
You can fool the subtitler to flush your text more to the right by having a blank TOP line full of space characters and write your main text on a separate second line.
If you don't see any text, you've added too many spaces.
For LEFT alignment, think the reverse.
Hope this helps.
|
|
|
Thanks Dafydd, that works!
Just really glad I didn't waste a stack of DVDs for this.
Very helpful.
|
|
|
Just a quick heads up.
If your audio gets out of sync after rendering a trim, check you're not trimming MPEG videos with MPEG audio. I've had it happen to me using other editors.
The fix for me was to render the MPEG with a different audio, for some odd reason.
I've used PD already on a project to do this and it scraped by fine.
No guarantees! (disclaimer)!**
**I found out those editors were dropping frames, which caused the audio and video to get out of sync. Mileage may vary.
|
|
|
No problem.
Make sure your final video (4Gb) is on the timeline.
Click anywhere on the video and a set of editing buttons pop up just above (Split, Modify, Trime, Fix... and something else).
Choose Trim, then Multi Trim.
You could do it with the Trim (single trim) but you have to repeat the process for each segment you want to chop the video by. Might be easier if you can't get your head around multi-trim. Have a pen handy to write your IN/OUT time codes.
In multi trim, stretch the blue "bracket" so it runs the length of the film. Then click the IN-OUT points for each segment you want in turn (do this in one sitting).
For each IN point mark an OUT point, otherwise you just get the IN point shifting forward. After your OUT point, move forward one frame and set a new IN point and your next OUT point. Repeat for each segment.
These become your segments.
Click OK and you should see each segment as a sprite/asset in your library. Much quicker than single-trim. Don't bother with the scene detector.
The process of outputting (rendering) is a manual one.
Run it through the renderer for each segment, swapping them on to the timeline, then hitting the PRODUCE button and creating the video file that way (go backwards and forwards between EDIT and PRODUCE to do this).
Watch out you don't re-compress your video and lose quality. Just a heads up. If in doubt, keep compression quality to 100% or something similar. If the option isn't available, don't sweat it, but check the footage again for quality control.
Hope this helps. I'm new to PD too. Just rumbling my way through it before making a decision to purchase. I've worked with other editors, but PD seems to be the quickest.
|
|
|
|
Do a multi-trim and output each trim separately.
|
|
|
Hi Kevets,
Thanks for getting back.
I've done that, set the option to create subtitles for discs.
However, there's some kind of glitch there. The ST's still get show like they're burned to the video. When I play the disc on a DVD player, the control option to enable/disable ST's (from the remote) doesn't work.
Also, the ST's seem to have a gaussian blur effect which to me makes it look like they've been burned onto film.
I've still got a clean un-subtitled MPEG backed up, and I've been trying with that each time.
My workflow is MPEG on timeline, add subtitles -> produce it (render) -> burn disc.
The option to "Create subtitles for discs" is ON if you know what I mean.
Am I missing something?
|
|
|
Sorry if this topic has been discussed before but I did a forum search and nothing showed up.
I've added subtitles (ST) to my film, chose the option to set ST's to disc and yet when I go to burn the disc, the ST's seem like they are imprinted on the video and I can't control them on the DVD player remote.
What am I doing wrong, or is this a bug?
Using PD11 (trial) on Win7 Pro 64bits, 16Gb RAM.
Thank you in advance!
|
|
|
Sorry to hi-jack this thread but it was the only one I could find on Google regarding subtitles in PowerDirector 10.
I'm still new to it and coming from adobe's (ultra expensive and buggy as heck crash-athon) Creative Suite to corel's slightly more stable but very simple featured Video Studio Pro.
I wanted to know if in PowerDirector subtitles are 'burned' to the video (superimposed) or if they work as you would expect in the sense that you can hide them/disable them while watching the movie on a DVD player/home setup.
I like the fact that it behaves well with SRT files, makes it a more mature product than corel's and the rendering is fast which saves time.
Do you guys find it stable enough for all your editing needs? (Import -> edit -> DVD authoring)?
Thanks for any input.
Hope this post was clear.
|
