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Tonight I finally got around to updating PD9 to the latest build by installing patch 2504. To my dismay, the basketball game DVD I produced with this latest build looks horrible! Everything looks like it's "bent" when the camera moves..like looking in a funhouse mirror.
I remember reading this thread a few days ago, so I immediately suspected that it was the ATI/AMD Hardware Acceleration bug that PD9 Build-2504 is purported to have.
I unchecked the "Enable Hardware Acceleration" box in PD9 settings, burned another DVD and it looks great.. as usual. It took about 25% longer to decode/burn, but the quality improvement is well worth it.
Apparently, before Build 2504, Hardware Acceleration was not working on my computer, even though the box was checked to enable the capability.
PD9 Build 2504 corrected this, but my guess is that the ATI 4350HD card is not up to the task.
With Hardware Acceleration enabled, my Quad CPU varies from 22% to 24%. (10 min clip burns in 4 minutes)
With Hardeare Acceleration disabled, it varies from 53% to 57%. (10 min clip burns in 6 minutes)
The video being burned to the DVD has no effects, it's just raw footage shot in High-Def and burned straight to DVD in HD-Mpeg-2 4:3 ratio.
GPU-assisted acceleration works great with my 4350 card when it comes to making the latest browsers like IE-9 and Firefox-4 surf the web faster, but it looks like Video Decoding is not its cup of tea.
I've read in other threads that some of you are decoding 10 minute clips in less than 2 minutes. I'll make sure my next computer is a powerhouse like yours! ![]()
-Allen in Chicago
HP Pavillion e9220y
8mb RAM
Win 7
Quad Core 2.6mhz cpu
ATI 4350-HD
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Keith,
Be sure to know how many watts your P.C.'s power supply generates before going video card shopping. I was going to upgrade to a newer, more powerful video card last year, but found out that the best cards need at least a 600 watt power supply installed. Mine is only 350 watts. So, I'm just sticking with my 2 year old ATI 4350 Video card, because all the wires on the power supply intimidated me out of replacing/upgrading it.
Good luck Keith! Please come back to the forum and let us know what you upgraded to and how it's working for ya.
Allen
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HI Philly Bill,
Like many other members here, I download the updated Catalyst Suite every time a new one is released. I haven't noticed any differences (good or bad) in how the updates affect video production. But it's better to be safe and stay current.
There is a little link on the top of the AMD/ATI driver download page that says "Release Notes". When you click on it, you're presented with a multi-page document that explains what the latest Catalyst Suite of drivers is designed to repair and enhance. For instance, Catalyst version 11.1 contains fixes for Cyberlink PowerDVD, along with a host of other software programs. I love when a company fully explains what their software updates are designed to do! To add icing on the cake, this same document also lists known outstanding issues that are being worked on for the next Catalyst Driver Suite update.
REF: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst111ReleaseNotes.aspx
I read in the AMD forum that the program called "Overdrive" helps render video content faster. You'll see it on the main download page, but there's no link that describes what it does. I installed it out of curiosity, but couldn't adjust any of the settings, so I uninstalled. Maybe someone else in the forum can elaborate on what ATI Overdrive is supposed to do.
Hey! Am I going to get in trouble for talking about a non-PD9 subject in this forum? I think a member was pushed out of the Cyberlink Forum Family for discussing video drivers 2 weeks ago. Hopefully the rules have been relaxed somewhat. --fingers crossed.. ![]()
-Allen in Chicago - (Pounded by Packers and Blizzards!)
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BTW..there's an updated version of the ATI Catalyst driver package (ver 11.1) available as of 1/26/2011. Here's a link to the Windows 7, 64-bit description/download page:
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx
Usually I don't see any PD9 performance enhancements or hindrances after downloading the ATI Catalyst packages after they update each month. But from what I'm reading in the release notes for this 11.1 update, those of you with newer 5000/6000 series ATI Graphic Cards should realize a speed increase in various scenarios.
With my older ATI HD4350 video card, PD9 decodes videos at exactly the same speed with the PD9 acceleration on, or off.
-Allen
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FYI...
There is a new version (ver 11.1) of ATI Catalyst available as of 1/26/2011. According to the release notes, it contains some code to improve how PowerDVD operates under Windows 7. Here's a link to the release notes:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst111ReleaseNotes.aspx
The download page for this latest version of the ATI Catalyst package for 64 bit Windows is here:
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx
-Allen
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Thank-you Nina for taking the time to make this informative "How To" video for those of us new to the discipline. I'm glad that people kept posting to this thread and kept it on top of the PD9 forum, or I would have missed this little gem. Please ask the forum moderators to allow you to add this link to the helpful video tutorial "Sticky" at the top of this PD9 forum. Thanks again!
-Allen
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Thanks to forum members who post experiences like this! Even though the thread regarding USB 3.0 was locked by the moderator this week because it was a non-PD9 topic, I find all of these tips and sharing of experiences with PD9 and associated hardware informative and helpful.
I shopped for a USB 3.0 PCI card today and now I'm going to go run a quick PD9 test to see if encoding is faster on my AMD HD4350 card with all acceleration turned off. Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to share and help!
-Allen in Chicago
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Hello Princesa,
I can't help you solve the problem, but what I can say is that my computer model and internal configuaration is exactly the same as yours. I upgraded from PD-8 Ultra to PD-9 Ultra. The program is running perfectly.
Hopefully you will get PD-9 to work flawlessly on your machine as well. When you do, please let us know what was causing the problem. Good luck with finding a quick solution Princesa.
-Allen
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Cap'n Kevin,
Thanks for taking the time to compose and post a thorough response to my PD9 concerns. Although PD9 is a totally new build, I see no difference (good or bad) when producing/burning HD DVD's...which is all I use PowerDirector for. Since PD8 and, now PD9 operate flawlessly for my simple projects, no change is a good thing. But, I can't help but to wonder if there might be some non-published code changes in one of the updates that would speed up the converting of my raw ACVHD videos to DVD-HD format.
I'll take your advice and upgrade to the latest build, Kevin. If something doesn't work right, or slows down the rendering process, I'll revert back to the original PD-9 Ultra. Thanks again Cap'n!
-Allen
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So there are 159 officially logged problems with Power Director 9? I'm still at the original PD9 version 2330. Every time a patch/update is released, several forum posts show up here describing user issues related to the update. This is more prevelant with PD9 than with PD8, which has caused me to shy away from applying any of the updates.
If I don't see a "fix" or "enhancement" that pertains to my system, or what I do in the way of video production, I don't apply the update. Is that the recommended course of action? Or, does Cyberlink incorporate fixes and enhancements that are in addition to what we see in the official description, which means that we should always apply every update/patch. What do you experienced Power Director users advise?
-Allen
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I'm seeing plenty of talk about the GPU, CPU, RAM in this thread, but no mention of PD-9's claim to fame, which is the big 316% speed increase that Windows7 64-bit customers experience.
Ref: http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/features_en_US.html
I don't do any editing, just DVD burning, but I would expect that you experienced users would be seeing big speed increases with Power Director 9 Ultra (over PD8 Ultra) without over-clocking any hardware?
-AC
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Jeff, I'm glad I took your advice and simply downloaded the 2330a patch for safe keeping without installing it. As a novice PD9 user with an ATI graphics card, I am in your debt for that recommendation. Hopefully, Cyberlink will clarify who should and who should not install this patch in the Updates section of the website. Out of caution, I'm going to de-select the " Check for software updates" box in the PD9 user-settings section, just in case the program decides to start doing automatic updates all of a sudden. ![]()
-Allen
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My Card is an ATI 4350, which I assume is less powerful than yours because 4350 is a smaller number than 4850. I have no problems with viewing HD videos produced with my Canon Camera, or burning these videos straight to DVD-HQ. Hopefully, by having a higher series card, you'll be able to utilize some of the advanced features of PD9 that are inaccessible to me.
-AC
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Thanks for the recommendation, JLJL. I will do just as you suggest.
Appreciatively,
-Allen
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Should we all update to the 2330a version...even those of us with Non-NVIDIA cards?? I wouldn't want the next PD9 Update patch to refuse to update my current version because it's not 2330a. Any advice?
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Hello Video Gurus,
When I play back a clip from the Library Section of PD9-Ultra, there is a lot of "artifact noise" in the video, particularly during movement of either the camera, or the subject(s) on the video.
But, when I drag the clip down to the timeline, there is no video noise at all. Plays very clear. (BTW.. I'm glad I upgraded from PD8 to PD9 just for this enhancement alone. PD8 timeline playback quality wasn't good at all.)
Question #1 - What process would you use to track down the source of this?
Question #2 - Are there 2 different players, or codecs involved when playing back from these two locations within PD9?
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
-Allen
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Thanks for the Desktop analogy Robert. I suppose my editing needs are so mundane that PD9 doesn't need to use any more Desktop than PD8 did.. which is why it doesn't perform tasks any faster. All I do is straight burning of AVCHD Camcorder files from the Timeline to High Quality DVD. Wish there was a way to force PD9 to use more of the 64-bit horsepower, but that ability will probably be available at a future date. Right now, it just coasts along using 40% to 50% of the 4 CPU's and about 26% of RAM. However, I did change the brightness of one video in the editing section of PD9. The CPU's pegged out at 100% during that burning session.
-AC
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Robert, that was a good message regarding your early experience with PD9. It's human nature to blame a sophisticated product like Power Director when we encounter errors while using it. But reading the "Sticky's" at the top of this PD9 forum and watching the excellent "how to" PD9 videos in Director Zone and on YouTube are good tools for helping to solve problems and for learning how to use Power Director properly. Make it a great day!
-Allen
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You're right Mr. OZ! It's still there. Just a smaller banner now. I guess the closer to Christmas we get, the smaller it becomes! I have no idea why recent upgraders didn't get the Holiday Menu Pack link when they Purchased PD9, or upgraded to PD9. Either one qualifies. Except, maybe they didn't look far enough down on the page that contains the download links? It was the third link down on the page I believe.
-AC
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Robert, Thanks for an explanation that even novices like me can understand. So if I'm understanding you correctly, PD9 will produce HD videos faster on a 64-bit system, but won't convert from one video format to another any faster than PD8 did? Okey-Dokey...I'm learning.
-AC
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Power Director 9 is highly touted in the Cyberlink ads as using something called "True Velocity 64" to speed up the rendering process, but my ACVHD to DVD-HQ conversions take the same amount of time with PD9 as they took with PD8. Perhaps I need to enable something in Windows 7, or Catalyst Control Center, or in PD9 to take advantage of this "True Velocity 64"?
And yes... I do have 64Bit Windows 7. (8gb Ram / Phenom II w/4cpu 2600mhz clock / ATI 4350HD Card)
-AC
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