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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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Hi, again, Scott!
I think it depends on how much of the stabilising you apply(a bit of experimentation might be called for). I've also noticed a bit of zooming, but not too much, on some old Xmas videos I recently "rescued" from old VHS tapes when I applied the stabiliser. A bit of "tweaking" might get near enough to your wanted result.
Cheers!
Neil.
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G'day, RattlinJack!
You're not far from me! I'm up here in Port Stephens!, Just a little under 60 Km to the north, by any chance are you in my old stomping ground of Stockton?.
As to your question of a PC for Power Director 14, any storebought"off-the-shelf) computer will do. Just don't load it with anything more than PD14 and its ancilliary "bits & bobs"(Colour Director, Screen Recorder, etc.). Windows Movie Maker comes as a stock-standard part of Windows but it's pretty useless in real terms for editing video, so just ignore it. Babout the only other software you may need is Microsoft Office(fonts for titling will be in there and shared with any PD version used by yourself). Microsoft Paint, like Movie Maker, is part and parcel of any Windows package. In all there'll be stuff that gets automatically installed with Windows that you can't uninstall without causing damage to the Windows platform, they're inescapable. The only otherthing you'll need is a good printer(preferrably with label printing capability) And that's it. If you are to build one from scratch, when you install Windows(be it 7, 8 or even 10), you'll get all that baggage(Movie Maker, Paint, games) anyway. Other than that, just load your PD14, Office, printer software and that's it!
Cheers!
Neil.
P.S. I'll be at Stockton on New Year's Eve, capturing the fireworks from somewhere near the ferry wharf at 9.00pm.
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Hello, Scott!
The masking is simple enough, create a mask in Microsoft Paint! Open Paint, set properties to 1600 cm X 900 cm. Measure the size(thickness) of your wanted border, choosing the thinnest line, select the line drawing tool and pull that along the top portion of your mask. Using the Selection tool(box with dotted line), cover a portion of that area, from the top of the mask to where the line's been drawn and, with Ctrl+C, copy that portion to "clipboard". Flip your mask vertically so that the drawn line is at the bottom, then, with Ctrl+V, paste the portion you've just copied, then drag it horizontally to the opposite side of your mask. fill(paint tin icon) with black or whichever is your preferred colour, the top and bottom portions, leaving the greater area in the centre as white. You've created your mask! Applying the mask in Power Director 12, drop the mask onto an overlay(PiP) track, select "modify" and with Chroma-Key, apply the "pippet" to the white area, making it transparent. The size should be automatic. If it is smaller than it should be on your preview screen, grab each diagonally-opposite corner with the mouse and drag it so the black bars cover the area you want to cover. Job done!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Thanks Pepsiman....yes I have one on order should be here in Oz mid January. Baz
Hi, Bunkerbaz!
In the event this device works(keeping fingers, toes, eyes and anything else that can be, crossed for you), would you be still purchasing a new camera? I'd recommend one with SD card storage of stills AND video. It occurs to me, through my own experiebce that cameras with internal hard-drives will behave exactly as if they were just hard-drives when you've hooked up the USB interface. If you've tried that approch and it works, just copy the wanted content from the camera's hard-drive to that of your computer(into an appropriately-labeled folder) then import the contents into PD14 from there.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Hi, Barry!
It's all "much of a muchness" to me! I don't post on YouTube or Vimeo, I just burn my productions to disc to be viewed by family and/or friends, If the video contains music from whichever source, so be it! If not.... Well.... some clips work better without music anyway.
Cheers!
Neil.
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It's about keeping the forums uncluttered.
One could argue that keeping a sub-forum for each of the last, say, four versions would be no more messy than clumping them all together.
Yep!
Makes perfect sense to me, Mike!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Unfortunately I do not have, nor do I want to install, an ieee.1394 firewire card to my PC. I had one three PC's ago when using a Panasonic camcorder. I have searched all the forums and it seems I am one of many that would like to use the USB output on the Sony but there is no way it seems without the firewire. I think I will bite the bullet and purchase a new camcorder. Many thanks for the advice.
Hi, Bunkerbaz!
All is not lost if you have a capture card! Videocameras invariably come with a lead that connects them to a TV set via its A/V inputs to view the recently-shot contents, whether they're on VHS, Beta(older clunkier models) VHS-C, Video-8/Hi-8, Digital-8, DV or SD Card-based cameras, whatever the type, they'll ALL have that connection, one end terminating in a yellow(video) RCA plug and a white(mono) or red and white(left & right channel stereo) RCA plugs with the other end terminating in whatever style of connector was used in your camera's manufacture. This output can be routed through a capture card to your computer and you can capture your camera's content(obviously your camera has an inbuilt hard-drive) "real-time". This will suffice as a temporary measure until you a) find a way to connect your camera to your computer to resume digital content transfers, or b) buy that new cam-corder. Hope that's of use to you.
Cheers!
Neil.
P.S. Happy New Year!
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Hello CS and Tony!
"Yes, looks like the typo monster got ya Neil! Lol... never gets me though (lmao - riiiight)..."
Yeah! Caught out! But I generally refer to those little buggers as: KEYBOARD GREMLINS (LOL) But you know what I was getting at in any case. Commercially-made music? Heck! Sure I'll use it in my videos, or videos edited for a friend(who is generally the only one to see them apart from me). Smartsound? I'll use it occasionally, but again only in stuff that I'll show to family or friends, and if editing content for a friend, he/she may be the only one to see it other than me. Often I don't use any music at all. But if any of you, out there have a bit of musical talent, you could create your own music library for video soundtrack purposes and leave BMI. ASCAP, NCB, APRA, GEMA, BIEM and all the other international copyright clearance house head honchos scratching their collective heads and wondering "Where did he/she/they get THAT music from?"
Cheers! Happy New Year!
Neil.
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Hi, All!
It appears Cyberlink must not be monitoring these forums at all! If they did, they'd see that there's quite a huge number of disgruntled Power Director users "out there" who are anywhere between "mildly irate" to "possitively livid" and then "blood-boiling mad" about Cyberlink's marketing policy and attitude toward its customer base(direct or indirect.... direct = buy via Cyberlink site; indirect = buy via retail store). Cyberlink certainly needs to smarten itself up if it wants to stay in business.
Cheers!
Neil.
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Actually, Hi8 are supported if you have a Digital8 camera that can play back Hi8 tapes. Then with Firewire output PowerDirector CAN detect the camera and capture that source. The other workaround can be using a USB to Composite adapter and if the camera has composite output, use that.
"USB to Composite adaptor" That's precisely what a capture card is! You connect the output of your analogue video source(be it Video-8 or Hi-8 camera, VHS or Beta VCR) to the relevant inputs, if the camera or VCR is stereo, the red and white plugs connect as shown, if the camera or VCR is mono you use a "Y-adaptor"(one RCA socket to two RCA plugs) to bridge the audio across the two channels, then connect the yellow Video(Composite) input and you're set to go! Dead easy!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Wouldn't it be far simpler just to leave the previous, in this case 13, forum running until 14 expires and then close it.
Robert
Not close it altogether, people are still using PD13 and earlier versions. Dare I say, some may even still be using PD5, as limited as it is.
Cheers!
Neil.
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I've been reading some related threads - but I haven't seen one that comes right out and states that music CD's and the downloaded music content that I purchased from iTunes, is allowed when someone makes a 'movie' (or a video clip) and posts it on YouTube or similar social sharing sites. I believe that I can produce a video for my own personal use with copy-written music - FOR MY OWN PERSONAL use... right? It's jsut when the situation is that I want to post something on the internet - that I believe copy-written music may have a issue.
Is this where the 'magicmusic' (or maybe it's called something else or there are similar music substitutes) comes into play? Does this or other similar music NOT have the copy-write issues attached/associated to it?
Would "Royalty Free" music be allowed - legally - to be part of a video uploaded to YouTube (or the similar) sites?
CS
Hi, CS!
First of all I must correct you, it's not copy-write but copyright! Cpoy-write is when you take a printed sheet of content, then write on a blank sheet, verbatim, the content of the other sheet. Copyright, on the other hand, is the legal provision to protect a composer or author from unauthorised use of his/her work in a public performance. For example: copyright on a song like "Sweet Caroline", composed by Neil Diamond, is held three ways, by Diamond himself as the composer, by MCA, who hold the "mechanical" copyright(the recorded performance of the song) and finally by the music publishing company, and by extension, ASCAP or BMI, who act as public performance clearance agencies for that, among other songs or intrumental recordings. If you were a would-be singer, you wanted to perform that song in public(if you had nerve enough), you'd apply to ASCAP or BMI, pay a royalty fee and be given the right to perform that song, repeat the process as many times as required for the number of songs in your repertoire. That said, when it comes to Magic Music or Smartsound, these are supposed to be copyright-free, or "public domain", but I'm not too sure about it, as I've read in these forums of people getting stuck with claims against them when using such music in their clips. I'd probably play it safe and not use any music if I was going to cop any grief over it. If I were a talented musician(which I'm not), I could come up with some of my own music to put on the clip's soundtrack, much as JemRaid has done(anyone seen his work?).
My wideos are for private viewing only in any case so the point is moot. I may use commercial music(drive a car along gravel track: Duane Eddy's "40 Miles Of Bad Road" is a good choice of music), but no-one's going to see it beyond myself, my family and friends, either off a disc or a flash-drive.
Cheers!
Neil
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Hello All!
By reading the above, it is clear that "GeForce Experience" and its creator(s) can be held to blame for the grief you've suffered in using PD14. That serves as a "kick in the pants" for the GeForce Experience creator(s).
Cheers!
Neil.
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I have a Samsung HI8 camcorder with an analog out. I can see the video on the PC when played back but it wont capture anything, I get an error message that says: "The DV tape is either missing or write protected. Insert a tape or make the tape writeable".
But's it's not a DV tape it's a HI8 tape. The only two icons that are available to capture is the DV capture or the screen capture, the HD Camcorder button cannot be selected and the screen capture button crashes the software when I click on it.
I just bought this software three days ago, any help would be appreciated.
Also I have a Firewire capture card in my PC which captures film perfectly from a mini DV via a Sony media converter but it won't capture the analog from the HI8.
Thanks in advance.
Dave...
Hello Dave!
I also have an older Samsung Video-8 Cam-corder that I picked up cheaply at a recycling centre(just $5...very cheap) and use it not for shooting video, but simply for "rescuing content" from my old camera tapes. It's not labeled Hi-8, as such but it has shown that it will play the Hi-8 tapes. I feed the signal from the cam-corder to the computer via a USB capture card, but because I'm also capturing content from old VHS tapes, I use an A/V source selector switch just ahead of the capture card's input so I can switch between sources. The symbol to select in PD14 to capture feed from a capture card is: "Capture From TV Signal". This icon will appear in blue while all others will be greyed out. Under the "preview screen(monitoring what's being fed in) is "Capture Preferences" These should be unticked and left to show 00:00:00 for Time Limit, and 0000MB for Size Limit so you can capture as much content off your tapes as required. The trick is: External capture card! Even if you may already have an inbuilt card in your computer. To then select from either internal or external card, click on Settings. If only one capture card used, the seclection will be greyed out, but if two cards, switch to your external card, Set Capture Source to "Video Composite" and set Audio Source to match the Capture Device. If you want a slightly higher quality image, set Device Resolution to 720 X 526 but you'll have to set the Profile to DVD HQ first, as I have just now learned. I attempted to bump up the resolution to the higher figure but when I set the profile to DVD SP it was automatically bumped back to the default 640 X 480 resolution. So there you have it. I hope the info is of use to you.
Cheers & Happy New Year.
Neil.
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As an aside to, but sort of related to this thread, As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have both Versions 8 and 14 of Power Director on my computer(both "Ultra"). I was looking in the programme files on my computer a while back and found the audio files for the menue pages for PD8. I copied them to a separate file I called "Audio Grabs" and occasionally use them at the beginning and end of some of my videos. When it comes to burning them to DVD, having the music bed of your video clip matching the music in your manu page adds an extra dimension to your finished production.
Cheers!
Neil.
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No i dont have any other software to that.
Hi, again Tmace!
I take it then, that you don't have an earlier Power Director version also installed that may help sort out your AVI file problem.... Okay, perhaps try reimorting the clips from your camera(which obviously shoots in AVI file format, some shoot and store as MPEG-2, latter models save as AVCHD or MP4, or both, as in the case of my recent purchase, a Canon Legria model). The AVI file might've been corrupted somehow through the USB connection, try inserting the SD card into a card reader(either built in to your desktop or laptop computer, or via a USB-connectable card reader), that might solve your problem, but I can't guarantee it.
Cheers!
Neil.
Just as I was typing my reply, Barry The Crab has joined the thread, he may well be "on the money" If my idea doesn't work, follow Barry's tip. One way or t'other, you should be able to sort out your problem.
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Hi, again Jack!
Just quickly, no problem using PMs! Probably free up space on the forums if we keep our chit-chats between us, ay!
Neil.
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G'day Jack!(see how I avoided the sticky situation there by not saying "Hi"? ha-ha)
I have a DVD player/recorder of a Tevion brand(sold at Aldi markets, not sure if you have that chain of stores in the USA - Do you?)
My TV is a wide-screen "LG"(brand) set with an in-build DVD player in its base(which stopped working ages ago). I've got a few DVD+R DL discs floating around so I'll try one and see what happens. Though it has been my general experience that the players I have just "don't want to know" about DL discs! "Gimme a single-layer disc or I'll go on strike!" they seem to demand(ha-ha). As I said, I'll give one a try on that Tevion(brand) unit and let you know what happens, maybe by PM. or, as they say in the classics: "Watch This Space!"(do they really say that in the classics?....Naaaahhhh!)
Cheers!
Neil.
Re; PM's yeah! Why not? Catch ya soon!
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Hello Jem!
Another fascinating clip with a spooky soundtrack. Again, well done!
Cheers!
Neil.
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Ok so i get this Shadow file error to where it says my file has broken or just cannot turn into a shadow file. I rly need to fix this, otherwise my videos are lower resoulution. PC Specs Below:
Intel i7 4th Gen / Nividia GeFore GTX 760 / 2 TB Hard Drive / 8 GB Ram / Windows 10
Hello, Tmace!
Just a thought, but do you have another programme that will handle your video file(AVCHD or MP4)? If so, try rendering your clips there(may need to do each clip individually) then bring the newly-rendered clips back to PD14 for editing. Perhaps an earlier version of Power Director(if you still have one alongside PD14) may help solve that issue.
Let us know how you got on, okay?
Cheers & Happy New Year!
Neil.
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