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Mr. HEFED,
Thanks a million for bringing this PD display problem to the forum. I have been searching off an on for a couple of YEARS to find out exactly what method Power Director uses to display videos in imbedded preview mode. Like you, I too was concerned because my raw videos were always darker in imbedded-preview than they were when the viewer was detached, or when they were viewed in Windows Media Player, VLC, etc..
Even though I'm pretty sure that it's some kind of Cyberlink proprietary Rendering Codec issue, I couldn't find any way to locate-isolate and disable this mysterious varmit. Eventually I just learned to not adjust the brightness controls as dramatically and the resultant DVD turned out OK. BTW... I'm still running PD9, but come to this forum to learn if PD11 is better. If this "dimmer preview window" issue gets fixed, it will be (for my modest needs) the #1 best reason for an upgrade to PD11.
Thanks again for having the saavy and initiative to bring this issue to the forum experts, Mr. Hefed.
-Allen in Chicagoland
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Thanks to everyone who responded with constructive advice! Since my PC is a 2009 model with no Blu-Ray burner, (HP Desktop e9220y), I'm going to investigate getting a better computer that's more suitable for HD production/burning. There are several helpful threads in the forum I'll use for guidance. I'll also work with the school to see if they'll get a HD-Capable Television for the teams. The 25-inch 1985 box-on-a-stand television they use nowhere near ready for HD footage. Thanks JL_JL for that suggestion.
Carl312, I did the Burn-To-Folder option and also downloaded a free program called (I think) Imageburn? Anyway, I couldn't figure out what to do with the Video and Audio folders that PD-9 created. Will have to research that some more when I'm retired and have more time. But for now, it's just easier to tell PowerDirector that I want to make more than one DVD in order to see the Producing and Burning processes separately. Thanks anyway for the advice. It's appreciated.
-Allen in Chicagoland
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It's a Service that may have been turned off or never turned on properly. You need administrator rights.
Go into the Control Panel, Administrator Options, then Services. See if RichVideo is listed but turned off.
I know it's AGES since this solution was posted, but I just wanted to chime in to say "THANK-YOU!!!" to Xerox. For some reason, after 2 years, my PD9 program started telling me upon launch today that "Rich Video is Not Installed...Click OK to Install It". I'd click OK and PD9 would launch, but it didn't seem like anything had been installed. Probably just poor wording by the PD programmers.
Anyway, I immediately came to the forum, conducted a search on Rich Video and came across this thread. I did what XEROX suggested and found that the Services entry entitled "Cyberlink Rich Video" was DISABLED! I set it to Automatic(delayed start) and now PD9 starts flawlessly once again. I don't know if Automatic(delayed start) option is more proper than the Automatic, or Manual options, but it obviously makes PD9 happy... just like this forum has been a lifesaver for me several times. Thanks again XEROX!
-Allen in Chicagoland
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Hello C.H.Films. You didn't "butt in", as you put it. I asked for input from all sources. Thank-you for yours!
My original post/question was simply if PD11 makes higher quality DVD-HQ DVD's than PD9..or are there any improvements to the visual aesthetics of the "Create Disk" module of PD11 vs PD9. (i.e. Like seeing the "Produce" and "Burn" progress bars separately, even when making only one DVD. With PD9, I have to "trick" the program into thinking I'm going to make 2+ DVDs just to see the Producing and Burning processes separately.. otherwise, both are lumped together. Programmers used some goofy logic when deciding not to ALWAYS show each process in it's own progress bar. Would be nice to get away from having to use such program trickery!)
Thanks again for your feedback regarding the methods for showing HD Videos, should I ever want to produce one.
-AC
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Thanks for the reply, HDedit. I was hoping for good news, (that PD11 burns higher quality DVD's than PD9), but I appreciate your honesty. Unless something has changed in the DVD World, I don't think that a High Definition DVD will play on your casual DVD player? Our team just uses a $120 DVD player purchased at Best Buy to train the players. Is the "SD Video" you refer to the same as "DVD-HQ"...which is what I use.
-Allen
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Due to the significant price drop of PD11 for upgraders, I'm now seriously considering upgrading from PD9-Ultra to PD11-Ultra.
The only thing I do with Power Director is take 8th grade basketball game videos from my Canon HG10 camcorder and burn them directly to DVD-HQ without any titles, chapters, etc..for the coaches to review and to show the players their moves in slow-mo during practice.
Question to those of you who once had PD9: Is PD11 better at burning DVD's than PD9? (i.e. Is producing faster, or module interface improved, or the DVD quality any better?) I read in one of the patch update logs for PD11 that Cyberlink enhanced the CODEC for producing MPEG-2. Isn't a DVD-HQ produced as MPEG-2? Sounds encouraging. If PD11 is better at producing DVD's in some way, I'll gladly upgrade. Otherwise, I'll just stick with PD9.
Thanks in advance for all feedback! ![]()
-Allen in Chicagoland
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A video is the equivalent of a thousand words to novices like myself. If the quality of PD11 productions are that nice, it's time for me to upgrade from PD9. Thanks for the demonstration, Barry! -Allen in Chicago
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Thanks to James and Carl for taking the time to give their impressions of the new PD11. I suppose for simple family-oriented editing and producing, PD11 Ultra is perfect.
I didn't upgrade from PD9 to PD10 because there were no reports of speed increases during the Producing phase, or of improved HQ-DVD video quality. Those are the two most important "features" that may me decide to upgrade, or stay put with PD9. Now, at least it seems from James's review that at least video producing is faster with PD11. Also, I see that the discounted upgrade price only applies to those who have either PD9 or PD10. Those who have PD8, or earlier, must pay full-price for the new PD11. I suppose that's further incentive for me to upgrade NOW from PD9 to PD11. When PD12 comes out (probably) next Summer, anything prior to PD10 will not be eligible for the significant upgrade discount.
I'll keep my eye on the forum PD11 remarks/impressions for a few more days and then come to a decision. Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to provide feedback.
-Allen in Chicagoland
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You should transfer the videos to your internal hard drive while editing, Then when done, pack the project and store that on your external drives.
Nothing wrong with having the original material on external drives, but to edit you should transfer the videos and project to the internal drive.
Just chiming into this thread to say "Thank-you Carl312" for the advice you gave to K9spy regarding transferring his video files to the PC's internal hard-drive for editing. After 2 years of using Power Director, my videos are now processing even faster, thanks to you! I frequently troll the PD9 forum looking for little nuggets of advice that Cyberlink fails to include in it's documentation. Carl, your knowledge and willingness to share is appreciated by more PD9 users (and even non-Cyberlink customers) than you can know. Thanks again.
Allen in Chicago
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I've had trouble in the past with PD9 burning discs, but usually the error occurs after rendering has completed and the burn phase starts. When I switched from DVD-R Memorex to DVD+R Memorex, the errors disappeared completely.
But not getting any response from PD9 after pressing the "Burn" button is highly unusual. It doesn't seem that this problem would be related to what brand of DVD you're using. Please post back to the forum with your findings, RHStarr. Thank-you.
Allen in Chicago
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That video made me feel a tad envious, because you're VERY good! Amateur? Ha!
What is the video's properties? It really looks extra clear and sharp in the 720p-HD mode.
Congratulations on a 5-star First Video with Power Director, PMALBEC! Perhaps the government of Chile will hire you to help with their public relations. Send them a copy! ![]()
-Allen in Chicago
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I downloaded and ran the "Codec Tweak Tool" from free-codecs.com. It found 17 Codecs on my system. Some were left behind by other "trial" programs that I used before deciding on Power Director. (i.e. Ulead, Corel, etc.) I disabled the ones that were obviously not needed and also removed the ATI Codecs that I routinely download every month when AMD-ATI updates their Catalyst Drivers.
Allen, how did you know which codecs were needed and which were not?
It seems that every time I look I have more codecs than before. Some come with programs, but others I installed on someone's advice when I had a problem.
I would dearly love to clean up this mess.
Hello Jerrys,
First off, let me state that I am not even remotely a video expert. If it wasn't for the suddenly degraded quality of video clips viewed inside PD9, I would not even had started investigating CODECS and what their role is in producing and viewing video. It was a very enlightening investigation and learning experience, but I still wasn't confident enough to do any really advanced cleaning of Codecs. And by all means, from what I've read, leave the FILTERS alone. You get rid of the wrong filter(s) and your DVD burner could stop working. I've read about that happening to a lot of people.
But, finding unneeded CODECS was fairly easy for me, because when I ran the CODEC TWEAK TOOL, it showed several entries from COREL and several entries from ULEAD in my registry and also in the "Common Files" folder of my Program Folder on the C-drive. I had used a trial version of the COREL program and I had the ULEAD Movie Producer (which came with my Canon video camera) installed on this PC before purchasing PD9. So, it was obvious that these items were left on the PC after the host program was installed. I don't think most providers care if they leave potentially interfering software on your computer after you've rejected their product. (TIP: Use REVO Uninstaller to remove programs, and it gets the leftovers. REVO received rave reviews on CNET, which is how I found this program several months ago.)
Here is how I removed the Corel and Ulead leftovers: (Will Use COREL for these instructions. Same for ULEAD, etc.)
1. Go to that program's leftover folder in the "Common Files".
2. Rename/Add some characters before it.. (i.e. COREL renamed to ZZZCOREL)
3. Restart the Computer.
4. Run CCleaner (or your preferred registry cleaner). It will flag all the registry entries related to COREL as "invalid"
5. Direct CCleaner to remove the entries.
6. Go back to the folder you renamed in step #2 and delete that folder entirely.
7. Run CCleaner again just to make sure you got everything.
8. Restart the computer and Run the CODEC TWEAK TOOL. You'll find that the COREL (or whatever the offenders were) are now gone from your PC.
After doing this for COREL and ULEAD, videos once again started to play clear and bright within the PD9 window. Also, my DVD's are producing quite a bit faster. Also, the finished DVD is clearer. At full screen on my 22" monitor, produced DVD's have always been a bit grainy looking with very fine vertical lines. Now, after removing these leftover CODECS, the DVD video is what I consider to finally be DVD-HQ quality. Nothing like the original Hi-Def footage, but nothing that I can find fault with.
Jerrys, I suppose the bottom line is that un-needed CODECS definitely can interfere with a sophisticated program like Power Director. But, great care must be taken with getting rid of only the ones that OBVIOUSLY should not be on your P.C.. Good luck!
-Allen in Chicago
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Thanks Carl and Mike for your advice on resolving the video display problem within the Power Director viewer. The end result was that I had (what I assume) were too many Codecs, or corrupted Codecs, because the degraded clarity just started occuring a few days before I started this thread.
I downloaded and ran the "Codec Tweak Tool" from free-codecs.com. It found 17 Codecs on my system. Some were left behind by other "trial" programs that I used before deciding on Power Director. (i.e. Ulead, Corel, etc.) I disabled the ones that were obviously not needed and also removed the ATI Codecs that I routinely download every month when AMD-ATI updates their Catalyst Drivers.
Now, the Preview Window inside Power Director looks just as clear and bright as when I view clips using Windows Media Player. As an added bonus, my videos now encode about 25% faster. 1 hour DVD-HQ encodes in 37 minutes verses 50 minutes prior to disabling the extra Codecs.
Perhaps Power Director likes the standard Windows7 Codecs the best, because I don't see any Codecs with a Cyberlink labeling when using the Codec Tweak Tool. Thanks again for taking the time to help, gentlemen!
Cheers,
Allen in Chicagoland
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Greetings Everyone,
Just floating out this experience to see if anyone else has the same PD9 issue with their video quality and to ask a CODEC question.
When I view a raw Hi-Def clip of my child's basketball game shot with my Canon HG10 video camera in Windows Media Player, the clip is bright, clear and and crisp. When I advance the clip frame-by-frame, there is very little blur. The video quality looks good even at full screen on a 22" monitor.
When I view the same clip in PD9(all updates/patches installed), before moving it to the timeline for editing, it's darker and more blurry when viewed frame-by-frame. There are also hundreds of thin, translucent vertical lines that are highly noticable when viewing at full-screen.
Does anyone else notice that video quality is degraded when viewing in the PD9 window as compared to viewing in the Media Player that comes with Windows?
I suspect that it may be a CODEC issue. Is there a way to "force" Power Director to use whatever Codec that Windows Media Player uses...or some Codec other than the one that comes bundled with the PD9 software? (I'm assuming that there is some sort of Cyberlink codec built into the PD9 software.)
If the Library view is degraded, doesn't that mean that by the time the video is placed in the Timeline and then burned to DVD, that the end product video is more inferior than it needs to be?
Thanks in advance for any input and guidance.
-Allen in Chicagoland
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PD10 does not support a SP option for 2hrs video on a single 4.7GB DVD like some previous version of PD.
Jeff
THANK-YOU for this VALUABLE bit of information JLJL! All I do is burn raw footage to DVD for training purposes (with minimal editing)and having an SP Option is very important. I was considering upgrading to PD10, but you've saving me from the trouble. Is there Anything else that has been stripped from PD10 that was in the prior version?
In gratitude..
-Allen in Chicago
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There is a very good reason why companies taper off (or completely drop) support for older versions of their products: some of them learned the hard way that supporting discontinued products can suck them dry.
Ever heard of SDS (Scientific Data Systems)? Probably not. They were known for taking very good care of their existing products and customers. Unfortunately that came at the expense of developing new products and acquiring new customers.
Like it or not, the computer business is an arms race and devil take the hindmost.
It appears that cellphones are the same way. My once cutting-edge Samsung Epic-4G is now obsolete just 18 months after it was introduced. No more software updates...probably for the same reason. It's also likely that Samsung does not want customers to hang on to a phone. They only make money when we buy a new one.
-ac
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There's a free program that you can download called "Speccy" from Piriform.com. Among other things, It reports the temperature of your CPU, Graphics Card and Motherboard. Beginning last month, my graphics card temperature would reach the yellow (caution) range while rendering video during the DVD pre-burn process. The Motherboard and CPU temperature would get close to yellow range.
After doing a bit of research, I came across a blog post that described how dust builds up on the circuitry due to the fans circulating air through the machine. This thin layer of dust acts as a blanket which reduces the circuit boards ability to efficiently radiate away heat.
I removed the case, unplugged the PC and used a can of compressed air to blow dust off the circuit boards, fans and heat sink. It worked like a charm because the computer temps now stay well within normal range no matter what the load. This computer is less than two years old and I don't live in a dusty/dirty house or environment. So it would seem that any free standing PC is subject to dust build-up and needs to have it removed from time to time. We have an older DELL computer that would simply shut-down after a couple of hours. I gave it the same treatment last week and it now runs much quieter and without doing an auto shut-down.
As vn800rider pointed out, High Temperature is indeed a huge enemy to modern P.C.'s. Just a little TLC can make them run smoother, quieter and longer.
-Allen
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Has anyone ever tried applying a patch from a later version of PD to an earlier version of PD? Someone here said that PD10 is almost identical to PD9. So, I'm wondering if we can download the just-released PD10 patch and apply it to the PD9 program? In theory, it should work, since PD9 and PD10 are almost identical.
I'm asking about the potential of this working, here in the forum, before deciding whether or not to give it a try.
Thanks in advance for any feedback and/or advice!
-AC
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Nicolas in New York,
If you look at the history of Power Director updates over recent years at this link,
( http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/support/powerdirector/patches_en_US.html )
when a new version of Power Director is released, there are no further updates to the version it replaced. So, in a nutshell it would appear that there will be no more PD9 updates/patches. It would seem that Cyberlink will be focusing on PD10 exclusively...until PD11 rolls out.
-Allen
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Since Cyberlink seems to come out with a new version of Power Director near the end of each year, there is a good chance that we'll see "Power Director 10" in a few months?
If so, what new features, fixes, or interface enhancements would make you upgrade to PD10 immediately, or within a few months of its release? Maybe Cyberlink Power Director development team members visit this forum and would appreciate the input.
-Allen
I had no idea when I started this thread with the above question that everyone was so passionate about their desired PD10 features. Since my projects are simple, all I want is faster burning of DVD's with clearer output and "Burning Error" messages with a better explanation of the cause of the error. In short an improved DVD burning module.
Now that PD10 has arrived, I'll be monitoring that forum to see what feedback is posted regarding DVD rendering/burning. If it's improved, I'll upgrade to PD10.
-Allen
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