Hey,

I'll try to give as honest an opinion as I can.

When I was looking for software (last year), I checked out a bunch of different editors. What I found was this:

Video Editors all have good things and bad things about them, you just have to figure out what it is you need and go with the software that has that/those features. For me, PowerDirector had a few of features that others didn't have. For one, it has a voice over option that I REALLY wanted. Second, it's an extremely well-rounded program (it does just about everything). Third, it's extremely easy to pick up and run with--compared with Premiere Elements 2 which I just couldn't figure out.

Anyway, all that to say, you need to figure out what you want in an editor and go with the one that has that/those feature(s). I wish I could be more help than that, but aside from this advice, I'll just be speaking from bias.

I love PowerDirector. I enjoy using it, it works well, it does just about everything I want it to.

Does that help at all, or makes things worse?

Shawn

Hi Matt,

I may be able to help you with your Vista issue and I can offer you some insight to PD6--

First of all, I too, was having a problem with getting PD to run on Vista. To fix the problem, what I did was run the 'compatibility wizard' on vista for PowerDirector. To do this, just go to your windows 'help' menu and type in 'compatibility wizard' in the search bar. This will bring up instructions and prompts for you to run PowerDirector. I chose to run it with Windows XP settings... do not adjust the display settings though-- when it asks you to check a display setting box, leave blank and click 'next'. It should then ask you which Operating System last worked with the program. Choose XP, since it seems to not like Vista yet. That's all, the program launched wonderfully without further ado.

Secondly, I spent about 3 months researching and researching editor software. Not wanting to spend thousands of dollars (...yet!) I went with the best simple software for the money. I found a cool website that offers reviews and it rated Power Director #1. After you copy and paste this link into your browser address bar scroll halfway down the page to see the reviews: http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/?ttreng=1&ttrkey=powerdirector

It IS very easy to use, it's very intuitive and has a plethora of features that are useful, creative and practical. So far, the only limitations I have found are within my imagination. As a creative editor, I can honestly say that I do enjoy using PowerDirector. I'm still learning each feature that it has, but when I run into a snag or can't figure something out, the help menu within the program is EXTREMELY useful and easy to navigate.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you are able to get it to work with Vista. I can't garantee you anything, but running the compatibilty wizard was all it took for me.

OK, now I am excited to give this a shot and see what happens. Sounds like you and I are in teh same boat. I am hoping to make a decision quicker just b/c I am impatient. Did you give ulead a shot? we can take this offline if you want. Just shoot me your email address and maybe you can offer me more in depth info on ulead vs. cyberlink.

I received a camcorder for Christmas and downloaded both the Ulead product and PowerDirector in January. Spent about a month working with both editing packages.

I was totally unfamiliar with video editing software and didn't really know everything the software could do. There are so many video formats, it is overwhelming at first. I ended up purchasing Cyberlink in February because it seemed easier to use and get a finalized product. I created video for DVD's, for uploading to YouTube, and playing on my Palm device.

As I continued to work with PowerDirector in February, I was just plain BLOWN AWAY at what the software can do.

I would highly recommend it.

I tried the compatability wizard and it didn't work. I can load hte program, just can't run it. Still says that my trial has expired. The support response I got said to remove and reinstall, didn't work. Go into registry and take out all references to powerdirector and that didn't work. Then they suggested that I just purchase the product and they offer a 30 day money back refund. I don't really like that option. Doesn't seem like the right fix from a company. Any other suggestions. if I can't get this to work as a trial, then I don't think that I will purchase. Anything?

Hi Matt,
Maybe you should wait for the Trial version of version 6. It will be released before middle of April.

I have had the software for about 12 hours now and to be honest, I am not that impressed. I bought it because of the great reviews and the Vista compatibility, but very disappointed in a few things:

1) Takes about 5 minutes to start the program

2) Takes about 10 minutes or even more for the program to find a capture device, every time I click on the "Capture" button.

3) My capture device (Hauppauge DV150 capture card) doesn't seem to be supported. It recognizes as a device with no problems but after trying to configure it, I don't get any pic or sound.

I was hoping to use this program to convert some of my VCR tapes to DVD and add some special effects, but I think that I wasted over $110 CDN for this program. It seems to be a good program if you don't mind waiting all the time and have a proper capture device. It seems to have a very slim selection of devices.

I really do wish that I would have waited a bit for the trial version, instead of paying alot of money for something I can't use.

Hi Buttermaker,
It's abnormal that takes 5 minutes to start and 10 minutes to find a capture device. Can you list your hardware configurations and the version and build number of your PowerDirector?

Hi Buttermaker,

Although I do ont have an answer for you on this one, I would like to say that I have a Hauppage capture card as well for my machine, but even with the host of issues I've had with my computer as a whole (I think Vista stinks, compatibility-wise with EVERYTHING) I have NOT had any issues with wait times for loading or capturing on PD. Hopefully it is simply a setting somewhere for you to change. Granted, I am only using the Trial Version 5 right now, but I am interested to learn if this is going to be a problem if I decide to purchase the full version of PD6. Thanks for asking that question-- I'm curious as to the result.

Well apparently, it is a Vista problem. I installed the program on my other hard drive, which has Windows XP on it and it runs great! Under XP, the program starts immediately and my Hauppauge PVR150 capture card is 100% compatible.

So you are right, Zach, Vista does stink as far as compatibility wise. Ironically, I have been using Pinnacle Studio plus on my XP for my video editing and decided to switch to PowerDirector since Studio Plus is not Vista compatible. Looks like there is a problem with PowerDirector 6 and Vista as well.

Looks like I will be using XP for my video editing and Vista for everything else until I figure something out