I just discovered something. I have restarted my PC into safe mode and removed the Nvidia driver with Display Driver Uninstaller DDU. In safe mode after removing the Nvidia driver I started PD. Strangly enough the preview is much better. I restarted my PC in normal mode and for the display driver the standard Microsoft display driver is used. Max resolution is 1920 x 1080. The preview is much better without the Nvidia driver.

Then I installed the oldest Nvidia Studio driver for Windows 11, version 472.12.

Started PD and did a hardware optimize. Deleted the cached files (rendered), preview on HD resolution and rendering on.

Preview is terrible again!

I still believe this issue is caused by PD and not the Nvidia driver. Somehow the interface between PD and the Nvidia driver is causing problems.

With other video editing software no problems at all!

Where can I download an older version of PD? Would be interesting to try if an older version of PD works better.

Attached the dxdiag file again.

Quote I just discovered something. I have restarted my PC into safe mode and removed the Nvidia driver with Display Driver Uninstaller DDU. In safe mode after removing the Nvidia driver I started PD. Strangly enough the preview is much better. I restarted my PC in normal mode and for the display driver the standard Microsoft display driver is used. Max resolution is 1920 x 1080. The preview is much better without the Nvidia driver.

Then I installed the oldest Nvidia Studio driver for Windows 11, version 472.12.

Started PD and did a hardware optimize. Deleted the cached files (rendered), preview on HD resolution and rendering on.

Preview is terrible again!

I still believe this issue is caused by PD and not the Nvidia driver. Somehow the interface between PD and the Nvidia driver is causing problems.

With other video editing software no problems at all!

Where can I download an older version of PD? Would be interesting to try if an older version of PD works better.

Attached the dxdiag file again.

I'd try a clean install of Nvidia drivers and do custom install, only select graphic driver, that's it, see if any better preview experience.

Jeff

Quote

I'd try a clean install of Nvidia drivers and do custom install, only select graphic driver, that's it, see if any better preview experience.

Jeff

I already tried that. Doesn't improve the preview

Quote I already tried that. Doesn't improve the preview

Your dxdiag clearly shows you are still using Nvidia audio driver so highly unlikely only graphic driver was selected, at least on last install and also prior posted dxdiag. Oh well, best option then is to wait for your CL support resolution. GeForce Experience and ShadowPlay had some issues with PD.

Jeff

Quote I already tried that. Doesn't improve the preview

Follow the steps exactly as shown here, but make sure to UNCHECK EVERYTHING except the Graphics Driver

Quote

Follow the steps exactly as shown here, but make sure to UNCHECK EVERYTHING except the Graphics Driver

Hi,

I have tried that also, but no improvement. On the other hand, why do all other video editing software work fine and PD not?

Quote

Your dxdiag clearly shows you are still using Nvidia audio driver so highly unlikely only graphic driver was selected,

Jeff

I am not an expert and not really sure what you mean? Do I also have to uninstall the Nvidia audio driver? I have a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro motherboard, so audio is managed by the build in soundcard in the motherboard?

Quote I am not an expert and not really sure what you mean? Do I also have to uninstall the Nvidia audio driver? I have a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro motherboard, so audio is managed by the build in soundcard in the motherboard?

If you followed optotdata picture guide, one would easily see the HD Audio Driver. Since you followed that and unchecked everything but the Graphics Driver, and did the clean install, you did as suggested, but apparently still no improvement.

As a last result, try unchecking pref > Hardware Acceleration both items for now. Close PD and restart, this will remove the GPU from doing any timeline decoding during playback. Check if any improvement.

Jeff

Quote I have tried that also, but no improvement. On the other hand, why do all other video editing software work fine and PD not?

That's like me asking "why does PD run perfectly on many thousands of other systems but not on yours?" It's clearly something specific to your computer, and unfortunately all the volunteers who've been trying to help can't answer that question.

In my experience, something like this can usually be improved by resetting Windows, or in the worst case, starting over and installing Windows and all your other apps from scratch. Some people have done that and completely solved their issues, but others find that too much of an imposition just to use a video editing program.

I can't tell you whether it's worth it or not for you, but take a look at this post and this one for more info on those options.

Quote

That's like me asking "why does PD run perfectly on many thousands of other systems but not on yours?" It's clearly something specific to your computer, and unfortunately all the volunteers who've been trying to help can't answer that question.

In my experience, something like this can usually be improved by resetting Windows, or in the worst case, starting over and installing Windows and all your other apps from scratch. Some people have done that and completely solved their issues, but others find that too much of an imposition just to use a video editing program.

I can't tell you whether it's worth it or not for you, but take a look at this post and this one for more info on those options.

Hi,

I agree and reinstalling Windows 11 on my PC is the final option. Going to reinstall Windows 11 this week on my PC. Hopefully that will solve the issue I am having with PD.

I will post a message this week when I have tested PD again on a fresh installed PC.....

I give up!!

Reinstalled my desktop PC again with a fresh installation of Windows 11. Installed the latest driver for my videocard (Nvidia studio driver) and even lowered the quality settings in PD. The preview is still terrible! When I move the timeline over a videoclip it is real shaky and not stable and smooth.

I am getting very frustrated about Powerdirector and not sure what is wrong??

I really give up now and going to look for a better altenative then PD.

Just installed the trial version of Filmora and it works perfect! Preview is really smooth even on the highest quality settings.

Thanks everyone for all the help but PD is not going to work for me

I'm so sorry that reinstalling Windows didn't help. Again I'm really puzzled by what you'd reported and I don't think anyone can blame you for wanting to move on to something that works better on your system.

I hope things work out for you with your new editor!

You never indicated if you tried the suggestion 5 posts up.

Since you said it worked best with no driver, that should essentially mimic that behavior, CPU doing all the timeline decoding. This could be the reason at least some editors work fine for you, they may not use hardware decoding for the timeline. Have you monitored GPU usage of those codes to validate your GPU is being used for hardware accelerated decoding?

Or, put a wmv in PD's timeline, does it playback okay. Since hardware decoding is not used for wmv, another simple test. Or simply move on.

Jeff

Quote You never indicated if you tried the suggestion 5 posts up.

Since you said it worked best with no driver, that should essentially mimic that behavior, CPU doing all the timeline decoding. This could be the reason at least some editors work fine for you, they may not use hardware decoding for the timeline. Have you monitored GPU usage of those codes to validate your GPU is being used for hardware accelerated decoding?

Or, put a wmv in PD's timeline, does it playback okay. Since hardware decoding is not used for wmv, another simple test. Or simply move on.

Jeff

Hi,

I tried hardware acceleration and without it. No improvement. Also imported a wmv into the timeline and the preview is even worse. When I move the timeline over the clip it looks like a lot of frames are skipped in the preview.

Checked the GPU usage when doing this: GPU usage is around 4% CPU usage around 24% when moving the timeline over the wmv clip.

It looks like that PD 21.3 in combination with the latest Nvidia studio driver for the RTX3070 is the root case of the issue I am having.

Quote When I move the timeline over the clip it looks like a lot of frames are skipped in the preview.

Can you clarify that statement a little bit. It sounds as if you are manually moving the timeline scrubber along the video at probably a reasonable rate and expect what in the preview window? This manually moving the scrubber is probably the only way to get 24% CPU usage, vs just timeline playback for a basic wmv on a Ryzen 7 3700X. Or, are you simply playing the video in the timeline, watching the scrubber move and the playback is rough?

Jeff

Quote

Can you clarify that statement a little bit. It sounds as if you are manually moving the timeline scrubber along the video at probably a reasonable rate and expect what in the preview window? This manually moving the scrubber is probably the only way to get 24% CPU usage, vs just timeline playback for a basic wmv on a Ryzen 7 3700X. Or, are you simply playing the video in the timeline, watching the scrubber move and the playback is rough?

Jeff

Hi,

I captured the preview both in Filmora and in Powerdirector. Uploaded the clips to my Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tsOVWLK2Vwa_3WxOIOpTZLDfzBybarpP?usp=sharing

Quote Hi,

I captured the preview both in Filmora and in Powerdirector. Uploaded the clips to my Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tsOVWLK2Vwa_3WxOIOpTZLDfzBybarpP?usp=sharing

Totally expected behavior with PD, I'd suggest move on.

As a side note, after all this discussion, nothing was every wrong with your platform, totally expected PD behavior with manually scrubbing a compressed video timeline like that and just a total misunderstanding of what created a choppy preview.

Jeff

Quote

Totally expected behavior with PD, I'd suggest move on.

As a side note, after all this discussion, nothing was every wrong with your platform, totally expected PD behavior with manually scrubbing a compressed video timeline like that and just a total misunderstanding of what created a choppy preview.

Jeff

Well, if this is totally expected with PD, then the preview in PD is really crappy

I have used different other video editing software and the preview is so much better!

• Movavi
• Filmora
• Da Vince Resolve
• Magix Video Deluxe
• Shotcut

I even disabled audio scrubbing but the preview is in my honest opinion still crappy compared to the other software.

Previewing a clip in the timeline should be very smooth, otherwise editing makes no sense at all.

Quote Well, if this is totally expected with PD, then the preview in PD is really crappy

I have used different other video editing software and the preview is so much better!

• Movavi
• Filmora
• Da Vince Resolve
• Magix Video Deluxe
• Shotcut

I even disabled audio scrubbing but the preview is in my honest opinion still crappy compared to the other software.

Previewing a clip in the timeline should be very smooth, otherwise editing makes no sense at all.

That is the behavior of PD's timeline when scrubbing as I identified with your high CPU usage with a basic wmv file. Fluidity of the timeline while randomly scrubbing and even playback with some corrected content is definitely not a strong point of PD. If you need idealized scrubbing for proper editing, you'd have to use an intermediate codec video in PD for editing so each frame is a full pic and no decoding needs to take place as you randomly move scrubber at a high pace along timeline. Obviously both plus and minus to this path or approach but it will scrub smoothly.

Jeff

The Op states that his laptop with an i5-6300u mobile cpu of 2 core/4 thread runs PD smoother than his amd 8 core/16 thread cpu desktop. There is about a 7X passmark difference. Shadow files are finished and are used in the screen recording. The clip on the timeline is 9.5 seconds long. It does show a choppy display when scrubbing when compared to the filmora screen recording.

Place the PD365 Mountainbiker sample clip on the timeline, expand the scale, scrub back and forth and see a much smoother display and scrolling effect like much of his filmora screen recording. Do not have shadow files enabled. I do wonder if the difference is that PD software favors Intel CPUs over AMD.

Quote I do wonder if the difference is that PD software favors Intel CPUs over AMD.

That's what I am thinking too. Cyberlink support still hasn't got a solution. PD is a real dissapointment. I have spend hours to get PD working, but nothing seems to help.

The preview is really terrible and useless when I want to edit a video. Really giving up and asked for a refund.

Hopefully an update of PD will solve this issue in the future.