Augie,

Does the option that you are selecting change the aspect ratio so that the image is stretched, or does it automatically crop off the top and bottom of your 4:3 clip?

How did you capture your Sony Handycam 8mm tapes?

Not to get off topic, but to share some experience with you on converting from 4:3 to 16:9, here are some things I have discovered.

I use the Power Tools / Crop function to modify the aspect ratio of my clips from 4:3 to 16:9. This takes some time because you have to work with each clip to capture the parts that are important to you since you will be losing about 30% of your video image.

I've had some problems with some Compact VHS video captured to a DVD, then converted from VOB to MPEG-2. If I try to resize the video window it distorts the aspect ratio. This doesn't seem to happen with my 8mm and Hi 8mm files which were captured directly from a Digital 8 camcorder to AVI and MPEG-2 files.

~Tim

Tim,

Thanks for the informative response. The option I am trying to use actually stretches the image. I do not notice anything being cropped. I captured the video via another software tool and it created a .mpg file that I imported into PD9.

I took a look at the method you employ. It would definely take more work and I would lose some key portions of the clips. Not sure I want to take this route. But, it doesn't seem that allowing PD9 to change the aspect is workable either. I don't mind a little distortion, but having the software bomb is not good. I'm thinking it's a bug.

Augie

I got it figured out (kinda), so I thought I'd share the answer.

I had initially did some up front titles/transitions, then I dragged in the video.

This time, I turned off all the hardware acceleration options and dragged the video clip onto the timeline. Then I changed the aspect ratio. I did all this before doing anything else. It all seems to work. Then I added my up front titles/transitions, went on to split the video, etc. PD9 gave me no more trouble.

I think the secret is to always drag your video into the Timeline first, then alter the aspect. I turned off the hardware acceleration because I suspect it may contribute to this or other problems. It's a cutie feature, but I'm not sure it really helps.

It seems that some others would have run into this same problem, I'm surprised that this hasn't been discussed already....or maybe it has and I couldn't find it Anyway, it sure would be nice to get a warning message, rather than let Windows bomb.

Augie

I find that Power Director 9 is not very stable. You just have to look at it and it crashes. Customer service doesn't read, write, or speak English very well and doesn't understand the problems when I report them. I see I'm not the only person having problems with version 9.

Yeah, PD9 is kinda buggy, no question about that. I think they saved money by eliminating their Quality Control group, ha ha. What's more alarming is that there is no communication or recognition of these problems coming from Cyberlink that would give some comfort level that they understand/hear their customers and are working on solutions. They just stay quiet.

Hopefully, we'll see a release with some more fixes soon. Some kind of timetable from Cyberlink would be nice, but probably just wishful thinking.

I like this product, but it is a challenge to deal with the issues.

Augie

Here is a copy of the Cyberlink customer service manual?

1. Tell the customer that the problem is their fault, never say that the problem is caused by a bug in the program.
2. Tell the customer to uninstall everything in their computer and reinstall everything. That will discourage them so they go away and stop bothering us.
3. If that doesn't satisfy the customer, repeat steps 1 and 2 so you can go back to playing on Facebook until you are bothered by the next customer complaint.

Hi Augie

I am running PD9 64bit and although I do experience the odd "PD has stopped responding" message
I get a white washed out screen and the option to shut down or wait for PD to respond.
However unlike a real crash, when I restart PD9 and let the program recover the file, I find
that it has all but the last few actions intact and I am able to carry on editing etc.

When I experience a PD crash during rendering (produce) I find that the render that was in
progress at the time of the crash has been saved to disk. Again it is possible to continue
more or less from the crash point, and add the rest of the production to the end of the
already rendered portion.
How the rendered file is correctly closed at the point of the crash I do not understand, but it is
certainly an improvement on days gone by when the file would have been virtually unrecoverable.

I assume this is a feature of PD and or the Windows 64bit operating system.

Are you not able to salvage any of your work ?

Patrick

Patrick, thanks for the response. Actually, I am only using the editing and create disc portions of PD9. I capture in a different software product and I skip the produce step, as I don't need the rendered file, and go directly to create the disc. Putting the video in the timeline as the absolute first step is the real solution here. Anything else done first messes it up. So far, I'm good now.

Thanks,

Augie