OK, I am experienceing the same issue with the trail version PD 9.
My desktop Specs: Pent 4 Dual core CPU, 6 Gig of Ram, Win 7, 64 Bit, Nvidia Gforce 8500GT(1 gig Video ram & Updated driver), Hard Disk Free Space=169 Gig...
Problem: With 11 short MPG2, HDV clips (total project time of 11 clips 3min 30 sec), from Canon HV 20 (1440x1080), I am getting the same slow response & freeze as original poster: "it freezes up for a bit and the Windows7 "spinnging circle" comes up and it doesnt respond. It comes back eventually but then I try and change something and it happens again"... I also have re-installed with no sucess.
Note that I have NO editing problems with these exact same 11 clips with Corel Video Studio X2, (which I had to use to complete my project). In fact Video Studio has easily handled HD files from my HV 20 even with only 4 Gigs of Mem, and now I have 6 Gigs. It was my expectation that Power Director 9 would take even greater advantage of my respectable 64 Bit system & specs, and handle these files with much greater efficiency. However it appears that PD 9 is suprisingly inneffective on my system.
While I am certainly willing to do some experimentation to get this feature rich program to function on my system, it sounds like the valiant forum attemps to resolve this issue are going into some great depths. I am begnning to feel that I don't want to have to work so hard to get this $100 program to work at least as well as the older Video Studio X2. I believe my system specs should be adequate enough to have PD 9 working. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Obviously, more than one person has this issue. If Cyberlink can get this resolved I would be happy to buy a copy of Power Director 9