Bottom line on power director (in my opinion for what it's worth) it has it's quirks and problems, but then I have never seen any new software that didn't. Everything gets worked out over time through updates, patches, and fixes. You just have to be patient.
I have used PD7 since it first came out, and was very frustrated with it at first. Downloading the updates helped and my reading and learning also helped.
When it was time to upgrade my software, I went shopping around first. I remembered all the problems I had in the beginning with 7 and didn't want to repeat them again. I downloaded and tried every program out there that was compatable with XP. I'm talking adobe premiere, sony vegas pro, corel, pinacle, and a few others I can't remember. I was perfectly willing to spend$500 or more on good software for my video business. I found only one that I liked better than PD9, but decided not to buy it when it took all night to render a simple project that I was testing! PD9 is much faster than the competetion.
In the meantime, I am visiting this forum to find answers and to offer what I can, and working though the problems.