That's my whole point. Before I started I put the files in a working folder and not moved or renamed them.
I had response from cyberlink and they said I should have saved as packed project.
If this is the case why when you select save as you only get .pds as option ? What is that for then?
Also the autosaved is .pds.
I have not moved or renamed anything.
I think installation did not work properly as I have another pc I installed on and both autosaved and save as .pds still work with no black thumbnails. Guess I will re install on home pc.

The one thing I can suggest is, whichever file type you start with(from your camera), convert it to a video file type which is "friendlier" to the version of Power Director you're using, the best types to convert to would be MPEG2(SP or HQ) MP4, WMV(Highest quality). The one to avoid here is AVI as it can gobble up the gigabytes.(Hmmm, "gobble up the gigabytes", nice catch-phrase! LOL).

Cheers!

Neil.

Quote: That's my whole point. Before I started I put the files in a working folder and not moved or renamed them.
I had response from cyberlink and they said I should have saved as packed project.
If this is the case why when you select save as you only get .pds as option ? What is that for then?
Also the autosaved is .pds.
I have not moved or renamed anything.
I think installation did not work properly as I have another pc I installed on and both autosaved and save as .pds still work with no black thumbnails. Guess I will re install on home pc.

The packed project option for PD 8 is File > Export > Pack Project Materials. (To the best of my Memory). I no longer have PD 8 installed anywhere.

The File > Save Project or Save Project As are for saving the pds file. It does not save the actual videos. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote: That's my whole point. Before I started I put the files in a working folder and not moved or renamed them.
I had response from cyberlink and they said I should have saved as packed project.
If this is the case why when you select save as you only get .pds as option ? What is that for then?
Also the autosaved is .pds.
I have not moved or renamed anything.
I think installation did not work properly as I have another pc I installed on and both autosaved and save as .pds still work with no black thumbnails. Guess I will re install on home pc.

You're quite right. You shouldn't need to save as a packed project unless you want to archive or move it to another computer. It does sound like there is a problem with your installation. If you're going to re-install make sure the old installation is thoroughly cleaned out. I'd suggest using something like Revo Uninstaller rather than the standard Windows uninstaller which tends to leave bits of the old installation scattered around, including in the registry. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64