Does anyone else notice that video quality is degraded when viewing in the PD9 window as compared to viewing in the Media Player that comes with Windows?

If the Library view is degraded, doesn't that mean that by the time the video is placed in the Timeline and then burned to DVD, that the end product video is more inferior than it needs to be?

No, it does not.

A DVD video is a lower quality video, DVD is standard definition only, 720x480 NTSC or 720x576 PAL.
If you want full HD quality you produce a Blu-Ray Video Disk.

The preview quality can be changed, click on the rectange below the time readout.

The preview in Powerdirector is just that...a preview.

You have to produce the video to see the final output. And play that produced video in an external player.

The preview in Powerdirector is not a full resolution view, it requires too much computer power to display a preview and do all of the editing tasks in HD.






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.

Hi Allen,

The attached image shows the preview resolution dialog to which Carl refers. The icon you click is at the top left-hand corner of the dialog box.

Whilst on the subject of codecs I would like to know why, when creating a new MPEG2 production profile, the frame order can only be set to Progressive or Top Field First as in the other screenshot. Why is there not a Bottom Field First option and is there any way to use an alternative codec to provide this option? 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

Thanks Carl and Mike for your advice on resolving the video display problem within the Power Director viewer. The end result was that I had (what I assume) were too many Codecs, or corrupted Codecs, because the degraded clarity just started occuring a few days before I started this thread.

I downloaded and ran the "Codec Tweak Tool" from free-codecs.com. It found 17 Codecs on my system. Some were left behind by other "trial" programs that I used before deciding on Power Director. (i.e. Ulead, Corel, etc.) I disabled the ones that were obviously not needed and also removed the ATI Codecs that I routinely download every month when AMD-ATI updates their Catalyst Drivers.

Now, the Preview Window inside Power Director looks just as clear and bright as when I view clips using Windows Media Player. As an added bonus, my videos now encode about 25% faster. 1 hour DVD-HQ encodes in 37 minutes verses 50 minutes prior to disabling the extra Codecs.

Perhaps Power Director likes the standard Windows7 Codecs the best, because I don't see any Codecs with a Cyberlink labeling when using the Codec Tweak Tool. Thanks again for taking the time to help, gentlemen!

Cheers,

Allen in Chicagoland

Quote: I downloaded and ran the "Codec Tweak Tool" from free-codecs.com. It found 17 Codecs on my system. Some were left behind by other "trial" programs that I used before deciding on Power Director. (i.e. Ulead, Corel, etc.) I disabled the ones that were obviously not needed and also removed the ATI Codecs that I routinely download every month when AMD-ATI updates their Catalyst Drivers.

Allen, how did you know which codecs were needed and which were not?

It seems that every time I look I have more codecs than before. Some come with programs, but others I installed on someone's advice when I had a problem.

I would dearly love to clean up this mess.

Me too. I downloaded the Codec Tweak Tool and it shows a few codecs that are currently disabled but a lot more (about 17) that are active. I'd really like to know which I could get rid of. 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

Quote: Me too. I downloaded the Codec Tweak Tool and it shows a few codecs that are currently disabled but a lot more (about 17) that are active. I'd really like to know which I could get rid of.

If they are OS installed Codecs, you can not and do not want to remove them.

Third party codecs should show up in uninstall programs. (Windows 7).

Codecs that were installed as a part of some program can only be removed by removing that program. PowerDirector installs codecs for its own use. Quicktime is an important part of Powerdirector, Quicktime provides encoders for MOV files.

If you installed ffdshow or K-lite codec pack, there should be an Uninstall in the Start menu.


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.

I haven't explicity installed any codec packs but, like Allen, I installed trial versions of several other video editors before settling on PowerDirector. They have all since been uninstalled but I'm just wondering if any of their codecs might have been left behind.

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

Quote: I haven't explicity installed any codec packs but, like Allen, I installed trial versions of several other video editors before settling on PowerDirector. They have all since been uninstalled but I'm just wondering if any of their codecs might have been left behind.

It is possible, however the codecs in your jpg, look like standard system codecs for Windows 7.

Anyway, your Tool has the ability to disable the codecs, you do not have to remove them, just disable.
Nice thing about disabling, you can re-enable by running that tool again.

The Indeo codecs are Windows and the Microsoft ones are Windows.

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.

Ok. Thanks Carl. I think I'll leave well alone. 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

Quote:

Quote: I downloaded and ran the "Codec Tweak Tool" from free-codecs.com. It found 17 Codecs on my system. Some were left behind by other "trial" programs that I used before deciding on Power Director. (i.e. Ulead, Corel, etc.) I disabled the ones that were obviously not needed and also removed the ATI Codecs that I routinely download every month when AMD-ATI updates their Catalyst Drivers.

Allen, how did you know which codecs were needed and which were not?

It seems that every time I look I have more codecs than before. Some come with programs, but others I installed on someone's advice when I had a problem.

I would dearly love to clean up this mess.

Hello Jerrys,
First off, let me state that I am not even remotely a video expert. If it wasn't for the suddenly degraded quality of video clips viewed inside PD9, I would not even had started investigating CODECS and what their role is in producing and viewing video. It was a very enlightening investigation and learning experience, but I still wasn't confident enough to do any really advanced cleaning of Codecs. And by all means, from what I've read, leave the FILTERS alone. You get rid of the wrong filter(s) and your DVD burner could stop working. I've read about that happening to a lot of people.

But, finding unneeded CODECS was fairly easy for me, because when I ran the CODEC TWEAK TOOL, it showed several entries from COREL and several entries from ULEAD in my registry and also in the "Common Files" folder of my Program Folder on the C-drive. I had used a trial version of the COREL program and I had the ULEAD Movie Producer (which came with my Canon video camera) installed on this PC before purchasing PD9. So, it was obvious that these items were left on the PC after the host program was installed. I don't think most providers care if they leave potentially interfering software on your computer after you've rejected their product. (TIP: Use REVO Uninstaller to remove programs, and it gets the leftovers. REVO received rave reviews on CNET, which is how I found this program several months ago.)

Here is how I removed the Corel and Ulead leftovers: (Will Use COREL for these instructions. Same for ULEAD, etc.)
1. Go to that program's leftover folder in the "Common Files".
2. Rename/Add some characters before it.. (i.e. COREL renamed to ZZZCOREL)
3. Restart the Computer.
4. Run CCleaner (or your preferred registry cleaner). It will flag all the registry entries related to COREL as "invalid"
5. Direct CCleaner to remove the entries.
6. Go back to the folder you renamed in step #2 and delete that folder entirely.
7. Run CCleaner again just to make sure you got everything.
8. Restart the computer and Run the CODEC TWEAK TOOL. You'll find that the COREL (or whatever the offenders were) are now gone from your PC.

After doing this for COREL and ULEAD, videos once again started to play clear and bright within the PD9 window. Also, my DVD's are producing quite a bit faster. Also, the finished DVD is clearer. At full screen on my 22" monitor, produced DVD's have always been a bit grainy looking with very fine vertical lines. Now, after removing these leftover CODECS, the DVD video is what I consider to finally be DVD-HQ quality. Nothing like the original Hi-Def footage, but nothing that I can find fault with.

Jerrys, I suppose the bottom line is that un-needed CODECS definitely can interfere with a sophisticated program like Power Director. But, great care must be taken with getting rid of only the ones that OBVIOUSLY should not be on your P.C.. Good luck!

-Allen in Chicago