Missing PD 10 Features

Gordon 7

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jan 29, 2012 15:45 Messages: 24 Offline

Solved by

Jan 30, 2012 09:48

I recently downloaded PD 10 trial and found no 'select all' on timeline, no 'set duration' for transitions except in preferences, no ability to test AVCHD, and NO HELP/GUIDE! I had to contact tech support to find out trial version is not a full feature version. Why was it not made clear before downloading? Even then I wasn't told I could download a PD10 guide, which I have just noticed for myself somewhere on this website. If Cyberlink are trying to put people off buying with this trial and poor information, they are making a good job of it!

Apart from that, the features don't seem much different to PD 8 and it certainly doesn't perform any better on my dual core PC. In fact it is slightly slower and more unreliable.

Features I was hoping for was at least more refined editing of colour and brightness, especially highlight and shadow, as dynamic range is a fundamental problem in photography and video. It would be nice to be able to limit edit to a chosen area of video but this might be too much to ask. I would also have liked more crop flexibility like being able to crop one or more edges independently. (as in excellent free programme, iWisoft Free Video Converter)

Other features I would like is ability to compare last edit with previous change rather than just original, especially in white balance. Plus I would like to be able to easily choose a small section of the edited video to quickly render as a test piece. It's a pain having to delete most of a video to get a small test clip and then click undo's to get it all back.
Also, stabilisation crops the video causing a jump in the scene. Couldn't this be smoothed out with a gradual change in frame size over a few frames? Stabilisation also doesn't cure see-saw type wobble and seems to make it worse.
I could think of a few more but that's the main stuff, though I admit I'm no expert. Gordon

BillHansen

Senior Member Joined: Jan 03, 2012 12:43 Messages: 178 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 12:08

I'm a newcomer, but I'd also like the ability to edit dynamic range (highlight/shadows) and the ability to review, side by side, the present edit of a clip with the last previous edit. As for playing a only a segment of video to assess the final quality of the editing (prior to rendering) I've had good luck using the HD Preview or the Full HD Preview features of PD 10 Ultra. I think those last two features aren't available in the DeLuxe version. For me, getting those two features was well worth the upgrade to Ultra.

If anyone has a trick which permits selective editing of dynamic range, that would be really nice to know.

Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY USA Bill Hansen

abslayer

Member Joined: Jan 17, 2012 09:17 Messages: 85 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 12:43

Cyberlink is very good at giving you a demo that nothing new works, great way to check out software isn't it. LOL

Just download Nero 11 demo same thing every thing you want to try to see if it is better than previous version is locked.
I am getting very distrustful of them , it is like they know if they let you try out full capability of new software you would not buy it .

And that is certainty the case with PD 10

Gordon 7

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jan 29, 2012 15:45 Messages: 24 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 14:18

WILHELM I need to test short clips after rendering as the finished video often looks different to PD preview, especially on my TV. It shouldn't be difficult for the programme writers to add simple features and improve basic editing if they can create fancy stuff like 3D. Gordon

BillHansen

Senior Member Joined: Jan 03, 2012 12:43 Messages: 178 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 14:36

This is Bill. Others have probably written that members of this forum aren't developers, but "just" users, trying to help one another. For me, the HD Preview, prior to rendering, works well. I know you realize that you could easily clip out a short bit of your rendered video, burn it, play it, and then go back and re-edit if you wish. Aside from that, as a newcomer to all this, I can't offer anything.

Bill Hansen Bill Hansen

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 15:08

Gordoz -

I've never used any trial version of PD, so I haven't come up against some of the things you have. I absolutely agree with you about a "trial" version that inhibits basic things, like using AVCHD... more like a PARTIAL TRIAL!

Some of things you've mentioned as "missing" are certainly not "missing" in the full version:
• limiting the area to be edited can be done by splitting the clip
• rendering a small section can be done with render preview or copying & pasting into a new project

True - some of the controls are a bit clunky if you want finer adjustment & cropping is limited to the AR of the project, but I doubt very much whether iWisoft Free Video Converter would be able to do 99% of the things PD can. Chalk & cheese. In any case, we all use a variety of tools to get what we want.

I'm not here trying to convince you of anything, or defending any spurious marketing strategies. It just seems to me that if you (a) had a TRIAL that allowed you to trial EVERYTHING & (b) spent more time geting to know PD, you'd be a lot happier with it.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Gordon 7

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jan 29, 2012 15:45 Messages: 24 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 19:44

Tony

Thanks for the tip Copy/Paste in a new project. It is quicker, although it still means pressing Ctrl and selecting each bit individually, including bits in other tracks like voice, then saving the original project, pasting test clip in a new one for rendering then reloading the original. It would be a nice feature just to choose a short section and render it. I like to see what it looks like on my TV. The preview windows don't play smoothly with fairly heavily edited clips on my PC, either in PD8 or PD 10 trial.
As for editing a limited area, I meant a part of the scene like sky or one corner which might be too bright. As far as I can see, if my sky is too bright I have to reduce brightness of the whole scene. I was pointing out some basic editing features that could be improved before they add fancy stuff like 3D.
I'll stick with PD 8 as it is more stable than this PD 10 trial and I can't see much that's an improvement for me. I only do basic editing.

Thanks anyway.
Gordon

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jan 30, 2012 20:05

The range selection tool will pick up all track within the selected range... then Ctrl + C > new project > Ctrl + V

If the preview doesn't play smoothly, drop the preview resolution...

- or invest some money in a faster GPU - http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gtx-590

Now I understand what you mean about editing particular areas. In PD, you could only do that with masking & it would only work if the shot was quite still (no pan or zoom). By the way, I wouldn't call that "basic editing".

You'll find many members & other PDusers who'd agree that the BASICS should be right before launching headlong into 3D.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Gordon 7

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jan 29, 2012 15:45 Messages: 24 Offline

Jan 31, 2012 08:20

Tony
Thanks for pointing out the range selection tool. That's exactly what I wanted and is even the colour I imagined it to be. I must read the help files in PD8 more carefully.
I will still be sticking to PD8 until they add Highlight/Shadow edit. I think they have that in Sony Vegas but I couldn't get to grips with that trial.

Cheers Gordon