Three suggestions:

1. Upgrade the video card. if possible. That Video card is on the low end of the GPU Charts.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Mobility+Radeon+HD+2400

It has 40 stream processing units, compared to the newer cards that have much more and faster processors.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/graphics/ati-mobility-hd-2000/hd-2400/Pages/hd-2400-specs.aspx

2. Get rid of Norton. Try the Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free and gets regular Virus and Spyware definitions updates from Microsoft.

3. Update your Powerdirector 9 Ultra to build 3305. It is stable, I have been using that build since it first became available.
http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/support/powerdirector/patches_en_US.html

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've updated to 3305 (again) since i posted this morning - a little snappier in the timeline but I am still waiting 7 seconds between each edit. Watching the little "busy" wheel spin and often waiting for the "PowerDirector has stopped responding - wait or cancel the program" to disappear.
I can not afford the new video card I want yet but why would hardware acceleration become unavailable after I did the driver upgrade PD9 told me to? It was available before, I think (too many re-installs), It certainly has been available and activiated sometime in the recent past.
PD9 performs better on my I3 laptop than it does here.
I've used MS security essentials and had a virus get through. Norton is getting the best ratings by the independent labs and it is not affecting the trial versions of other video software (32 bit) I am evaluating - which are out performing PD9 in editing (though not rendering, which is what thoroughly impressed me initially).
I am to the point of trading workflow speed for render speed.
I guess I can uninstall the new drivers and catalyst - Which wasn't on my system with the old driver.

By the way, thanks for the quick response, I would really like to PD9 functioning.

AMD/ATI is always changing the video drivers. Some work well and some do not work as well as the previous driver.
Hardware Acceleration requires the AMD Media Codec Package. Found in the Optional Downloads.

You can either go back to the video driver that worked best for you or you can keep trying the later versions until you find one that works well with your system.

You have not said how much free space you have on you C: drive, as that affects many parts of Powerdirector, it is most noticed in rendering and burning disks.

Nor have you said when was the last time you did a drive clean up. Windows C Drive properties has a clean up button on the General tab.

There are so many factors involved in the speed of processing video in the preview and how long it takes Powerdirector to 'catchup'.

The factors that make Powerdirector run smooth is a really fast CPU, Great graphics processing power, lots of RAM, lots of free space on the hard drive and Windows 7 64 bit OS.

Laptops are not known for video editing power.
However, there are getting to be more of them that are capable.

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.

189 Gb free out of 465
I am keeping my video files on an external usb3 drive 83 gb free of 465. The only thing being saved to C: is the auto save files.
I have cleaned and defragmented the drives within the past week.
I am using Windows 7 64 bit home premium.
I will check for the AMD driver you mention B4 I revert my video driver and start experimenting with different versions of the driver.

Thanks for the tips and making me think and of course anything else you might think of.

Quote: 189 Gb free out of 465
I am keeping my video files on an external usb3 drive 83 gb free of 465. The only thing being saved to C: is the auto save files.
I have cleaned and defragmented the drives within the past week.
I am using Windows 7 64 bit home premium.
I will check for the AMD driver you mention B4 I revert my video driver and start experimenting with different versions of the driver.

Thanks for the tips and making me think and of course anything else you might think of.

You free space is good if that is on the C drive.

You might be experiencing slow response because of the USB drive. I am surprised that you are having success using a USB drive for your editing.

USB drives have a bad habit of going to sleep. And the transfer speed is not that great. They are much slower than a internal hard drive.

You should transfer the videos to your internal hard drive while editing, Then when done, pack the project and store that on your external drives.

Nothing wrong with having the original material on external drives, but to edit you should transfer the videos and project to the internal drive.

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.

Really - OK - I thought these new usb3 drives were fast, though I haven't researched it at all. I read somewhere that I should not edit video on the same drive as my system so i will get my 640GB IDE cleaned up and use it for video editing soley - something I have been putting off anyway.

BTW I can't get to any of the AMD drivers today - I will keep trying.

Thanks again, i needed a fresh opinion - I am getting frustrated but I want to get PD9 back to impressing me.

Quote:

You should transfer the videos to your internal hard drive while editing, Then when done, pack the project and store that on your external drives.

Nothing wrong with having the original material on external drives, but to edit you should transfer the videos and project to the internal drive.

Just chiming into this thread to say "Thank-you Carl312" for the advice you gave to K9spy regarding transferring his video files to the PC's internal hard-drive for editing. After 2 years of using Power Director, my videos are now processing even faster, thanks to you! I frequently troll the PD9 forum looking for little nuggets of advice that Cyberlink fails to include in it's documentation. Carl, your knowledge and willingness to share is appreciated by more PD9 users (and even non-Cyberlink customers) than you can know. Thanks again.

Allen in Chicago

Thank You Allen in Chicago.

All I can do is try.
I make mistakes like everybody else, so sometimes I get it wrong.

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: Really - OK - I thought these new usb3 drives were fast, though I haven't researched it at all. I read somewhere that I should not edit video on the same drive as my system so i will get my 640GB IDE cleaned up and use it for video editing soley - something I have been putting off anyway.

BTW I can't get to any of the AMD drivers today - I will keep trying.

Thanks again, i needed a fresh opinion - I am getting frustrated but I want to get PD9 back to impressing me.

USB 3 drives are fast, but they are not as fast as an equal size internal drive.

I have a 1 TB USB 3.0 Drive and a 1 TB internal drive.

The Test results of those two drives on my system.

This first image is of the internal drive:




The USB 3.0 drive:


They are close, Internal drive is still faster.

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.

Well... I have moved everything to an internal SATA 7200rpm drive, replaced my video card with a new Geforce GT 545 (with the latest drivers 8-24-12) and I still crash! I was just about to upgrade to PD10 because 1 project worked with only 1 crash but my second has crashed half a dozen times in a half hour. Again I have a AMD FX-8120 with 8GB of DDR3 ram running Windows 7 64 bit. I use TOD, M2TS, MPG and MTS files and I believe all of them to be directly imported by PD9. I can not continue to crash and get any work done and I sure would appreciate any advice before I just give up and switch to another editor.

Quote: Well... I have moved everything to an internal SATA 7200rpm drive, replaced my video card with a new Geforce GT 545 (with the latest drivers 8-24-12) and I still crash! I was just about to upgrade to PD10 because 1 project worked with only 1 crash but my second has crashed half a dozen times in a half hour. Again I have a AMD FX-8120 with 8GB of DDR3 ram running Windows 7 64 bit. I use TOD, M2TS, MPG and MTS files and I believe all of them to be directly imported by PD9. I can not continue to crash and get any work done and I sure would appreciate any advice before I just give up and switch to another editor.

Did you re-install Powerdirector?

Have you removed all instances of any other installed Codec packages, such as K-lite or ffdshow?

Have you tried running Powerdirector in Windows Safe Mode?

Have you disabled your anti-virus software? (Disconnect from the internet if you do).

You have something running in the background on your computer that is causing Powerdirector to crash or stop working.

The most extreme method would be to do a Clean Install of Windows 7, that means you format the C drive and install a new copy of Windows 7. Then install only Powerdirector and any necessary programs.

If you have a clean environment, Powerdirector should not crash.

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 re-installed PD9 in a while, since you suggested build 3305 was stable.
If codec packages are not part of a program how do I know if I have any? I do have vlc player installed and 2 other video editors which work fine, but I miss the speed of PD9).
I will try in safe mode and with AV disabled.
I just reinstalled windows before I started this thread.

Thanks again

What are the other editors? PD may not be playing nice with them on the system. I have Cor**ProX4, they get along fine. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

The other editors ar Pinn**** Studio 14 and Son* Veg** studio platinum 11. I've had Pin**** 14 forever and I just bought Veg** 11 - the problem existed before Veg**.

I just ran successfully in safe mode (with networking because Rich video had to reinstalled as the service was not running). I only preformed a few edits but I couldn't do 1 before. (disabling AV did nothing)

So I'm getting somewhere - do you know how to start narrowinf the field of possible conflict/problems?

Other than Safe Mode, I suggest giving us a dxdiag file from your computer so we can see what else MIGHT be causing this.
It's easy, just attach the info as a file, rather than give us a HUGE LONG post.
Instructions/Part B:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7958.page HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

OK - I've attached the files.

Safe mode doesn't have sound - I suppose i could enable the audio services once in safe mode or possibly from msconfig.

Anyway thanks again

Quote: The other editors ar Pinn**** Studio 14 and Son* Veg** studio platinum 11. I've had Pin**** 14 forever and I just bought Veg** 11 - the problem existed before Veg**.

I just ran successfully in safe mode (with networking because Rich video had to reinstalled as the service was not running). I only preformed a few edits but I couldn't do 1 before. (disabling AV did nothing)

So I'm getting somewhere - do you know how to start narrowinf the field of possible conflict/problems?

Yes, it is a long process of elimination.

You use msconfig in selective startup mode and disable the Startup items and re-enable each one until you find the one causing problems. (Type msconfig in the text box on start menu).

You can start by using Diagnostic Startup on the General Tab. Procedure is make changes in msconfig, reboot computer, change setting, reboot, ETC...

There are two tabs of interest, Services and Startup.
Start with the Startup tab uncheck all, then enable until you find the problem process.
Then repeat for Services.

There are some of those startup items you must have running no matter what.
Such as Cyberlink Richvideo on the Services TAB. My computer has both 32 bit and 64 bit Richvideo running.

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.

New wrinkle - I thought I would create a new user in Windows (7), setup minimal startup and services and see if I could run PD9 here. I get a pop up telling me I can't activate the mpeg 2 component because I have either lost my internet connection or reached my activation limit (connection is good).

I have had this issue before when I installed PD9 on my new system. The solution was a reinstall (as per cyberlink ticket with link to download). SO, If I reinstall here am will I eliminate my ability to use PD9 on normal log in?

I have accepted the trial for mpeg 2 but I still crash on the first edit of this project- so I quess the second user might not be worth it anyway.

Also any comments on shadow file, enabling Cuda cores or hardware decoder? I only have Cuda cores enabled currently.

Thanks again.

Quote: New wrinkle - I thought I would create a new user in Windows (7), setup minimal startup and services and see if I could run PD9 here. I get a pop up telling me I can't activate the mpeg 2 component because I have either lost my internet connection or reached my activation limit (connection is good).

I have had this issue before when I installed PD9 on my new system. The solution was a reinstall (as per cyberlink ticket with link to download). SO, If I reinstall here am will I eliminate my ability to use PD9 on normal log in?

I have accepted the trial for mpeg 2 but I still crash on the first edit of this project- so I quess the second user might not be worth it anyway.

Also any comments on shadow file, enabling Cuda cores or hardware decoder? I only have Cuda cores enabled currently.

Thanks again.

New User is not the same as a new installation, the new user is still using the installed OS, if there is something bad in the OS, it would be bad for the new user, even a new user with administrative rights.

I fear that your environment of other Video Editors may be interfering with Powerdirector operations.
Something is happening on your system when in full operation, Safe Mode proved that.

On the Cuda or Hardware decoder, I would leave them disabled until you solve your main problem of Powerdirector crashing.

Do you have some extra Codecs installed?
Of course you do, you have other Video Editors installed.

What I mean Extra codecs, is something like ffdshow or k-lite codec pack.
It is the cross talking between codecs that will often cause Powerdirector to fail.

That is why we recommend that you only have Powerdirector installed, no other video editors.

If you were to bite the bullet, and do a clean install of Window 7 64 Bit and only install Powerdirector, you should have a trouble free environment.

I have no other video editors on my system except for Powerdirector. I do not experience Powerdirector crashing.

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.