So you want somebody to tell you it's the fault of the program, it just doesn't work with over clocked hardware and obsolete operating systems!

Sorry I can't tell you that nearly 100% of users have little to no issues with the program, so maybe you need to share more about your system, post a DxDiag.txt, as per the sticky which I'm sure you have read.

Get a mindset that the problem is going to be with your setup and a path to recovery may be found.

Windows 7 X64 SP1
ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA1366 X58
Intel core I7 950 3.80 GHZ CPU
12Gb Corsair TR3X3G1600C8D Tri channel
Corsair H70 Water cooling
Corsair HX1000W PSU
nVidia GTX 980
Intel 240Gb SSD 520 Series
2 x Seagate 1 Tb

Which operating system do you use, W7, Vista, XP? VISTA 64Which version of PD, See Part A below 11
What kind of video source material used (codec / container), extension? .MP4
What anti-virus solution is installed on your PC? NONE (There are no active viruses, just trust me)
What codec packs installed? SHARK007
What other video editing programs are installed - just in case there is a software conflict. CINEFORM
What burning software is installed on your PC? NONE, I REMOVE THEM AFTER USE.
What background processes / programs running (especially important for problems with the burning)? STANDARD WINDOWS REQUIREMENTS, NVIDIA DRIVERS, ECT. THERE ARE NO AFTERMARKET APPLICATIONS RUNNING OTHER THAN CINEFORM (I HAVE TRIED CLOSING IT, NO CHANGE)
Provide the dxdiag log file as an attachment, see Part B below ATTACHED TO OP

audiobahn1000,
welcome to the forum. Although the tech side is not my best area, I do see a few things in your dxdiag.
Your Core 2 is a bit on the weaker side, but my DM1 is weaker, but works OK, within reason.
Vista is reported to not play well with PowerDirector, not sure about other NLE's.
You need more RAM, though only 64bit can access more than 4g RAM.
Your video card SLI setup, others hopefully will chime in.
All in all, I submit you need a few more horsies under the hood, but, again, my DM1 plods along and I get things done, but patience is a virtue.
Other ideas? Clean out temps, use Ccleaner, defrag, try with hardware accelleration off/on. Make sure your media is not on an external drive.
I'm kinda homing in on Vista, and not enough RAM. 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

Thank's for the help. However, it's not a RAM issue. I left the resource monitor open for four hours while using the program and the RAM usage never went over 60%. The absolute most RAM I witnessed PD using was 1.7GB, and that was while encoding the video. Furthermore, I am not getting many hard faults while using the program, which I would be getting had I needed more RAM. The program is certified by the manufacturer to be compatible with Vista, so I am not sure how that could be it.

On my DM1 I am rendering the "Nature" sample with a few FX and my RAM usage is 48% of 6g, so I'm using nearly 3g of it.
Anecdotal evidence on this forum seems to indicate Vista is not the best, though it works.
Your preview window has several settings for display quality.
On a lower-powered machine you can lower the preview resolution to ease the strain, this will not affect the final outcome of your video.
You must remember, the preview forces the computer to assemble and play the video, very very stressful.
You can also enable shadow files in preferences, this will force the computer to generate low-res copies of your media files, which will automatically replace the files in your timeline. This takes time, though, to generate the files, if you try this route, please wait to resume editing until the shadow (proxy) files are done, indicated by a yellow arrow that turns green. The arrows will be easily seen, one on each HD file, in your project library.
You might even want to blow out your fans and make sure you are not over-heating.
Last note...Hi-def video is the heavy hammer that shows the weaknesses of many machines, it is much more resource-hungry than most any gaming. Many folks have bought HD cameras, only to get home and realize their computer is just not up to the task, especially if you start adding FX, music, multiple timelines, transitions, etc. 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

Overclocked?
Under powered for Full HD,
Add in an effect or change and your system will/is going to crash sometime soon.

I have tried to run full HD editing on a similar set up and failed. Overclocking is something I ceased to do yonks agao on a system that was being stressed by video editing.

A screenshot of the Edit Workspace will show editors what you're actually trying to achieve and how on your set up. Please provide.

My opinion: Get a better computer to do HD editing with, your whole experience will change.

Dafydd

Quote: Overclocked?
Under powered for Full HD,
Add in an effect or change and your system will/is going to crash sometime soon.

I have tried to run full HD editing on a similar set up and failed. Overclocking is something I ceased to do yonks agao on a system that was being stressed by video editing.

A screenshot of the Edit Workspace will show editors what you're actually trying to achieve and how on your set up. Please provide.

My opinion: Get a better computer to do HD editing with, your whole experience will change.

Dafydd

I have tried disabling the overclock, that makes things worse, not better. That only makes sense since the entire point of overclocking is to increase system performance. I am not playing video back in full HD, I am playing it back in "high quality" mode which I suspect is 480p. I have tried dropping it as low as it goes, to low quality, and that helps to an extent, but it does not prevent system hangs. I made a video of the program in use. I cued to a few different places on the timeline and played the video back. You can see the latency problems in the video. At the end of the video I show the resource monitor. Although the CPU usage is at 100%, that is not from PD11. It is mostly from VLC as it was encoding the video you are watching in real-time. The average CPU usage of PD11 was only 30%.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt1scOr0Xlg&feature=youtu.be

You might try going to the Event Viewer in Vista and look at the error logs. Here is a link that explains how to get there, if your not already familiar. http://www.petri.co.il/vista-event-viewer.htm

I would also consider un-installing Power Director and re-install,as it may be a corrupted install.

Good Luck Asus Maximus Exreame-Z
i7 2600K @ 4.6GHZ
OCZ Vertex 4
16 GIG DDR-3
Corsair Obsidian 800D
Corsir H-80
ATI 6950
Windows 8 x64

Also, I have an issue where every time I try to start the program the program tells me I need to be in 1024x768 resolution or higher. Well I am in 720p, so I meet that requirement. It seems like the only workaround is to select the 1024x768 resolution, open the program, then switch back to 720p.

If you will change your Video resolution to 1280x768 Powerdirector will start and run normally.

I agree that 1280x720 is higher resolution than 1024x768. But the way the program checks, it looks at the vertical resolution and if that is less then 768, it throws up the message.

No other screen resolution has that behaviour.

I use 1280x768 all the time because of that quirk. That does not effect the video on the screen to tell that it is not 1280x720.

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.