Good news, so far. I continued - I'm so behind - on Day 6 of eight days of my fall aspen trip to Colorado. Before continuing, I decided to do the following with .MOV clips in this project: I highlighted them (the ratio of .mov to .m2ts clips is 1:100 in these projects so this was the least amount of work) and copied them to a new workspace. I then created an MKV file (has the same resolution and frame rate) that included all of the .MOV clips and stored.

Then I opened my current project and imported that MKV file. I did a simple split to separate the clips, and moved and overwrote each .MOV file with its MKV clip.

Then I proceded with all sorts of edits that I pointed out in the past that I suspected would cause things to screw up, like audio clips moving from their respective videos in both directions, or on top of each other.

To my surprise, I could not reproduce the problem that I have struggled with in PD10 and 11.

I'll keep watching as I finish all my projects, but I feel confident this will solve my problems.

Any ideas on how to convert these files any easier than how I did it?

Thanks everyone! Dafydd, you were a great help. Thanks for sticking with me. I suppose Cyberlink would not care to help in preventing a user from this pitfall, right?

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

I celebrated too early. I took a 4-second still and overwrote the first part of a video clip, using its audio to provide some audio for the still shot. Minutes later I discovered that downstream some audio was displaced. One was of the new MKV I made out of the .MOV and the other from the m2ts video. A couple of them were overlaps, otherwise some in a row were shifted upstream a few seconds. Sigh.

One step forward, two steps backward.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

It's intolerable. I moved a series of stills with transitions downstream. Then when I previewed it, the audio from the clip that was in that spot played, even though the clip with audio was shown correctly downstream. Getting out and back in to PD now showed correctly where it has slipped to.

Also, I gave in to tempation and used overlapping transistions that provide a fade along with the audio overlap. The series of 6 video clips were screwed up and I had to remove each transition to correct the audio placements and add the transitions again.

I'm not sure if replacing the .MOV files accomplished anything.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Hi Watercolorwilly,
OK, I'm jumping in and guessing here.
1. I would not use the mkv extension - it's just a carrier format for the original codec used.
2. I would suggest the same as James1 did earlier and place the 4:3 footage over a 16:9 background and render that footage to AVCHD/mts/M2TS*
3. I would render your mts DVD footage as a test/check to one that SVRT can be used.
4. *That's the format you've rendered the DVD to using SVRT.

You appear to be experiencing track slippage with audio separating and moving in the tracks. Have you attempted to "Group" media together using the right click options (click a media file in the tracks). You can also work in different tracks and lock them when a task is completed. You can also segment your full project into smaller projects and bring together a group of pds/project files into one project using File/Insert.

I'd like to see the issue - a recent screenshot if this issue continues.

Track slippage is often a product of the style and selection in the way you edit. The "Delete" options chosen correctly prevent slippage while incorrectly selected and slippage will happen. The addition of a transition will create an overlay of audio and video or a different transition wont. Default transition selection is set in Preferences. Audio fade can be set manually using the track time line "rubber band".

I believe the problem you're encountering is a mixed one - you have to sort out the video format, frame size frame rate etc first rather than having a mixed as you have. You then need to adjust your methodology in editing to one that doesn't cause the slippage in audio and the movement when merging media.

Just trying to assist.

Dafydd

I guess I just don't understand. Are you saying that in PD11 I can't take a MOV file and produce the m2ts file that would be compatible with my current project? If not, where do I find a reasonable product to accomplish converting a MOV to an M2TS file?

Also, what on earth does James accomplish taking a produced project with a MOV file in it and overlaying it on a 1920X1080 aspect project? Isn't that what I esentially have done - added a MOV file in the same track with m2ts files?

Where can I get simple, step by step, instructions to accomplish all this? Do you require a high tech person to use PD11?

If I stick to the same video type throughout the project, will all these troubles go away? But I'm stuck with two video types and have to solve this.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: I guess I just don't understand. Are you saying that in PD11 I can't take a MOV file and produce the m2ts file that would be compatible with my current project? If not, where do I find a reasonable product to accomplish converting a MOV to an M2TS file?

Also, what on earth does James accomplish taking a produced project with a MOV file in it and overlaying it on a 1920X1080 aspect project? Isn't that what I esentially have done - added a MOV file in the same track with m2ts files?

Where can I get simple, step by step, instructions to accomplish all this? Do you require a high tech person to use PD11?

If I stick to the same video type throughout the project, will all these troubles go away? But I'm stuck with two video types and have to solve this.

Bill

Hi Watercolorwilly,
Examine the mediainfo files again please. You need to look closely at the frame sizes of each and then do the maths. You have a mov frame size that is less than a quarter of what the mts frame size is and the mov is in a different aspect ratio.
mov = 4:3
mts = 16:9
It is the mismatch, the distortion and the loss of quality when putting the 640 x 480 mov to a 1920x1080 mts that you need to overcome. IF you put the mov into a 16:9 project and then altered it's Aspect Ratio (with a right click and selection) the video will change to 16:9. BUT when you output the video WITH the full size unchanged mts 16:9 you're going to get significant and noticeable image degradation IF you chose to output to 1920x1080. Mix matching two very distinctly source files is your problem and the computers. James suggested placing a background image (see dropdown selection above Library Room) into Track1 and placing the mov files in Tack2 thus creating an underlayer image that maintains 16:9, and an overlay, the 4:3 video without the need to produce to a 16:9..... and your workaround solution.

PDR can of course produce an mts file from a mov file.

You need to adapt your workflow to deal with the mismatched video you are editing. Either do what James suggested or change the aspect ratio of the mov to become a 16:9.

Dafydd

OK. I'll try these suggestions. but now I have four questions:

1. Which choice (both type and choice within the type) in the Produce tab will convert the MOV from my camera to match the M2TS clip from my friend? I got confused by the parameter choices and I did not see any of them to match perfectly that M2TS. (I use a separate project to produce the M2TS which I will import, right?)

2. If I use James' approach, how can I incorporate transisitions like overlapping fade or any other simple transistions that cross the prior or following video or still on Track 1?

3. I thought just bringing in a MOV on any track would be a problem for PD. Apparenly having the MOV on Track 2 does not cause PD a problem where having both M2TS and MOV on Track 1 does?

4. How do I lock the background on Track 1 with the MOV on Track 2? I forever seem to come back to find one moved from the other, or perhaps that is the symptom of the problem we are trying to solve.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Dafydd (or anyone else),

Apparently direct, specific questions like the 4 I posted above are not supposed to be asked as I never got direct answers or sugestions, so far.

Meanwhile I attempted to create m2ts videos out of mov's and replaced them in my current project. Then I also tried to use James' suggestion. For a while I thought both helped. Then my audio-slip problems returned. (other disgusting problems are audio clips linked to upstream vidoes instead of the correct one just above it! Today I corrected about eight clips like these in a row - click on one adio and a video upstream highlights.) I could deal with this problem, but when PD shows me that an audio is in one place (the correct place relative to its video), yet the preview playback is heard seconds shifted, I am distraught. As I try to correct the problem, I am moving audio that is not really there and moving it elsewhere. That seems to lead eventually to a crash of PD if continued very long. Also, twice now, I've had the project so hosed that, when I try to open it again, PD crashes as soon as the timeline is populated. That version of my project now is forever unusable because it will continue to crash PD upon opening it. A window appears each time asking me to report information about what I was doing to cause PD to go away.

Today I continued with my projects because I must get done with these soon. All along I used to highlight, with clicks of the mouse, a series of stills and video to drag them to another place up or down stream. This time I decided to try to highlight with the slider and use the cut-and-paste option. This at first seemed to work OK. But later the problem appeared again. Then I noticed that moving a still upstream caused only the nearby video to move and the audio to stay in place, despite picking the "move all clips in all tracks option." Perhaps there is a bug in some of those situations.

Then I happened to highlight several stills to change their duration down from 4 to 3 seconds in one step. This caused the downstream video clip to move upstream, leaving the audio in place. Another perhaps not consistent error example when editing.

Because in the "heat of creation" I don't watch what is affected downstream, the accumulation of a variety of edits with many glitches like these, my PD file get's cluttered with errors and may even cause a crash.

It is so disturbing to have done a lot of editing, only to find that I have to drop back to a PD-saved copy and try to remember and redo all the creative changes I made in the previous hour or so.

I find it astounding that you can not replicate these problems. So what part of the workflow of mine is wrong? Although other products' problems in previous years drove me to PowerDirector, all these edit steps never gave me problems before. Fortunately PD's other wonderful features makes me continue with it - the most easily used product to produce good shows.

Any more ideas to share?

(I'll not be able to respond for the next week or so, should you be so kind as to help me some more.)

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Bill,

I feel your pain and can verify what you are going through- I submitted a video of my top 10 issues to CL tech support a couple weeks ago and am still waiting for the official response. See issue # 2 and let me know if this is what I think you are talking about. (Also issue # 5 Title Duration change might be of relevance.)

http://youtu.be/IVyJyIqnOPU

For me the issue mainly presents itself when deleting or changing the timing of the video. (Notice the gap in the timeline.) It gets exacerbated when I change video timing and add in different transitions & audio files etc. If I do not notice the error right away then I have to go back, unlink the audio and then move the files to synch up and re-link the audio. A major pain and time waster. The video capture shown is the most extreme one I have seen to date- usually it's off by one file.

Quick Fix: re add the video/sound file into the timeline where it was deleted or moved. Sometimes the rest will re-synch themselves and saves a lot of headaches.

Work around: Try splitting your main .pds edit file into 10 minute chunk lengths
Edit one, save and then close. Move onto the next.

Continue until done and then Open a New Project and merge or copy paste all the edits into one and then save and produce it.
let me know if that will work or helps you.

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

Thanks, Rob, for responding. I needed that. Either you and I are doing the same wrong things, or we agree that PD needs some work on it.

My main problem is what your GREAT example shows of audios linked to the wrong videos. I can add many variations to this, like audios that completely disappear. Or audios that play and are not there or anywhere and can not be removed. What makes it worse, PD displays what should be, rather than what is. Therefore, if I start correcting things, I'm moving things that are really not there. The mess continues until PD crashes or I leave PD and re-open the project to find out where everything has been moved or relinked or lost. The editing and re-editing of just these errors takes MUCH longer than just completing the project if there were no errors at all.

I have yet to discover which action of mine causes this list of errors and therefore can not reproduce them at will to illustrate them.

I love PD, but these problems are so discouraging and kill the creative mood I start with each time I open a project.

I can only hope tech support responds to your issues and then I will be satisfied too. I have many other issues to point out that add to or agree with your complaints. I've dealt with them all, or resigned to the facts, but the curious audio slippage is most harmful to my work. I had submitted this problem in PD10 and tech support could not duplicate the problem. I gave up and presumed PD11 would take care of it. Your presentation does a good job to demonstrate our complaint.

Thanks again for responding.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Bill,

This is one of the few times I do not like to be "right" about something.

I am new to editing. Only started two and a half months ago. I bought PD 10 but never used it and then PD 11 Ultimate Suite came out with Audio Director & Color Director. The price to features ratio could not be beat by any other NLE suite out there.

I had originally bought a "competitor's" product but found it extremely clunky and counter intuitive. So I played around with PD and it was night and day- I could actually understand with ease the basics of video editing. So I dumped the competitor and went with CyberLink.

Veterans who have upgraded from various versions of PD know the ins and outs and quick fixes- I am learning fast- especially from others on this site. PDtoots and the gang have some incredible tutorials- I will offer up my own tutorials when I have relevant things to add.

I was waiting for the official response but it is going on almost three weeks with nary a peep from tech support so I have decided to make that YT link I posted above public so others can see it and hopefully get some user solutions rolling in.

I do not want to post it here since it has more than one issue in it. The threads are set up for one issue at a time and I respect and abide by that.

Yep- I can agree- Power Director has its quirks and issues. Some incredibly frustrating ones and at times I look longingly at the competitors' products. But then I realize all is not green on the other side either. They have their quirks and issues too. The only jump left for me is up to the $600 + level and for what I do that gives me pause. (I would rather spend that kind of money on equipment and sound/music rights- I love scoring video with appropriate music and sound.)

So I am resigned for now to plug along and pester tech support- I honestly really don't think they are going to address all our "issues." I just hope the major ones are addressed in updates before they move to PD 13 & PD 14 etc.

In other words fix the current program fully before adding other features that create even more complications.
We can hope. But all in all I really do enjoy creating with Power Director.

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

Rob, yesterday I finally convinced Taiwan to access my PC so I can demonstrate the video-audio problem. (I'm not happy to have to spend $30 for support to help troubleshoot what I think is their bug.) I had discovered that with a 20-minute project of mine of many stills, videos, transitions, etc., I could remove the first few minutes and cause the problem. After removal, I demonstrated that all looked correct. But then I left PD11 and returned to that saved project. The result was a clutter of moved audio clips as they become shifted, overlapped, disappeared, or relinked to the wrong videos. The tech support guy was impressed with the problem and promised to get with their team on this. He uploaded my whole 20-minute project which took hours to complete. It was a very obvious problem. My only concern is that they can't duplicate the problem there and that there is some parameter or whatever on my PC that is causing it. I have done so many things, including upgrading my PC and no success. I have tried other vendors, but PowerDirector is so rich with features and so easy to use, in comparison, that I will have a hard time leaving it. But this problem continues to perhaps triple the time it takes to finish the project, all because of tedious repositioning of audio clips that were previously linked correctly to their videos. I have even broken my projects into like about 5 separate projects and the problems continue. Let's see what tech support finds in there test on my project. Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Bill,

Thank you for doing this.
Too bad the work around doesn't work.

If they need more convincing feel free to send them a link to my video.
I have a different setup than you so it's not system specific or your setup. (Nor is it how we are using the prgm.)
This issue crops up in multiple ways. I usually correct it and carry on- but in longer edits it's extremely irritating.

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

I have seen the audio gets out of synch many times when I add an audio transition and then crop the associated video clip. I have also been able to fix it by removing and re-adding the video. Unfortunately now my entire project is suddenly out of synch and I can't get the audio to re-synch. I'm afraid that it will take me hours to rebuild. This was my first large project on PD11 and not a happy way to learn about this glitch.

I hate to jinx it, but I think my problem with the audio & video tracks moving relative to each other has gone away. I upgraded to PD12 and continued to finish a project that was half done with PD11. My problem continued, and was once again disappointed that Cyberlink still had not worked on this, what I was sure was a bug. I finished that project and went on to the next.

After several days working on my new project, I began to wonder where my problem was. I took a copy of the new project and played around with all sorts of random edits to provoke the audio-video movement. Nothing. But I was not convinced. I continued with my new project and have yet to be plagued with the problem. I conclude that Cyberlink fixed the problem and the half-finished project was tainted with errors that PD12 could not correct as I opened a PD11 project with PD12. Starting a new project in PD12 apparently avoided my problem.

I will continue monitoring this, but I believe my $30 spent on coaxing Cyberlink to look live at my PC to observe my problem, did the trick. My last communication with them was something like, "it may be a long time, if ever, before this will be fixed." I was stunned. I'm happy the problem is gone(?), but I'm a little disgruntled that I had to pay for pointing out their bug.

Today - please don't jinx it - I believe I can say they fixed the problem. Now I love PD more than ever. And PD12 has even more additions that I can't wait to try out! Can someone thank Cyberlink for me? And thanks for the Forum for trying to help me with my numerous messages on these problems.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

Quote: I hate to jinx it, but I think my problem with the audio & video tracks moving relative to each other has gone away. I upgraded to PD12 and continued to finish a project that was half done with PD11. My problem continued, and was once again disappointed that Cyberlink still had not worked on this, what I was sure was a bug. I finished that project and went on to the next.

After several days working on my new project, I began to wonder where my problem was. I took a copy of the new project and played around with all sorts of random edits to provoke the audio-video movement. Nothing. But I was not convinced. I continued with my new project and have yet to be plagued with the problem. I conclude that Cyberlink fixed the problem and the half-finished project was tainted with errors that PD12 could not correct as I opened a PD11 project with PD12. Starting a new project in PD12 apparently avoided my problem.

I will continue monitoring this, but I believe my $30 spent on coaxing Cyberlink to look live at my PC to observe my problem, did the trick. My last communication with them was something like, "it may be a long time, if ever, before this will be fixed." I was stunned. I'm happy the problem is gone(?), but I'm a little disgruntled that I had to pay for pointing out their bug.

Today - please don't jinx it - I believe I can say they fixed the problem. Now I love PD more than ever. And PD12 has even more additions that I can't wait to try out! Can someone thank Cyberlink for me? And thanks for the Forum for trying to help me with my numerous messages on these problems.

Bill

Hi Watercolorwilly,
The "bug" (unwanted audio/video separation when a project is opened) you explained to the support staff, was a known issue and full information has been given on it in PDR10 and in the pre-release builds of PDR11. The issue was highlighted and shown to Research & Development. I could not localize the cause at the time. I took it as a one off and since then I failed to replicate the issue in PDR11. I'm disappointed you appear to have spent $30 to explain something that is or has been known for quite some time.
Dafydd

It's OK because I'm now happy that it seems to be working. Perhaps they can make it up to me by getting PhotoDirector work on my PD12 Suite that I just purchased. I had PhotoDirector installed all along. Why doesn't it show up on PD12? Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

.......




One more reason for me to upgrade to PD 12

[Edit: Seems the celebration was a tad premature- issue still remains unfortunately.]

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

Here is an update on the problem that I thought was completely solved. After considerable editing work on this new project, I finally found a situation that causes audio slip: I selected a series of about 30 still photos that were each 4 seconds long. Then I changed the duration to 2 seconds, and all 30 changed to 2 seconds. That worked fine, but as the project played the following videos, there was no audio. Many seconds later the audio started and I found it was the beginning of the first video clip. The display on the track did not reflect this. So I opened the same project again and there it was: The first two videos following the 30 stills had slipped to the right and overlapped each other and the third. However, unlike all the other times, only these two out of the many dozens of video clips were affected. It was a simple matter to return them to the proper place.

It looks like the programmers overlooked a few of the many situations that causes this vexing audio slip. I can deal with this if it only happens once in a while, as I've been so happy that, so far, that the problem appeared to be gone.

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM

That is great that you seen what is going on. Something to watch out for. Intel i7 5960X overclock to 4 Ghz 16 GB of ram.
GoPro 4
Canon VIXIA HF G10
Canon EOS Rebel T3
Canon EOS 70D
My Vimeo Channel http://vimeo.com/user3339631/videos

I've had another audio slip event.

It now seems like it relates to changing the duration of a still photo. The photo was 4 seconds long and now is 8 seconds. As I previewed my change, I wondered where audio was coming from. I got out of the project and opened it again. I found that the first of four video clips following the adjusted still photo had left its audio behind, in other words, the audio started playing midway through the still that I just adjusted the duration on. On the third clip the audio slipped under the second clip's audio and the fourth clip's audio looked as if it were linked to third video. I checked further down the timeline and out of about 100 following video clips, I found one other effect: following a series of still photos, the first video clip in a series of video clips had its audio start earlier the same way as I described above. NOTE: Both were not apparent until I re-opened the same project to see if some audio slippage had happened.

Later I also noted that a set of overlaid audios in other tracks in the project and an fx (magnifier) slipped 1 minute, each. I don't know when these happened, but I assume they are related to the slip problem. Ripple editing does not seem to work well for me - perhaps I don't know how to apply it - as "move all in all tracks" somehow is not 100%. I know that I'm stressing the software using so many clips and stills in this 1-hour photo show, but I feel well-designed software should handle it. Am I the only person to fill a DVD disk with a full-length show? Does everyone only do 3-minute shows for YouTube, or whatever? I have to start out full length just to figure out the sequence of photos and videos, which requires a lot of editing and moving around of photos and clips. Only then can I break the show into shorter segments to finish editing before combining them again. What a pain. Other software providers never had this problem, at least for me.

Comments?

Bill Bill Seifert
HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2022
8 core
AMD Radeon
Windows 11, 16 GB RAM