Since you tried 2 different programs and neither worked, there are some possibilities. 1) The file is corrupt, 2) It is a special AVI file that neither program will work with.

Note: Just because it plays, doesn't mean that you can edit it.

Where did you import the file from? What kind of AVI file is it? Use either the free GSPOT codec checker or the free Super Easy codec checker to find out what kind of AVI file it is and if you have the right codecs installed.

My guess is that it may be a DivX or similar highly compressed file. Read this, especially about the container formats at the bottom of the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Interleave

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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Appreciate the reply.

One would think that once transcoded to MP4 we could rule-out that it's the format's fault. Nonetheless, the clip was shot on a little Toshiba Camileo H-30 in 720p (30) -- I just double-checked that, so it wasn't 1080p at all. My apologies for that mistake.

Last night I went and tried working with the clip and I _can_ edit it in PD, but it apparently renders it for preview on the fly and it makes things really slow-going. (But then whatever's been rendered has a green-bar in the "timeline" area of the screen, and that can be re-played no problem.)

The workaround is almost to import the clip, add it to the timeline and make it play the entire clip (slowly, studdering through it all, maybe overnight) and then come back and use it, because PD has rendered it.

I have "MediaInfo" Installed, so I'll give you what it spits back about the clip:
Format: AVI
File Size: 191MiB
Duration: 6m 18s
Overall bit rate: 4 239 Kbps
VIDEO STREAM
Format: AVC
Format profile: Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC: Yes
ReFrames: 4 frames
CodecID: H264
Duration: 6m 18s
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 4 001 Kbps
Width: 1280 pixels
Height: 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.145
Stream size: 185MiB

Thanks again for the reply.
-AJ

AJWeber,

If you have an Nvidia Video card, check for the latest update patch for PD 10.

The latest patch (2231) will solve the "Rendering problem".

http://www.cyberlink.com/support/powerdirector-ultra/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.

That patch did the trick!

Thank you, Carl.