Cyberlink PowerDirector 12 Slow, and sometimes unresponsive.

Paul57

Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2014 10:10 Messages: 5 Offline

Solved by

Mar 10, 2014 11:27

Hello everyone,

I have recently switched video editor to Cyberlink PowerDirector 12. I am running the latest build available having updated, but I am noticing when I start and work on videos the program gets very slow, and sometimes goes unresponsive for a short period of time. It hasn't crashed outright, but it makes editing unpleasant at best. I have gone through the preference settings and boosted the performance where I can by turning on the hardware acceleration, but it doesn't seem to have had much impact. My current computer should be more than capable of running this program as its designed around multimedia, below is my specifications for this computer.

Dell XPS 8500
Intel Core i7
2TB HDD
32GB SSD
16GB RAM
1.5GB GPU (AMD Radeon HD)

If it helps, this is my video editing process. I record video game footage with the eventual aim to deliver onto YouTube. Firstly I record the footage directly on the HDD, I then transfer it onto my 2TB Western Digital External Drive for storage, once all files have been transferred I then import into Cyberlink PowerDirector 12 to begin editing, I have read some other threads and I may have identified two potential problems, one with a relatively easy fix, and one without.

- PD12 is having trouble with the files due to them being on the external drive, making them slow to load. I can fix this by leaving them on the main HDD (I have plenty of space, I just keep them bundled on the external for organization.)

- The files I am working with are several GB in size, and they are too big for PD12 to process easily, I can't really fix this as it would mean splitting it up prior to editing, making it much harder to get done what I want.

Has this happened before? Does anyone know anything else that might be causing the problems with PD12 being slow and sometimes unresponsive? I'd like to use this editor, but its making it a little unbearable right now.

garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 12:28

Paul57: Welcome to the PD12 Forum. Posting your dxdiag file (instructions in a sticky thread at the top of the Forum) might help. I am GUESSING that your 32 GB SSD is your system drive and that MIGHT be the issue. With the OS loaded on that, there would not be a lot of space for PD12 to create its temporary files while editing or rendering. Also you might have driver issues. A dxdiag file would help us eliminate or identify possible causes for the sluggish performance you are experiencing.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil Windows 10 Pro x64
Dell XPS 8930
Intel CoreT i7 (4.6 GHz)
32 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
1 TB PCIe -x4 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
PD14 Ultimate x64, 4207
CD4 Ultra and AD6 Ultra
Bleeping Computer Malware Response Instructor

stevek

Senior Contributor Location: Houston, Texas USA Joined: Jan 25, 2011 12:18 Messages: 4663 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 12:49

It is a little confusing. You have a SSD for your desktop system and then do you have a 2T internal drive and a 2T external drive?

When you re-import them do you do so to your 2T internal drive or try to fit them on the SSD? I use an internal hard drive for working on the project and don't notice any issues. I do have a much larger SSD as my system drive.

How big is several gigs?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Mar 10. 2014 12:50

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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.

the King

Senior Member Joined: Jun 30, 2010 04:10 Messages: 296 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 12:58

I think your system is fast enough, did you apply some heavy loading effects? you can try to use High preview quality instead of HD/FullHD when editing, it does not affect the final result.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Mar 10. 2014 12:59

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PowerDirector 365

Paul57

Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2014 10:10 Messages: 5 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 13:19

Quote: Paul57: Welcome to the PD12 Forum. Posting your dxdiag file (instructions in a sticky thread at the top of the Forum) might help. I am GUESSING that your 32 GB SSD is your system drive and that MIGHT be the issue. With the OS loaded on that, there would not be a lot of space for PD12 to create its temporary files while editing or rendering. Also you might have driver issues. A dxdiag file would help us eliminate or identify possible causes for the sluggish performance you are experiencing.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

That would make sense as my O/S is installed on the SSD. Attached is the DxDiag file.

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Quote: It is a little confusing. You have a SSD for your desktop system and then do you have a 2T internal drive and a 2T external drive?

When you re-import them do you do so to your 2T internal drive or try to fit them on the SSD? I use an internal hard drive for working on the project and don't notice any issues. I do have a much larger SSD as my system drive.

How big is several gigs?

Yes, that is correct, I have a 32GB SSD (Inside the PC), along with the 2TB Internal (Which I don't use for this aside from having the program installed) and the 2TB external which holds my files, PD12 projects etc.

When I import them into PD12, they only get imported from the 2TB External Drive. I don't use my Internal Drive at all in any part of the process, importing and exporting all goes on the external drive.

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Quote: I think your system is fast enough, did you apply some heavy loading effects? you can try to use High preview quality instead of HD/FullHD when editing, it does not affect the final result.

This was prior to me applying any effects, I couldn't get that far.

Filename	DxDiag.txt	Download
Description	DXDiag Report
Filesize	62 Kbytes
Downloaded:	330 time(s)

stevek

Senior Contributor Location: Houston, Texas USA Joined: Jan 25, 2011 12:18 Messages: 4663 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 13:34

By the way you can set the default folder for your temporary files to that internal hard drive and have them deleted every "x" days.

W8 must treat your SSD differently than W7. I do not see it listed in the list of hard drivers. I double checked mine with W7 and it shows up.

Ah, is it a hybrid drive?

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Mar 10. 2014 14:05

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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.

Paul57

Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2014 10:10 Messages: 5 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 14:16

Quote: By the way you can set the default folder for your temporary files to that internal hard drive and have them deleted every "x" days.

W8 must treat your SSD differently than W7. I do not see it listed in the list of hard drivers. I double checked mine with W7 and it shows up.

Ah, is it a hybrid drive?

I will definitely look into changing the temporary file location. I am not sure whether it is a Hybrid Drive or not, I've not seen anything to indicate it is, but then again I haven't seen anything to say it isn't either.

stevek

Senior Contributor Location: Houston, Texas USA Joined: Jan 25, 2011 12:18 Messages: 4663 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 14:30

Where did you see that you have a 32g SSD? Your main hard drive has a 32 gig buffer. Is that what you are talking about OR are you talking about a recovery partition on you 2G hard drive that Dell put on there. It is usable to recover your system if it gets screwed up.

If that is what you have, then you have one internal hard drive and the external hard drive. Use the internal hard drive for your active project resources. Don't worry about tempo file location.

Do you have the shadow files enabled? You don't need them; it will slow down the process.

Do you have the latest version of PowerDirector 12 updates? Are you seeing the green flashing sign showing rendering or encoding - I forget what it says. That usually means you have new drivers and the older version of the program.

What else can you tell us that that may be of help?

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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.

Paul57

Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2014 10:10 Messages: 5 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 14:40

Quote: Where did you see that you have a 32g SSD? Your main hard drive has a 32 gig buffer. Is that what you are talking about OR are you talking about a recovery partition on you 2G hard drive that Dell put on there. It is usable to recover your system if it gets screwed up.

If that is what you have, then you have one internal hard drive and the external hard drive. Use the internal hard drive for your active project resources. Don't worry about tempo file location.

Do you have the shadow files enabled? You don't need them; it will slow down the process.

Do you have the latest version of PowerDirector 12 updates? Are you seeing the green flashing sign showing rendering or encoding - I forget what it says. That usually means you have new drivers and the older version of the program.

What else can you tell us that that may be of help?

When I first purchased the PC under the "parts list" was a 32GB SSD. I imagine it must be a hybrid then in with the main one. I'm not talking about a recovery partition, I know that. I don't know what Shadow files are, I will have to look into that. I recently updated PD12 so I assume that it is the latest update but I will recheck and make sure I am on the latest version.

Regarding your question, I'm not sure now. I'll look into the things I stated above and see if the performance improves at all.

Edit: Update, turns out I wasn't on the latest version, but have now updated.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Mar 10. 2014 14:45

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 15:16

External HDD can go into sleep mode - not the best thing for it to do when video editing. I used to "ping" mine to stay active. A free software, NoSleepHD, is what I used.
Dafydd

Paul57

Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2014 10:10 Messages: 5 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 15:22

Quote: External HDD can go into sleep mode - not the best thing for it to do when video editing. I used to "ping" mine to stay active. A free software, NoSleepHD, is what I used.
Dafydd

I did figure this could be part of the problem, will definitely look into that program! Thanks

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 15:45

Hi,
there is a free program called "NoSleepHHD' and you can configure hard drive sleep process I have it and
it works like a charm.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

Visit GranPapa64's channel for your YouTube experience of the day!

JL_JL

Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline

Mar 10, 2014 17:10

Quote: When I first purchased the PC under the "parts list" was a 32GB SSD. I imagine it must be a hybrid then in with the main one. I'm not talking about a recovery partition, I know that. I don't know what Shadow files are, I will have to look into that. I recently updated PD12 so I assume that it is the latest update but I will recheck and make sure I am on the latest version.

What you have is a 32GB msata SSD on the MB msata socket. Dell implemented these on several systems to store a cache of the most used files on the SSD. This means faster boot times, application start times, etc, done with Intel Smart Response technology and is configured in BIOS. Your OS is installed on the C:\ and is a normal Seagate 2TB HDD as referenced in your dxdiag. Plenty of space.

Your WD My Book 1110 external is a USB 2.0 HDD that is not real good to use as an active PD12 editing drive, your system is much more capable than that.

Jeff