Quote Hi, if i do snapshot. from 4K wideo I got alwasy resolution of 1920x1080.



I read in old post of same problem that you can change this in preferences.

I have german Language in my Software. But I checked all preferences.

I did not find anythink where to change preference of it



Also I deactivated Shaddow files and it did nt worked

j

Do a "freeze frame" it should keep the original resolution Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

Try a snapshot of the same image from the Library, the First timeline, and the Second timeline. Are they different? HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
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Thanks,

I need extarnal image from a mix of 2 timelines. So Freeze frame is not usable



Alo I tried to put single video solo in timeline 2 and also solo in timeline 3. have always low resolution.



If you make snapshot of 4K image. Do you get lower or same resolution?

I very often have my 'goto' graphics app running alongside PDR and don't bother using the inbuilt snapshot. At a point on the timeline where I want a still frame, I double click the preview window which maximises it, hit the Print Screen key, ALT+Tab to switch to PaintShopPro, CTRL+V and job's done. Just one of many possible ways but it suits me .

Timeline snapshots can only be 1920 x 1080 resolution max. 4k resolution can only be obtained from the media library in PD15. There is no way around it if there are many assets at where the scrubber is on a complex timeline. You have to install a previous version of PD, like from version 12 to 14 if you want that 4k snapshot from the timeline.

As I need Pic from 2 merged timeline I have 2 posibilitys:



Bad quality with PDR cost me 1 Second



Or



Creating 4k Movie with PDR, open it with free software like VKV Media player . and do there snapshot 4k. Cost me 10 Minutes

I chosed second......



I hope suport from PDR read this as they should know that the solution is to spent extra time and use Freeware to make a snapshot dont make PDR-Users happy

You have chosen the right path to produce 4k snapshots.

Hi,

Another possibility is to use the Produce Range function to produce a small clip with your required snapshot included. This will be automatically imported to the Media Library and the 4K snapshot grabbed from there.

I have never tested the minimum clip size needed to produce, but a few seconds should be a quick enough process.

Worth a try?

Cheers

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Hi pinmanic -

If you right click n your video clip at the point you want to take a snapshot, you should have the Freeze Frame option. It's probably called something like "Standbildeffektes".

Right click > Edit Video/Image > Freeze Frame (Standbild?) There's a screenshot attached that may help.

If you use that you'll get a full resolution snapshot - even if it's a mix of two timelines.

Cheers - Tony
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I sometimes wonder whether we get a little too hung up about resolution rather than quality. I might be the only one to think that good original material is just as important as resolution. I think we just get swept along with the latest fads sometimes. Although the attachment is 3840x2160 it is a screenshot of my maximised timeline and is therefore truly 1920x1080. Perhaps I set my sights too low. I do however concede that high resolution AND high quality is what we should strive for,

Quote Hi pinmanic -

If you right click n your video clip at the point you want to take a snapshot, you should have the Freeze Frame option. It's probably called something like "Standbildeffektes".

Right click > Edit Video/Image > Freeze Frame (Standbild?) There's a screenshot attached that may help.

If you use that you'll get a full resolution snapshot - even if it's a mix of two timelines.

Cheers - Tony

Great. Thats the Solution. I did not know that freeze also contain more than 1 Timeline

In the latest Power Director 365 (at time of writing - November 2022), this is still an issue - and the FREEZE FRAME does NOT solve it. Yes, for a 4k resolution video it will insert a 4k resolution still, but it's just an upscaled 1920x1080 picture, not a genuine 3840x1080 freeze frame. Marginally less compression noise than the "Snapshot" but only just. Way worse than a real freeze frame (as viewed by playing the source video on a 4k monitor and pausing it).

----- Solution -----
Happily, there is a solution. Go to the Produce page, and select file format "Image". Under Profile name/Quality, select 3840x2160. Under Image Type, select Image Sequence JPG. Then hit Start. Be prepared for A LOT of JPG files in your "Export to" directory. They will be proper 4k resolution stills from the video.

If your project is more than few seconds long, take these steps:

- save your project
- save again with a temporary name, to avoid accidentally ruining your project
- split all the tracks just before and just after the bit you want a still of
- Ctrl-delete everything before and everything after the bit you want a still of
- Produce at a sequence of JPGs as above.



Picture shows small closeups of the same frame obtained by Snapshot, Freeze frame and Produce sequence of JPG methods.

Quote In the latest Power Director 365 (at time of writing - November 2022), this is still an issue - and the FREEZE FRAME does NOT solve it. Yes, for a 4k resolution video it will insert a 4k resolution still, but it's just an upscaled 1920x1080 picture, not a genuine 3840x1080 freeze frame. Marginally less compression noise than the "Snapshot" but only just. Way worse than a real freeze frame (as viewed by playing the source video on a 4k monitor and pausing it).

----- Solution -----
Happily, there is a solution. Go to the Produce page, and select file format "Image". Under Profile name/Quality, select 3840x2160. Under Image Type, select Image Sequence JPG. Then hit Start. Be prepared for A LOT of JPG files in your "Export to" directory. They will be proper 4k resolution stills from the video.

If your project is more than few seconds long, take these steps:

- save your project
- save again with a temporary name, to avoid accidentally ruining your project
- split all the tracks just before and just after the bit you want a still of
- Ctrl-delete everything before and everything after the bit you want a still of
- Produce at a sequence of JPGs as above.



Picture shows small closeups of the same frame obtained by Snapshot, Freeze frame and Produce sequence of JPG methods.

Probably easier to simply take the snapshot from the file in the Media Library for as source quality vs producing to an Image Sequence.

Jeff

Quote

Probably easier to simply take the snapshot from the file in the Media Library for as source quality vs producing to an Image Sequence.

Jeff

Thanks for that suggestion - it is indeed easier. I'd been taking a snapshot of a video in the timeline but if you play a 4k video from the media library and use the snapshot button you do indeed get a full resolution snapshot that's not upscaled.

The quality isn't quite as good - noticeably more compression artefacts when you zoom in and the JPG file size is 600kB rather than 2.5MB, but the quality difference is fairly subtle.

The other limitation of course is that you can only use the media library method to get a snapshot of the original source video, not the edited multi-track video if that's what you're after.

Good tip though, thanks.

Quote

......The other limitation of course is that you can only use the media library method to get a snapshot of the original source video, not the edited multi-track video if that's what you're after.

Good tip though, thanks.

Hi,

Have you tried a Produce Range on a single frame?

I can get it to work, but it often produces the adjacent couple of frame(s) as well, but it's very fast and gives less images to go through.

It certainly gives you the timeline edited content, might be worth a try??

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

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- Customer service: https://membership.cyberlink.com/support/customer-services.do
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Quote Thanks for that suggestion - it is indeed easier. I'd been taking a snapshot of a video in the timeline but if you play a 4k video from the media library and use the snapshot button you do indeed get a full resolution snapshot that's not upscaled.

The quality isn't quite as good - noticeably more compression artefacts when you zoom in and the JPG file size is 600kB rather than 2.5MB, but the quality difference is fairly subtle.

The other limitation of course is that you can only use the media library method to get a snapshot of the original source video, not the edited multi-track video if that's what you're after.

Good tip though, thanks.

For that one has to produce that small section of video at desired resolution and then take the snapshot from the produce file in the Media Library. Yes, much less than ideal. This is an age old problem that CL hacked nearly 6 years ago and have never really provided an easy viable snapshot solution since. Refer to this prior thread, https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/50730.page#post_box_267348

Jeff

Quote IPicture shows small closeups of the same frame obtained by Snapshot, Freeze frame and Produce sequence of JPG methods.

Those are not my findings at all. 6 months ago it was shown that 4k uhd true 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution snapshots can be achieved in PD20/365 timeline by temporarily selecting the Ultra HD Resolution Preview Quality.This is not an issue at all using my pc with Intel graphics at the moment.

I searched for a 4K/8K video resolution test chart for modern cameras. PDF image resolution charts are available. This is the ISO_12233-reschart.pdf found on the internet. Extracted the image. It is a 4724 x 2593 pixels resolution png. Believe that this is the chart used by Imaging-Resource years ago for testing up to 4K cameras.

Placed the test chart on the latest PD365/21 timeline. Took Snapshots at High(720 x 480). HD(1280 x 720). Full HD(1920 x 1080), and Ultra HD(3840 x 2160) Preview Quality settings.

See the screenshots. It looks like that Freeze Frame can be used but is not tested here and is not necessary at all. Shadow files are not enabled and/or tested. Found that setting the preview quality from High through Full HD resolution produced the 1920 x 1080 default image acknowledged by CyberLink. The PD365/21 3840 x 2160 screenshot shows 2x more horizontal details and 2x more vertical details than the default resolution snapshots for the other resolutions on my pc.

Quote

Those are not my findings at all. 6 months ago it was shown that 4k uhd true 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution snapshots can be achieved in PD20/365 timeline by temporarily selecting the Ultra HD Resolution Preview Quality.This is not an issue at all using my pc with Intel graphics at the moment.

I searched for a 4K/8K video resolution test chart for modern cameras. PDF image resolution charts are available. This is the ISO_12233-reschart.pdf found on the internet. Extracted the image. It is a 4724 x 2593 pixels resolution png. Believe that this is the chart used by Imaging-Resource years ago for testing up to 4K cameras.

Placed the test chart on the latest PD365/21 timeline. Took Snapshots at High(720 x 480). HD(1280 x 720). Full HD(1920 x 1080), and Ultra HD(3840 x 2160) Preview Quality settings.

See the screenshots. It looks like that Freeze Frame can be used but is not tested here and is not necessary at all. Shadow files are not enabled and/or tested. Found that setting the preview quality from High through Full HD resolution produced the 1920 x 1080 default image acknowledged by CyberLink. The PD365/21 3840 x 2160 screenshot shows 2x more horizontal details and 2x more vertical details than the default resolution snapshots for the other resolutions on my pc.

Interesting. I tried what you suggested and still got the same low quality snapshot, even with UHD resolution preview selected. Then I tried rendering the preview and lo and behold, the snapshot is now in proper UHD. I don't know if maybe the behaviour is hardware dependent? But you said you were using Intel graphics as am I (i7-1165G7 with Intel Iris Xe graphics). Oh well, now we have at least 3 different methods of getting the UHD snapshot:

• The awkward "render as a sequence of JPGs" method that I stumbled upon


• Render from media library as suggested by Jeff


• UHD preview mode as suggested by tomasc

Thanks everyone for your help. I've only been using PD for a few months and I learn something new every time I use it.

Andersonagm - Thank you for your feedback. This information was given 6 months ago on a different PD Users forum. The Op there was not able to achieve the results I got possibly by using a laptop. The members there are able to achieve this using Desktops. Prerendering was not necessary with the Desktop pc’s. This is valuable information you have given to help others that use a laptop pc.