Hi Matt,

2 possibilities to try.

See if you can drag and drop the .mov files without using the import function.

I seem to recall having problems (with an earlier version) on .mov files which I put down, at the time, to the itunes/quicktime autoupdates.

I could only get round it by reinstalling PD after a QT update. I no longer allow autoupdates but whether this is related to your issue I don't know.

Cheers
Adrian


Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

I do not have trouble with .MOV files. I shoot a lot of short clips with a Panasonic camera and in video mode it creates .MOV files. I am using PD v7.00.1714.

The only thing I notice is when I import them it takes a second to render the thumbnail for each - during which time I see the hourglass spin. But then it allows me to import them just fine. So I suspect it is for some reason having trouble rendering the thumbnail and is crashing out as a result. I notice it only tries to show the thumbnail if you actually click on the file. How about if you open the folder you want to import from then instead of clicking on files, use control-A to select all, then try to open? When I use control-A it does not try to show a thumbnail, so perhaps this would work.

Adrian,

I have not tried dragging and dropping, so I'll give that a whirl and see if it works.

Tim,

I did try opening up a windows explorer and doing and 'open with' PD7 and that produced a crash as well.

Last night I tried to do a defrag of my hard drive to see if that could help improve performance any and after several hours of defragging, it got to 35% and it said it was trying to move a file that started with Cyberlink PowerDirector (the rest of the file name was cut off.) It stayed there for about an hour and I went to bed with it on, hoping that it would be completed by the time I woke up. Well when I woke up it was still on that exact file and 35% completed. I don't know what the cause is, but I'm really getting sick of all the crashes and slow downs that are continually associated with this program. If I can't get this completely resolved by the end of the day, I've decided I'm going to ask for a refund as I'm within my 30 days of purchasing PD7. All in all, my experience thus far has not led me to have a favorable opinion of Cyberlink or PowerDirector 7. The only answer I ever receive from support is to reinstall the program which never corrects the problem. The only solutions I have received are from fellow users on this forum who have found shortcuts and work arounds. While that is extremely friendly and helpful, I personally believe that a company should NEVER have to rely on it's own customers to be providing customer support for themselves. In my mind that is unproffessional and lackadaisical. I've said this several times and I still maintain this position; PD7 has a fantastic potential due to it's features and abilities, but a program that continually crashes isn't worth the 50 cent CD that it comes on. Good deal, or not, it is absolutely worthless if it doesn't work. If it works for some, great, I'm happy for them, but I personally would never sell something with my name on it unless I knew I could provide assurance to my customers that it was a working, quality product.
For me, this program has been a video editing program and rubix cube all rolled in to one; sometimes I get to actually use the program for the purpose that I purchased it and the rest of the time, it's been this puzzle that I've had to spend hours on trying to untangle. If you're one who has the time and patience for puzzles, then you probably don't have an issue with this program, but otherwise I do not recommend this product to anyone.

I apologize if I have excessively ranted, but I hope that my comments and experience can either help someone save their money and time and/or help Cyberlink realize that their lack of being thorough with their products is unacceptable and will cost them money. If they could simply make PD7 reliable and sturdy, I for one would be one of their most loyal customers. Instead, I will be one of many that I've encountered who will not hesitate to provide a truthful account of my experience and opinion.

As far as my specific crashing problem goes - I will try Adrian's suggestion, but it is extremely likely that I will be removing this program from my PC and requesting a refund.

Thank you all for your time, thoughts, help, and assistance. The folks on this forum are the ONLY reason I've stuck it out this long.

Matt -

I completely understand - there is only so much time one can invest in these things. Definitely get your refund if you can before your time runs out.

I have to say my experience with PD7, while not flawless, has been pretty good. I have an occasional freeze but it is pretty rare. The platform overall seems pretty stable, well designed and intuitive.

Just out of curiosity I perused the Imovie discussion board last night - you know with Macs, "it just works". Well there were a lot of the same problems (crashing, re-installs, etc). So it kind of seems par for the course with these products, unfortunately.

Anyway, I hope you are able to find an editor that meets your needs and runs in a stable manner on your hardware. Please report back if you find something really good at a comparable price. I'm always interested in knowing what is out there and working for people.

Best of luck!

Tim

PS - just to be clear on my previous post, from WITHIN PD you might try importing the files you want to bring in using control-A to select all, then opening. I don't know if I was clear in emphasizing that I was talking about from WITHIN PD. Anyway, when I use control-A PD7 does not try to show a thumbnail, so again, perhaps this would work, assuming it is the rendering of the thumbnail that is giving you the hourglass.

Matt,
You appear to have a lot of problems. Not having your computer or system to hand to look at means I and others just have to give you a best guess.

I could suggest you have a problem with your system OS, a corrupted installation, a failing piece of hardware or some such. There are a heck of a lot of possibilities that we could get you running around doing. Even to install Free Codec - FFDshow which might help you. I know the vast majority of us video editors do not encounter the issues you have had

1. I suggest you go find a good friend and install PD7 onto your friend's PC and see if he/she encounters problems. Then remove/uninstall it.

2. I'll send you (PM) an address to write to.

Your rant was OK, better than some I've had to deal with.

Dafydd
[Moderator]

For online tech support:
http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/service/technical-support.do

Tim,

Thank you again for everything. I'm glad that you haven't shared the same experience that I have. Tonight, I will make sure to try every variation I can for work arounds including how you suggested with ctrl+A within PD7. If I don't get anywhere, I'm going for a refund.
I LOVE PD7's features, but the trouble I'm encountering and the frequency at which it occurs is well beyond my threshold.
To my surprise and disappointment, I agree with you - it does seem par for the course with these products. That blows my mind because if someone just stepped in with something solid, they would be millionaires over night. The market is just sitting there waiting...
It seems that the only way to get something like I'm talking about is if you want to slap down hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a Pixar or Lucasfilm quality program.
I'd be curious to know if Cyberlink would actually save money by making this program more stable versus all of the time spent with customer complaints, refunds, etc. Who knows, maybe it is cheaper for them this way and that's why it is the way it is. All speculation at this point.

Another thought I had was going back to PD6 (which I had much less problems with) and using that until they come out with PD8 and then at that point going back to PD7! By then hopefully more of the bugs will be worked out? I kind of follow that same philosophy with Windows. I got Vista right when it came out and that was a MESS! I shot right back to XP after a few days and that's where I'm staying until it's obsolete. Then when I go back to Vista, it should be in much better shape.

The most solid editor (it's laughable, I know) I've used is Windows Movie Maker. I love that program and how easy it is to use. It's never crashed on me, EVER. What I wouldn't GIVE to have that program with the features that PD7 has. I would be in seventh heaven.


Dafydd,

You could very well be right – I tried reinstalling my OS and blowing everything out of the water to see if that helped and it didn’t. There are a lot of possibilities and it is hard to pinpoint it exactly. With everything I’ve tried so far, however, the variable is consistently PD7, but like you said, it’s hard to be absolutely positive.

I am sincerely relieved that most everyone else is having positive experiences because I feel a great swell of pity for anyone else with similar experiences- it's very trying and frustrating.

Your suggestion of installing on another PC isn’t a bad idea at all and I would like to try that. The only problem I’m facing is a very truncated timetable in which I can still get a refund should things not work out.

Thanks for your patience with my ranting. Yes, I’ve seen others’ posts and many times they get quite belligerent. I really try not to be that way (sometimes I’m not as successful as I’d/we’d like) because it doesn’t solve or help much.

Thank you and everyone else for the helping hands. If I’m able to make any progress, I’ll be sure to update.

Hey Matt - well I hope some of these suggestions work. But I totally understand your frustration. I have used Movie Maker too. In Vista it is actually a pretty decent (but limited) product. But hey, it comes bundled free!

I guess the more features these programs load up on the more permutations (and thus problems) they will encounter with various h/w and s/w configurations. It is hard for the manufacturers to test them all so they rely on the general public to do their bug testing! I guess that is sort of a lame defense of PD7, but there you go.

Anyway, I have found Vista (32 bit) in its latest iteration to be very good. I know some of the early users had a ton of problems. Anyway, running Vista now is really making my old XP machine look dated. Perhaps PD7 would run better under the latest version of Vista, as it does on my machine. I'm not suggesting you should reinstall Vista as your OS, but perhaps there are issues with PD7 under XP that don't exist under Vista 32 bit. Again, that is no excuse. My understanding is PD7 has issues on 64 bit Vista. So to your point, they should work on stability issues instead of features.

Tim

Quote: Hey Matt - well I hope some of these suggestions work. But I totally understand your frustration. I have used Movie Maker too. In Vista it is actually a pretty decent (but limited) product. But hey, it comes bundled free!

I guess the more features these programs load up on the more permutations (and thus problems) they will encounter with various h/w and s/w configurations. It is hard for the manufacturers to test them all so they rely on the general public to do their bug testing! I guess that is sort of a lame defense of PD7, but there you go.

Anyway, I have found Vista (32 bit) in its latest iteration to be very good. I know some of the early users had a ton of problems. Anyway, running Vista now is really making my old XP machine look dated. Perhaps PD7 would run better under the latest version of Vista, as it does on my machine. I'm not suggesting you should reinstall Vista as your OS, but perhaps there are issues with PD7 under XP that don't exist under Vista 32 bit. Again, that is no excuse. My understanding is PD7 has issues on 64 bit Vista. So to your point, they should work on stability issues instead of features.

Tim

I wholly agree.

Tim,

I tried your ctrl+A with in PD7 technique and this time PD7 simply closed without producing any kind of error whatsoever. Regretably, I've decided to get a refund and remove the program.
Thanks again to all who offered their time and help.

Hi Matt -

Understood - if I were in your shoes I would do the same. Best of luck!

Tim