Any fix for PowerDirector's choppy, jerky output videos?

Marve

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2018 08:21 Messages: 3 Offline

Solved by

May 28, 2018 08:29

I've been using Hitfilm for edits, but now I checked Cyberlink's Power Director 16 trial version and I liked its functionality - effects, shortcuts, quickness - so I wanted to buy it, but then I started exporting the projects, using H264, HD, 30 FPS - from the trial version to see the quality... and it was just bad. Choppy, jerky, with jumping frames.

I tried NTSC, PAL, different resolutions (HD or 720) - it was still choppy and jerky.

X265 isn't supported in the trial version, but I tried exporting as XAVC - and it was the same.

The clips look great in the timeline edit, the preview is OK - but the output files are just bad-looking, like a laggy transmission.

I then tried encoding at 120 FPS. It looked better, but with Hitfilm, I exported videos @ 29.97 FPS and they were perfect at half the filesize and no choppiness at all.

I tried this on two different computers, with different hardware (both Nvidia cards, but different types), and the output files from Power Director were always choppy and jerky.

Then I saw this about turning off deblocking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJ0s9KmWds

I did that. It helped a little, but not much. There is maybe 10-25% difference, but the output clips are still much worse than the ones made in Hitfilm.

Has anyone run into this? Is there a fix? Or is it done on purpose in the trial version?

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

May 29, 2018 06:45

Quote I've been using Hitfilm for edits, but now I checked Cyberlink's Power Director 16 trial version and I liked its functionality - effects, shortcuts, quickness - so I wanted to buy it, but then I started exporting the projects, using H264, HD, 30 FPS - from the trial version to see the quality... and it was just bad. Choppy, jerky, with jumping frames.

I tried NTSC, PAL, different resolutions (HD or 720) - it was still choppy and jerky.

X265 isn't supported in the trial version, but I tried exporting as XAVC - and it was the same.

The clips look great in the timeline edit, the preview is OK - but the output files are just bad-looking, like a laggy transmission.

I then tried encoding at 120 FPS. It looked better, but with Hitfilm, I exported videos @ 29.97 FPS and they were perfect at half the filesize and no choppiness at all.

I tried this on two different computers, with different hardware (both Nvidia cards, but different types), and the output files from Power Director were always choppy and jerky.

Then I saw this about turning off deblocking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJ0s9KmWds

I did that. It helped a little, but not much. There is maybe 10-25% difference, but the output clips are still much worse than the ones made in Hitfilm.

Has anyone run into this? Is there a fix? Or is it done on purpose in the trial version?

Hi Marve

Firstly, are you producing to the same specification (resolution, frame rate etc) as your original material. You will get the best results doing that.

Assuming that you are doing the above, I would suggest disabling Hardware Acceleration. You will find the option at EDIT - PREFERENCES - HARDWARE ACCELERATION.

Marve

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2018 08:21 Messages: 3 Offline

May 29, 2018 10:37

Quote

Hi Marve

Firstly, are you producing to the same specification (resolution, frame rate etc) as your original material. You will get the best results doing that.

Assuming that you are doing the above, I would suggest disabling Hardware Acceleration. You will find the option at EDIT - PREFERENCES - HARDWARE ACCELERATION.

Hi - yes, it's the same, 1920x1080, 29.97 fps - the output video's profile is the same as the input video.

With different framerate, it's even choppier. Encoding with framerate of 120 does make it smoother, but that shouldn't be the only possible fix... Turning off acceleration doesn't change the output, removing the deblocking filter makes little difference.

It does appear to be a buggy encoder - the output clips encoded in X264 with the same quality and framerate in other tools, like Hitfilm or Vegas, are smooth and uninterrupted, just like the original clips. PowerDirector's output file encoded in X264 with the same quality is jumping and choppy, checked on various PCs with 8 to 32 GB of RAM and with cards ranging from old Nvidias to GTX 1060.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

May 29, 2018 13:30

If your source material is 29.97 fps then check that the preferences/General is also set to 30 fps drop frame. Produce at the same framerate as the original. Make a custom profile and uncheck Use Deblocking. Try unchecking the 2 filters in Preferences/Produce and let us know if it fixes it for you.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

May 30, 2018 10:45

Don’t think any of the settings are going to make a difference here as you are using the trial version. The download page already stated in the 5th bullet ‘Importing and producing H.264 video files is only supported on Windows 10/8.1/8/7 systems or hardware platforms offering independent H.264 encoding and decoding’ here: https://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/trials/powerdirector-ultra/download_en_US.html . Go to the Product information tab and scroll to the bottom. The Cyberlink h.264 encoder are not included in the trial version of PD16.

pfbobbo

Newbie Joined: May 30, 2018 14:24 Messages: 1 Offline

May 30, 2018 14:30

Howdy,

So as not to be confused, I will still get the choppy jerky output with the trial version and then, only when I choose to activate the full version will the choppy video go bye bye. I am reluctant to actually do the full version even though they say they have a such and such money back guarantee. Doggone it!!!! :o)

Marve

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2018 08:21 Messages: 3 Offline

Jun 01, 2018 11:28

The trial version DOES export X264, though - it's just choppy.

X265 is definitely not supported in the trial, and it informs about it when trying to export the file as X265.

Changing acceleration settings, deblocking, filters, etc., has not changed the quality - it's still choppy and jumpy.

It just seems that the encoder in Power Director is bugged.

Maybe it's the matter of the codec support. Just in case, its mediainfo:

General
Complete name : E:\Videos\1.MOV
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 74.3 MiB
Duration : 11 s 43 ms
Overall bit rate : 48.3 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2018-03-18 13:44:46
Tagged date : UTC 2018-03-18 13:44:46
Writing application : Lavf57.83.100
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L5
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, RefFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8 s 876 ms
Bit rate : 47.8 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Original height : 1 088 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.769
Stream size : 50.6 MiB (97%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2018-04-18 13:44:46
Tagged date : UTC 2018-04-18 13:44:46
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : sowt
Duration : 9 s 73 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 1.66 MiB (3%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2018-04-18 13:44:46
Tagged date : UTC 2018-04-18 13:44:46

Highwinder

Member Joined: Jun 29, 2011 21:45 Messages: 73 Offline

Jun 01, 2018 20:20

CyberLink tech support has addressed this problem and provided a fix. The user they provided the fix to posted it here.

https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/64952.page

The fix worked for me.

PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jun 02, 2018 04:07

Hi,

Does your choppy output occur with several source file types, including any sample clips provided with PDR16 or only with certain source file types?

I assume the source file type in question is the one you posted the MediaInfo for?

This uses the .mov container file type and the isom codec which may not be supported, but I can check that better on Monday. There are a number of issues reported with some .mov containers since Quicktime support was withdrawn so this might be one of them. You can search the forum for .mov and see if any threads help out.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

Roland vl

Newbie Joined: Nov 23, 2017 03:44 Messages: 39 Offline

Jun 03, 2018 11:52

Quote

I tried NTSC, PAL, different resolutions (HD or 720) - it was still choppy and jerky.

?

PAL, NTCS is interlaced material, but PD16 can NOT produce interlaced result video. So depending on several factors: the speed of the moving object, contrast, fast shutter speed, the result is choppy and jerky at 25p or 30p. Therefore when I need interlaced video I do not use PD16. See discussion here: https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/20/64309.page

AVPlayVideo

Senior Contributor Location: Home Joined: Apr 06, 2016 19:03 Messages: 703 Offline

Jun 03, 2018 16:37

In this topic there is something you might have to do with this one.
https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/64952.page
See reviews for, blasiusxx
It has a DLL file to be replaced, solved for me.
To produce MPEG2 and MTS, interlaced video

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Jun 08. 2018 09:37

XEON-E5-2680 v4 / Mem. 16GB DDR4
M.2 NVME 512Gb / 2-SSD Sata3 1TB
AMD RX570 / Display Philips 272V8
Windows 11_64Pro / PD22/365