Quote I like to speed up my video quite often, but whenever I do, the preview playback is terrible. The video stutters and no longer matches the audio. It makes editing very difficult. I have tried lowering the playback quality to "standard", but this only helps a bit. Oddly, the CPU never hits past 60% and the GPU only hits about 20%
If this is because my system isn't up to the task, I am willing to upgrade, but before I plop $1000 on new hardware, I wonder if it will even solve the preview problem.


I am running a Intel Core i7 470 and Nvidia GeForce GT 740 with 32 GB of DDR3 ram.

Would definitely like some insight.

The first thing to try, is lower the preview resolution. Preview resolution does not affect output resolution.

See image for location of Preview quality.
. 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.

Quote
The first thing to try, is lower the preview resolution. Preview resolution does not affect output resolution.

See image for location of Preview quality.
.

Thanks! I've followed all the steps mentioned online, in the past.

1. Reducing preview quality


2. Disable unused tracks


3. Closed all other programs


4. Saved project, closed powerdirector, reopened.

The only thing that works is doing a prerender, but that really slows down the editing process.

I guess my real question is will upgrading my cpu and ram fix the preview stutter of clips that are sped up or stabilised? Or is this just an inherent issue in the program? Currently my cpu only hits 50% when running a preview or render so I'm suspicious this problem might exist no matter how much processing power I have available.

Im looking at installing a Ryzen 2700x and 32gb of ddr4 ram. It'll set me back $800 but it's worth it if it fixes the stutter.

I do not know how much power you need in your computer to get rid of the stutter and pauses.

The fact that your are applying speed changes to your video, makes previewing very difficult, the pre-render is the only way except for producing the project. 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.

Quote I do not know how much power you need in your computer to get rid of the stutter and pauses.

The fact that your are applying speed changes to your video, makes previewing very difficult, the pre-render is the only way except for producing the project.

I had all kinds of shuddering and lag, and not matching the music until I learned this: When you import significant amounts of video into the library, let it sit there until the orange spec in the lower left corner of the icon turns green. It could take several minutes. If you hover over the spec it will say 'generating shadow file'. Once it's green, (and has the big green checkmark) you can drag it into the time line and it will behave. I wish someone would have told me about this. It's probably in that 400 page manual somewhere.