According to my PowerDirector, it's version 17.0.2307.0 Ultimate.

I've tried updating to the latest patch (3005) but it doesn't work, it just tells me I have the wrong version for the update. I know the updates on the CL website do NOT work with 365 versions, or bundled versions, Steam versions etc... but I do not know where I can find stand alone updates to these.

I purchased this off eBay as a lifde-time pre-activated version that was NOT eligiable for future updates. I couldn't really afford the £100 price tag at the moment, so I went with a cheaper approach for now, until I could afford it. I'm guessing the one I bought off eBay isn't exactly on the up and up?

While the Empty the Library option seems to no longer be reliable, I can sometimes... and only sometimes... get it to work if I save the project, exit then re-open. Somewhat hit asnd miss with that though. The MP4 video gets it's waveform faster than the M4A audio I work with, which is strange to me. Windows 10 Pro x64
MSi P45T-C51 Motherboard
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 OC'd @ 3.0GHz
6Gb RAM
nVidia EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC 2Gb
500Gb SanDisk Ultra II SSD
Western Digital Blue 500Gb HDD x2

Quote According to my PowerDirector, it's version 17.0.2307.0 Ultimate.

I've tried updating to the latest patch (3005) but it doesn't work, it just tells me I have the wrong version for the update. I know the updates on the CL website do NOT work with 365 versions, or bundled versions, Steam versions etc... but I do not know where I can find stand alone updates to these.

I purchased this off eBay as a lifde-time pre-activated version that was NOT eligiable for future updates. I couldn't really afford the £100 price tag at the moment, so I went with a cheaper approach for now, until I could afford it. I'm guessing the one I bought off eBay isn't exactly on the up and up?

Well at least that explains why you're still seeing the issue. I hope that that there's some way to get that patch applied, as it definitely has the patch for this issue.

It might be because the update is actually to v17.6, and that partial version is what's getting blocked. Here in the US, I see a very cheap PD 17.6 offering on ebay, and maybe that's the best way to get the update...

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote

Well at least that explains why you're still seeing the issue. I hope that that there's some way to get that patch applied, as it definitely has the patch for this issue.

It might be because the update is actually to v17.6, and that partial version is what's getting blocked. Here in the US, I see a very cheap PD 17.6 offering on ebay, and maybe that's the best way to get the update...

I did buy, on eBay again just as a cheap stop-gap, PowerDirector 18 Version 18.0.2028.0. Again, I believe it's not eligible for future updates but since it's Version 18 it appears to be more reliable when it comes to generating the waveform.

Though I still have one question: The waveform for video files are generated really quite quickly. I had a 40 minute M2TS file generate the waveform within a minute or two.

However, the 40 minute MKA audio (commentary) file that accompanied it took about 10-15 minutes. Given the audio file is a lot smaller in size, and presumably less complicated, why do audio files, including MP3, take so long compared to a large video file? It takes so long I always get concerned it won't work. Windows 10 Pro x64
MSi P45T-C51 Motherboard
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 OC'd @ 3.0GHz
6Gb RAM
nVidia EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC 2Gb
500Gb SanDisk Ultra II SSD
Western Digital Blue 500Gb HDD x2

Quote ... However, the 40 minute MKA audio (commentary) file that accompanied it took about 10-15 minutes. Given the audio file is a lot smaller in size, and presumably less complicated, why do audio files, including MP3, take so long compared to a large video file? It takes so long I always get concerned it won't work.

I don't have any insight as to how PD actually generates the waveforms, but I don't typically work with MKV files and haven't ever seen PD18 take more than 10 or so seconds to display them.

If you want to share the clip, I'd be happy to test it on my system and see if it takes a long time for the waveform to appear. I have a very fast machine, but it still might be useful to check.

Also, I know you've been burned by this issue many times, but so far, I haven't seen it occur since the PD17 patch was released. While it might still be possible that some combination of clips and projects ends up without a waveform at some point, I believe that CL has finally driven a stake through this bugger's evil heart!

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote

I don't have any insight as to how PD actually generates the waveforms, but I don't typically work with MKV files and haven't ever seen PD18 take more than 10 or so seconds to display them.

If you want to share the clip, I'd be happy to test it on my system and see if it takes a long time for the waveform to appear. I have a very fast machine, but it still might be useful to check.

Also, I know you've been burned by this issue many times, but so far, I haven't seen it occur since the PD17 patch was released. While it might still be possible that some combination of clips and projects ends up without a waveform at some point, I believe that CL has finally driven a stake through this bugger's evil heart!

Well, the video is just a bog-standard MP4 file, it's not an MKV or anything odd. The audio file is an MKA as that's how the Elgato software does things. No idea why they didn't just opt for MP3 though.

Not sure if you'll really need to test the video file at this point, as it is just a typical MP4 file. Like you, PD18 doesn't take long at all to display the waveform of the video, reglardless of length or file type... but it really doesn't seem to like any audio file.

This does seem to be the case, as I have far less issues with PD18 and waveforms, compared to both PD15 and PD17, which were just a nightmare to use. With any luck, maybe CL has indeed cured this problem once and for all! Windows 10 Pro x64
MSi P45T-C51 Motherboard
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 OC'd @ 3.0GHz
6Gb RAM
nVidia EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC 2Gb
500Gb SanDisk Ultra II SSD
Western Digital Blue 500Gb HDD x2

I am another sufferer of this strange missing-audio waveform bug in the Cyberlink Power Director (ver. 16 in my case). I tried some of the suggestions to no avail, but did stumble on a simple workaround.

I remembered that when I first started using the program for editing, the audio waveforms were present, but then after a few file edits, they no longer appeared. The resulting files had sound, but no waveform which, as others have pointed out, makes precise editing really tough.

So I tried my usual trick when a program isn't working right and just canceling and then re-loading it. Something about that step reset something, and the waveforms re-appeared. They didn't last forever though. After editing a few more files, the waveforms would disappear again. So I just reloaded the program again. And again.

Naturally, for a power user, this would be a real hassle, but my needs are modest. Usually, I don't need to edit more than a dozen files every few months. So I can put up with the inconvenience. If I were a power user howerver, I would be really upset.

For what it is worth.....I am going through the same issue using PD17; most times, the audio wavforms (the audio part of my mp4 files shot using my smartphone) do not display on the timeline. Interestingly, mp3 audio files always seem to display.

To date, I have gone back and forth with CL tech support a few times. After explaining the issue (even though it seems to be very well identified in this forum), they asked me for some screeshots and a Dxdiag file which I provided. Their next reply suggested to me that they did not look at the screenshots I sent because they asked a question, which, if they had looked at the screenshot, they would have answered. I replied with a little more "enthusiam" and suggested that they stop giving me "homework" assignments and fix their code. We'll see what they come back with.

In one of their previous replies, CL did suggest deleting all of the files in c:\user_name\AppData\Roaming\CyberLink\PowerDirector\17.0\Cache\WaveForms folder. ("user_name" is the log in name on your computer.) I have tried this a few times and it did work.......for the current project. As soon as I started a new project, I needed to delete the files again. No user, including me, should have to do this.

For those that decide to try this, this is the order in which I did things.
1) Save my PD project.
2) Close PD.
3) Navigate to the WaveForms folder and delete all of the files in that folder. (It is a hidden folder in Windows so you will need to change the folder properties so you can see the folder.)
4) Restart my PC (this takes a few minutes; I'm running Windows 10.)
5) Restart PD.
6) Reopen my project.

The few times I have done this, it has worked. My PD17 project opens and all audio waveforms are displayed.

Again, I'll repeat, no user should have to go through this. I hope CL does the right thing and fixes their code.

I agree with Ancona. I got the same package of homework from their customer service. I can see why they would take this approach if this were a new problem. But this has been going on for several years. How much information do they need?

Their ads proclaim that PD is the choice of video editors. Well, I wonder how long that claim would last if a potential buyer knew of this problem and the company's lack of attention to fixing it.

While reading about the missing waveforms again, it occurred to me that I have not had this problem after installing PD15 on my new (used) Dell Win10 Intel box. Whereas I still have the intermittent waveforms on my old Win7/Win8.1 AMD box.

I'm wondering if the problem is due to some kind of "race condition" in the software? I say this because the Audio Waveform generation is done as a "background" task in PD. When the task is finished, the waveform should appear.

So now it's coming down to "What is the difference between my two boxes?"

Win8.1 is like a Lite version of Win10. So I don't think the problem is OS related. (Unless the NTFS file system (redundant) is better/different in Win10.)

Perhaps there's an instruction set in Intel CPU's that help this task complete the way PD expects? I notice that the audio wavefore task (HanumanSVr) uses more CPU on my Intel box than my AMD box. FWIW, I'm runing an i3-8100 on my Win10 box that does not have this Waveform problem.

Well, I was going to refrain posting in this forum for the time being (I also forgot about it). Largely because I hadn't really had any issues with the waveform generating since my last post in November.

However, as you can probably guess byt the fact i'm posting again, I am still having this issue. This makes it version 15, 16, 17 and 18 I've had this waveform problem. I can over look the instability of the software because PD18 is pretty much exactly what I need in a video editor... its easy and simple but still has many features to play with.

The waveform though, I NEED that to work in order to edit. Maybe not 100% of the time, but more ofdten than not I need to see where the waveform of my commentary.

For some reason, it appears to work once every 24 hours. The first time I use it, it works. If I ever try to edit another video the same day, then it just refuses to ever load the waveform.

None of the discovered work-arounds work anymore either, such as using the Empty Library option. That used to work pretty much every time, but not in PD18 (if you empty the library and save, then open the project, everything actually comes back).

I'm currently trying to edit some RE3 footage. I did some earlier, took about 10-15 minutes for the waveform to appear. No problems, worked fine. Now this time, the second time I'm trying to edit, I've been at it for over an hour but no waveform.

Tried converting the audio file (M4V) to MP3 to see if MP3 was simpler to work with... no effect.
Emptied the library... no effect.
Restarted PowerDirector... no effect.
Restarted Windows... no effect.
Cleared temporary files... no effect.

The video waveform, always works. And THIS is what I just don't understand at all. The video, which is much larger, to the tune of 7Gb, and is presumably more complicated than an audio file, generates it's waveform in LESS than two minutes. Yet the much samller, simpler, lightweight M4V and MP3 takes either 10-15 minutes (or longer) or worst case, never appears at all.

Even weirder, the MKA audio file that MKVExtract creates from ShadowPlay recordings generates it's waveform withint 2-3 minutes. Isn't MKA audio less used and less popular than M4V?

JUST as I finish up typing, what shows up? The waveform. D'oh! Adding the time it took type this, it must have taken a good 80 minutes for that to show up.

And despite the waveform finally appearing, I'm still gonna post this. It took a while to type and I don't want to feel like I wasted that time... so y'all can have something to read.

None of these problems I encounter with PowerDirector will EVER sway me to another video editor. I've tried several... they're all as complicated as the female mind. But PowerDirector is simple... like mens minds, lol.