There isn't anything in the tutorials because other than this enabling this single setting, there isn't anything else you should need to do to get PD to display audio waveforms:



With that said, however, many previous versions of PD did have problems displaying audio waveforms but the specific conditions had been very difficult to reliably recreate, until last year when some forum members finally found a reliable way to both cause the problem and clear it, and that led Cyberlink to finally resolve the issue in PD17.

Here's the post with the 3 steps to solve the original issue, and there's a chance that it will work for your PD18 project.

I'd actually like to have you save a copy of the existing project before you try the above steps, because it would be very valuable to send that project to Cyberlink if PD isn't displaying waveforms.

Please let us know what happens, and I can help with packing and sending your copied project to tech support if needed.

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 There isn't anything in the tutorials because other than this enabling this single setting, there isn't anything else you should need to do to get PD to display audio waveforms:



With that said, however, many previous versions of PD did have problems displaying audio waveforms but the specific conditions had been very difficult to reliably recreate, until last year when some forum members finally found a reliable way to both cause the problem and clear it, and that led Cyberlink to finally resolve the issue in PD17.

Here's the post with the 3 steps to solve the original issue, and there's a chance that it will work for your PD18 project.

I'd actually like to have you save a copy of the existing project before you try the above steps, because it would be very valuable to send that project to Cyberlink if PD isn't displaying waveforms.

Please let us know what happens, and I can help with packing and sending your copied project to tech support if needed.

optodata - Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have "Show sound wafeform in timeline" checked.
I have no idea of possibly what I did to cause the problem. I'll check out the post you linked in your reply, and use a duplicate copy of the project to attempt the 3 steps to remedy the issue. I'll let you know how I make out with it.

It's nice to know that Cyberlink did address the problem in PD17. Hopefully this is just a glitch.

Just before checking back in the forum, I sent a message to Cyberlink asking for help as well.

Maureen

Quote
optodata - Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have "Show sound wafeform in timeline" checked.
I have no idea of possibly what I did to cause the problem. I'll check out the post you linked in your reply, and use a duplicate copy of the project to attempt the 3 steps to remedy the issue. I'll let you know how I make out with it.
It's nice to know that Cyberlink did address the problem in PD17. Hopefully this is just a glitch.
Just before checking back in the forum, I sent a message to Cyberlink asking for help as well.
Maureen

optodata - I went through the steps, and didn't have much luck. All the steps I took are noted below. But, first, here are a few side notes after doing some thinking .... I started the project in the free version, and had no problems. Then we decided to take advantage of the sale, and purchased the one year subscription, and went through the download and install process with the Cyberlink Application Manager. (I didn't uninstall the free version, assuming the application manager would prompt me to do so, if need be.)

The waveform problem didn't start until after I purchased the subscription. ( a bit frustrating)
Another glitch that has appeared after the purchase is after closing the Power Director program, I have to reboot the computer in order to reopen the Power Direct program from either the desktop shortcut or the start up menu.

Here's the notes from the steps I went through, following the post you referred me to ....


Step #1
- Exported the library
- "removed all unused content from library",
- saved and closed the program
- rebooted the computer
- opened Power Director, the library opened showing thumbnails for the clips which are in the timeline. The waveforms still are not displayed in the timeline for the last 2 clips.

Step #2
- Emptied the Library
- saved and closed the program
- rebooted the computer
- opened Power Director, the library opened showing thumbnails for the clips which are in the timeline. The waveforms still are not displayed in the timeline for the last 2 clips.

Step #3 - "watch and wait while the waveforms are generated" How long did you have to wait? I waited about 5 minutes, and the 2 missing waveforms didn't appear.

Next -

-In the PowerDirector Cache/Waveforms folder, I removed the last 2 waveform files, no difference.
-removed all the files in the Waveforms folder, All of the waveform displays are blank.
- dragged one of the clips from the library into the timeline to see if the waveform would appear, but it didn't.
- Opened a new project, dragged two clips into the library, and put them into the timeline. The waveforms didn't appear. (I used two clips from the same project file that I was working with in the previous steps)

Next .... I look forward to your reply and suggestions for the next steps to take. I'm at a stall until this gets fixed.

Thank you for your time and assistance.
Maureen

What do the moderator and CyberLink do? They sleep! It's been years and the bugs remain. W 10 64 , pc Dell XPS 8000 - core i7 2,8 GHz--ram 6 MB--GEFORCE GTX 1050TI 4GB - SSD 256 + 2x630--area Pal
Videocam: Panasonic SD 700 avchd
Pinnacle 14 - PD 9-13-17

Have you tried deleting the temp files?

C: \ Users \[user_name] \ AppData \ Roaming \ CyberLink \ PowerDirector \ 18.0 \Cache \ WaveForms folder and then delete all the temporary files.

Quote Have you tried deleting the temp files?

C: \ Users \[user_name] \ AppData \ Roaming \ CyberLink \ PowerDirector \ 18.0 \Cache \ WaveForms folder and then delete all the temporary files.

TDK1044, yes I did, and it made the situation worse - The timeline clips that did show the waveforms now are blank as well. But, all the audio works, and we can adjust the volumes on all the clips.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Maureen

Quote (I didn't uninstall the free version, assuming the application manager would prompt me to do so, if need be.)

Unlike with other programs, it seems like it's generally better to completely uninstall the free/trial version of PD before installing the full version. You may even want to uninstall both versions (using the standard Windows uninstaller) and then use the App Manager to reinstall PD365. I think you can choose to keep your personal settings if you're prompted to do so during the uninstall process.

Quote
Another glitch that has appeared after the purchase is after closing the Power Director program, I have to reboot the computer in order to reopen the Power Direct program from either the desktop shortcut or the start up menu.

I'm not sure how long you're waiting after closing PD before tyrying to launch it again, but you may need to wait 5-10 seconds for the background processes to shut down after closing PD before you'll be able to launch it again. If you're using shadow files and PD is still creating them when it's closed, it may take significantly longer for a new session to become available.

The situation can also occur if PD crashes, rather than being closed normally. You can also try the steps listed here (up to and including the EDIT line) to clear the running processes and be able to run PD again.


Thanks for the detailed notes on what you've tried. The note about waiting for waveforms to appear was meant to convey that it takes time for PD to generate them, especially in large projects with lots of timeline clips. If you literally have 2 short clips on the timeline, the waveforms should appear within 5-10 seconds.

In previous versions of PD, those steps were found to be reliable ways of clearing the issue, so what you're experiencing now may look identical but have a completely different underlying cause. While you're waiting to hear back from tech support (which make take several days), it would be very helpful if you could follow the steps I just wrote up for a different thread (although you don't need to attach a screenshot if the audio level is a straight line).

That reminds me of one other thing that's come up recently - by any chance is the audio volume of these clips very low, meaning they're fairly quiet recordings? OP in this thread was frustrated that the waveforms were too small, even with the audio track at max height, and I'd like to determine if the clips audio levels are part of the issue or not.

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 What do the moderator and CyberLink do? They sleep! It's been years and the bugs remain.

Surprise, surprise - a moderator is awake!!!

Moderator (sundry definitions!):

"someone who makes certain that a formal discussion happens without problems and follows the rules"

"someone who tries to help other people come to an agreement"

"someone whose job is to control a discussion or an argument between people"

"Essentially, it is the duty of the moderator to manage the day-to-day affairs of a forum or board as it applies to the stream of user contributions and interactions."

"The person who runs a group discussion or focus group. She or he is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the discussion, managing the group process and dynamics, and introducing relevant issues and ideas for response by the group"

So we as mods read every post, check every link and remove all spam and other questionable links. We edit very selectively to make a few posts or topics more understandable and less problematic for a global membership. We also monitor issues reported, and problems that individuals have that cannot or have not been answered by the community, we direct individuals who have particular problems towards solutions and, from time to time, we involve members of the community in researching particular issues for the greater good.

We cannot act as CL developers, as CL Customer Service or CL Technical Service. We have some linkages into CL to draw attention to serious or wide issues if they are reported on the forum, but we do not form part of any formal CL team or process for such issues.

We are charged with maintaining the forum rules and ettiqette, weeding out spam and irrelevant posts, allowing members to interact positively and to ensure each and every member of the community feels comfortable with participating.

As to issues resolved, we are constantly surprised at how often members post on the forum but don't engage fully (even when asked individually) with CL Customer Service. Yes, there may be some difficulties from time to time, but without engaging fully how can a resolution to an issue be found by CL (or even by other members) when requests for information are ignored.

So rest assured, we mods are not asleep but our remit is not to solve user's problems directly, what we can do is facilitate users to communicate positively to help each other and, from time to time, perhaps raise particular issues with CL where appropriate.


PDM

For customer support related issues, please contact:
- Customer service: https://membership.cyberlink.com/support/customer-services.do
- Technical support: https://membership.cyberlink.com/support/service/technical-support.do

Quote

Unlike with other programs, it seems like it's generally better to completely uninstall the free/trial version of PD before installing the full version. You may even want to uninstall both versions (using the standard Windows uninstaller) and then use the App Manager to reinstall PD365. I think you can choose to keep your personal settings if you're prompted to do so during the uninstall process.

OK, I will uninstall the free/trial version and uninstall and reinstall PD365. Thanks for the heads up on the personal settings.

Quote
I'm not sure how long you're waiting after closing PD before tyrying to launch it again, but you may need to wait 5-10 seconds for the background processes to shut down after closing PD before you'll be able to launch it again. If you're using shadow files and PD is still creating them when it's closed, it may take significantly longer for a new session to become available.

The situation can also occur if PD crashes, rather than being closed normally. You can also try the steps listed here (up to and including the EDIT line) to clear the running processes and be able to run PD again.

The shadow files were finished before the program was closed. The clips were put into the library, then I left the computer for a couple of hours while tending other things. Whenever PD was closed, there weren't any shadow files in creation, or other processes running that I was aware of. The program crashed a few times, and it's possible I didn't wait long enough for it to complete it's processes before attempting to restart it.

For the most part, while working on the project, I was moving fairly slowly. When editting, I put one clip at a time into the timeline, and played with it, trying out the features. There was lots of time left for processing between steps. A tutorial was viewed, the step completed in PD, then another tutorial viewing, and more work in PD. Slow, but easier way for learning (for me anyway).

Quote
Thanks for the detailed notes on what you've tried. The note about waiting for waveforms to appear was meant to convey that it takes time for PD to generate them, especially in large projects with lots of timeline clips. If you literally have 2 short clips on the timeline, the waveforms should appear within 5-10 seconds.

That's what I thought - that 5-10 seconds should be plenty, and I was waiting minutes. You're welcome for the detailed notes. They're the best memory I have. LOL

Quote
In previous versions of PD, those steps were found to be reliable ways of clearing the issue, so what you're experiencing now may look identical but have a completely different underlying cause. While you're waiting to hear back from tech support (which make take several days), it would be very helpful if you could follow the steps I just wrote up for a different thread (although you don't need to attach a screenshot if the audio level is a straight line).

Sure, I'll go through those steps when I'm finished this post, before the program uninstall and reinstall.

Quote
That reminds me of one other thing that's come up recently - by any chance is the audio volume of these clips very low, meaning they're fairly quiet recordings? OP in this thread was frustrated that the waveforms were too small, even with the audio track at max height, and I'd like to determine if the clips audio levels are part of the issue or not.

The recordings were all dynamic. The waveforms that displayed showed some areas soft, needing a boost, the majority were good volumes, and some were showing the yellow clipping, and needed to be lowered. The volumes of the clips not showing waveforms were similar to the clips where the waveforms displayed, so there should have been something to see. (I'm familiar with the challenge of quiet speakers and seeing waveform displays which are almost flat.)

Well, this should keep me busy for this evening. I'll be in touch when I finish working through this stuff.

Thanks so much for your time and help, optodata. It's much appreciated.
Maureen

Quote


Surprise, surprise - a moderator is awake!!!

Moderator (sundry definitions!):

"someone who makes certain that a formal discussion happens without problems and follows the rules"

"someone who tries to help other people come to an agreement"

"someone whose job is to control a discussion or an argument between people"

"Essentially, it is the duty of the moderator to manage the day-to-day affairs of a forum or board as it applies to the stream of user contributions and interactions."

"The person who runs a group discussion or focus group. She or he is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the discussion, managing the group process and dynamics, and introducing relevant issues and ideas for response by the group"

So we as mods read every post, check every link and remove all spam and other questionable links. We edit very selectively to make a few posts or topics more understandable and less problematic for a global membership. We also monitor issues reported, and problems that individuals have that cannot or have not been answered by the community, we direct individuals who have particular problems towards solutions and, from time to time, we involve members of the community in researching particular issues for the greater good.

We cannot act as CL developers, as CL Customer Service or CL Technical Service. We have some linkages into CL to draw attention to serious or wide issues if they are reported on the forum, but we do not form part of any formal CL team or process for such issues.

We are charged with maintaining the forum rules and ettiqette, weeding out spam and irrelevant posts, allowing members to interact positively and to ensure each and every member of the community feels comfortable with participating.

As to issues resolved, we are constantly surprised at how often members post on the forum but don't engage fully (even when asked individually) with CL Customer Service. Yes, there may be some difficulties from time to time, but without engaging fully how can a resolution to an issue be found by CL (or even by other members) when requests for information are ignored.

So rest assured, we mods are not asleep but our remit is not to solve user's problems directly, what we can do is facilitate users to communicate positively to help each other and, from time to time, perhaps raise particular issues with CL where appropriate.


PDM

I'm glad someone from Taiwan is awake and I thank him for the answer.
The activity of linking the moderator with CL is important.
From CL we are waiting for the solution of the problems of malfunctions generated by the CL itself.
For example, I have been waiting for years for the duration of DVD preview music to be changed, they asked me for a thousand info and then silence.
Obviously we are all poorly listened to, customer care only exists in advertising
Greetings. W 10 64 , pc Dell XPS 8000 - core i7 2,8 GHz--ram 6 MB--GEFORCE GTX 1050TI 4GB - SSD 256 + 2x630--area Pal
Videocam: Panasonic SD 700 avchd
Pinnacle 14 - PD 9-13-17

optodata: It has come to our attention that we have a Windows problem that needs to be solved - and with any good luck, solving Windows will solve our issue with PowerDirector.

I read all the information links you sent. Now that we're aware of a windows issue, I won't send the file package, as there's no point wasting people's time if the issue isn't PowerDirector related.

Thank you for your time.

CyberLink techie opened a ticket and replied to my enquiry with a few recommendations, which led us to the Windows problem.

I'll be in touch when I reinstall PowerDirector.

Maureen

Frankly, I think that CL is missing a tremendous opportunity by not empowering the Moderators to submit more "bug" reports. It's obvious to me that many of the Regulars here are technically savvy and are doing yeoman's work in discovering - and researching - problems.

While I understand that, technically, a bug report usually requires certain specific information, some bugs - like the infamous waveforms not showing bug - were duplicatable by almost everyone. (So one wonders if the Developers are using PD themselves at home to make videos?)

Major issues like the former could have been brought to CL's attention without someone first calling in. (It's like when the electricity goes out. No one calls because we figure someone else has already called it in.)

Quote like the infamous waveforms not showing bug - were duplicatable by almost everyone.

I don't think the waveform not showing problem is an infamous one. At least, my videos work fine.
"Duplicated by almost everyone" is such an exaggerated statement as it seems the problem do not occur with all videos.

Here is the user community for exchanging technical or editing tricks among users, and you can talk with their support service to elaborate how you think the bugs are everywhere, and their engineers are idiots.

Do some good and help users here.
Stop just complaining as it is too easy and too much on the Internet.

I think the truth is in between these last two posts. The specific problem with waveforms not showing wasn't experienced by everyone, nor on every project. In addition, it was very difficult to reliably replicate. It happened, or it didn't, and CL's engineers did find and correct some of the causes while others persisted.

It wasn't until the breakthough last year that some forum members finally found a reliable way to cause the issue, and it was also forum members who created a usable workaround. Using that info, CL was then able to track down the long-elusive cause and eliminate it. I'm very appreciative of everyone in the community that worked to make this happen, and very glad that CL was finally able to resolve it.

I don't see pmikep's post as controversial or even as complaining. He's made completely valid points, even if the waveform issue was a little oversimplified. In addition, he's done some fine work to proactively try and solve another longstanding issue with laptops and dedicated GPUs in another thread, so he's clearly doing his part to "help users here."

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°

Thanks optodata. Yeah, I was blindsided by the previous comment. Even if I oversimplified the reports of the (infamous) waveform problem, it was reported often enough in the forums to be infamous. I am still of the opinion that if the Moderators were empowered more, the waveform problem might have been solved sooner rather than later. So I see no harm in empowering the Moderators more.

(Nor do I think the engineers are idiots, nor did I say that. But, as an Engineer myself, I know I cannot solve a problem if I don't know a problem exists.)

Quote optodata: It has come to our attention that we have a Windows problem that needs to be solved - and with any good luck, solving Windows will solve our issue with PowerDirector.
....

I'll be in touch when I reinstall PowerDirector.

Maureen

We found the problem!! Our pc is at the end of it's life. (sigh) We're setting up a new pc with the other programs that we need, then we'll install PowerDirector365, and I'm sure it'll work fine. (Our son has it on his phone, and really likes the results he's getting.)

Thanks to everyone for your great help and support.

Best wishes for a great and prosperous new year.

Maureen