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The only way to use PowerDirector in any way that remains predictable and stable is to buy a perpetual license for a solid version. Dump 360. v16 (fully patched with HA turned off) is rock solid on every system I've ever installed it on. 17 mysteriously got notably slower, but still solid. I purchased v18 but I have absolutely no reason whatsoever to install it, and the last thing in the world I want is for it to automatically install itself through 365.
Bonus: Once you pay for a solid version with perpetual license, you don't keep having to pay for it. Nor are you "getting charged to be a perpetual beta tester" for the new versions they push out through 365.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but each of your statements is entirely subjective (with the exception of not having to keep paying, although there actually is a cost there when technology changes)*
There are always issues with complex software, and I'm among the first to post here whenever I find a bug in the hope that CL will quickly address it so that everyone can focus on editing.
With the subscription version, issues are likely going to be fixed in the next patch (and there have been 2 so far), but the perpetual version of PD18 is only getting its first patch now. CL seems to be prioritizing 365 support more now, as evidenced by this new component under the "?" menu in 18.1.2405.0:
Meanwhile, PD16 is already at the end of active support, and may or may not get any additional patches, no matter how severe any new issue might be. That may be OK for you because it's "rock solid," except that you can't use HA for some reason. That's a deal killer for many people, so it's good that you aren't terribly impacted.
*The thing to remember is that any software version that stops being actively supported is also vulnerable to outside factors, like when nVidia changed their driver architecture, when Intel introduced their DCH drivers for Win10, and when YouTube changed their upload API. There is then a cost to either update PD, opt out of all future OS/driver updates, or change your workflow to deal with the new environment
I don't think there were many forum reports of PD17 mysteriously slowing down (unless you're referring to this
thread, or a more general issue with some people having to lower the preview resolution, which isn't PD17-specific). I'm not saying that you
couldn't possibly have experienced slower performance, only that your experience likely wasn't universal.
On the other hand, PD 18 had a rough roll-out, with some people unable to even run it after upgrading. Even though the majority of users didn't experience anything crippling like that, if you were affected, it was absolutely terrible and there was no quick/easy way to proceed, other than to contact CL for a link to restore PD17 (or to revert to a system image made before updating, if you had thought to create one).
One last thought is that sticking with a perpetual license is a perfectly fine philosophy, but it doesn't actually keep you from being a beta tester. Instead, due to the limited period of active support, there are a correspondingly limited number of potential beta test opportunities (aka patches), and at some point they will end entirely.
In summary (TL;DR), there are pros and cons to both the perpetual license and subscription versions, and I don't think there's any blanket statement about one being "better" than the other that would apply to everyone in every situation. I hope that looking at the details and thinking about everything listed in this thread will help people decide which approach is best for them.
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°