Quote As a project workflow it's normal/common to insert the various clips in the timeline in a rough sequence before doing any editing on the whole. And then it's also common the make a change to a clip in a project, then play it to assess the result.

But it's downright annoying to have the project time marker zip back to the start of the project when stop is selected after such a clip edit and play operation. For a small project maybe that is not a big deal, when sliding the time marker back to the clip concerned is a short operation. But when the project is beyond small, you spend more time sliding the marker back to the clip involved than anything else.

In preferences, there seems to be a check box to manage that (screenshot attached). But it doesn't seem to work: the default is ticked, but even when unticked, clicking stop (the square icon below the preview window) still sends the time marker back to the start of the project.

What I would like to do is just either stop it dead (marker remains at the position it was when stop selected), or have the marker go back to the start of the clip being edited. Is there a working way to do that??

Hi,
Below the timline preview window select Clip or Movie (PageUp or Page Down).
In Movie mode the operations apply to the whole movie ie the cursor will return to the start of the movie, in Clip mode operations are confined to the selected clip.

Does that do what you need?

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

That is basically what I was doing - not using pg up/down, but click the icons under the preview window.

Referring to the screenshot, you'll see that the preferences/editing item "return to clip/movie begining after preview" is un-ticked. I changed it from the ticked default to assess what it did. Logically, in that setting state, during a preview play when the stop icon is selected, the time marker should stay at that position regardless of whether the item being played is the project (movie) or a clip. But it doesn't; if the preview is a clip, the marker returns to the start of clip. If the project has become selected, the marker returns to the start of movie. And it does the same thing when that preference item is selected/ticked. The preferences item seems to have no effect whether selected or not - the response is the same. Not a good reason to have a setting if it doesn't do anything.

With further testing, clicking pause rather than stop does what I want: the marker stops at that point. But clicking stop after pause just sends the marker back to the start. A movie is bad enough, but some clips are long too.

And I've found that slippage from clip to movie for play can happen without input from the user (me), particularly if I've been editing in a room; and that return to start when I stop the play is annoying.

The setting you refer to governs the behaviour when the clip/movie is played and gets to the end. If the setting is ticked then when playing the preview the playhead will return to the beginning. It will not come into play when you press stop.

I must admit I have never thought about this issue as I only press stop when I want to play the clip/movie to play it and see if I think it's ready, if so I go on to the next section or produce. All the rest of the time I use pause and move the playhead around as needed.

I don't think there is any way around this behaviour. You could ask Cyberlink to add a setting which would allow this to happen, or maybe a slight alteration in your workflow might negate this annoyance.

If you want to stop the playback at the point you are watching, Pause the video by clicking the play button on the preview player. (it is a toggle) Click again to continue playing.

Pause will stop where the cursor is. Stop will always return to the beginning of the Movie in movie mode or the the start of the clip in Clip mode. 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.

Phil,
What actually happens is:
- with the preferences/editing item cited un-selected:
in clip mode - allow to play to the end and the time marker stops there. Which is what the un-selected setting is saying, but that only happens if you play to the end of the clip. During play and before the end of clip, select the square stop icon and the time marker zips back to the start of clip, as it supposedly should if the preferences item was selected.
in movie mode - does exactly the same thing as clip mode, only back to start means back to the start of the whole project.

- when the preferences/editing item is selected
in clip mode - play to the end, and the marker zips back to the start. During play, select stop and the marker zips back to the start.
in movie mode - exactly the same result as in clip mode.

Stopping play with pause certainly works, but if you are looking to mark a spot for trimming with the time marker "stopped", then having it in pause seems likely to cause problems if one then trims the clip when it's all set to continue playing.

Playing a clip or a whole project in review, and you spot something you want to change: spelling, a zoom variation, sound levels, whatever - and hitting stop should mark the spot in the project where the change is required. But instead, the program takes the time marker elsewhere. In movie mode, right back to the start. In clip mode, back to the start of clip. Finding the spot where you want apply an edit is then both tedious and a time waster. Using 'pause' really isn't right for this sort of action.

"What actually happens is:
- with the preferences/editing item cited un-selected:
in clip mode - allow to play to the end and the time marker stops there. Which is what the un-selected setting is saying, but that only happens if you play to the end of the clip. During play and before the end of clip, select the square stop icon and the time marker zips back to the start of clip, as it supposedly should if the preferences item was selected.
in movie mode - does exactly the same thing as clip mode, only back to start means back to the start of the whole project.

- when the preferences/editing item is selected
in clip mode - play to the end, and the marker zips back to the start. During play, select stop and the marker zips back to the start.
in movie mode - exactly the same result as in clip mode."

Yes, this is expected behaviour, and has been so in PowerDirector for as long as I have been using it (version 13 or 14 if memory serves.

"Stopping play with pause certainly works, but if you are looking to mark a spot for trimming with the time marker "stopped", then having it in pause seems likely to cause problems if one then trims the clip when it's all set to continue playing."

I'm not sure what issue you're anticipating here.

Here's my workflow.

1. Play clip or movie


2. Spot some required edit (title, subtitle etc)


3. Pause playback


4. Add a clip marker (this has an added advantage as I can add a note about the edit


5. Start playing again.

I can then use keyboard shortcuts to move from marker to marker and make the edits.

I guess it should be obvious that I am used to a playback stopping where/when the stop button is pressed.

What I was anticipating - mixing functions such as pause then trim like that - was erroneous operation, a crash even.

That workflow with markers and a note would do. Reviewing the user guide, clip markers look to be more complicated than timeline markers. Practising, I couldn't get a clip marker to 'take', but timeline markers were easy to insert and remove.

I had to open up a project and start working on it to even know how I operate, and like others have mentioned, I rarely use the stop button, instead using the spacebar or pause button to stop playback. Don't forget there are many keyboard shortcuts, many of which are customizable, that will help you do things faster.

For example, Shift + M will place a timeline marker where the scrubber is located, and that works even if you do it during normal playback without stopping.

Also, no editing combination should ever cause PD to crash, so if you run across a situation where you consistently see that, it's worth posting here for others to confirm as it may indicate a problem with your system.

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