As was stated in the error messages, the trial version cannot be used with 4K videos. There is no such restriction in the full version, and I think the easiest way to get the full experience is to purchase the lifetime license for PD19 and use the 30 day money back guarantee if it doesn't meet your needs.

Your system's i7-8700K is poewerful enough to work with 4K clips without needing shadow files, but you should update the nVidia driver for your GTX 1080 as the installed version is almost 2 years old.

I should add that it's very important to install the trial version before installing the full PD19 program.

I appreciate the advice but the error message did not say anything about the trial version (this was not clear in my post, I apologize). The error message I'm getting is included in an attached screenshot and summarized in the title of the post, the error is "The shadow file on ..... is unavailable because it is broken or contains an error. Try deleting it in General preferences, and then try again". If the error simply said that the trial version didn't support 4k import then this would be very simple but it's a different error. Also, the trial version definitely does support 4k import, I can import 4K videos, edit them extensively, and export to lower resolution just fine. The fact that exporting 4k gives a clear descriptive error saying it's not supported in the Trial version makes me think the shadow file issue is something else.

Great advice on the graphics card drivers, I'll update those now.

Quote As was stated in the error messages, the trial version cannot be used with 4K videos. There is no such restriction in the full version, and I think the easiest way to get the full experience is to purchase the lifetime license for PD19 and use the 30 day money back guarantee if it doesn't meet your needs.

Your system's i7-8700K is poewerful enough to work with 4K clips without needing shadow files, but you should update the nVidia driver for your GTX 1080 as the installed version is almost 2 years old.

I should add that it's very important to install the trial version before installing the full PD19 program.

I understand what you're saying, but I believe that the issue is almost certainly caused by the trial version based on the significant restrictions that are enforced as compared to the full version.

Remember that you should be able to disable shadow files completely and still work with 4K clips smoothly while editing, even in the trial version. Updating the video driver may bring additional stability and performance improvements, especially with the full version.

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm having a few weird issues that I didn't have with smaller resolution files (mostly freezing at weird times for 20+ seconds and not showing a preview when zooming) but it's certainly possible the issue is due to it being the trial version and not due to the actual processing requirements of the larger resolution files. I updated the graphics drivers and it didn't help so I think I will go ahead and buy the full version and if I still have issues I'll research those issues specifically and use the 30-day guarantee if it doesn't work out. Thanks for the advice!

Quote I understand what you're saying, but I believe that the issue is almost certainly caused by the trial version based on the significant restrictions that are enforced as compared to the full version.

Remember that you should be able to disable shadow files completely and still work with 4K clips smoothly while editing, even in the trial version. Updating the video driver may bring additional stability and performance improvements, especially with the full version.

Quote Yeah, that's a good point. I'm having a few weird issues that I didn't have with smaller resolution files (mostly freezing at weird times for 20+ seconds and not showing a preview when zooming) but it's certainly possible the issue is due to it being the trial version and not due to the actual processing requirements of the larger resolution files. I updated the graphics drivers and it didn't help so I think I will go ahead and buy the full version and if I still have issues I'll research those issues specifically and use the 30-day guarantee if it doesn't work out. Thanks for the advice!

Hello my friend. I have the same problem with the shadow file and I have no idea what to do. Can you tell me please how you solute it ? Is it because of trial version or smth else?

Quote
Hello my friend. I have the same problem with the shadow file and I have no idea what to do. Can you tell me please how you solute it ? Is it because of trial version or smth else?

Yeah, going to the full version solved all of my issues. I think the answer is that the trial version doesn't support working with 4k files. They do tell you that in advance but if you try it anyway, you don't get always get helpful error messages, it just "sort of" works. Some things worked, some things (like exporting) give clear error messages about not being supported in the trial version, and other things didn't work but didn't give specific errors about the trial version. The full version has not had any issues at all and I've been very happy with it.