clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,clap, clap,

Well done Andrew..... you have just made a new "Newbie READ THIS!" info thread......

The two monsters.... PD9 and PD10................ Revo uninstaller is a must have (free) __________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

Hi Andrew
Great intro to PD.
One thing you mentioned "Moving the PAGE file to a second DISK"
If I understand this right the page file holds the video file PD is currently working on and its best this takes place on your 2nd (non C) drive. I have previously altered this on Premiere but cant find how to do it on PD.
Could you help with this please??
Many
thanks
David

Great post. Thanks for the effort of putting it together.

Very nice summary!

Now, while we have an experienced people's attention here, could you please put down some notes about what kind of hardware components are preferable?

Basically, I've never done any video editing. Though, for many years I am doing a photo processing on fairly advanced level.
The whole last week I was testing different video editing software systems (MAGIX, Corel, Adobe, AVS, MoviePlus, Sony Vegas), and finally narrowed it down to PD10 64 Ultra as the fastest one with the best quality of the resulting clips.

Now, about computer parts. My system is fairly old and painfully slow - AMD Phenom II X4 940, 3GHz, 12GB RAM, nVidia 9600GSO, SSD+HDD, Win7 x64. I have on order a better parts, but for now using what I have.

1) Video Card. I have a fairly old card - nVidia 9600 GSO, and also got this morning more powerful nVidia GTX 550 Ti. Test clip, 2 min, too dark, put some video enhancements, color correction, white balance fix, denoise - system with BOTH cards (hw acceleration is On) was working about 22 minutes! With CL off - 39 min. So, GPU acceleration does help.
Can I say, that for PD10 it does not make any difference how advanced video card is as soon as there is some card present?

2) Hard Drive. I have two installed. One is regular WD Black 7200rpm, another one SSD, SATAII Vertex 2. I tried to have PD to work from HDD and later - from SSD. That did not make ANY difference whatsoever! That is actually expected result. Source file was 352MB, result - 184MB, total 536MB. Divide it by 22 minutes, 400KB/sec. Even slowest USB flash drive is faster : So, PD10 does not care about fast hdd as soon as there is enough RAM and OS does not swap too much (I have no swap file at all - disabled).

3) RAM. Seems to be no problem with 12GB. At any given moment system monitor shows about 5GB free physical memory.

4) CPU. Have nothing to compare my Phenom X4 940 with (Yet! Waiting for i7-2600K to arrive in mail any time). It looks like that CPU is the biggest bottleneck and major deciding factor for PD in regards to speed of work.

Basically, from what I can tell, PD need CPU, as fast as possible! Everything else is negligible.

If I made a huge mistakes in any of this statements, please, correct me!

You did order an Intel MB to go with that I7, correct? Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

Of course! Z68 chipset (Asus P68Z68-V Pro) to be able to use an internal i7's GPU with QuickSync.

Looking at results of my testing, I am starting to think, that I can try to get rid of discrete GPU at all, and just use integrated Intel HD 3000. What's the point if it does not improve anything anyway?!

I don't know of any NLE that works to full potential with a integrated gpu. Get a good PCIE Video card!

Also, many people have issues with ssd and NLE's also.

I prefer the new Hitachi 7200 1 TB - 1 platter sata drives, for w7-64 bit.. Read write speeds are similar to ssd, without the issues. I also have a wd black, that I moved to my d drive, for storage.

Otherwise your system looks fine. Good luck on the build.

Randy Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

Moving the Windows Page File.
http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/53542-how-move-paging-file-another-physical-hdd-win7.html

Also consider tow registry hacks.

The following will DELETE the PAGE FILE ON REBOOT, rebuilding a contiguous PF on every restart.. PAge Files can become corrupt...

1.Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2.Change the data value of the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value in the following registry key to a value of 1:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
If the value does not exist, add the following value:
Value Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1


The following link will explain how to prevent Windows from Swapping the Kernel and associated components.
REsults will vary, and if you are running on low memory, 2GB might be the lower limit, then try this..

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q184419

It would be a plus if someone would put together a detailed listing of parameters and settings that PD uses to locate where it keeps all forms of data. Some years ago, and they are still available, we used Gigabyte I-RAM solid state memort cards using DDR ram and battery backups to have a 4GB SOLID STATE, (fast as crap) disk to use as a workspace for database servers, and these are still available and other solutions exist.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16255

Thread Visitors;

Now, while we have an experienced people's attention here, could you please put down some notes about what kind of hardware components are preferable?

I have watched this thread for awhile and I would like to add some cautions here for new Powerdirector users. Since the contributors to this thread are ALSO new PD users, I include them. Although the folks on this thread appear to be very experienced with "hardware tweaking", some of their recommendations/assumptions may have unexpected downsides. Especially for the platform or "geek skill" challenged (i.e.- the normal/casual PC user). Some of us may be able to strip and re-assemble a Harley knucklehead, but most of us can not (and don't like grease )!!

It is important to note here that PD10 is composed of MODULES that handle things like SOUND and EFFECTS and FILTERS/TRANSITIONS that are not part of the actual CYBERLINK program and this interaction WILL cause trouble if the system is "tweaked" based on some of the recommendations found here.

I tried to have PD to work from HDD and later - from SSD. That did not make ANY difference whatsoever!

This is not correct. Although this specific user may not have had problems, proceed to use SSD with caution for processing large files.

So, PD10 does not care about fast hdd as soon as there is enough RAM and OS does not swap too much

Swapping occurs throughout the process of transcoding and since I am not Cyberlink, I have no definitive benchmarks. I CAN tell you from POWERDIRECTOR editing experience that the speed of the harddrive, available freespace, the location of the OS and swapfile/pagefile setting WILL impact the program efficiency.

Can I say, that for PD10 it does not make any difference how advanced video card is as soon as there is some card present?

I would not recommend this. A fast, discrete, high-memory video card is still the best recommendation for PD10.

Looking at results of my testing, I am starting to think, that I can try to get rid of discrete GPU at all, and just use integrated Intel HD 3000. What's the point if it does not improve anything anyway?!

Video GPU manufacturers are in the middle of a race to keep up with recent technological advances. The more cores the GPU has the better it is for you (right now). Onboard technologies (like- QuickSync and Optimus) are "in-transition" and how efficient they are changes with each new GPU and Driver release.

Tweak the crap out of this installation..
turn off windows search,
disable system restore,

Look... if you are a "tweaker", than you already KNOW that tweaking is fun and can be powerful..that is why so many do it..we like the "bleeding edge" technology. But, I caution the standard user that this path has some serious "potholes" for the unprepared or uninitiated user. Complete re-installation of the OS (and possible hardware component replacement) is something you should be prepared to do at various times without the ability to rollback to an earlier date.

To the newbies on this thread - After using this PD program on many platforms, I have a few scars. What follows are my suggestions based on that experience (and discussions with many of the Senior Contributing Editors here). Yes, you can run with less or more..these are just my guidelines (I am a single user). I am NOT trying to start a TECH WAR! Your tweaked machines would overwhelm me in any such game!!

Now, while we have an experienced people's attention here, could you please put down some notes about what kind of hardware components are preferable?

For optimum, stable operation of the PD10 program, I recommend/suggest:

- An i5 or i7 CPU (or newer AMD multi-core)
- A DISCRETE video card (no laptops PLEASE) with at least 1GB of dedicated video memory and CURRENT WHQL Drivers
- 6-12GB RAM
- Windows 7
- 64BIT system
- PD on the %SystemDrive%
- OS on a SATA 7200RPM (faster is better) drive with at LEAST 200GB of free space on the %SystemDrive%
- a separate large INTERNAL HDD for storage of large video files (NO USB or External drives, please)

I agree with Fred, too much tinkering can be bad, and the top "gamer" system may not be the best NLE system. You want to use the right components for NLE.

I am not a PD10 user yet, but have experience with several NLE's. There are basic rules for all NLE's. I have built many systems specificaly for NLE's. Get a good video card!

Forget the SSD, this new SATA drive is the fastest I have seen for recent builds. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145533

Randy Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

FredB,

Thanks for your input! May I ask about one of your points?

You mentioned "PD on the %SystemDrive%". Any particular reason for that? In regards to performance there is no difference between system and non-system drives. Possibly, PD does not like to be ran from non-system drive because of some internal bugs/issues?

Everything else is straightforward. But it is good to have a definition of minimally acceptable system for PD. Thanks again!

Not all SSD's are created equal. I have several Intel Model # SSDSA2M040G2GC 40gb drives in my desk draw. These units simply don't have the write speed nor size needed for serious NLE.

Aside from my own personal favorite tweaks, some listd here, I've simply pointed the locations of various work and output files to other physical drives I have on my system.

(NOTE( if you are running an Intel Based ICH disk controller and the latest drivers, and you run your systems in a UPS, you might look and experiment to determine if you can enable "WRITE BACK CACHE" on the WORK drives in your system...

If you have lot's of RAM, you can also make a RAMDRIVE to output files too..

Here is one option to create a highspeed output disk in ram.. lmdisk

http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/

Adding ram just to use this program is reason enough. Some ram drives will save the data through a reboot.

But having a fast outpout on a single disk box is nice.

deim;
I was not specifying the "minimally acceptable system", but a providing a suggestion for an optimal configuration. PD10 will run with less and Cyberlink has already posted those recommendations:
http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/requirements_en_US.html

You mentioned "PD on the %SystemDrive%". Any particular reason for that?

This suggestion is due to the fact that some internal PD10 modules (like SmartSound and WaveEditor, for example) will try and use the %OS% drive for THEIR temporary files (regardless of what you tell PD10 to do), and splitting the location of the processing files CAN have a negative impact on the process operation. I am sure there are more...but as I said, I do NOT have access to the code and have not uncovered all such events.

Considering the fact that PD10 is a combination of 64BIT and 32BIT modules you might see that moving the program installation to a non-OS drive can have a downside.

Preparing a Windows 7 machine to be virtualized on a VMWARE server addresses many of the optimization tweaks you would want to make for a machine using an NLE program. On page 18 of the attached document, they show the many tweaks to minimize the CPU impact a VM Windows 7 Machine would impose on the HOST OS. Doing the same on a physical machine has similar results. (REDUCES CPU OVERHEAD, Thus better performance)

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-View-OptimizationGuideWindows7-EN.pdf

Assuming you are running an AntiVirus program, you should also determine if you can have the local agent "NOT" scan certain file types and FOLDERS.

IF your PC is also running the Windows Firewall, as is the case if your machine is running on DSL and has the PUBLIC IP assigned via PPPOE. visit www.iptools.com in the upper right is the discovered WAN IP address.
IF your IP address is anything other than begins with 10.x.x.x, 172..., or 192.. then you are behind a firewall and really don't need Windows Firewall..

All advises above are very good, I guess, but I was looking for something more specific.

I mean, tips for configuration of OS to increase performance of file operation, or to add more RAM, or to optimize hdd, or to remove negative affects of antiviruses, remove unnecessary background services - this is all good for newbie in computers. BUT, it is just too generic, and NOT specific to PD and NLE in general. You can apply EXACTLY the same advices to configuration of some database machine, to some web-server, to fairly active application server, to even a software developers machines! I do know what I am talking about - after 25 years in software development, mostly enterprise level.

Now, what I was interested in is more FINE tuning, very specific to not only NLE in general, but particularly to PD10. And I thought that I did asked exactly this originally. Question I still have unanswered is - how much PD10 uses GPU acceleration?

As I said, I tried to test it, and PD does use GPU acceleration, no doubt about it. But when I upgraded video to the 5 times faster GPU - nothing changed in PD10's performance.

It seems that general perception here is that you need really good GPU with 1GB onboard RAM. No problem with this, but maybe my test was too simple or maybe I did something wrong, but I did not see any difference between slow 512MB card and much faster 1GB card.

I have no problem adding whatever is going to really improve performance, after all, what is additional $300 on top of $1000 already spent just to build a machine, optimized specifically to PD? : But I do not game, and if PD really does not use much of GPU, then what is the point?

No offense at all, just trying to figure out what is important and what is irrelevant...

andrew3202;

I think this thread has strayed WAY TOO FAR outside of the intention of this forum. We are here to support users with problems using Cyberlink Powerdirector 10.

Preparing a Windows 7 machine to be virtualized on a VMWARE server addresses many of the optimization tweaks you would want to make for a machine using an NLE program.

Disabling firewalls, disabling system restore, modifying WRITE BACK CACHES, implementing RAMDISKS, auto-generating PAGEFILES, managing reparse points and VMWARE are just a few of the topics I see andrew3202 discussing in this single thread.

Although there are many new technologies available, I would caution users that "bleeding edge" is a phrase coined FOR A REASON!! While you may be confortable with these "tweaks" Andrew, I suggest that they may create larger issues for the general user population.

I think we need to re-focus our efforts on subjects that address the needs of the broad base of users in this forum, not "tweaking", which really has a more appropriate place in a hardware forum.

Good grief - I am wondering now how I have been able to do create nice slide-shows, even acceptable video projects, fix up photos, run several programs at the same time (such as PD10 and PSP X4 for example) and all of that without all of that tweaking.

My processor is newer but not the latest version, my harddrive has some issues and is rather full, I have countless programs installed in the same drive; the computer (aka the case) contains about five hard drives, three optical drives and all kind of stuff is plugged into USB ports.

Yes, I know how to tweak. I tried this years and years ago just to find out that it often a) caused issues with using certain programs b) when I had to use a new drive for one reason or another, I had to do it all over again and c) I don't have the patience for all that tweaking. Since in the end my personal experience was that tweaking was more trouble than it was worth - I have decided to not do any of anymore and can not say that it has resulted in a negative computer-performance for what I am using it for.

And, even though because of the few posts I have on here I am showing as a 'novice', I am not one when it comes to computers as such (I build them for myself, repair and maintain them also for others), and neither when it comes to editing; I previously have mainly used Roxio versions for that purpose and Cyberlink secondary, but since PD8 have changed it the other way around and have not regretted that move at all. PD10 works fine for me; sure, there is always room for improvement, but up till now it has done what I am asking it to do quite nicely.

Good grief indeed
For once got a rare opportunity not just use whatever I have at the moment, and "survive" with it, but properly build a GOOD machine for a specific task - and nobody can even tell what is good and what is not in regards to some particular part Oh, well, I guess, I have to trust my own tests...
At least thanks to all who replied, I know that whatever I am getting is not too bad.

Quote: As I said, I tried to test it, and PD does use GPU acceleration, no doubt about it. But when I upgraded video to the 5 times faster GPU - nothing changed in PD10's performance.

The drivers for Nvidia cards have fluctuated in efficiency over the last few WHQL releases. Another release is due out that should help with leveraging more of the power of your GPU.

There is a significant difference in the performance of the newer GPUs depending on the CUDA Cores (in the case of Nvidia), more so than dedicated memory.

Although it seems counter-intuitive, the Senior users here have found that in MOST cases, turning OFF (unchecking) the hardware acceleration (HA) settings in "preferences" utilizes the GPU better....not sure why, but this has ALWAYS been the case for me.

Now that SVRT is starting to work (in recent PD10 builds), this MAY change...but for now, I suggest you turn HA OFF if you have a strong video card! Hope this helps.