Customer Reviews

Power Director 3

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I haven't had experience with similar programs in this price range. However, I did some research on line before I bought this package and it was rated higher than Ulead, Pinnacle & others. (check out this comparison chart: http://www.video-editing-software-review.com/index.html) I have to say that this software has blown me away. Rendering time is fast, it has been bug free and it will save to any type of format that you require. It even includes picture-in-picture. Not just a still image picture-in-picture but full motion video.

My main use for this program is to import images from my digital video camera and make my own DvDs. It is a snap to do this and even throw in some background music or record a voice over. Sound levels are as simple as dragging a sound line up and down. There are three different volume level controls for sound included in the video file, voice recorded through a microhpone and imported sound file. This gives incredible control over the overall volume and allows you to bring volume levels up & down in various places for each of these. Editing is intuitive and easy. I can't say too much about the features that this software offers.

Any savvy computer user will have no problems picking up the controls. I can't imagine that there could be software that was easier to use. However, don't confuse simplicity with weakness. This is one powerful program. Just get it and see for yourself. Have fun!

After going through a crash-fest trying to install Pinnacle Studio 9.0, I finally decided to download a free trial version of Power Director 3.0 from the manufacturer's website, www.cyberlink.com.

Editing with Power Director 3.0 is easy, and the results are great. My only issue is that, to effectively author a DVD with multiple chapters, you need to use CyberLink's Power Producer. While an "Express" version of Power Producer is included at no charge as part of Power Director, it's menu options (such as moving preview/chapter windows and adding title text) are very limited. If you want the real version of Power Producer which does all this, prepare to shell out $69.95 for the latest full version.

If you don't mind a basic DVD as a finished product, Power Director is a great choice for beginning or intermediate software - just don't expect to be able to do disc intros and menus that are Hollywood quality.

There seems to be a lack of stable, quality products for non-professionals trying to make a DVD or VCD from a DV tape. I've tried two, Cyberlink Power Director 3 and Sonic myDVD 5. Unless you aren't planning to edit, Power Director 3 is superior. It has useful "scene detection by change in video frames" option for analog conversions. It has a very intuitive timeline editing mode that will allow you to be very creative. I was able to easily create title effects, add transitions and backround music for may project. You can save your work to DVD, VCD and streaming media. The boxed version comes with a useful, printed manual.

There are some downsides.

1. Some of the preferences settings don't seem to work (i.e., prompt for snapshot filename).
2. The burn functions aren't integrated into PowerDirector program, but rely on a separate program called EZproducer. The programs don't work together seamlessly. It took me a while to get the sound working using EZproducer (the same audio mixer settings didn't work for both programs). There is an unnecessary overlap in editing features which is confusing. Also EZProducer doesn't have some features that would be expected:
a. If there are menus created, there isn't an autoplay option so disc will play automatically when first inserted. If you don't create menus, it will autoplay, but repeat in a continuous loop.
b. It doesn't allow different formats for top level (main menu) versus lower level chapter menus.

Another major weakness: The tech support is terrible. It takes 2-3 business days to get a useless response. The FAQs are not helpful.

Final advice: If you have broadband, definitely try the trial versions before making a purchase.

Addendum: Version 4 has now been released. Also, now that Adobe Premiere Elements is available, would strongly recommend considering this product instead.

I've only used the trial of this program, but it looks mostly good, I'm probably going to buy it.
In the trial, you can't burn or create menus, as that part of the program (EZProducer) isn't included in the trial. You can download PowerProducer as a separate trial from Cyberlink, which lets you create menus and burn DVDs, but this product wouldn't even play the MPEG created by Power Director. When you buy PowerDirector, EZProducer (which I believe is a lite version of PowerProducer), comes with it. PowerProducer is a program similar in functionality to Ulead DVD Movie Factory, minus some features, plus some other stuff.

The good points of Power Director - It combines the stability of Ulead with most of the features of Pinnacle. (I say most of because the produce movie/create menus part of it resembles Ulead Video Studio- ie you need to render the entire movie as an MPEG first and then create your menus after in a different program)
It also has the following advantages over Pinnacle (based on my use of studio 8)
Scene detection is only done when you choose to, not when opening the video file which is what Pinnacle does, causing my system to freeze.
You can adjust the colour/brightness contrast easily for each separate scene.
More animated titles to choose from.
It doesn't crash all the time.
It doesn't have any other issues unlike Pinnacle which has hundreds of them.
It has the following advantages over Ulead VideoStudio 6:
Ability to detect scenes even if you haven't selected the "detect scenes" option when capturing the video.
More flexible in what you can do with layout of scenes.
More flexible with titles & timeline features.
More easy to use than VideoStudio.
It has the following disadvantages:
Menu creating/burning functionality is not intuitive at all - When producing the movie, for compression settings you need to look at the "remainder" value shown and ensure it's below 4.7GB and I only found this out by guessing. You need to burn a "High Quality DVD" in order for the width/height values to be the correct proportions, and then you can change the compression so that your whole movie fits on the disc, again, not very easy to work out. Once you've "produced" the movie, the menu creation is performed in "EzProduer" or "PowerProducer". I tried using "power producer" but it wouldn't even play the video file.
However, you can then use another program, such as Ulead DVD Movie Factory (which I already own) to create the menus and burn the disc.

Please note:
I have not tried the capture options in the program, I had already captured the video using Ulead DVD Movie Factory. My trial of the program started when I opened the captured files in power director and ended when I "produced" the video files as a single mpeg as a seperate file on my computer (without menus yet)

I am very dissapointed in how DVD's burned using PowerDirector 3 are hard to play on other computers other than the one they were created on. Time and again the video's I have produced "crash" when played on another computer. The player bundeled with the program, ostensibly to make the videos playable on other platforms, does not do the job. I think I'd consider getting another product if my goal was to share video with family or friends!

I'm sure all of the wonderful features of PowerDirector are extolled in other reviews, so I need not get into them. I will say this: Power Director is a powerful piece of software with many good ideas, but the level of "power" given to the home-movie "director" seems a bit of a paradox at times. Case in point: I want to zoom in on a picture for a slide show, but I can't set the zoom point-- it can only zoom to center. But hey, at least I can do PiP and move that around the screen (albeit only in preset configurations like top-left to right, etc.)

The Problem***
After spending about a month on correspondence with tech support (who are quite nice by the way), I still have the same issue: when VCDs, DVDs, and even SVCDs are created, they are created with randomly appearing screen artifacts (purple and green squares). They appear whenever there's action going on, or during a transition, or when text is (dis)appearing. HOWEVER, when I generate an AVI file, this doesn't happen! I get a crisp clean file. I'm not sure exactly why this is, but tech support is telling me to send them an image of my installation CD and a copy of my DxDiag.txt output from directX diagnostics. After all this, they still aren't aware of any problems with Athlon processors (they say) yet they can't figure out the problem.

I know that Avid FreeDV has issues with Athlon processors, which is why I can't use that product (trying to save money one way, get bitten another way). So I figured Power Director might have issues with the same. Apparently they do not. I beg to differ.

If you have an Athlon processor, beware. That's the only reason why I have to give this product 2 stars. I can't produce any media. What's the point in having video editing software if you can't distribute the final creation? Hmm....

I had previously been using a copy of trial type Pinnacle that came with a video card, but had decided on Video Director 3 for my full blown software after reading an online review, not Amazons. The product was extremely glitchy to load and initially would not recognize my Sony HC-40. When I finally was able to capture video, it dropped 300+ frames in only 19 seconds of video. Pinnacle NEVER dropped a single frame on me. Tech support cost $30 per phone call after the initial one free call, use it to ask for a refund. The one star rating if for the art work on the packaging. I went out and got Pinnalce 9 and have had no problems since.

I was using ArcSoft but bought PowerDirector 3.0 based on a review and the advertising. It has some slick features (mainly effects and transitions) that I like but the program is so quirky I have yet to finish a movie with it. I make short mpegs with it and import them into my ArkSoft program to get what I want. Examples of negatives - Losses picture file names or mixes them up,losses pictures, crashes with no warning sometimes, once was unable to set the default duration time for picture display - had to set everyone manually or start all over, cannot select all pics and perform the same function on them. My advice, wait for a few versions before buying.

In October 2003 we purchased the highly recommended Sony DVD Handycam. The movies are recorded directly to DVD in digital format. The DVDs can be played immediately in most DVD players. I have been using the free software that came with the camcorder to edit and manipulate my home movies but the free software didn't offer enough options so I researched which software to purchase. I found several reviews that suggested Power Direct 3 and that's what I decided to buy. I installed the software and then determined that it is incompatible with my Sony camcorder and I am unable to "capture" my digital movies. The software will not allow capture directly from a DVD or from the harddrive. It is NOT an option...which seems like a basic option to me. I contacted the company to find out if they planned an upgrade to add the Sony camcorders into their compatibility system and they suggested that I buy a new camcorder. Give me a break! Then they suggested that before I buy the new camcorder I check its compatibility with Power Director 3 first. As if I would base my $1000 camcorder purchase on the compatibility of a $100 editing software. It never dawned on my that the number one recommended editing software would not work with the number one selling DVD camcorder. This has turned out to be an expensive lesson since I can no longer return the software (I threw away the box).

Definitely check to make sure that your camcorder is compatible before purchasing this software. And, do not think that you can rely on Customer Support or Technical Service for anything.

I had to edit this review after I have tried other video editing programs. I think it should be 3 stars but I cannot edit that part of the review.

I have created exciting videos from this product. The recommendation is to use at least 1.8ghz cpu speed for mpeg2. My computer has the minimum speed and not even a Pentium. It works fine though.

It is nice to know that it requires very little HD memory. For an hour of video is like 2-4 gig as compared to other softwares at 15 gigs. But the trade-off? Video quality is so-so.

Some annoyances:

If you add or remove a video segment, the titles, additional audio, etc. needs to be adjusted manually.
In the chapter and thumbnail authoring, you cannot move the thumbnails around. You have to follow a fixed template. So, if you have a pix of your son on the background, you cannot relocate a thumbnail around so it does not cover his face.