Cyberlink PowerDirector 11 Ultra

Excellent video editor! My son wanted to start putting out YouTube videos, and most of the apps that I already had weren't really up to the task (at least not easily). So after doing a Google Search, I came across a review of the popular apps, and this one seemed to be the best deal and had most of the best features. I went with the older v11 because I am not planning on using multiple camera inputs, but I might upgrade later just for the improved rendering speed. When I purchased this I was using it on an older dual core system, but now I have it on a high end Intel i7 system, so I'm already spoiled by the improved rendering speed that came with the system upgrade. To give an idea of the improvement, my son's first video was 12 minutes long 1080p 30fps and it took well over an hour to render on my old dual core PC. On the i7 based PC the same video rendered faster than real-time -- under 8 minutes! Editing is very easy to do. It's very easy to add subtitles and/or annotations, music tracks, voice overs, watermarks/logos, etc. It comes with a nice assortment of fancy transitions, and the enhancements are easy to use (but do slow down the rendering). My video camera isn't anything too fancy -- a Panasonic Lumix FZ200. It does a good enough job that I don't really feel the need to use any of the enhancement utilities. Overall just an excellent piece of software, rather low learning curve (I tried Sony Vegas and PowerDirector is MUCH easier to use), easy to use, fast rendering (on a fast PC), stable, and rather inexpensive compared to the competition.

I've just recently gotten into video making, and was looking for a step up from Windows Movie Maker. One of the products i came across was this one. After reading some of the negative reviews from users about this product, I was a little hesitant to buy it. So I downloaded the 30-day trial, and I gave it a spin. For basic video editing, I found it to be exactly what I needed, plus a little more. I bought the full version about a week ago, and I still feel the same way about it. I love the system for keyframing opacity, scale, movement, etc. Basic corrections to the color of video are also great. It includes just enough to not confuse a newbie (i.e. no color wheels). Even the titling system is a step up. I've only had one problem with freezing so far. It stopped right in the middle of a render. But, I don't have a lot of RAM, and I had been making a lot of edits before the render, so it shouldn't be a problem in the future. Overall, PowerDirector has made great first impressions, and I look forward to editing some larger projects on it in the future.

I found this product very difficult to use. It was purchased specifically to make a video for my son's high school graduation and i was barely able to get the disc burned. I am not new to creating videos but wanted to try some updated software......that was a big mistake. I doubt I will ever try to use it again.

UPDATE 2013/04/04 (April) I did finally get it to work. It seems like it's going to be useful and maybe even fun but I've only had it up and running about a day and a half. It took many hours over several days...trial and error mostly...to figure out what PowerDirector did not remove in the uninstall so it could actually start out fresh. As I've had to do with quirky software in the past, I had to search the hard drive for any folders or files that might remain after uninstalling. Then, I search the Windowws Registry to find things of the same ilk and I try deleting them. Of course, before starting the process, I have to image my OS partition to be prepared in case I massacre the OS files to the point of no return. I don't know which "delete" made the magic because I did multiple things at once...however...it now will launch and run. Cyberlink did finally respond with human (rather than bot) intervention. However, they want me to send screenshots, dxdiag logs, and a whole bunch of other stuff so they can analyze. Well. I'm up and running on my own so I'm going to politely decline their offer. If they had asked for that a few days ago I might have done it but I don't know that would have helped any. I think it would have just been more busy work designed to keep me offline and out of their way. We now know the fix was deleting stuff. Tech support will never advise you to delete stuff from the registry. They know 90% of their customers can't do that. So, the basic install works. But, in addition, there are some additional "content" installers that are part of the Ultra package. One is a separate 1.7 Gig installer called "essentials" and then there's a 0.9 Gig installer that is called "premium". I haven't had the nerve yet to try them although I want to because I guess that's where the snazzy transititions and effects are harbored. I'm just not ready for more installation problems right now. Maybe some day after I've had a few martinis I'll be ready to do the deed. Oh, and get this. The update/patch files at Cyberlink carry a payload. Oh, yes. It's true. You have to carefully decline a Google installer when you run an update. How about that? You're in trouble so you run to get a patch to fix broken software and they slip a Google thing in there. Really? Is that they way to do it? UPDATE 2013/03/30: It did take 12 hours to download from Amazon. So, consider the "download" option to be similar to a "next day" delivery. I still cannot use the program. It did nothing but crash so I tried the uninstall/reinstall routine but now it won't launch as it complains that it is cannot find MFC90U.dll. (Of course, that's a part of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 runtime and CyberLink installs that runtime as part of its install routine.) When I contact CyberLink support through email, they only regurgitate and reflect my statements back to me or they answer a question that I did not ask. It's as if they have a bot program autoresponding and I think that is the case. CyberLink support is of no help whatsoever but I must continue to hammer away at them hoping I'll eventually land upon someone or something that knows something and is willing to share because Amazon does not accept returns of downloaded software. And, of course, I'm Googling like crazy trying to find a fix. If I figure something out, I'll come back to post. I suspect others will experience this problem. In the meantime, my $58 for the software has only left me with a big obstacle to overcome so I can troubleshoot CyberLink's software for them. MY ORIGINAL REVIEW POST: It will take over 10 hours to download this from Amazon's server. Something is very, very slow. Web page for CPD11Ultra says it's 654 MB but when you fire up the Amazon download manager to get it, you discover it is actually over 3 Gigs. That would be okay because I've got a good fast fiber optic connection but something is dragging the bits through sludgy mud before they get in the stream. The server is doling out the bits so that over 4 hours have passed and I've only got about 1.2 Gigs of the total 3.21 Gigs. The Amazon download manager says there's another 8 hours to go! It's going to be 12 hours waiting for this application. Adding to the anxiety, however, is the expectation that the installer will fail because some bits are whacked and I'll have to restart a 12 hour download again. I'm pretty sure this will make me shy away from Amazon's other download services (movies, software, games, etc.) I called Amazon customer service. They could see what I was trying to download but said they couldn't do anything to speed it up. So, here I sit. 4 hours down and another 8 hours to go but I'll be in bed by then! 2013/03/30 ELABORATION ON TODAY'S UPDATE I still can't use the program. It did nothing but crash when I tried to encode a short movie time line. Naturally, the next intervention was to uninstall and reinstall. Tried that. Now, I can't launch the program. It complains that it cannot find mfc90u.dll. Turns out that's a Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 file. Cyberlink PowerDirector installs an old version of M$ Visual C++ 2008 during the PowerDirector installation process. So, why can't PowerDirector find its own files? I think that's a question that CyberLink should easily be able to answer. I believe my download from Amazon was intact because the Amazon download manager utility ran a MD5 hash check on the files and it reported that all was okay. It's frustrating when I consider that CyberLink has sold thousands of software packages. You know that my problem cannot be unique. It must have happened to many. And, yet, when I contact the people who coded the software, all they tell me is a repeat of the things I say in my email query. I tell them I have already installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled. Their answer is to uninstall and reinstall. Do they think that just because they say it then it will be effective even though I have already done that? Obviously, the CyberLink uninstall/reinstall routine is flawed. That's why it can't find the Microsoft C++ 2008 runtime that CyberLink put there. So, what good does it do to tell me to do that over and over? If it failed, then it will continue to fail. Only CyberLink coders can determine why that is so. But, the problem won't get past the CyberLink bots! The bots just keep saying uninstall/reinstall!!!