Problems with PowerDirector 11, and no help available from Cyberlink

[videomutt]

I have made some simple videos before, see

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8f-qMH1vxRhD3k3Wh494QA

That's the kind I'm happy with, I don't need more.

The present problem is, 'something seems to have happened' since last time which prevents me from getting even there. What is happening is so utterly confusing that I am near desperation. Let me show you:

I want to start with a 5 second intro - white-on-black text. Check.

Then I want a still from second 5 to 40, overlaid with changing text, every 5 seconds. (And then a little more, also with a video sequence, but that's far away.)

What happens is that I just can't make it obey my timeframe requests. It keeps on changing the times I set.

How can this be explained, and most of all - how do I regain control over this piece of software?

Please do also compare the attachment.

[videomutt]

PS


I forgot to mention this strange effect: Sometimes the programme tells me that a subtitle must be at least 0.2 seconds long. I know, my subtitles are supposed to be 5 seconds each. This is absurd. What's going on?!

[DB83]

I don't know but aren't your sub-titles overlapping. The start of the second is the end of the first. Surely there should be even a slight gap ?

[Brainiac]

The first subtitle in the second screenshot is 10 frames long? Is that what you want?

Brainiac

[videomutt]

Thank you guys, after having tested Kizoa yesterday, I saw that it can be done, even by me - but I didn't buy theirs. So I will give it another try with PD, as soon as I manage to. I'll let you know, give me a few days, am multitasking.

[videomutt]

I tried again, but didn't have success, unfortunately. I did remember that Cyberlink have their own forum, so I decided to post my issue at

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/0/49405.page#259549

Let's see what happens there. Thanks again!

[DB83]

But did you actually implement the suggestions made here ?

[videomutt]

I tried to, but have to admit that I find the whole thing incredibly confusing. By this I mean to say that the symptoms found are often so 'mad' that I have problems even describing them. Or put it this way, I can't see the common denominator, and this just makes me despair.

[DB83]

I'll make it simpler.

Using your first pic the subs could be from 00:00:00:00 to 00:00:04:24 and the second from 00:00:05:00 to 00:00:09:24.

Both of these assuming 25 fps. If 30 fps then substitute 29 for 24.

Again, I do not know if this helps but then there is no overlap and the subs are 5 secs long

[videomutt]

Thanks again, but I just can't comprehend why second 4 doesn't run to 4.59, instead of 4.29? It may not mean anything here, but it disturbs my sense of system, or what you would call it.

[DB83]

Because there are 25 or 30 frames in a second (unless your video, of course is 50 or 60 frames per second then you could use 59 for a 60 fps video)

If you wanted your subs to run 5 mins then, of course you could use 00:04:59:00 since there are 60 seconds in a minute. The only divider for seconds is frames.

[videomutt]

Believe it or not, but I just decided to make another attempt for the 1st text, ie the one between seconds 5 and 10. It gave me 5.05 as a start time, and I accepted that. Then I determined 9.30 or 9.29 as the end time, but I got this nonsense error message again visible in the 2nd screenshot, according to which subtitles must be at least 0.2 seconds long. WTF?! It is just a complete nuisance.

[videomutt]

Thank you, I finally made it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyhernKP77E

It's not quite how I wanted it, but I can live with it.

The main conclusion to draw from this experience was: Don't do it with the subtitle function, use the text function.