Powerdirector 16 Versions

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DefinitelyNotTom

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Jul 20, 2017
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Looks like ultimate pretty much just adds some effects and templates. I'd "rather" get it than ultra, but the ultra version is almost constantly on sale for around $40, whereas ultimate is usually $100 for an actual disc version.

Just wondering if it's really worth getting ultimate...

No way am I going to pay a monthly fee to use the adobe program or pay the high cost of vegas pro. Then most other software either doesn't let you burn to BR, charges you extra to do so, is missing key features, or is slow. So I've about settled on powerdirector.

Also, judging by recent years, 17 is probably releasing in a few months, but when I asked them about it, they are making me register an account just to read their email answer. lol. So i'll probably not bother with that.

Anyway, so ultimate necessary or not? Recently newegg even had the combo of ultra and cyberlink's photo editor for $45 or $55 combined! Maybe should have just done that.
 
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I will look into them again, but does elements even have the choice to burn to BR or to other file types, as well.
 
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You can export to DVD and various file formats.
From Adobe help:
"With each new release of Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe reviews industry standards, market trends, and user feedback to define the new feature set in Premiere Elements 2018, support for Blu-ray and AVCHD disc burning has been removed. You can still export in H264 AVCHD and H264 Blu-ray..."

Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/sharing-dvd-or-blu-ray.html
 
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What's depressing is apparently no video or photo software is any good. Not any, at all, has a great overall rating on places such as Amazon. The 2018 elements ones are rated especially low, with people saying they made changes that were bad decisions. And as far as photo editing, both paintshop pro and elements are rated poorly there, barely over a 3/5. cyberlink's photodirector is actually rated better, but in expert reviews they rate elements and paintshop pro as good ones...

I may end up just using a free photo editor. But fore video editing I'd probably want more functionality than a free one would have. But I'm all over the place because I feel like if I get cyberlink's product and it doesn't allow utilization of the rx 580 then I just wasted hundreds on the gpu since I don't game.
 
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Paintshop Pro for photo editing, "rated poorly" ?

Not!!

I use that daily. Have used it since it was JASC and PSP v4 (or earlier).

Does it have ALL the bells and whistles of full blown Photoshop? No.
But so what. Unless this is a paid gig and your company is paying for that expensive PS license...PSP, or PS Elements, does just fine.
 
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On Amazon it is. Both the ultimate version and standard one are rated barely over a 3. Normally, even barely good products are rated over a 4 on there. So a lot of people must having issues. And there's really no photo editing OR video editing rated above a 4 there, that I recall, except the very expensive ones costing several hundred.

Could be extra picky reviewers, who knows, but why would it be picky users only for software when everything else on Amazon gets 4+ reviews?
 
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User reviews on Amazon are worse than useless.

https://www.amazon.com/Corel-PaintShop-Ultimate-Multi-cam-Software/product-reviews/B073XPYJT6
Of the 1 Star reviews...
"Very difficult to figure out. I may need to take classes to learn how to use it."
"This program was incredibly difficult to use and did not interact well with my computer, drawing tablet, or any of my artistic tools."
"Very confusing on download. no instruction. Do not want this item at all. very sorry I purchased this."
"Junk, will not work right with wndows 10,"
"I have used a trail of this program and loved it. I bought thos black Friday because it was alot cheaper so I am getting ready to get new computers in a couple months but I really need to use the program now so I called Corel to make sure it wasnt a one time use and was told I can only use the serial number 3 times"

--------------------------------------------
You really need to read what is behind those ratings.
 
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yes, but every product has those types of reviews and still are rated a 4+. Every one of these photo editors and video editors are rated below that. The elements video one for sure had a lot of bad reviews based on content of the product. If you look at that, it's review after review of low scores.

Most people who rate anything 1 star are ridiculous, but still all of this type of software is rated especially poorly on there.

Some of those you just showed have legitimate points, too. If it has issues working in windows 10, that is a problem.

Speaking of bad reviews, I got a good laugh reading A Wrinkle In Time reviews on IMDB yesterday.
 
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Because it is complex software with a lot of features.
People are idiots.

Adobe Illustrator CC - 2.5 stars
Adobe Lightroom CC - 1.5 stars
Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier Pro) - 3 stars

Idiots.
 
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well, that was my thought is it was just people too lazy to figure out features. But for the video editing elements, in aprticular, someone said they made major changes for the 2018 version, which are not good. I haven't read many of the reviews on the photo editors yet.

Have you used both paintshop and the adobe elements one for photo editing? I always feel like adobe is the most popular, but paintshop does get good reviews too.
 
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Yes. I've used both Elements and PSP. And also Lightroom.
Currently, my workflow is Lightroom for primary photo editing, and then PSP for artistic effects. I do this almost every day.

I don't ned nor want full blown Photoshop. PSP and/or Elements, plus Lightroom, is fine for my usage.
 
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But why do you usually go to PSP over elements? Is it just personal preference on the feel of the software or is there actual features you like more in it? I'm only getting one or the other, or maybe nothing. I don't gain anything financially from any of this, just for fun. Although, i do make apps and so creating images could help me spice those up I guess...
 
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Just personal preference.
 
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I agree that you cannot trust the ratings from Amazon and other etailers as well. Every program has its shortcomings and none are perfect. People will give a low rating simply because they don't understand how to or won't take the time to learn how to use the software. Most have trial versions you can download and try for 30 days. Try different ones until you find one you like
 
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Problem with trial versions is my current pc would be a nightmare testing those on. It's an AThlon II cpu and 4gb RAM and had already had problems where it suddenly makes all kinds of noise when trying to do multiple things at once. And I haven't built my replacement, due to deciding between amd and intel for the cpu still, so I can't really test it in a meaningful way.

Another thing that sucks is this... adobe products are better with an intel cpu, but most other brands' video editors would be better with amd ryzen. Then some programs are good with nvidea gpu and some are better with amd there, as well. it's a big headache figuring this stuff out.

Anything I get, surely would feel insanely better than my current specs... Usually even my current pc feels fast, though, it just gets annoyingly slow when multitasking.
 
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Btw, I don't get how they can even come up with anything worth people upgrading from year to year on a photo editor... video editor is more understandable, because so much changes in video. But what would change in photography... As far as I know, they aren't coming up with more and more image file types.
 
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For me, if the upgrade cost for PSP is $30 or under, I'll probably do it.
Otherwise, wait 2-3 years.

New file types? Well, HEIC & HEIF is just now becoming a thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_Format
 
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I looked into it. It looks good.
But it didn't seem to give me anything that my current combination of Lightroom and PSP doesn't.
 
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Affinity is cheaper is why it's recommended, though. But everything I see says it has a steeper learning curve. Also, I think you have to buy straight from them, wehreas I get $50 and $75 off coupons at big name sites that sell elements and paintshop pro.
 
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"steeper learning curve" depends 100% on you.
But for $50, it didn't offer anything over the software I already have and use.

If I were just starting out? Maybe, probably.
 
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There are way too many factors to figure out on everything. Now someone is telling me nvidia cards are better for powerdirector, and I got an amd card, which they say is broken for acceleration on that program.

Does anyone know if videostudio has gpu acceleration and how nvidia vs. amd works on it?

This is becoming a chore. Only PD and VS seem to have an option to burn blu-rays, so I have barely any choices. And then they may not take advantage of my gpu, so my gpu cost would have been wasted.
 
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Supported, but for PD they are supported, too, yet there are issues with amd for it, apparently. This sucks, whether it be my RAM or GPU choices I have already made, there are issues using many things with them. For my RAM, it's up in the air how it will work if I get an amd cpu. For my gpu, it's up in the air whether or not it will improve anything for me. Feels like I have wasted a lot of money.
 
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