DV AVI jerky playback in Windows Media Player

prairiedogpics wrote on 7/22/2002, 12:47 PM
I've searched VV3 forum for the solution to this problem, but I can't find one: I rendered a new AVI file using the default NTSC DV template. The rendered file plays flawlessly within VV3 (when placed in the timeline or in preview mode). However, after closing VV3, I try to play the (DV) AVI file in Windows Media Player and it's herky jerky, stutters, skips a zillion frames and basically doesn't play well at all. (Note: I also rendered an Indeo 5.04 AVI 680 x 480 file from the same source material, which is the VV3 tutorial files, and it hesitates as it plays, too, and these Indeo files have always played just fine on this system.)

System: PIII 866 MHz, 512 MB RAM, nVidia MX Geforce 32 MB video card, Maxtor 7200 RPM 40 gig hard drive, WIN ME, Direct X 8.0.

Video that I capture is from a Sony Hi8 camcorder via a Pinnacle Studio DC-10+ (MJPEG) at 640 x 480.

Any answers for this newbie to VV3? Shouldn't these play fine on this system?

Thanks.

Comments

drdespair wrote on 7/22/2002, 1:08 PM
There could be numerous reason for jerky play back, most of them fall to the fact that DV files are fairly heafty to play on any system, especialy any system under 1000 Mhz, the VV preview windows plays at sub DV resolutions to make it more manageble. There are two way to handle this 1) buy a better processor 2) work with MPEG-2 DVD format instead of avi and play back through a soft DVD player. Or Mpeg-1.

Cheers,
D

PS. Also try to do the following, go to your system folder, and in performace I beliave there is an option that you can choise between the type of caching to use.. sellect the file server one instead of the desktop one.. it (or something along those line) it optimized disk caching for the kind of transfers video needs.
Chienworks wrote on 7/22/2002, 1:47 PM
Your computer is very comparable in power and configuration to mine, the major difference being that i run 98SE instead of ME. I can play DV and Indeo files just fine in Media Player. The one thing i do make sure of is that i have nothing else running on the computer at the same time. Do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to get a list of other programs running and shut down everything except Systray and Explorer. If i have anything else at all running then DV playback starts skipping.
sonicboom wrote on 7/22/2002, 5:00 PM
i had major skipping in my system in november
drove me crazy
i simply formated my computer -- a pain i know -- and that solved the problem
as a result, i bought another computer and now i do vv3 projects off line
i don't want to chance it
good luck
sb
salad wrote on 7/22/2002, 5:24 PM
Good replies!

My one PC is a 700MHz AMD with 320MB SDRAM. When I first got it, it too would stutter badly.
After a LOT of Win98SE tweaks etc. it has no problem with playback.

Start/Run/msconfig/Start Up/disable everything you possibly can.......
jboy wrote on 7/22/2002, 10:51 PM
You might also try removing, and then reinstalling, WMP. This oftentimes fixes lots of problems.
snicholshms wrote on 7/23/2002, 12:30 AM
You might also consider installing new Windows software like 2000 Pro or XP Pro. Win ME has a very poor track record for crashes and being just plain "buggy". I had problems with VV on ME and installed 2000 and the problems were gone! However, 2000 would not support three firewire ports. So I went to XP and that is stable and works flawlessly. Don't upgrade ME to 2000 or XP. Uninstall ME COMPLETELY and do a clean install of 2000 or XP.
jerryd wrote on 7/23/2002, 5:25 AM
I think the problem is inherent in the ME/2000 OS's. I have a really souped up pc that will not play .AVI's with Media Player. My pc has a 1600 MHz processor, 1 GB Ram, and a GeForce 4 card with 64MB Ram. There is a post in the COW relating to this issue as well.
bearded wrote on 7/23/2002, 6:26 AM
Also check the field order on your captured MJPEG files. My Matrox G400 MJPEG files are upper field first and this can cause some problems when you output to a lower filed first DV codec.

I found this was particularly problematic when the odd lost frame slipped into the capture process or when it 'automatically' rolled over from the end of one 2GB file to the beginning of another !
prairiedogpics wrote on 7/23/2002, 7:23 AM
Thanks to everybody for the helpful feedback! Here's what I did: Changed the settings inside WMP to play "large" DV files, changed the "role of the computer" to "file server" under file system properties, re-installed the hard drive drivers (the ultra ATA 100 drivers had been disabled when I upgraded from WIN 98 (first edition) to WIN ME - VV3 won't install on WIN 98 first edition), and made sure VV3 was set to its default settings.

Now, DV (NTSC) AVI files and INDEO 5.04 files play flawlessly inside and outside VV3 and in WMP. I knew there had to be a way. THANKS TO EVERYONE!
bearded wrote on 7/23/2002, 3:48 PM
Daniel,

Please tell me how you changed the role of the computer to file server.

Thanks

bearded
prairiedogpics wrote on 7/23/2002, 8:04 PM
This is how to change to a "server" role in WIN ME (and probably 98). Right-click on My Computer icon, choose Properties, click on the Performance tab, under Advanced Settings click on the File System button, and on the next screen you will see something that says "Typical role of this computer", choose Network (or File) server.

Hope this helps.