Psychedelic artifacts - GPU (GTX660) and Canon5D

RWT wrote on 9/16/2012, 1:59 PM
I recently bought a Nvidia GTX660 to use with VP11. I am using the very latest drivers (at the time of writing this is 306.23) and the very latest VP11 (build 683) on Windows 7 (Ultimate, 64bit).

When I fade to black I get MANY unwanted artifacts. Think psychedelic multi color edges. I get this in the preview as well as the final render (no matter what I render to). If I set to CPU only (Options->Preferences->Video->GPU acceleration) this does not happen. My source video is coming from a Canon 5D - and it appears that it's only happening with footage from the Canon.

It's kind of sad that this is happening as this is the main reason for me upgrading to a proper GPU. Does anyone else 1) experience this as well 2) have any kind of solution to my problem?

Thanks!

Comments

paul_w wrote on 9/16/2012, 4:31 PM
We used to see this with the previous build of v11. It was a Vegas bug and was GPU related. It did get fixed in the latest v11 release. So, if you are using the latest release which it seems you are, then i would put this down to your GTX660 driver / Vegas software not working together. You could try reporting to SCS this but sadly, i am not expecting another v11 update. I could be wrong of course.

Are you sure this is only happening with Canon footage? the issue i described effected all media types not just canon.

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/16/2012, 5:11 PM
Paul - thanks for the quick reply. I thought it was related to the Canon footage because it only happened to the footage on that track. Having experimented a bit It now seems related to the fact the track had GPU accelerated FX enabled. (brightness/contrast and HSL levels). If I move the media to non-FX-ed track the problem disappears.

Bottom line - forget Canon - out of the equation (thanks for clearing that up). GPU related - for sure.

Has anyone else seen this with NVidia GTX660 and the latest builds? What would be the best way to report this?
RWT wrote on 9/17/2012, 1:21 AM
For what it's worth - I've tracked this down to a single parameter in the 'HSL Adjust' FX plugin - Luminance. If you set Luminance to anything but 1.0 these artifacts appear. Set it to 1.000 and all's well.

Chain is Sharpen / Brightness&Contrast / HSL Adjust.

How strange.
paul_w wrote on 9/17/2012, 5:08 AM
I remember originally it effected the Sony Levels plugin. Maybe this one slipped through the net? Will test it.

Paul.
paul_w wrote on 9/17/2012, 6:37 AM
Ok, just tested this and it seems fine with HSL. Card is GTX570 with latest drivers / v11 build 64 bit etc.

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/17/2012, 7:31 AM
Paul,

Try this.

1) Source is Canon 5D.

2) Track FX - chain is Sharpen (max - eg 1) followed by HSL Adjust (Add to hue:0.0, Saturation:0.5, Luminance:2.0). I know it looks horrid, but it shows the problem quite clearly. It only happens on sections that are fade in / fade out - to black. When luminance is set to default (1.0) it does not happen.

Seems to be when used in conjunction with Sharpen. Even when I swap the order (eg HSL first, then Sharpen) it's not there.

Here's a video of the result:


Thanks for trying to reproduce this problem!


paul_w wrote on 9/17/2012, 11:09 AM
Hold on, my first test was wrong - this is TRACK effect only right? i was testing on media FX. Hence the post edit!

Ok - i also see the problem here...

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/17/2012, 11:20 AM
Ha! Glad it's not just me!!

What would be the correct way to report this? Is this a problem with VP or the NVidia driver?

I am pretty sure this will happen with other GPU accelerated effects too - can't think that it's only limited to this combo?

paul_w wrote on 9/17/2012, 11:25 AM
And can confirm the issue is not present with GPU off.

Its a bug aright. There seems to be calculations going wrong under GPU operation and its hard to tell if this is the HSL at fault or the sharpening fx. Its a similar looking bug to the Sony Levels fx issue a while back.

Just looking at HSL only, you do see excessive banding or contour lines during a fade - that indicates a fault. But you also see a problem with sharpening making the HSL error look worse. My guess? there are both broken with GPU on :(

This should get reported exactly as you describe it, but i doubt we will get a fix in v11. The youtube video helps too.

Paul.
paul_w wrote on 9/17/2012, 11:29 AM
go here:
https://www.custcenter.com/app/ask

you need to log in and generate a ticket.

good luck!

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/17/2012, 11:52 AM
Paul,

Thanks for working on this with me. I'll report it and we can hope for the best.

Updated - reported. (#120917-000043)

RWT
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 9/17/2012, 12:25 PM
I don't know that the GTX 6xx series are that good for Vegas right now, becuase of the nature of the kepler architecture, I could be wrong, but I was somewhat under the impression that the 600 series cards weren't so good for Vegas, which is why I bought a GTX 580 3GB ( that and for some other applications as well ).

Dave
paul_w wrote on 9/25/2012, 10:39 AM
BUMP - build 701 released today! - will check if this was fixed.

Paul.
paul_w wrote on 9/25/2012, 10:57 AM
Sadly,. not the case :(

Was probably just too late for the fix and testing cycle.

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/25/2012, 11:05 AM
That IS sad. It's also strange as they mailed me on the support ticket:

--snip--
Thank you for contacting Sony Creative Software.

An update of the application was released which resolves issues relating to this incident. You may download the update here. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/updates/vegaspro

If you still have a follow-up question on this particular incident, please feel free to update it. If you have a completely different question, please create a new incident.
--snip--

Although I am not doubting your test - I'll do the same and report. If it fails at my end as well I'll keep the ticket open - for what it's worth.
paul_w wrote on 9/25/2012, 11:12 AM
absolutely. go ahead. We do have different hardware so you never know, but its clearly still showing here on the 570 card.

Paul.
RWT wrote on 9/25/2012, 1:29 PM
Paul,

Yup - you're right - just fired it up and it's still the same problem. Build is 701. Sad face ++.