SonyDennis.....This happened again.

craftech wrote on 11/2/2003, 9:03 AM

The "flash frame" problem has occurred again. A stray frame or two from somewhere else in the video momentarily flashes on the screen.

http://www.mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=185880&Page=0

I cannot for the life of me understand what is causing this problem, but it has resulted in many hours of frustration.

Again it was a single frame which flashed on the screen from somewhere else in the video. Just to summarize again:

1. It is NOT on the timeline. It only appears randomly in the final render.

2. A loop render of the same portion which was affected does NOT reproduce the error.

3. An Mpeg 2 render NEVER reproduces the glitch, only an AVI render.

4. The only way to catch it is to watch the entire video while glued to the screen. (However, a customer will pick it up right away if I don't catch it).

5. The only way I have resolved the issue is to keep spending hours re-rendering until it does not appear. Then finally I can have a glitch free master tape for duplication.

Has anyone else besides me had this problem since I first reported it?

John

Comments

filmy wrote on 11/2/2003, 4:14 PM

Not exactly the same but if your hard drive is fragmented you can get some weird random flashes. In the project I am editing right now in 2 different takes I have recently digitized, upon playbak on the VV timeline there is a one frame flash from another take. This is fresh footage taken direct from the Mini-DV camera master so it isn't that. Defragmenting the drive solves the issue.

philfort wrote on 11/2/2003, 11:01 PM

I just experienced something sort of similar. A "Film Effects" Fx is being applied to a clip, even though no Film Effects are set on that clip. As far as I know, Film Effects is used in only one place in this project, on a clip on a different track at a different time.
This is happening on a clip that is on a track where the Fx (Brightness and Contrast, and Gradient Map) have been turned off. If I turn on those two Fx, the problem goes away. Turn them off again, and the Film Effects come back.

I just tried rendering the section, and the problem did *not* appear in the final output. And now it isn't happening anymore in the preview window either. Rendering "fix it".
Weird.

thrillcat wrote on 11/3/2003, 5:40 PM

Yep. I just had my first experience with the flash frame. I don't see it in the timeline itself, but when I play the timeline it shows up, and it shows up in renders as well.

DavidMcKnight wrote on 11/4/2003, 1:03 PM

I must admit, I have seen a version of this problem also. For me, I saw a stray frame flash in the preview window while editing. I saved the veg, rebooted, and the problem went away. So, I don't know if it would've been in the final render or not.

- David

jaegersing wrote on 11/4/2003, 7:33 PM

I had this happen on a recent project, there were many phantom frames that did not show in the timeline but were obvious in the rendered version.

This particular project was based on short video events that had been created by taking one long capture file and splitting it manually at the scene changes. I then applied speed changes to many of the events, some by changing the speed setting, some by ctrl-dragging the event edge (and some by both methods).

Anyway, to cut the long story a bit shorter, the phantom frame turned out to be actually one field from the end of the timeline event, combined with one field from the next scene in the captured file, the one immediately after the split point. The soution was easy, if tedious - for each phantom frame, I just had to trim the affected event by one frame (shorter) and then ctrl-drag the edge to restore the duration. This got rid of the unwanted field and the phantom frame was gone.

The big mystery (and cause for concern) for me is that the phantom frame does not show on the timeline, even when I step through carefully one frame at a time. I have to render the section and import the rendered avi in order to see the phantom at all.

Richard Hunter

Caruso wrote on 11/4/2003, 11:20 PM

Richard (perhaps others):

Not suggesting that you didn't do this, but, I am curious - you say you stepped carefully through the offending area frame by frame - were you zoomed in fully on the timeline?

If not, your "step by step" may not have been fine enough to actually see the offending frame. In stead, you are stepping over it.

Caruso

jaegersing wrote on 11/4/2003, 11:32 PM

Hi Caruso, thanks for the reply. Yes, I did zoom right in, so I don't think that could be the reason why I couldn't see the frames in timeline view.

Richard

Sab wrote on 11/6/2003, 10:47 PM

Until recently, we never experienced this but now have seen it twice this week. For us, it happened on 2 rather complex projects. As described by others, you cannot see anything wrong on the timeline, but after it renders (one project was an avi the other was an mpeg2, both at the best setting) there was a blip. One project was audio and video and the other was video. The "blip" seems to be a misplaced piece of the project that is very short, perhaps a single frame in duration.

Mike

craftech wrote on 11/7/2003, 5:14 AM

Yes, I can confirm that this bug is absolutely not on the timeline or it would not be random and would not go away after you re-render it again ( or a few times). While I am relieved that re-rendering can usually "solve" the problem it shouldn't be there in the first place.

This is the second time I have posted this issue and apparently Sony/SF is unable to reproduce the error or I am sure they would have fixed it in an update.

I am using W98SE. I don't know if the others above are also using W98SE. Perhaps it is an issue with multiple Avi files although I checked the location of the random flash frames and they Do NOT fall at the point where the multiple avi files join.
John