The preview from the timeline is jerky !!! help needed.

mitteg wrote on 8/10/2002, 5:53 AM
Hello,

I'm with VV3.0c and when I preview a video from the "media tool" or the "trimmer" I can see the video in the preview window (preview quality mode) smoothly, perfect. But when I drag the same video from the media tool or the trimmer to the timeline and then I place the cursor at any part of the event and hit PLAY, I can not see a smooth video in the preview window. The video is quite jerky but the sound is right. It's very noticeable when the video show pans and tilts. The video has no effect and no transition, just the same video from the trimmer. I'm not previewing the video in an external monitor, just in the screen. I think that I have the minimum requirements to view a smooth video: I'm with AMD Athlon 1800+, 512 Mb RAM, Matrox Millenium G550. I also checked in file/propierties:

PAL DV 25 fps
Lower field first
rendering quality: best.

I can't think of what I'm doing wrong...

Please, any responses will be greatly appreciated ! Thanks.

Comments

sonicboom wrote on 8/10/2002, 8:28 AM
test your video in windows media player
or try rendering the video or at least part of the video--like 15 seconds and play it in windows media player
render it BEST QUALITY
the preview monitor is NOT the quality that you will see on your final product
btw, i just hooked up an external monitor last week and i love it
good luck
sb
SonyDennis wrote on 8/10/2002, 7:24 PM
If the project format is different than the video, it has to process the video to conform it to the project, while it plays. Try setting your project to match the video. Go to project properties and hit the Match Media Settings button in the upper right of the video tab.
///d@
mitteg wrote on 8/11/2002, 1:17 PM
SonicDennis,

I have done all you mentioned in your last post, but the video is still jerky (not a lot, but still noticeable). Note that I'm always referring the video played from the timeline. The video played from the "media too" and viewed in the "preview window" is ok.

By the way, when I see a video from the timeline in the bottom of the "preview window" I can see this info while the video is playing:

Project: 720x576x32; 25,00i Frame:
Preview (in a red colour): 360x288x32;25,00p Display: 360x288x32 XX,XX

XX,XX seems to be the frame rate of the "preview window" but it ranges between 19,00 to 21,00. It should be 25,00, shouldn't it ? The video has no effect, no transition, nothing to be rendered, just the video straight from the media tool and played from the timeline.

Please, what happens ??!! What I am doing wrong ?

Thanks !
Cheesehole wrote on 8/11/2002, 6:47 PM
>>>Project: 720x576x32; 25,00i Frame:
Preview (in a red colour): 360x288x32;25,00p Display: 360x288x32 XX,XX

it appears as though you should be getting a full 25fps in this scenario EASY. now that I've upgraded my video card, I get 29.97 fps from my preview window at FULL size (yours is only at HALF size).

first make sure you don't have SQUARE pixels turned on. right click your preview window and UNcheck Display Square Pixels if it is checked.

the project settings are the second thing that jump to mind, as was suggested. to make sure your settings really match, open your project properties and look to the far right of the template chooser. you'll see a Match Media Setting button. you can open your source video and the project settings will automatically adjust.

if that doesn't do the trick you should experiment some more. my video actually does get jerky when there is a lot of motion. the framerate can dip down to 19fps momentarily.
mitteg wrote on 8/12/2002, 2:59 AM
I do have UNchecked square pixels and I did press the "match media setting button" but the frame rate ranges from 18 to 23 at half size in good quality mode. If I set the preview window to draft quality I get the same frame rate: 18-23 fps. If I connect a camera via Firewire and I plug a TV in the camera and I push "preview on external monitor" the frame rate is 13 fps !! How can this be possible ? I think I have enough PC. As I said before, I'm with this:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
512 Mb DDR RAM
SoundBlaster Audigy Firewire
Matrox Millenium G550 32 Mb DDR
HD Seagate Barracuda, 80 Gb, ATA100, 7200 rpm.

BTW, I did defrag the HD. Oh, and when I go to tools->print video to DV tape there's no problem, I get perfect and smooth video on the tape of my camera. It's very annoying not to have good previews !

Help needed, please. Thanks.
Cheesehole wrote on 8/12/2002, 3:46 AM
re-install Vegas?
Tyler.Durden wrote on 8/12/2002, 8:15 AM
Hi mitteg,

I'm wondering what your source video properties are, and how the footage was captured...

Are you using PAL DV captured by Vegas, or other?


MPH
mitteg wrote on 8/12/2002, 11:41 AM
The video was shot with a Sony DCR-TRV20 miniDV Camcorder.

DV PAL
720x576; 25 fps; interlaced.
audio: stereo, 16 bits, 48 kHz.

The video has been captured through Firewire port using Scenalizer live. I always use this mini software that splits diferent scenes in different clips which is very useful. I see smooth video when I open it with Windows Media Player in Windows XP Pro, I see smooth video when working with Adobe Premiere 6.02 too. And I see good video when opened from the trimmer window in VV. But I get 19 fps in the "preview window" when I play the event from the timeline.

Sorry, this seems an X-file. I will have to call Mulder and Scully ;-)

Thanks !
Tyler.Durden wrote on 8/12/2002, 12:07 PM
This sounds like proper Vegas behavior.

Since the footage is not captured by Vegas, VV is probably recompressing for 1394 output. Vegas looks at the file headers to verify the capture application.

You might try capturing in Vegas to see if the issue persists.

While Scenalyzer may save you logging time, it may slow you down on print to tape and nice previewing.

HTH, MPH
jetdv wrote on 8/12/2002, 12:59 PM
Scenalyzer works perfectly fine with Vegas. I use it all the time since Vegas does not (yet???) have the capability of capturing the second stereo track (audio 3 & 4) over the firewire and that is where I record the wireless mic. You just need to make sure the correct settings are picked. In my case, I use: AVI Type 2 files with the Unlimited Length since my drives are NTFS. I can tell no difference from the Scenalyzer files and the ones captured from Vegas Video.


Usually when I discover my video acting jerky, I find that I have moved the slider to the left slightly off 100% (99.8% is enough to be very noticable.)
mitteg wrote on 8/12/2002, 1:27 PM
Slider? Which slider ? Now I get 14 fps in the "preview window" . I think I will re-re-intall de software. The video was jerky when I used VV3.0, now I'm with VV3.0c and still jerky. We'll see.

Thanks for your kind answers,

Robert.
jetdv wrote on 8/12/2002, 1:42 PM
The slider in the track header - when full size, there is a label that says "Level", when minimized, there is just the track number, track name, then the slider with no name or percent indicator unless you hover over it with the mouse. Unless you have a specific reason, you DO NOT want it below 100% and it is SO easy to accidentally change.
mitteg wrote on 8/13/2002, 2:22 AM
Hello,

I re-reintalled the VV3.0c and the problem is the same. But I discovered a thing:

Under the tracks there's a slider whichs says "rate", and there's a yellow triangle. This triangle is set in "one" for normal speed. So, if I change the position of that triangle and I put it in 0,5 (half speed) and then I go to the timeline and hit play, the frame rate of the video is 25 fps (perfect), and If I set it to 2 (doble speed) the frame rate I get is 24-25 fps. But If I set it to 1 (normal speed) the frame rate decreases dramaticaly: I get 13-14 fps instead of 25fps.

Please, Sonic Foundry experts, help me with this annoying issue !

Thanks.

Robert.
mitteg wrote on 8/13/2002, 6:32 AM
Hey, I discovered another thing !!

In the "RATE" slider, if I keep the little yellow triangle at "1" (normal speed) the video is jerky in the preview window (13-14 fps), but if I move the triangle to 1,16 (almost normal speed) the video is 25 fps!! So, in conclusion, in order to get 25 fps I have to put the slider at any value except "1". 1,16 or 0,99 works as well. Is there any way to put the slider at 1,01 for example. I prefer editing while whatching the video at "1,16" speed and 25 fps than whatching the video at "1" speed but only 13 fps. Will I have any problem editing in this way ? Will the ending rendered video be at normal (1) speed? Will working at 1,16 affect me negatively in the future ?

Thanks.

Robert.
SonyEPM wrote on 8/13/2002, 10:05 AM
Don't use the rate slider!

Try this: Start a new PAL DV project. Set video preview window quality dropdown to "preview". Add a PAL DV clip (captured with the SF capture tool) to the timeline, all by itself. Do you see a playback rate of 25fps when you play the PAL DV clip?


also:

Non-DV formats will have to be conformed to the project props, so you might not get full frame rate preview from those. But for starters, I am interested in the above question, so let's start there....

mitteg wrote on 8/13/2002, 1:40 PM
Hello,

I can't capture video using the Sonic Foundry video capture 3.0. I can

capture DV PAL video using Adobe Premiere and using Scenalizer Live. So

the Firewire card and the camera works perfectly.

This is what happens to me:

I connect the miniDV camera and I set it in VCR mode. Then I go to

file>capture video and "SF video capture 3.0" opens. I choose the

"unknown" as the tape name, then, I press "Don't capture any clips

right now".

I hit play in the capture window and the camera plays the video, I

search the desired scene and then I hit "Capture video". I can see the

video in the preview window of the Video capture 3.0. I can see the the

capture duration and the current location which work ok. Then I hit

stop and it appears a window saying that "no video was captured":

0 number of clips, 0 frames droped, everything is 0. And no video has

been captured. But the program detects the camera and I can play, stop,

fast-forward and the camera works well. But I can capture any clip at

all. By the way, I can capture an image from the tape perfectly: I just

hit "capture image" in the SF Video capture 3.0 window.

What happens ? What am I doing wrong ?

TIA,

Robert.
Tyler.Durden wrote on 8/13/2002, 8:48 PM
Hi Robert,

In the capture preferences, are the max clip length, min clip length set for anything odd?

Is the capture drive properly designated?

Did the file capture even though it said it did not?

Regards, MPH
mitteg wrote on 8/17/2002, 3:12 PM
In order to fix the jittery playback from the timeline I finally decided to format my HD enterely and then I installed only WIN XP PRO and VV3.0c. I captured some clips using the VV capture soft (it works now). Then I played the clips from the "trimmer" and from the "media tool" flawlessly. I dragged one clip on the timeline and hit play: STILL THE SAME PROBLEM !!! JITTERY PLAYBACK ALL THE TIME -> 15-16 fps. The problem is exactly the same as it was before formatting the HD (Please look the first post for a detailed description). To be honest, I don't know what happens at all !

I uninstalled VV3.0c and then I installed VV3.0. I played a clip from the timeline and the frame rate is still 15-16 fps. If I play the clip at a double speed (rate=2) I get 25 fps, so the computer is fast enough. But when I play the clip at normal speed I only get 14 or 15 or 16 fps.

Please SonicEMP and other experts, I think that now you have a very detailed description of my problem. Would you mind helping me to detect the problem if possible ??

Thanks!

Robert
robertmoix@terra.es