Trimmer vs VEG - resolution

vicmilt wrote on 9/19/2007, 11:43 AM

Don't know why I never noticed this before, but...
when I play my M2t files from the trimmer they play perfectly - Best - Full - essentially at full res and full playback speed.

Often however when I get into larger VEG edits, even though there are no effects on the exact same clips, they will only play at stuttery speeds unless I go to Preview-Auto, at which point it's essentially playing in sync, but is very mushy.

Is there a cure?
And to what do you assign this problem.
Same clip - Trimmer (perfect) vs VEG ( often nasty w/o effects)

BTW - My system is great... RAID 0 SATA drives feed Q6600 w 2gig RAM.

v

Comments

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 9/19/2007, 12:01 PM

are you working a .veg project that is SD? if so it's playing back and downrezing (I believe).

Dave

vicmilt wrote on 9/19/2007, 12:31 PM

No - I'm strictly 1080i - full res 1440x1080
There is no change that I can see between the original footage and the VEG files, other than the VEG files are large, have many edits, multi-tracks and all manners of other garbage....
but...
if I open a "hole" in the timeline and drop in a clean Audio/Video file without touching it in any way, I'll still get this intermittent playback, in my larger VEG projects.

v

BrianStanding wrote on 9/19/2007, 12:41 PM

An effect on the track or video bus, perhaps? Or an opacity envelope at something a bit less than 100%?

rmack350 wrote on 9/19/2007, 1:13 PM

People often report this. Files played via the trimmer perfom much better than off the timeline. I have no idea why this is but have to assume that there's some large overhead with the timeline.

It'd be worth sending a support request with the question. It'd be nice if it wasn't supposed to work this way and could be improved.

Rob Mack

Serena wrote on 9/19/2007, 5:07 PM

That's interesting. My trimmer plays preview/auto quality, but I've never been concerned because I'm just looking for cuts. However better definition would be good.

rmack350 wrote on 9/19/2007, 5:35 PM

You're saying your trimmer plays worse than the timeline?

Rob

megabit wrote on 9/19/2007, 7:56 PM

I gues the trimmer can only use 8bit video - swichng to 32bit makes no difference. So, the preview perform just like that from timeline in 8bit.

Serena wrote on 9/19/2007, 9:56 PM

My trimmer plays realtime low resolution, not affected by my preview settings so isn't related to the timeline. However that's V7; haven't loaded V8. Perhaps you're telling me that there is an option for trimmer preview resolution?

vicmilt wrote on 9/20/2007, 2:49 AM

Hi Serena -

weird... my trimmer is playing full res (to my eye) and full speed.
It's quite wonderful.
But there is no consistency once it hits the timeline.
The same timeline (if very simple) can play full res, full speed and then simply start to stutter without any discernable reason that I can asses.
Large projects simply stutter ( a lot) at full res.
I also haven't loaded v8 yet, as I'm finishing a major feature project and don't dare "shake the boat", so all of the above is based on ver 7d using primarily untouched M2t, right out of the camera.

All my source material is stored on SATA drives and processed on a SATA raid 0 (renders and such).

We desparately need a hardware boost.

v

rmack350 wrote on 9/20/2007, 9:27 AM

Hmmm. Okay, maybe I need to be more specific. As the trimmer plays, you also get playback in the preview window, and this looks to me like it's at least "Preview quality", which is probably all that's required when just playing raw footage. Trimmer output seen in the preview window doesn't seem to be affected by the preview window's quality settings but it is affected by the preview size setting (Auto, Full, Half, etc).

What I'm saying, and I think this is what Vic is seeing as well, is that a clip played in the trimmer generally plays more reliably at full frame rate than it would if it were on the timeline, even if it were the only thing on the timeline.

Sometimes people complain of playback problems that show up when playing from the timeline but not from the trimmer even when all other factors seem to be equal. Seems to me that this just says that trimmer playback is much more streamlined than the timeline even if nothing is being done to the footage.

Maybe trimer playback can just skip a lot of steps, like checking for opacity levels, presence of filters, listening for other events on other tracks, etc. All the trimmer has to do is play one clip.

This might also explain why you can't apply or view mediaFX from the trimmer - it's just designed to play raw media. To my mind this is a bit of a shame because the trimmer is precisely the place to be working with MediaFX. You shouldn't have to place a clip on the timeline to do this.

Rob Mack

Serena wrote on 9/20/2007, 3:27 PM

When I power up after breakfast I'll have another look at the quality setting business, for I would have said that the trimmer view wasn't affected by that. My trimmer view is only in the little desktop preview window, which naturally makes it look pretty good even at preview/auto setting. For sure it always runs at correct speed.

Serena wrote on 9/20/2007, 5:27 PM

Whether I display trimmer in desktop window or on the external monitor the resolution is preview/auto and setting best/full makes no difference (to resolution or playback speed). Obviously I don't usually have trimmer displayed on external monitor!! Maybe there's an option I haven't utilised?

rmack350 wrote on 9/20/2007, 5:58 PM

I think Trimmer playback just gets inserted at the end of the playback chain, after anything else that might require processing. It's free as a bird and plays well. But it can't show you MediaFX. Grrr. I'd be quite happy if the trimmer could do a few more things at the clip level. It'd be more compelling to use it. As it is, it's underdeveloped (which is a nice way of calling it half-assed)

What would I like it to do? Preview and apply MediaFX, and render new files from what you've marked out and applied an effect to.

Rob Mack