Horrible preview lag.

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:27 pm

I recently downloaded the trial version of video stuido 10 and have been editing on it for three days now. I put hours into one project, which is about the length of ten minutes up till now and I have encountered some problems. When i want the editor to play back, not only will it do this insanely slowly, it will lag up around an average of every 5 seconds. Even if i constantly go back and try again it consistantly fails to do it correctly. Is there anyway to fix this? or is the product just that terrible?

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:08 am

We need your system specs and file properties in order to answer the question. However, if you are talking about playing back your project in the timeline, your computer is having to do some serious math in order to play the component parts as a formed project in the 'instant playback' mode. That said, my computer plays it perfectly in real time with no lag. I suspect that your processor and Ram are insufficient to perform the task well. If that is the case, then use the 'high quality playback' option and render sections of your project and play them back that way.

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:24 am

I got the message that high quality playback could not be preformed due to project settings... what settings are they being refered to?

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:49 pm

What are the properties of your files? Right click on a file and select 'properties'. What does it say?

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:49 pm

File size: 96.0KB
version 10
duration 8:57.22
Edit file format MPEG files
NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
LPCM Audio, 48000 Hz, Stereo

Heres one of the indivudal clips

File formatL Microsoft AVI files
File size 25,834 KB
frame rate: 30f/s
Duration 18.4 seconds
Data rate: 1403.17kbps
Video
Compression MJPEG compressor
Attributes: 24 bits, 640 x 480
Total frames: 552
Audio
Compression: PCM
attributes: 22.050 kHz,16 bit, mono
total samples: 405,720

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:21 am

Does anyone know how to solve this problem with those settings?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:08 am

There are a couple of things I can think of. The first is the codec used by your individual files. The Motion JPEG (MJPEG) codec is not found much these days, though in the time before DV format was developed, MJPEG was its high quality predecessor. I am assuming, though, that your clips came from a still camera being used in video mode...? If so, you have hopefully installed the codec with the installation disk which came with that camera. However, it would be useful to confirm this. Do a Google search for a freeware program called Sherlock (or another named GSpot) which will tell you all the video and audio codecs you have installed on your computer.

The only other thing I can think of is that you are capture in a frame format size of 640 x 480, but trying to force this, in your mpeg-2 file, up to 720 x 480. The program may be having difficulty with that, regardless of the codec issue. Try keeping the format size at 640 x 480 as this is still one of the NTSC DVD standard sizes.

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:24 am

I changed the settings to high quality playback now, but everytime i make the slightest edit and I want to preview it on the project timeline, it stops and takes over a minute of rendering just to play back the 3 or 4 seconds i wanted to see. Does it need to render like that every single time?

BlueSunTzu · Post by **BlueSunTzu** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:16 pm

can anyone help?

Chrizer · Post by **Chrizer** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:35 am

This might help. Your background programs could be slowing down your system and hogging the memory. Make sure you disable any antivirus software, spamware monitor, firewall, etc. Or as TDK1044 said, you might want to upgrade your ram.

High quality preview will render the clips thats been modified including transitions. It may render the whole scene at first but will only render again if you edited the clips.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:52 am

It needs to render the whole thing because your file properties are all over the place. You have mpeg2 files which are DVD compliant, mjpeg files which are not, what do you expect?

You just cannot chuck a whole lot of different files together and expect high quality preview at the click of a button. I daubt that the term "high quality" would actually be appropriate for the result because of the required recoding of already compressed files.

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:44 pm

BlueSunTzu,
Turn off High Quality Playback in the Preferences menu because it is rendering your whole project before it starts playback. That is why there is such a time lag. Use the fast playback method and ignore (for the time being) any jerkyness because the editor is struggling to keep up with edited video.

Where did this mjpeg video originate? The quality is not up to DVD standards. Is it possible to capture in higher quality?

Is your objective to burn your project to a DVD? If so, the correct Media Type is NTSC-DVD and the Compression should be Mpeg2. Follow the procedure in the top sticky post.