Corel VS can't handle 120 fps video?

[JPW]

Thanks Johnny. You are using a desktop, not a laptop...correct?

[MrJohnny]

Yes desk top, spec to the right.

John

[TroyTheTech]

Thanks Johnny. You are using a desktop, not a laptop...correct?

If I may pop in, this is what I was going to mention... All of the people who can play it without issues are running full desktop systems. Now, I don't want to sound elitist here, so please excuse me if I do; but even expensive laptops cannot compare in performance to a full desktop system, as the architectures are quite different [as is the power requirements, portability, etc].

For example, you stated your system has a 940MX GPU (graphics processing unit).
Despite what advertisements for your system may have said unfortunately, it is not a 'discrete video processing unit' (as in, a video card/board) - although it can be argued that it is still a 'dedicated gpu' for sales purposes because it is a separate chip (as in, one chip; however, it is not a small board with a hundred computing chips, all dedicated to processing the video output stream, it is literally one chip on the mainboard/motherboard). You can play games on your system, as can be seen in a video example someone made with an MSI CX62 (a laptop similar to yours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glS3xGyr0t8 , but note that the games must be run on “Low” settings.

If I may share some information that might be helpful:

There are two ways to Disable your Integrated Graphics Processing (iGPU), since you seem to have one;

- In the BIOS (usually accessed by hitting DELETE when the system is starting up, it may differ between systems, check your Manual) you can disable the iGPU in a section usually called Display Adapters (in a Control Panel perhaps, or a Device Manager section, or a Chipset section, or a separate Graphic Configuration section, the interface varies between systems/vendors - check your manual to see where this might be). Screenshot below:

- In Windows (in the Control Panel of your GPU options (Display/Graphic options)), since your video adapter is NVIDIA-based, in the NVIDIA Control panel, under the Manage 3D Settings section, you can set a ‘Preferred Graphics Processor’ and can assign it to only specific applications/games to use it, if you wish, or assign it to be used ‘globally’. Screenshot below:

Note that both of these may have to be set, to disable the integrated CPU-based graphics processing.
Also note, that I have not used integrated CPU-based graphics recently, so these options may not apply or be available (some systems also share the graphic processing between the iGPU and a GPU ‘chip’, so then it is not possible to disable the iGPU completely). Always check your manual for configuration specific to your system.

- See if you can increase the RAM (system Random Access Memory) that is being used for graphic processing, that chip (940MX) can handle up to 4GB given to it, perhaps increasing this (BIOS setting, if your vendor has allowed it) may help, as well.


Lastly, on my desktop system, your video in VSx10 is quite choppy for a few seconds, then becomes smoother in playback - but it still has a bit of 'stutter' of some sort throughout... (I do not have extra Codecs installed at this time). I am able to edit 120fps clips I have captured myself, but I mostly work with 120fps clips in 720p HD (as opposed to 1080p 'FullHD') if I use that framerate. Perhaps try that as well (reducing the resolution)?

[JPW]

Thanks Troy. All great information. I couldn't agree more regarding the difference between laptops and desktops. One I saw that Ken Berry could play the sample file without a problem I started to think it might be due to the fact he has a true dedicated graphics card in a desktop.

I was not aware the "graphics card" in this laptop was the way you described it, but it makes sense to me now that you've mentioned it. A "single chip" can't really do what a dedicated graphics card can.

The BIOS on this laptop is as stripped down as I've ever seen. I'm not sure yet if that is a good or bad thing, but I don't see any option to do anything with the graphics in the BIOS.

The Nvidia control panel you mentioned has probably been one of the more infuriating items I've found on this laptop, because following the process you mentioned, I can update every other application on the laptop to leverage either the integrated graphics card or the Nividia graphics card. ONLY with VS is the option greyed out and it forces use of the integrated graphics. I've also tried right-clicking on the VS icon on the desktop and selecting the Nvidia graphics card, but it won't accept it. While VS is running I can check to see what programs are leveraging the Nvidia graphics card and VS will not be listed.

What is very interesting to me is what works well with the Nividia graphics card and what doesn't. For example, I use a video editor called Machete to do some macro splicing before dropping it in to VS. The first time I used it on this laptop the video was distorted and sort of torn down the middle as it played. I checked the settings and everything looked fine so I rebooted and tried again. Same result. I then switched from the Nvidia graphics card to the integrated graphics and it worked perfectly. Conversely, I have a PLEX server, which holds all my media and I noticed during playback of a 1080p video on my laptop it was starting to get pretty hot, the fans kicked in, and eventually I noticed some random artifacts in the video. It was clearly being taxed so I checked which graphics processor it was using and it was the integrated graphics. I switched over to the Nvidia graphics and it not only played perfectly, but the laptop remained dead silent. Nothing appeared to be taxed in this case. I guess my point is, it appears that both might have their place. I would certainly prefer having a true dedicated graphics card run over all of it, but on a laptop, I'm not sure if that is an option for me. And if it is I suspect it comes with some sticker shock.

I don't think I'm at the point where I want to increase the RAM on the Nvidia graphics chip (or whatever we want to call it). With Smart Proxy I can do some of the slow-motion editing I want to do with the 120 fps video. So I can probably get by with it for now. You do have me thinking about the fact that I can't leverage the Nvidia graphics chip with VS though. I might submit a trouble ticket with Corel and see if they have a workaround or if this is expected behavior. I'm not really sure, but would like to know.

Thanks again.

[JPW]

I found a workaround that allows me to force VS to leverage the Nvidia Graphics processor. The steps can be found here: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=58169 The good news is it works. The bad news is in my specific case it doesn't really offer much of an improvement, if any. Another poster alluded to this. And actually the performance of VS looks no different to me when comparing the integrated graphics processor and Nvidia's. Bummer for me, but at least Smart Proxy allows me to leverage the 120 fps videos at all.