How do I know if I have SP3?

[rkstudio]

I hear that Corel fix a lot of issues in the SP3 pack. I don't know if I ever installed that service pack. How would I know?

[RobertOZ]

Check the version you have installed, 23.3.0.646 is the latest version for Ultimate

[rkstudio]

Ug! I was kind of hoping it wasn't because that might explain the poor quality. Every time I play a video, it's the video and audio are choppy and impossible to work with.

[Davidk]

Choppy and jerky video and audio are characteristics of FHD or 4K clips played on a PC that hasn't got enough grunt to manage the huge amount of data needed for every frame of the clip along with everything else it has to do ( run the software, control the OS interfaces, run save and retrieve from storage etc) . Which is why the oft-repeated axiom to enable proxy files is made.
A proxy file is simply a standard definition version of your clip or clips used just to smooth the editing process: when you render a project which has proxy files, the edits you have made to the proxy in the timeline are applied to the FHD or 4K source file(s).
To enable proxy files:
- open settings/preferences in the main tool bar.
- choose the performance tab, click on enable smart proxy
- choose a resolution threshold when the proxy file creation cuts in: an option from a drop-down list box. Several choices, but since this is SD just for smooth editing, use the default. What this does is create a proxy file for a clip when it is first loaded to the timeline and the resolution of that clip equals or exceeds the threshold you have set. It can take a while to do that: larger files, longer time, but when its completed there will be a small "keyboard-like" icon in the TL clip thumbnail
- choose a proxy folder (the location where all the proxy files are stored).
Click OK.
Every time you use a proxy file in a project, the vsp has a flag in it to indicate that and VS goes looking in the proxy location for it.

Note also that proxy files are not included in a smart package, but the VSP flags for a proxy are. So when you start a smart packaged vsp on another PC, it won't find then proxy file and thus will run jerky again. In this case you have to manually re-create the proxy files individually (click on the clip, rt-click, choose create proxy file from the context menu options).

[TonyP]

Looking at your computer specs, I can see why you are experiencing choppy timeline playback.
Software can not make up for the lack of computing power.
As David said, proxy (and yes, this will take a little time to create) is your friend if you want smooth timeline playback.