Seriously guys, figure out the Video Engine problem.

[priorytools]

Ymmv ?

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Your mileage may vary


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[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by priorytools

Previously I've received an H264 mpeg4 of a 2 hr show & converted it to pro res resulting in a much larger file size.

This is due to fundamental differences in H264 and either ProRes or DNxHD/R. H264 encodes a full frame (called an I frame) every X number of frames. The frames in-between each I frame are either P frames (which look backwards) or B frames (look either way). Because there are several frames that are not fully encoded (the B and P frames), the file size is much smaller.

ProRes and DNxHD/R fully encode every frame. This is why the same content will always have a smaller file size when encoded with H264. This is also why Pro Tools performs much better with ProRes and DNxHD/R. Pro Tools does not have to use CPU cycles to figure out what a particular frame in an H264 is supposed to look like. This is just the way it is. H264 requires more CPU power to decode fluidly.

If you want a small file size (H264) with performance closer to encoding every frame (ProRes and DNxHD/R), then you could consider creating an H264 file where every frame is an I frame. While this will result in a file that is larger than a standard H264, it may strike a balance between file size and performance. Panasonic markets such a solution for their camcorders as AVC-Intra.

[Cheesehead]

I said earlier in this thread that I'd solved the video engine problem by re-installing drivers etc, but sadly its back.

The only way I can get the rig to run relatively well is to put the video file on the mac trashcan's internal pcie ssd, which is blazingly fast.
This allows me to carry on working, but I'm still getting the odd error's.

I'm using Pro Res Proxy and tried DNXhd (same result) I got an AJA card
hoping that would solve it, but the errors still continue.

I'm currently working with Avid support and sending .dlog's etc, I really hope they can get this fixed, its an appalling workflow killer.

This whole AVE thing was a massive backwards step when you think how snappy and processor light video playback was in PT10.

Anyhow, struggling on.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Martin - have you tried Video Slave by Non Lethal Applications. Alan Sallabank of PTE swears by it and in his tests it was more stable than AVE (using my SyncOne2 to measure). I can't say any more at the mo...


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[8dB.co.uk]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

I said earlier in this thread that I'd solved the video engine problem by re-installing drivers etc, but sadly its back.

The only way I can get the rig to run relatively well is to put the video file on the mac trashcan's internal pcie ssd, which is blazingly fast.
This allows me to carry on working, but I'm still getting the odd error's.

I'm using Pro Res Proxy and tried DNXhd (same result) I got an AJA card
hoping that would solve it, but the errors still continue.

I'm currently working with Avid support and sending .dlog's etc, I really hope they can get this fixed, its an appalling workflow killer.

This whole AVE thing was a massive backwards step when you think how snappy and processor light video playback was in PT10.

Anyhow, struggling on.

I'd back up what Mike said. VideoSlave doesn't yet support AJA but that's coming soon. It's not a hardware driver issue either. There are certain versions that work better with the AVE but it's not the fault of the drivers. It's puzzling considering who now makes Avid video hardware. I run video media off the fastest drive available - running off iScsi is a bit of a nightmare.

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[Cheesehead]

Thanks guys.
I tried the demo of videoslave but as I can't get the picture out to my main monitor, it didn't work for me, maybe when they update it?

I can't see what its doing that's any different to AVE, which is also essentially a separately running program for hosting video. Although tightly integrated into PT.

Why can't they just fix it?

Could be back to 12.4 for me, it seemed better and I don't need freeze or collaboration.

[8dB.co.uk]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

Thanks guys.
I tried the demo of videoslave but as I can't get the picture out to my main monitor, it didn't work for me, maybe when they update it?

I can't see what its doing that's any different to AVE, which is also essentially a separately running program for hosting video. Although tightly integrated into PT.

Why can't they just fix it?

Could be back to 12.4 for me, it seemed better and I don't need freeze or collaboration.

The VideoSlave video engine is written from scratch, avoiding any use of QuickTime. I have no idea why Avid can't fix it on Macs. I think they've been a bit obsessed with collaboration.

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[Cheesehead]

Ok, I had another play with video slave.

I forgot I had a separate HDMI out on the mac pro which can go straight to the TV, so that all works great.

I had a bit of trouble with the offset for my LCD TV delay though.
Where do I set that offset? In PT in the usual place or inside video slave in the prefs?

Mike, what offset are you using with video slave for your big monitor and where are you setting it? Just to get me in the correct area, before I correct with syncheck.

Other than that it works great, very snappy response and good handling of many different codecs. Although I'd miss not being able to do cheeky edits on the timeline if new chunks of picture come in.

Its worth having as a standby for when AVE throws a wobbler, at least I can carry on working!

Ta

Martin

[8dB.co.uk]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

Ok, I had another play with video slave.

I forgot I had a separate HDMI out on the mac pro which can go straight to the TV, so that all works great.

I had a bit of trouble with the offset for my LCD TV delay though.
Where do I set that offset? In PT in the usual place or inside video slave in the prefs?

Mike, what offset are you using with video slave for your big monitor and where are you setting it? Just to get me in the correct area, before I correct with syncheck.

Other than that it works great, very snappy response and good handling of many different codecs. Although I'd miss not being able to do cheeky edits on the timeline if new chunks of picture come in.

Its worth having as a standby for when AVE throws a wobbler, at least I can carry on working!

Ta

Martin

In the preferences on video Slave you can set the "projection latency". Most flat screens are around 40ms

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