@terrypin

Hmm. A bit bland Terry.😉 but thank you for showing me the titling working with a live background.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

Oh, you want glitzy? How about these two:

@CubeAce @terrypin

Thanks to you two, I spent most of the day playing with BT and a project that I had started.

Here is a short glitzy BT video with some text and a few different fonts. It's from a template that comes with the program, Space Particles. I left it almost as is except I replaced the stock static image with a green screen video, and changed the text and the fonts. I am still a beginner with this program.

And here is another one done with a template from BixPack01 with the same green screen plus a video on the monitor and some background music. This is the export from BT. Not glitzy. I need to redo my green screen video to improve the text. Also, I intended it to be put on a slightly different template that has a dropdown monitor. I pointed the other way, so I simply mirrored the green screen video in VPX to get me pointing to where the monitor is.

These show just some of the possibilities with BluffTitler. Take a look at videos on the BT site and some under Community. Some people have too much time on their hands.

It's snowing again. My wife and her mother decorated the plastic Christmas Tree yesterday and I have to put lights up outside. Who was the sadist that invented string Christmas lights in series?

John CB

@browj2

Hi John,

Wow, Christmas lights in mid November! I usually manage it on 24th December. 🙂

As for BT, yep, it's addictive fun.

Terry

@terrypin

Hi Terry,

Of course, I won't turn the lights on under Dec. 1, assuming that I get them working by then.

I managed to quickly get the other version of the BT template with monitor arm working.

The monitor swings down.

Great fun!

Off to take Bernadette for a walk in the snow.

John CB

@CubeAce, @browj2, @terrypin

Hi All

I am not entering the 'Glitzy title' competition - I'm in the keep it simple brigade although I do put in a title or 2 with a subtle play on words in it, such as this one - done in NB Titler Pro

OT: this is what neat cable trayed wiring looks like after removing a computer and its connected accessories

Time for a rejig of the wiring - 6 cables of those cables will be reduce to 1 to the PC.

@terrypin@terrypin@terrypin

Hi all.

I think John CB's first news desk is the closest to what I'd hoped for.

I think what I would be after is something similar to what I can do with my stills photography where I can make it look like a convincing poster on a wall behind me or something similar. With a still image it's quite easy but I'm not sure about being able to do the multiple frames of a moving image convincingly.

Hi Terry.

When I said bland I meant they don't catch my eye in a good way. I don't need glitzy as such but I do want impact. A lot of the 3D lettering I'm seeing looks like a child's alphabet set and plasticy with no sense of the light producing the sheen being anywhere near where the rest of the natural light would possibly come from. I'm not averse to 2D lettering or animation either and may be preferable. My problem with 3D lettering in a live scene is it should look like it's in the scene whereas I don't feel the same way about 2D lettering. With a graphic background a log as it doesn't look like it's a cartoon I'm again fine with that.

I'm the same when watch a movies titles. Bond films, Brilliant, First Star Wars, blown away, Goonies, dreadful. Aliens, good. Spaghetti Westerns, worked well. 70s TV films , ruddy awful 😖

Maybe the problem is I'm not connecting with the lettering being a part of the story. Johns news desk does that for me.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

I have been playing with the Tech Talk project and, found the following:

AFAICS - the Intro/Outro's are not hardware accelerated on the UHD 630 iGPU.

With the UHD project, 3840 x 2160 50 fps, the render rate drops down to about 0.5 fps during these sections, the CPU was at 40% iGPU 9% once out of the Intro/Outro sections these figures changed to 28% and 26% respectively and took approx 6 mins to render.

As a check, I also tested this on my laptop with a Full HD project set up the same and the HD4600 iGPU and the CPU was again doing most of the work during the Intro/Outro sections - the total render time was 2m 15s ie very close to real time.

The difference in times are what I would expect given the UHD version has 4x as many pixels to render.

Introducing the 2 Xara 3D text objects introduces a significant lag in MEP responding - up to a 2 - 3 secs, this makes editing a bit of a pain.

I would make the following suggestion:

Assuming the Intro and Outro are the same for all tech talk videos - if you have not done so, render the Intro and Outro as separate MXV files at UHD resolution - the tracks indicated in blue in the image below - and use these in future projects, the rest of the talks ie titles, audio, images and video added as required.

When I get the RTX 2060 installed I will re-run the tests to see if the Intro/Outro's get hardware accelerated.

HTH

John EB

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

Glitz and Glam. You owe Bernadette a dog biscuit.

@johnebaker

Hi John,

What Tech Talk Template Intro? Is this new with MEP2020? Is the template 4K then?

After reviewing your cabling, I don't feel so bad.

John CB

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . What Tech Talk Template Intro? . . .

It is the project that Ray is working on and posted images about.

John EB

@browj2@browj2

Hi John CB.

No, No, No, No, No!

Made me laugh though.

One of the first posts I saw here and that I tried for myself was simple and reasonably effective. I think it was from one of your replies to someone John and it got me hooked on what was possible. At the time I was contemplating editing a few videos I had shot with my DSLR which were hand held, not very good footage, and blended into timed slideshow shots to see if I had any talent at all in that regard. It didn't turn out that bad so did a second one which turned out a bit better. So now I'm hooked and out shooting footage whenever I can locally. Spend too much time then trying to put everything I take into some sort of sensible order. And it's everybody here's fault 😂. This was that first attempt with MEP and not much experience with video or digital editing at that point but you can probably tell the Dockyard uses me for their still images, not my video work 😆.

But here is just another intro I was playing with, pinching the ideas from Honda adverts and using bits I found in MEP. Please don't blink when viewing the beginning.

I think there is a lot more I can do and I play around with ideas all the time with the basic settings for titling during a video.

[Edit] I just looked at the last one I'd re-rendered from an old project and some of the graphics have changed their positioning even though I had saved the project with the tracks locked. Odd. [End of Edit]

These are not public videos as they are ideas and not completed videos, but can be seen via the links.

Rendering times, once reasonable and not having to wait overnight to finish I can live with.

Thinking of different ways of presenting things is what keeps me going.

There's no Tech Talk Template John. Just the one I made up and the title of my project that John EB is talking about for 4K projects.

As for seeing how neat everyone else has their cabling, I daren't even take a snapshot of mine.

Hi John.

I'm glad you liked playing with the project.

I'm not that worried about the export times if I keep the project as a template and just add video to the top two tracks. The render times are not that great and would give me a chance to brew a cuppa.

I'm still waiting for my son to produce those blooming M.2 drives. Is anyone else using them?

Ray.

I have a few new (previously not noticed) unexplained problems. Nothing serious but annoying.

1: My Intellimouse movements are creating a digital noise low in the background when it's moved around, sounding like a square wave digital pulse (One assumes the digital signal sent to the PC when the mouse moves) but only when it is on the screen being fed by the Intel GPU. Moving the mouse around the on second screen connected to the NVIDIA card produces no noise at all. I thought it might be the mouse lead being too near the audio output socket so swapped the mouse to a USB socket at the top of the PC but the sound persists.

2: I'm getting similar low noise from MEP but this time as lower frequency ticks as each frame of an export is being created. they speed up and slow down it time with each frame being produced. I'm beginning to wonder if I have an earthing problem inside the case itself. If it were just the mouse I'd try putting an rf choke one the lead but not sure what to try for what might possibly be an internal problem. None of those problems produce noise on an export so like I said, annoying, but not serious.

3: How much space am I expected to have without MEP crashing on which discs?

The main C: drive has over 320gig available but if the disk that the project resides on doesn't have sufficient space on it MEP either freezes or exits and reloads. It doesn't matter if I'm rendering a finished project to another drive but there comes a point where further editing requires the project to be transferred to another disk with more space.

In other programs I have I can have the cache placed on any disk I wish that allows me to have a disk entirely free for cache requirements. Is there a reason anyone knows of why this isn't an option in MEP?

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

1 & 2. Do you have system sounds turned on in Windows? If so try turning it off in the Windows volume mixer.

3. When making discs I would leave at least 4x final disc size - this ensures there is plenty of headroom for the intermediate codec format files created and eventually rendered/copied into the final export video especially if you are creating an ISO file as the DVD or BD files are still left in the Disc Images folder location as specified in the program settings.

Where the intermediate files are located I cannot find - Resource Monitor gives no indication of where they are being written to, observation of drive activity suggest the same drive as the project is located on

The only MEP video cache I know of is the Perfbounce folder which appears to be used for Preview caching.

HTH

John EB

@johnebaker

Hi John. 1 & 2: I never have windows sounds on but I was wrong about one thing I posted earlier. The mouse is making sounds on either screen but only when a program screen is active. Even right clicking the mouse on a screen to produce the mini options screen starts it off. The noise level of the noise is independent of the actual mixer volume. Always the same volume of background noise from the mouse regardless of mixer level settings within the PC. It only gets louder if I turn up the volume of the external power amplifier.

3: That probably means I would not be able to edit a project from a backup disk without transferring it first. Probably no biggie, it just means more copies at any one time lying around.

This is the conclusion I came to. I will have to keep an eye on any large projects I'm working on in future as disks fill up. I don't really use DVDs or Blu-Ray Disks. Can't remember the last time I used one for video.

I've tried swapping audio leads and placing the mouse in several USB sockets.

The motherboard manual made a thing out of how well the audio section is shielded. I'm wondering why they even mentioned it or maybe I'm getting to the noise floor of the available headroom but I'm hearing it at conversational levels. My room is very quiet though so any sound is easily heard.

Thinking that, I just turned the amp up and can hear similar electronic ticks coming from my keyboard strokes. That's quieter still but still present.

I will try and find some optical cables and connect to my Mini-disk recorder and see if it's present at the digital output.

Looking at the audio specs it supports 32 bit 198kHz playback 120dB playback and 113dB record. currently the audio is set to 24 bit 48kHz.

I would set the audio mixer from Windows to 100% and then use individual program volume controls to turn the volume down which helps but often means having to use the power amp volume control to stop me from blowing my ears out from time to time as I switch programs or view stuff on the internet. I'm trying that now but the amps volume control is set at under position 1. Not much wiggle room for lowering the volume.

It may be something I will just have to learn to live with.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

I am beginning to suspect you may have a faulty mouse - does make the sounds with any other mouse?

John EB

Hi John.

I don't have another optical mouse. There may be an old ball type mouse somewhere.

(I'm trying things as I reply.)

I have two keyboards though. One wireless and one wired and they are both making noises as well. And then what about MEP producing clicks when rendering but not on playback?

OK I thought of a second test. I've plugged in headphones directly into the audio output and whacked all volume controls up 100% and can't hear the mouse or keyboards, although at maximum volume it's a quieter output into my headphones than my speakers can supply. If that's a 120dB of volume difference I'll eat my socks. Still, good sounding.

So, either all of my three leads I swapped over are not connecting correctly or I have an earth loop problem or the lead between PC and amp is too long and picking up inducted signals.

Either way, for now I've opted for the amp to be set at volume one with the PC output volume on max until I can suss this out. I may even try connecting to the Cambridge P50 amplifier if I can get to the speaker cabling on it. The mouse noise I can hardly hear and the amp volume, more than enough. I was trying to look up the amps specs for the wattage output. I've had this so long I can't remember and I lost the manual a long time ago. I'm using a NAD 3130. Nice amp. I bought it and never used it until now. It could also be the PC's audio output isn't matching the amps input as well as it might. It's plugged into the tape monitor input where there is no equalised audio response curve and should be a line level input.

I obviously have too much time on my hands and need to go out and video something.

Thanks for the suggestions John. It's the new Microsoft Intelli-mouse. Blue laser. The old one that packed up earlier this year had a built in ferrite core in the lead. This one doesn't.

I don't think I have any ferrite cores in the house.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi

. . . . I've plugged in headphones directly into the audio output and whacked all volume controls up 100% and can't hear the mouse or keyboards, although at maximum volume it's a quieter output into my headphones than my speakers can supply. . . . . using a NAD 3130. Nice amp. I bought it and never used it until now. It could also be the PC's audio output isn't matching the amps input as well as it might . . . .

This is moving the issue - impedance mismatch?

BTW which limiter plug in are you using in MEP - it does not appear for me in your template project and the audio is at 0dB 😱 ?

OT:

NAD 3130 specs are here

I used to have one - good, however not enough power - 30W RMS) for the likes of ELP, then got Uher CV140 with a blown power amp cheap - replaced the power amps with 2 x 50W RMS and finally ended up with a Technics 55W RMS system - really good for Pictures at an Exhibition.

John EB

Hi John.

From the blurb of the Asus motherboard concerning audio inputs and outputs.

'Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs'. 'Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, and Front Panel Jack-retasking', 'SupremeFX Shielding Technology' and 'Dual OP Amplifiers'. So presumably it shouldn't but can't completely rule that out although it doesn't explain the digital feel of the sound. It really does sound like a digital data stream signal. A square wave sound.

The MEP limiter is switched on in the project at my end in the master section. I've found sometimes on opening old projects that some clip timings and effect settings have been out when re-opened or moved to another drive. I don't currently have any additional audio plugins for MEP.

Thank you for the specs of the 3130. NAD never over specified the rated power of their amps and they are connected to my Ram Acoustic studio monitors which are very efficient. More so than my Tannoy or Rogers units. I'll try to log into the site later and download the manual. Your lounge or wherever your speakers are must be a very large room if 30 watts of RMS power (not peak power or some other sudo measurement) isn't enough power for an ELP track. We've got a 10 watt 'Pure' stereo DAB radio in the kitchen we can't even turn up a quarter of the way before it gets too loud. 😄

Uher. There's a blast form the past. I only ever got to use one of their Reporter series of portable open reel recorders for a hot air balloon festival once. Weighed a ton and built like a brick outhouse. Very desirable bits of kit in their day. Uher, same as Studer, are probably still going but I've not bothered upgrading for some time now.

I have a Technics graphic equalizer and direct drive turntable (the SL-D2) fitted with an Ortofon cartridge but never owned a Technic amplifier. I had a JVC which was rubbish as was the Rotel unit. I also had a quad 303/33 and later a 405 which were OK but really only worked with their electrostatics which due to their shape took up too much room, so they all had to go.

Anyway, after remembering how much kit I've sold over the years I'm going to try and find some in line rf chokes or take something apart for some. The old intelli-mouse should be around somewhere.

Ray.

{Update]

I have found the reason why the mouse making noises to my amp input happened. The output to my amplifier was somehow set to headphones rather than speakers. I have no idea why that happened but re-setting that output to speakers has reduced the problem to almost non existent.

[Update on the Christmas Dickens weekend]

I found a program and turned up along with what must have been thousands of other people and did not find one of the things on the program happening. The program said the schedule was the same for both days but I only found one brass band (Salvation Army) remotely doing anything. The only thing that was happening was the Christmas fair with trading market stands that I wasn't interested in. I felt sorry for all the people milling around. I stayed for two hours but then gave up.

I hope for a much better result from the Santa Fun Run,

Ray.

@browj2 @johnebaker

Update on foolish things not to do.

I managed to download the Asus 'Crate' package with all the tools to overclock and tweak various programs that ended with me making MEP inoperable. I even managed to get locked out of my PC with it refusing to boot bringing up an error "Chassis Intrude, Please check your system, Fatal Error" so couldn't even get to the bios and had to read the ***** manual to see how to reset the motherboard. Anyway, got the bios to come back and reset to default values. Then MEP came back with a system 52 error so had to re-download program and re-install everything.

Lesson learned.

Listen to my son and not to try altering things I don't understand. On the plus side I learned a lot about my bios and motherboard and only took a couple of hours work to restore everything.

@browj2

@johnebaker

@terrypin

First, sorry to update what is in effect an old thread but I wanted to put all the problems I've had with Windows 10 and MEP in the same thread for future reference in case I have to rebuild my C: drive at any time in the future due to some unforeseen catastrophic failure.

The first new problem is about setting up two monitors, each on different GPUs.

The second problem I'm now aware of is that various bits of Windows need colour grading separately and that MEP is behaving differently depending on which screen the main editing window is placed in.

So about the first problem. I forgot that any video player working in Windows has to be graded separately from the main monitor colour setup. But with two GPUs in use it has to be done twice. Once for the Intel GPU and once for my NVIDIA card. Once that is done I need to go back and grade for video playback for each card.

Why? Because If I look at anything I upload onto the web the playback is being graded through the web browser via the Grading done for Windows and not for the video players within Windows.

So this is mainly a reminder for me.

The second point though I haven't seen anyone mention here before in another thread and involves workload that is shared across GPUs within MEP, so here goes.

First I want to mention that my Primary display is my right hand display and set to be powered by the Intel GPU. The second display is on my NVIDIA card.

So, apart from background apps running I opened MEP on its own in one monitor so as to get the whole program running on one monitor. I used the Primary monitor and played a graphics intensive section of video. This was the result.

Please note the lack of processing from the NVIDIA card.

Next I moved the program window onto my secondary Monitor using the NVIDIA,

Notice now, both GPUs are in use. Playback is also now smoother and can handle more tracks and effects.

It doesn't seem to matter whether the program is spread across two monitors or not. What counts is whether the preview monitor is on the secondary GPU or not.

My instinct was that it should not matter which monitor the preview editor window displayed in, or if it did, that the preview monitor should be on the primary monitor.

It turned out not to be the case and now I have swapped which monitor the editing window shows in I am now getting smoother playback than I did before.

Has anyone else noticed this or does the secondary graphics card work for you then the editing window is on either monitor?

Ray.

Hi @CubeAce

There are two separate processes at play here though - the use of a GPU for the acceleration of the decoding and effects during timeline playback, and the creation of the video image on whichever monitor the preview display is placed on.

What do the respective GPU loads look like if you use your first configuration and change the "GPU for Playback in the arranger" in the program settings from Intel to Nvidia?