Preview playback

ericjar wrote on 12/30/2012, 8:27 AM

Is it just the way MEP is (I have MX Plus v18)? Even with a very small number of tracks, 3 or 4 my preview playback stutters terribly, often so much that I have to export the video to see how it looks. These are HD AVCHD files I am trying to edit.

 I have a high-end computer 3.6 MHZ  I7 with 12 gigs of RAM and a meter I have says I have barely scratched the surface of RAM or CPU usage.  I've reduced the playback resolution to half, but it still stutters... both video and audio.

I also use Sony Vegas sometimes and I don't like some things about it as much but it doesn't seem to have this issue at all.

Tried changing some settings but doesn't seem to help.

Thanks

Eric

 

Comments

nevilleswartz1980 wrote on 12/30/2012, 9:05 AM

I believe that this is in fact a Magix problem. The reason why i say this is:

1) You dont need a super computer to playback a video file. 
2) If you just play a file, even before adding it to the project or the timeline... it also plays back choppy...
3) If you add the video to the timeline, and you move the orange slider in the timeline with your mouse, your video is rendered very smoothly and very fast without being choppy albeit without sound.
4) A short clip let's say 60 seconds of a particular resolution plays fine but a long clip of say 1 hour of the same resolution is choppy.
5) Resource monitors reveal that resources are not a problem because only a fraction of it is being used.

I have choppy playback even of 720x480 29.97fps material that is more than just a few minutes long.
I think it is a caching problem of video. I would not mind having to wait a few seconds to cach 500MB of video into memory so that we might have smooth playback and perhaps scratch the surface of available system memory.

Magix, please fix this.
Dissapointed legal owner of MEP 17 HD Plus.

ericjar wrote on 12/30/2012, 9:18 AM

 

I believe that this is in fact a Magix problem. The reason why i say this is:

1) You dont need a super computer to playback a video file. 
2) If you just play a file, even before adding it to the project or the timeline... it also plays back choppy...
3) If you add the video to the timeline, and you move the orange slider in the timeline with your mouse, your video is rendered very smoothly and very fast without being choppy albeit without sound.
4) A short clip let's say 60 seconds of a particular resolution plays fine but a long clip of say 1 hour of the same resolution is choppy.
5) Resource monitors reveal that resources are not a problem because only a fraction of it is being used.

I have choppy playback even of 720x480 29.97fps material that is more than just a few minutes long.
I think it is a caching problem of video. I would not mind having to wait a few seconds to cach 500MB of video into memory so that we might have smooth playback and perhaps scratch the surface of available system memory.

Magix, please fix this.
Dissapointed legal owner of MEP 17 HD Plus.

Thanks... unfortunately this seems to be the case. Until I hear from users that newer versions have addressed this problem I doubt I will ever upgrade. I installed the trial of MEP 2013 and didn't see all the improved stuff they are claiming. chroma-key seemed about the same (another area where Sony Vegas has more control), it might load files faster but that isn't an issue for me. Then after I uninstalled the trial my older version would not work right, apparently the uninstall removed some components I needed and had to reinstall from DVD to get it to work again.

If Vegas had a better method of cropping, resizing, etc. I'd probably stick with it although I don't like the way they try to get you to buy 3rd party stuff. Been a loyal Magix user for about 6 versions now.

  

emmrecs wrote on 12/30/2012, 12:23 PM

Unfortunately, I think the first reply has slightly "muddied the waters".  @nevilleswatz1980, you should definitely not be experiencing choppy playback of SD footage.  You may well be correct in your assumption about video caching being the problem, or at least part of it.  Have you experimented with the cache settings in MEP?  What spec is your computer?

@ericjar, I think your problem is different.  You say you are using AVCHD, as I do on a somewhat lower spec machine than yours.  And yes, with multiple AVCHD tracks and complex effects, backgrounds etc. playback in MEP MX Premium or VPX4 can "stutter".  The reason is the process that MEP/VPX has to follow in order to allow playback of AVCHD.  By definition, this format is compressed on record by the camera (and the level of compression does seem to vary slightly depending on the manufacturer of the camera.)  Playback of this footage demands simultaneous decompression and streaming, a VERY CPU-intensive task.  Even for an i7 CPU!  (I assume since you have 12 Gb RAM you are running a 64 bit OS)?

In order to achieve a somewhat smoother playback, without sacrificing ANY quality on final render, you could try changing Program Settings>Video/Audio>Display settings to half or even lower resolution.

HTH.

Jeff

Last changed by emmrecs on 12/30/2012, 12:23 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Win 11 Pro 64 bit, Intel i7 14700, 32 GB RAM, NVidia RTX 4060 and Intel UHD770 Graphics, MOTU 8-Pre f/w audio interface, VPX, MEP, Music Maker, Vegas Pro, PhotoStory Deluxe, Photo Manager Deluxe, Xara 3D Maker 7, Samplitude Pro X7 Suite, Reaper, Adobe Audition 3, CS6 and CC, 2 x Canon HG10 cameras, 1 x Canon EOS 600D, Akaso EK7000 Pro Action Cam

ericjar wrote on 12/30/2012, 1:10 PM

 

Unfortunately, I think the first reply has slightly "muddied the waters".  @nevilleswatz1980, you should definitely not be experiencing choppy playback of SD footage.  You may well be correct in your assumption about video caching being the problem, or at least part of it.  Have you experimented with the cache settings in MEP?  What spec is your computer?

@ericjar, I think your problem is different.  You say you are using AVCHD, as I do on a somewhat lower spec machine than yours.  And yes, with multiple AVCHD tracks and complex effects, backgrounds etc. playback in MEP MX Premium or VPX4 can "stutter".  The reason is the process that MEP/VPX has to follow in order to allow playback of AVCHD.  By definition, this format is compressed on record by the camera (and the level of compression does seem to vary slightly depending on the manufacturer of the camera.)  Playback of this footage demands simultaneous decompression and streaming, a VERY CPU-intensive task.  Even for an i7 CPU!  (I assume since you have 12 Gb RAM you are running a 64 bit OS)?

In order to achieve a somewhat smoother playback, without sacrificing ANY quality on final render, you could try changing Program Settings>Video/Audio>Display settings to half or even lower resolution.

HTH.

Jeff

As I stated I already changed the playback settings, I only had 3 tracks or so of video, very short clips and if you are correct then how does Sony manage to do it smoothly with tons of AVCHD tracks? Same camera, same tracks a world of difference in the preview playback. Got to be something worked out better in Sony's software in this regard.

And yes I am running Windows 7 64 bit.

Eric

 

emmrecs wrote on 12/30/2012, 1:51 PM

 

As I stated I already changed the playback settings, I only had 3 tracks or so of video, very short clips and if you are correct then how does Sony manage to do it smoothly with tons of AVCHD tracks? Same camera, same tracks a world of difference in the preview playback. Got to be something worked out better in Sony's software in this regard.

And yes I am running Windows 7 64 bit.

Eric

 

Perhaps in this particular regard Vegas is "better" than MEP?  I don't know and can't check because I don't own the Sony software.  Sorry I missed your sentence about already trying reduced playback resolution!

One other thing occurs to me: in my experience MEP/VPX has become "better" at handling AVCHD as each new version has appeared.  I have MEP MX Premium, which I rarely use now, but its handling of AVCHD was improved over my previous version, MEP15+.  Almost all my video work now is done in VPX4, which again, handles AVCHD considerably more smoothly than VPX3 did.  So, perhaps, download the trial version of MEP2013 and see if it is any better?

Jeff

 

Last changed by emmrecs on 12/30/2012, 1:51 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Win 11 Pro 64 bit, Intel i7 14700, 32 GB RAM, NVidia RTX 4060 and Intel UHD770 Graphics, MOTU 8-Pre f/w audio interface, VPX, MEP, Music Maker, Vegas Pro, PhotoStory Deluxe, Photo Manager Deluxe, Xara 3D Maker 7, Samplitude Pro X7 Suite, Reaper, Adobe Audition 3, CS6 and CC, 2 x Canon HG10 cameras, 1 x Canon EOS 600D, Akaso EK7000 Pro Action Cam

ericjar wrote on 12/30/2012, 2:02 PM

 

 

As I stated I already changed the playback settings, I only had 3 tracks or so of video, very short clips and if you are correct then how does Sony manage to do it smoothly with tons of AVCHD tracks? Same camera, same tracks a world of difference in the preview playback. Got to be something worked out better in Sony's software in this regard.

And yes I am running Windows 7 64 bit.

Eric

 

Perhaps in this particular regard Vegas is "better" than MEP?  I don't know and can't check because I don't own the Sony software.  Sorry I missed your sentence about already trying reduced playback resolution!

One other thing occurs to me: in my experience MEP/VPX has become "better" at handling AVCHD as each new version has appeared.  I have MEP MX Premium, which I rarely use now, but its handling of AVCHD was improved over my previous version, MEP15+.  Almost all my video work now is done in VPX4, which again, handles AVCHD considerably more smoothly than VPX3 did.  So, perhaps, download the trial version of MEP2013 and see if it is any better?

Jeff

 

Well... as I also stated I did try the trial of MEP2013 and didn't see all the improvements they are claiming, plus when I uninstalled it it messed up my current MX Plus and I had to reinstall it from DVD.

They will have to do much better to get me to continue buying their product I'm afraid.

I just loaded the same files I had issues with into Sony Vegas, piled a few more on there and everything played fine in the preview. I hate to switch but may have to.

Thanks for your attempt at help.

Eric

 

 

terrypin wrote on 12/31/2012, 9:50 AM

Hi Eric & Neville,

You might also try the suggestions from my long post in this thread:

http://www.magix.info/uk/how-can-i-correct-the-choppy-playback-with-movie.knowledge.802022.html

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Last changed by terrypin on 12/31/2012, 9:50 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK. PC: i7 6700K, 4.0 GHz, 32GB with Win 10 pro. Used many earlier versions of MEPP, currently mainly MEPP 2016 & 2017 (Using scores of macro scripts to add functionality, tailored to these versions.)

nevilleswartz1980 wrote on 1/3/2013, 1:22 AM

Hi Guys...

Thanks for the replys. I have a Quad Core clocked at 2.88GHz running windows 7 Pro 32bit with 3GB of usable ram. Unfortunately, i am using the onboard graphics card and not a PCI-e card yet. I plan to get one soon.
Once i have one, then the plan is to use hardware acceleration and Direct 3D settings to hopefully solve playback issues.

My gut feeling is that the mpeg2 codec used by MEP is not great. I would love to try a differnt codec. I started having this problem directly after activating some component required to import VOB into my project.

I tried to export the project to MPEG2 but the results were also choppy.

Then i started playing with the export settings and after many tries and a whole day wasted, i found that setting the bitrate of the export to constant and not VBR, you end up with smooth playback albeit with a much larger file.

Sorry for mudding the waters but my experiance is as i stated it. I have no problems playing back full screen media using WMP and VLC player and my machine is performing very well being well maintained.

Regards N

nevilleswartz1980 wrote on 1/3/2013, 1:24 AM

Eric, What graphics card do you have in your machine? Is your settings such to actually make use of it?

Neville