VIDEO STALLS PERFORMER

filmskore · Post by **filmskore** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:32 pm

A lot of the time, when I choose a video to work with it stalls performer. Also sequences with video take longer to open. When I want to choose a new movie start time, or change the video output destination, all of these things cause stalling "the color wheel".

MAC PRO 2.66 dual core 2 Gigs of RAM

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:41 pm

When you say it "stalls", do you mean it locks up and forces a restart, or it just takes a while to load?

Much depends upon the ratio between the size of the movie and plugins you are using vs the amount of RAM you have installed. 2GB will do a lot, but it hardly scratches the surface of what DP and your machine can handle.

DP alone can access 4GB of RAM and you are giving it less than half of that to do audio, video, and to run OSX at the same time.

Part of the reason why it might be taking a long time to load is that Virtual Memory is hard at work writing references to all the files you want to open. The same thing takes place when using virtual instruments. The first load of the day always takes some time-- and with some larger projects this may take more than 5 minutes.
You may have to explain a little more about what's happening, what plugins and how many of those plugins you have running, and how large the video is to distinguish what is normal performance from what might be considered to be truly sluggish performance.

mckelly · Post by **mckelly** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:02 pm

Are you running the movie as a quicktime file within DP?

Frodo made some very apt points regarding the amount of RAM you are using, however, for what its worth, I was able to score plenty of projects within DP on my Dual 867 with only 2 GB of RAM.

It seems a bit suspicious that your project is stalling the way you describe it.

-MK

filmskore · Post by **filmskore** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:16 pm

I believe everyone may be on to something. I was just suspicious myself since I've done a few short scoring projects already with 2 gigs of RAM and close to this many instruments open. (yes as a quicktime file with DP 5.11

Ivory piano (1.62), Kontakt 2 (16 instruments), Altiverb 6, Giga (aux track) Live 6.0.3 re-wiring simultaneously.

I would have thought this would have caused a problem a long time ago.
Taking forever to load is the problem yes, but...

What's really shocking is it taking 3-5 minutes to load with only 3 tracks of audio and a 9.3 gig video during the music editing I've recently been doing as well. I've opened this same file on a mirror door G4 and it loads faster. Also opening new chunks causes it to stall for about 3-5 minutes.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:55 pm

filmskore wrote:...I've opened this same file on a mirror door G4 and it loads faster....

That right there is enough to raise a red flag. Something is wrong indeed. A G4 ought not load faster than a 2.66 Intel.

There are several steps short of uninstalling and reinstalling:

1. Shut down and try again.

2. Repair permissions, shut down, and try again.

3. Delete Digital Performer Preferences file (User Library- Preferences folder- Digital Performer folder- Preferences file), shut down, and try again.

4. Delete Bundles and rebuild them-- don't forget to Export the Bundle to a safe location on your HD in case you need to Import that same bundle again.

5. Save the project under a different name-- don't duplicated Audio data, but do a fresh import.

6. Save the MIDI data as an SMF, create a new project, and import the audio and video.

7. Try using a different hard drive or hard drive bus. Are you running everything on the Firewire bus? If you are streaming lots of audio HDs, VIs, audio interfacing, and video on the solitary FW bus (all ports use the same bus)-- there may be some bus clogging going on.

8. Run a stealthy disc utility like DiskWarrior. I've seen it for under $99 here and there, about 30% under retail..... shut down, and try again.

9. Create a new project from scratch by saving MIDI data as SMF then importing the video and audio data.... I'd avoid putting everything into Chunks for the moment to the same effect.

10. Failing the above, call Apple and rub the G4 example in their faces!

That will get their attention in a hurry. With a 2.66, it is likely that phone support is still free for you.

Mr_Clifford · Post by **Mr_Clifford** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:32 pm

Check what video codec the QT movie is using. If it's a really CPU intensive one like H.264 it might be pushing your computer too hard. You can use QT Pro to convert it to something easier on the CPU - Motion J-Peg A, single field per frame is a good one.

martian · Post by **martian** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:50 pm

I was getting something similiar - with 3 gig in macpro.

opening DP would take around 4-5 mins...

( I tried repairing disks and zapping PRAM in addition to the above )

I'm not sure if that was what fixed it but fortunately it has gone away now....

filmskore · Post by **filmskore** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:13 pm

Ran Disk Warrior 4.0 a few times and it works better now.

dogBoy · Post by **dogBoy** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:41 am

A 9.3 gig vid, is huge.
If you can edit the film into seq specific files, you'll be better off, cpu wise.
Mr.Clifford's suggestion to compress the video is the way to go, but @ 9.3gig picture it would take days to do (on my computer anyway).

How long is this video?

tripit@earthlink.net · Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:44 pm

Make sure you have the QT file running off a seperate drive (fast) such as a sata or fw800. I run all my video off a firewire 800 drive that isn't being used for any audio. I run huge files (full length feature films at full rez) everyday without any issues on a G5.
But you have to have a fast drive. If I try to do this on a fw400, I can get hicups and stalls in DP and picture.

Also, don't use compressed QT files. Many people make this mistake. A compressed file is smaller, but your computer has to work harder to uncompress. Run uncompressed standard def for best results. DP is set up to stream DV (NSTC) standard def. It will just stream it right off the disc without any converstion, thus no strain on the cpu.

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:58 pm

I often convert a copy of the movie to a smaller lower resolution Quick time and it is hardly a cpu eater. You don't need a high resolution video to get your hits right.

tshaps · Post by **tshaps** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:39 pm

I just had this exact problem you describe. The problem turned out to be related to the Canopus firewire video box I was using. If you're using something like this, try powering off the unit and then turning it back on. Or for starters, just unplug it and try to load a sequence with video.

Good luck.

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