Resolume Thoughts

videoteque_ · Post by **videoteque_** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 13:10

Hello,

I have been using Resolume for the past weeks and I have some thoughts I would like to share. First I used an old PC, PIII 600, now I am using my new Dell Inspiron 5150, which I have reviewed in the Hardware section of VJ Central, BTW.

OK, my background is video, so I can't stand those dirty looking 320x240 clips. I am used to VJ with VHSs and DVDs, so image quality is an issue for me. That's why I have waited so much to get a notebook. The arrival of Freeframe plug-ins in Resolume, made me buy it and forced me to buy a new computer. The aim of this post would be to understand better how Resolume works, to better prepare my clips for it. I love the simplicity of Resolume, and the degree of control in some areas. The "animation-able" controls are great. Peter Warden's plug-ins are a god send. The general concept is very good. But I still think some aspects maybe improved... Let's go:

1) Speed of clips

My first doubt is at what speed does Resolume play clips?? I have arrived to the conclusion that it plays them as fast as it can, up to a point. Is this true?? I would love that when the speed is 25 (default) it respected the normal speed of the clip (x1). Even if it have to skip or repeat frames for this.

2) Reading clips

I have seen that even if it's playing two short loops (2x2Mb) it is always reading the Hard Disk. I can't understand this behaviour. It wouldn't be better to store clips in RAM??? Maybe long clips only store the first seconds in RAM or they read from HD the first time, but then remain in RAM to loop. But it seems stupid, now that RAM is cheap, not to use and abuse it to the max. It would save SO much hard disk life...

I understand that if you load a deck with 20x bif clips (400Mb each), this amounts 8Gb, impossible to load in less than ten minutes. But it should be great to have a Preferences control, where you can choose to load to RAM clips lesser than X Mb... (where you can choose the X!!!)

3) Quicktime and Flash

To develop software that must be compatible with other software which update every now and then must be a pain in the ass. I understand it's too good Resolume plays Quicktimes and SWFs, but it was one of the points it convinced me to buy it, so...

In my old PC I could read Quicktime's MOV and flash's .swf without problems. Now I can't read MOVs, I have Quicktime 6.0... What Quicktime would I need??? I read the manual and don't find anything about versions of Quicktime. So I am not sure if I have to go up (6.3) or down (5.0)...

For flash I installed the new 7 plug-in. Resolume loads them OK, but once I play with them for a while, they don't work anymore, becoming white (they produce white instead of the flash movie)... I suppose that installing Flash 6 plug-in will resolve this??

It would be nice to have the exact version of each (QT and Flash) Resolume supports.

4) Resolution

So after years waiting to buy a notebook powerful enough, after all my ranting about VJing at 640x480, today I tried and switched the output to 320x240 (Scale to current monitor, which is 800x600, the S-Video output). I nearly had to swallow my own words, it looks too GOOD!!! I was reading the same 640x480 indeo 5.1 AVIs. And they didn't look bad at all. In some zones you can see a little degradation. Switched to 400x300, and it's looks too good. In my old 14" Sony, I can see some difference, but possibly not one that justifies the loss of speed of making Resolume work at 640x480.

My monitor is everything except broadcast, I am sure with a good monitor or going VGA to a projector, there must be a clear improvement in image quality, but it is nice to see how beautiful things may look with 400x300. I want to try to convert some clips to 400x300 and see if they play like the 640x480. And I want to try with a projector. It's not the same a 14" screen, than a 150"...

I even need to determine if I see a gain working at 32bits over 16bits...

5) DV artifacts

This is pretty serious. When connecting a DV cam to Resolume, I have a problem when the camera pans or the objects move. I first thought about interlace, but even with Deinterlace Freeframe plug-in (thanks SleepyTom!) and my camera in progressive mode, I have the same problem.

I can't include a picture, it doesn't work, since I don't know how to explain. When there is movement in the image, I see some lines.

I have to recognize that similar things happened when I converted some of my 720x576 MOVs to 640x480 AVIs... Obviously going from 576 lines to 480 produce some kind of artifacts. To resolve this, maybe the Firewire-In can be cropped, so you just throw away pixels. It should be adjustable though.

It would be GREAT to get rid of this artifact. Another great reason to buy Resolume was Firewire in...

6) Glitches

I keep looking at the output in my 14" Sony TV, and every now and then, I get very little glitches. It's the kind of artifact regular people never see. I noticed they appear when one clip changes. It's not a problem, but it would be better if they weren't there. I don't think they are related to the graphic card since they happen only when a clip change occur.

7) Level meter

I think there should be some kind of meter in Resolume. A kind of FPS counter. It would serve to measure the load of the system and start "mine is bigger than yours" debates in the forums...

Maybe it could be used to determine realtime speed for clips. Example, if resolume needs to play a 25fps clip, and currently is doing 15fps, it needs to skip frames from the clip to keep it being realtime.

8) In and Outs in parameters

OK, this is for Resolume 2.0. It would be great if effect parameters could have In and Out points just like clips have.

9) Closing Resolume

Sometimes Windows XP gives me an error. I think is a Windows issue...

10) The best

This is my list of things that should never change!!!!

- The "don't stop" output. I love that Resolume never crashes or stops to ask stupid things like "Do you want to check Resolume web site for updates?". Please, keep it like this. While trying resolutions and plug-ins I sometimes ended with combinations that slowed everything down, but they don't crash. Slow, even freezed output is much better than crashing!!!

- The simplicity. I understand there are a lot of things that could be added. But don't add them unless you can still keep the interface simple.

11) My wish list

OK, this is what I would like to have in the future:

- Firewire in issue resolved. Powerful computers and DV cams are cheap now. The firewire input is a big point in favor of Resolume, make it work 100%.

- Direct DVD reading. I read it in your web, it would be great!!!

- RAM loading option for clips.

- A freeframe plug-ins that load two freeframe plug-ins.

- Maybe two output effects. For example, the Levels in Auto mode is great to get a nice, bright image output. But if you use it, you can't load another effect...

- The top of the top: a Freeframe plug-in that loads AVS presets. This would be the top of the top. Imagine the inmense library of AVS presets available for any Freeframe app...

OK, end of my post. Sorry, it's way too long!!!

ether_warpTV_ · Post by **ether_warpTV_** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 22:43

Hi Videoteque

while it's nice to want the "ultimate VJ app" and quite reasonable to have a wish list - remember that all the features you wish for take time and money to produce, and all that extra functionality will also raise the price so much that the average (underpaid!) VJ can't afford it - also, all that hires stuff needs a RAID array of similar and very large amounts of video processing power - also pushing the price up.
I have a background in television production, editing, and 3D animation, and i use "dirty" 320x240 clips (+flash). In the environments VJs generally work in, you can often not tell the difference between lo-res clips and DVD (especially the punters).
Don't get to hung up on resolution issues - content is king! (and PCs will keep getting more powerful and run stuff bigger, better, and faster).

my 2c worth

ether-warpTV

http://www.assid.co.nz/warptv

Post by **edwin** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 09:31

hi,
thanx vidoetheque that you took time to make this review. We really appreciate it because we think it is possitive feedback.
We like to hear from people what they think should be in later versions of resolume, in that way we can make a better to-do list and set priorities because we get a better insigth in what people want. We of course do research ourselves but there are allways suggestions we haven't thought of. Bug reports are also appreciated because we can't allways test everything to the limit.
So while these wishlists and bug reports are reasonable we allways read them very carefully.
So thanx videotheque and i will get back later to discuss the points you made.
cheers

videoteque_ · Post by **videoteque_** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 21:25

Thanks!

In fact I was trying to help. I see Resolume as one of the best programmed apps out there (and I don't talk VJ only).

Of my points, the only one I consider a problem, is the DV input. DV cams are too cheap to buy a webcam. With a DV cam you have a zoom, you have digital tape format storage, you have too many things. I think you should try to solve the strange lines that appear. I must confess I don't know how though!

)

About resolution, I am glad it is not SO important. I love plug-ins, I love effects, my favorites are all of them, because at everytime there is one that fits better. In fact I will have to tie my hands to not use them all the time...

Keep the good work guys. I will push the owner of the disco where I work to buy it for the computer they have there!

Ciaou!

jeff kenney_ · Post by **jeff kenney_** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 23:19

WEll ive been dabbling with the new version after shelfing resolume for awhile to play with other toys.. got to say i like alot of the improvements..

one thing that REALLY irritates me is that you cannot set a midi trigger to a layer effect.. why cant you do that?? effect global sucks my but~!

in the res department.. res is king just as much as content.. when you have a nice big bright lcd on a nice screen you can tell a HUGE diffrence between crisp highdef look and blotch artifacty images..
I like to try and run at 640x480 with either a firewire drive or usb drive.. i use media cleaner to prep all my files to be 640x480 cinepack at around 1100 bit/sec. (or 75%ish generally). this usually works really well. I *THINK* that if your clip size is the same size as your display that there is a little bit of performance gain.. (correct me if im wrong)

one thing that **REALLY** urkes me is i seem to loose my midi config ALL the time on whatever system im using resolume on. I use either a midisport or a midiman 2x2 (usb).. does resolume save the midi config with the deck!??

anyways keep up the good work guys.. i now built a computer at my residency just to run resolume on.. so ill be pushing the envelope with it

Marco Antonio_ · Post by **Marco Antonio_** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 14:50

...excellent points, all of them! - I would like a couple of my own:

1. VERY important! -- read from RAM! I used Composite Station, and could play whole movies without it stuttering... but with Resolume, canÂ´t play anything larger than 1.2Mb or longer than a couple of seconds. Also, I much prefer it keeping the speed than playing every frame - itÂ´s hard trying to sync a clip to the music if it keeps lagging!

2. In regards to Â´recordingÂ´... itÂ´s cool to be able to record the actual video, but.. is there a way of recording sequences?? Like, recording the actual key presses and such, to be able to load sessions and save them as .txt files, almost... (does it do it already, and I donÂ´t know about it?)

3. Can I apply more than one filter to a clip? I havenÂ´t been able to, but again, maybe i am reading it wrong?

cheers! keep up the good work, we really do appreciate it!!

M.

t3RRORbit_ · Post by **t3RRORbit_** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 15:32

i would also like a way to record a made commands
even changing decks and clips

this would make the performance always look cool even if your going to get a drink

ether_ · Post by **ether_** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 04:55

use chaos mode - pretty much does that

t3RRORbit_ · Post by **t3RRORbit_** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 20:41

i know chaos, but i am using up to 3 layers and its real hard work, not only changing the clips, its much more, it has to look real good not just like a randomizer.

Robert Jan_ · Post by **Robert Jan_** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 21:54

I would like a learning beat control button (like V4) in combo with the chaos mode.