Random Playback Freeze

[syn]

Hi everyone,

I've experienced freezes during a live performance when using the "Random Playback" function on a clip.

It mostly happened on relatively short clips and it seemed like it would get stuck on the first frame of the clip. It looked like it might be an issue with a random number generator ending up before the start of a clip (or section thereof). I didn't have a chance of investigating it thoroughly for obvious reasons (it was mid-performance) and I would fade to another laptop when it would occur (or manually move to a new frame).

Has anyone had the same issue?

My hardware (the most relevant bits):
Dualcore Core i7, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD (4x60GB in RAID 0), Windows 7 64 bit, Resolume Avenue 4.1.7

Edit: Few additions after reading the sticky of the forum (apologies, didn't see it before posting)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (1GB dedicated RAM)
Used codec: DXV or h264 (used h264 for longer clips that weren't going to be layered to reduce file size)

I'll do some more tests to check what codec the file uses that gave me problems and will double check the manual to see if it's in there.

[Joris]

H264 on random playback is a guaranteed framerate killer. I wouldn't be surprised if things get stuck when using this codec.

Just ran a test with short DXV files, but things seem to run fine. If you are experiencing it with DXV files, we'll have to investigate further.

[syn]

I'll keep an eye on when it happens. Normally I don't mess with the clips in h264 but it could be that I took a snippet from one to loop.

Maybe a nice work-around would be to press record on a partial clip to make a new clip on the fly. Does Avenue record in DXV by any chance?

[drazkers]

Records in photo JPG I think.

[Joris]

Indeed, recording is done in PhotoJPEG. PJpeg has a slightly faster encoding time, and on recording every millisecond matters.

The result for random playback mode should be the same though, both DXV and PJpeg are intraframe codecs, which means you can jumpcut and shuttle all you want.

[syn]

Thanks for the info.

I checked again though, the problem occurs with DXV files as well.

The situation:
- Play a loop in DXV (12 seconds and change)
- Select a segment of the loop
- Select "Random Playback"

What happens:
- Will play fine for a while
- Will freeze on a frame (duration of the freeze varies from a few seconds to tens of seconds)
- Audio will keep skipping to random bits, video will be frozen
- Will recover after a short while
- Problem occurs both in bpm sync and timeline

Video specs:
- Composition resolution 1024x768
- Clip resolution 1280x969
- File size: 136MB
- Encoded with Adobe CC Media Encoder, export from Premiere Pro

System Specs (as stated in the first post, but recapped and specified):
Core i7 M620 2.67 GHz (2 cores, 4 threads)
8 GB DDR3
256 GB SSD (4 disks in raid 0)
NVIDIA GeForce 330M (1GB Dedicated RAM)
13" Full HD screen (probably not relevant but you never know)
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Resolume Avenue 4.1.7

I'll try and reproduce it on my Macbook tomorrow (don't have it here) and if you can't reproduce it I'll test it on my PC as well.

[syn]

Just tested it on my Macbook, same effect.

Specs:
Macbook Pro mid 2010
2.53 GHz Core i5
8 GB 1067 DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256MB
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
OS X 10.8.4
Resolume 4.1.7 (and 4.1.4, tried both)

Let me know if you can't reproduce it, I'll provide the file.

Is there any chance that it's a problem with the way I encoded the file?

[drazkers]

Have you tried encoding with mpeg stream clip instead of adobe encoder? I'd be interested if the same thing happens. Since you mentioned audio its possible your using a heavy compression audio codec. Try setting audio to uncompressed in your codec settings.

[syn]

I don't really need the audio, I could encode the file without it.

I can't test MPEG stream clip right now but I'll give it a whirl, it's always good to try out new software, especially if it's free ;)

[drazkers]

Give em both a go. Sending the log file to the resolume guys should be number 1. I'm just personally curious If striping audio and/or mpeg stream clips does anything.,