Resolume Forum

Is there any explanation regarding FPS in the PDF manual for Resolume 3.3.2?
I've done a search for both "FPS" and "frames", and nothing comes up with any significance.
In my preview window, while performing i can see the FPS often changing. Its usually 60,
but sometimes dips down anywhere to the 20's to 50's....
Mainly i'd like to know if its possible to regulate or optimize the FPS inside Resolume, and if so, where to make these adjustments.

I'm mixing mainly 2 kinds of sources:
1) DV codec footage prepared in Final Cut Pro at 29.97 FPS (converted for Resolume with DXV)
and 2) footage taken with my iPhone 4's forward-facing camera, which is VGA 30FPS as far as i know.
So when preparing clips for Resolume with the DXV codec, i'm wondering what frame rate is recommended? the same as your original source? the highest possible for your processor, or the most compatible to your end result?
I"m using Resolume to feed a live streaming broadcast (and/or record to disk) using a Matrox MX02 Mini to feed the output into another MacBook Pro into Wirecast software, with an 8 bit YUV 59.94 setting. So... i can see 59.94 as one of the choices with DXV, so perhaps this is what i should default to when preparing clips with DXV?

Any advice or links to explanations about frame rate would be appreciated. i could use a little background education here before i start converting all my libraries.

Thanks much!
Greg

Hey Greg

Good question! You are dealing with three types of framerate:
1. The framerate of your clips.
2. The framerate that Resolume is calculating new frames at.
3. The framerate of the signal sent out of your secondary output.

The answer to your question is that although those three are related, they are not the same. The FPS shown in Resolume (2) is basically an indication of how quick it can calculate new frames. It will always try to go as fast as possible. If it has a lot of effects to calculate, or composite many HD layers, or has to do a lot of work in some other way, the framerate will start going down, giving you an indication you're pushing it too hard.

As long as this fps indicator is higher than the original framerate of your clips (1), they will play smoothly. You can mix different framerates (12, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 60 whatever you need really), although it will look best if all your clips are the same framerate.

Then the resulting signal is sent to the secondary output, at a frequency/refresh rate set by that output (3). Using analog video outputs this is usually 50 or 60Hz, digital or analog computer outputs usually go into the 75-100 or higher range. A discrepancy between this framerate and the fps in resolume can cause what is known as screen tearing, but Resolume checks this internally and makes up for it.

I hope that's clear and answers your questions!

Joris

Thanks Joris,
This nice explanation of yours might help to start to clear up some mysteries for me... most especially regarding my post yesterday regarding another user's speculation about using a Matrox MX02 Mini as a means to record Resolume output: http://www.resolume.com/forum/viewtopic ... 490#p34490
Yes, the Matrox "works", for recording to disk, but unfortunately we can't monitor our work on an external display, nor send it to a projector, because we can't get the Matrox MX02 MIni's HDMI output to work with our Resolume signal
I've spent the past 4 months trying different tests, posting to the Matrox and Telestream (Wirecast) forums, and talking to Matrox tech support directly, with no luck so far.... Matrox seems to think that the problem is the type of signal that we're sending to the box.. the Resolume output, as sent to the "2nd display" of our MacBook Pro.
So, after reading your reply, perhaps there are a couple clues here, and i'm thinking it might be time to look further into this problem again:

goto10 wrote: Then the resulting signal is sent to the secondary output, at a frequency/refresh rate set by that output (3). Using analog video outputs this is usually 50 or 60Hz, digital or analog computer outputs usually go into the 75-100 or higher range. A discrepancy between this framerate and the fps in resolume can cause what is known as screen tearing, but Resolume checks this internally and makes up for it.

I'm not a video professional, so i don't fully understand your reply in terms of framerate/fps as it pertains to frequency. But now i'm starting to wonder about the "digital computer output" signals.. which you say are in the 75-100Hz range...? Is it safe to assume that you are talking about the computer output (via the Thunderbolt / Mini Display Port) of a 2011 MacBook Pro?
Its very strange that the Wirecast software will indeed recognize a good "usable" signal as sent to the Matrox, but that the box is unable to effectively mirror this signal to its own HDMI outputs. Matrox and Telestream both advise that we must use a 1080i setting (and so i set this in Apple System Preferences, "Displays")... as well as a 59.94 YUV 8-bit setting within Wirecast... and we've tried all kinds of variations on these settings, with no luck. With the HDMI outputs, we only get a black screen (but these outputs work fine when using the Matrox test utility). Would the MacBook Pro's digital video output somehow conflict with these settings, so as to not allow the Matrox HDMI outputs to work? BTW: I'm assuming that Resolume's 640x480 output setting is getting scaled up to 1080i, because otherwise this setup would probably not yield a visible signal in Wirecast... But we do indeed have a full-screen record-able image... and it looks pretty good!
As you could probably imagine, its quite frustrating to have come so far with this configuration, with (2) high-end MacBook Pros plus the Matrox... but to fall short with basic monitoring, and having to use the tiny screen within Resolume's main screen... and to not be able to project video while we're recording to disk. We have to choose one mode or the other. Perhaps this problem would be solved when the first Thunderbolt hubs come onto the market, so we could hopefully echo the MacBook Pro's output... (No, we tried a couple different HDMI splitter/amplifiers, but they don't seem to work either)
Many questions here... and sorry for the length of this post!
Thanks for any insights...
Greg

oh, and here's the post to the Telestream (Wirecast) forum, back when i first discovered this problem:
http://forum.telestream.net/forum/messa ... &forumid=1

I'm not a video professional, so i don't fully understand your reply in terms of framerate/fps as it pertains to frequency.

Both framerate/fps and frequency are a way of measuring how often the display updates itself. For instance, let's say Resolume is playing a 30fps clip with some effects, while rendering at 60fps, outputting to a display at 120 Hz. This means Resolume reads the source frame 30 times per second, it then calculates the effects and sends this to the output 60 times per second, while the output itself refreshes 120 times per second (effectively displaying the same frame twice). I don't know if that makes it clearer, but I hope so

I know there are some issues with the Matrox, since a laptop output is not fully HDMI compliant since it's not in YUV colourspace. This is more a computer/Matrox issue than a Resolume issue (since after we send the signal to the output, it's out of our hands), and I'm afraid you'll have to talk to the Matrox techs about it.