CompuServe Thread

#More Flyer Tips

18 messages in this thread
#102569From: Fred BerneyFeb 25, 1995 1:15 PM
Gary, I'm not sure if you figured this out or not, so I thought I'd mention it. In the project menu, when you have a crouton highlighted, you can play it by pressing the ENTER key. The space bar stops it. I've noticed that after the system has been powered down, the next time you turn it on, some of the video clips don't play. Interestingly enough, you can play them in the CONTROL mode with the small play buttons, but try and double click them and you may get streaks of color. However, I found that if you continue holding down the left mouse button on the crouton and very slightly move the mouse around, as though you were scratching the crouton, the clip will play. The clips also seem to play better after the system has been running for a while. I guess these croutons are kind of like people. Really don't get movin' until they've scratched and been awake for a while.(g) Fred
#102572From: Gary KleinerFeb 25, 1995 1:52 PM
Fred, I'm not sure, but those sound more like quirks of your particular system. Regards, Gary
#102609From: Fred BerneyFeb 26, 1995 12:38 AM
Gary, Are your files stable? Clips that you record today, do you have a problem playing them back tomorrow? Didn't Hank post a notice that said something to the effect, keep working with those dissapearing files – they will come back. I think that this was a remarke made by NewTek. My system is about 95% usuable. I am doing work on it. The stuttering is the only thing that causes me to have to re-do a transfer from the Flyer to tape. But, in the process of building a project, I find that the clips don't always playback the first time I go to use them. They seem to be more stable when being played through the control panel then when being played by double clicking or even at times in a project. But, once I get the whole sequence put together, I can press the TAB or play button and it runs. There may be a warm up time that my Flyer drives need. I do notice that most of the problems seem to be when I first turn on the system and after I have been working with it for a while the little problems seem to go away. Fred
#102611From: Gary KleinerFeb 26, 1995 12:59 AM
Fred, I find that a clip will play or it won't….doesn't matter if I reboot or the thing has been on for days. GK
#102641From: henry tellerFeb 26, 1995 10:11 AM
Fred, Your memory is great. NewTek documented a bug in the list they supplied me, and I posted, that said – 10 Error message when dragging a crouton into a project or when playing a clip. Message "Crouton load failed: bad or missing file". The clip is there and is ok. Keep trying until it loads, by switching displays or even reloading. Does that fit the criteria? To what do you attribute the stuttering? Haven't you replaced the Quantum drive? Hank Videology, Inc. Where you get P.O.M.P. under all circumstances
#102677From: BRAD HAYESFeb 26, 1995 5:55 PM
>>>Haven't you replaced the Quantum drive?<<< I got a message from my dealer that said, Quantium would replace the drives, but is still unclear on how this is going to happen. Has this been resolved? It has been a week since I heard from them, I would think that would be enough time to figure it out. Brad Hayes Hayes Visual Communication
#102704From: henry tellerFeb 26, 1995 9:18 PM
The drive letter I posted last week indicated that NewTek had set up a select channel that would be used for making the swap. Back then they indicated that the channel would take two weeks to set up (or so). I'm sure your dealer got the same letter and would fill in the details as soon as they get them. I haven't heard anything yet here. Hank Videology, Inc. Where you get P.O.M.P. under all circumstances
#102678From: Fred BerneyFeb 26, 1995 5:57 PM
Hank, The message you just referred to was the one I was thinking about. However, I just realized that I don't get a message, just a screen of colors instead of a video scene. But, if I keep trying to play the clip, it finally works. Why the stuttering? I wish I knew. I have two 9GB drives. No Quantims. The stuttering only happens when playing back a project. If I play back the video clip by itself, it is fine. The stuttering doesn't happen all of the time. On projects where I have had stuttering, it usually only happens once or twice. If I play the project a second time, it doesn't stutter. I don't think the stuttering is related to any particular clip. I think it is something that happens during the playing back of the entire project. I can hear the Flyer drives grinding away as the scenes play and then without any warning a scene will stutter. As I said, it happens towards the end of a scene or at the beginning of a scene. Not in the middle. Fred
#102705From: henry tellerFeb 26, 1995 9:18 PM
Fred, Is it possible that the transition before or after the effect is causing the stutter. Some effects cause a stutter when the load, a known bug. Others cause stuttering during their run or at the end, affecting the following clip. NewTek feels that all effects should be trouble free by the release of 4.0. No flashing power light,eh? Hank Videology, Inc. Where you get P.O.M.P. under all circumstances
#102720From: Gary KleinerFeb 26, 1995 11:26 PM
Hank, I have found that the best way to avoid stuttering is to forget about doing split edits. If I stay out of the fine control panel, things seem to work better. Regards, Gary
#102738From: Fred BerneyFeb 27, 1995 8:32 AM
Gary, What do you do when you need to do a split edit? Transfer the scene twice? Fred
#102740From: Fred BerneyFeb 27, 1995 9:07 AM
Gary, Disreguard my last message to you. You did say split edit, and I was thinking you meant something else. I thought that you might have meant that the stuttering is more pronounced if you duplicate a crouton and use it again with a second couton in between. You didn't mean that and I realized that after I sent you the last message. I got to get some sleep. BTW, my stuttering did not occur during a split edit. Most of my control panel adjustments are NOT made in the fine tune section. Fred
#102737From: Fred BerneyFeb 27, 1995 8:20 AM
Hank, I think in one case it was just a straight cut between the two scenes and the other time is was a normal dissolve. However, the next time it happens, I'll take note as to what effect if any was in between the scenes. Flashing Power Light? I'm sorry, I missed the significance of that reference. But, if you meant did the electrical power change at any time? No. Well it is back to another full day of editing, so I'll catch up with you this evening. Fred
#102795From: D. ChipFeb 27, 1995 9:21 PM
Fred, I seem to be having the exact same problems you are describing about the stuttering. I also have 2 9GB drives. I will also take note as to what is actually going on when the stuttering occurs. Chip Crogan (MZtv)
#102806From: Fred BerneyFeb 28, 1995 7:27 AM
Chip, Somehow, we sould both report this to NewTek, so they can see that this is not an isolated case. With both of us having the same system setup, it might help them locate the problem. Maybe Hank will pick up on this message and add it to his weekly report to NewTek. I'll also see if I can fax your message along with my comment to NewTek. I'll have to do this late today. Fred
#102831From: Michael MiloffFeb 28, 1995 2:23 PM
Fred, We're still getting random stuttering too. If I can keep the project under about 7 minutes I can usually correct for it by eliminating split edits or using faster DVEs etc. Another fix that worked was to transfer a clip which always stuttered to my second drive – poof stutter gone. But this does not always seem to help. Tsk, tsk. The main thing seems to be project length and degree of filled up-ness of the hard drive. I hope NewTek realizes how serious the stutter problem is. It takes me 5 times longer to complete a project just to fiddle away the stutters – we don't have a frame acurate record deck so doing projects in pieces is hit or miss. We all need to raise a stink over this with NT. TTFN, Russ
#102868From: Fred BerneyFeb 28, 1995 10:56 PM
Russ, You're right about the stuttering showing up more in long projects. And it seems to be the last half of the project where it appears. You can hear the drives grinding away as the video unfolds. One problem I was able to clean up today was a problem I had with clips that would not play. They would scrub, but when you tried to play them as a project, nothing. Just colors on the screen. I ran the autohue and calibration programs this morning. Couldn't think of anything else to do. It worked. Either the calibration can change with time, or the system acts differently when first booted. So, now if I have any problem with clips not playing, I'm going to try the calibration route. This may have been the problem that I was having with HFX. I'll try a short render and see what happens. Fred
#102661From: Michael ZahurakFeb 26, 1995 2:52 PM
Fred- I -think- I figured out why clips seem less stable when played back via a double-click: Try this: Double-click an -audio- clip and let it start playing. Then click it again. Another copy of it will start playing over itself. I am fairly certain that if you give an extra click on a -video- clip, it tries to do the same thing, and ends up confusing the drive, and locking up or crashing, since the drive can really only play back one clip at a time. So if you're like me and not really careful about your double-clicking, that could be what is causing the problem there. Ed Z. MZA/TSA