Quick question regarding ME performance vs. VSL

moilla

So I'm getting into video and I have downloaded the ME demo. When I use my TTM57 with ME, wave forms are choppy (I have a difficult time setting loop in points on the fly) conversely, when I use the VSL demo, everything is smooth as butter (can pretty much max out the settings). I know you have to play around with the preferences in ME to get optimal performance. I've followed all the tips on the forum, but to no avail. Could you shed some light? Thanks...

moilla

PS. My specs: 2.8 GHZ Unibody 4 GB of Ram Nvidia 512 MB

Nick

What are your external display settings? (e.g. 800x600 monitor, 60 Hz refresh rate...) Have you tried reducing the Quality setting in MixEmergency's preferences? I've experienced choppy waveforms myself under certain settings (i.e. they look like the stutter breifly every 4 seconds). One thing that can often fix this is to change the refresh rate of your external monitor in the Mac OS System Preferences (e.g. try setting it to something other than 60 Hz - 50 Hz would be good if you have that option). Let me know how you get on.

moilla

I'm unsure about the my external display settings ( I believe 1024x768...I think) As far as the quality settings, I've tried the quality being 50% to 90% same stuttering occurs. I'll give it a try later on tonight and I'll post what happened. Thanks....

moilla

So I just played around with ME again and same result. Stuttering every 3-4 seconds. My cache is @ 1GB, my quality is @ 70%, scaling FIT, enable frame bleeding checked, aspect ratio none and Update rate low. I set my external monitor to 800x600 and there was no option to change the refresh rate.

Nick

Okay. I'm quite sure that the refresh rate will be the problem. I suspect there might be a problem with either Mac OS or the Nvidia drivers that can cause this sort of issue (i.e. it is a problem that I've managed to reproduce with QuickTime Player, Quartz Composer and other graphics intensive applications that can cause a drop in number of frames per second when both monitors are set to the same refresh rate). Do you have V-sync disabled in VSL? It is possible that your main monitor may be smooth but the picture on your second monitor may exhibit tearing. Also, what are you using to connect from your computer to your external monitor? Is this the type of monitor that you will be using in your performances?

moilla

I'll check if V-sync is disabled. I'm using a mini-display port to HDMI and I'm using a 17" sony LCD (Sony SDM-HS73/H 17"). I won't be using this monitor for performances.

henrygq

hey moilla can i see a [pic of ur set up ? i wanna peep that.

moilla

So, I used ME without connecting to my external monitor (the output video was on the same screen as serato) , and it was flawless. So like you said Nick, something is up with the refresh rate. Is there anyway to get around this besides the obvious (not using the monitor I have)? Henry GQ: I got you, I'll post later

henrygq

werd

Nick

You could try setting it to some different display dimensions and see if there are any other refresh rates offered (e.g. 640x480). Quite often monitors will allow different options for the refresh rates for each dimension.

petemanos

I've had choppy serato waveforms for a looooong time now. I don't know if it's related to using ME vs the VSL plug-in, but I have no interest in VSL anyways so I have lived with it. I remember smooth waveforms. It doesn't mess me up spinning though because you got to LISTEN anyways, those are there just for a reference. If there is a way to smooth it out though I'm all for it. I run 640x480 dvi-tv composite at 60hz. Pretty sure I can't change the hertz as it wont show up on the tvs correctly. Maybe i could change my laptop monitors refresh rate?? CHECK that, not possible, no option for it. 17" MBP with 512mb nvidia. OSX runs off of my SSD Expresscard 34 It runs GREAT, limited programs installed, all videos on 1tb external. Overall my system runs great with very few glitches, other than the choppy waveforms. I don't know what to try and remedy the situation. Anyone??

Nick

Hey Pete, next time you get the chance you should try changing the refresh rate for your DVI-TV output and see if it works all right with the TVs you're running on.