USB Dropouts When I play HD Vidoes

djkayg

Hi, I am new to ME, and I sometimes get dropouts on Scratch Live 2.5 when I play HD videos. I get my videos from vj-pro, and I was wondering if there is any way I can prevent this without have to download non HD videos, since I downloaded more than a few before I knew this issue. I also lowered the preview view to low, and still having this issue. My computer specs are: 2012 Macbook Pro 4 GB Ram 500 GB Hard drive (300 left) Processor: 2.7 GHZ Intel Core i7 If anyone can please help and give me some pointers I would appreciate it, thanks!

djkayg

Also, I am running Lion as my OSX

Nick

Are you playing the videos from an external drive? If so, what type of drive? Do you see any notifications in the status bar in Scratch Live (at the bottom) that may indicate that it is rewriting the file tags when this occurs? Also, I'm not sure this will help, but I would recommend upgrading to at least OS X 10.8, as it has fixes relating to graphics that should help when playing HD videos.

djkayg

No, I am not playing them from an external drive, and no, it doesn't seem like Scratch Live is rewriting the file tags, because nothing is happening when I load them to play. Is there any other way around it like a quick fix that doesn't involve upgrading the OS X?

Nick

Generally Scratch Live won't write the tags when you play, only when you change something (like a cue point, etc). So, it may happen for one file one time, and not the other. Is it reproduceable when you play a particular file? Or does it seem to be random?

djkayg

No, it's just random, and only when I play HD videos. I can hear my computer working hard when I load them. It works fine with videos not in HD quality. I also forgot to mention that my Macbook Pro is the 13 in not the 15 or 17 in.

djjamalot

Part of the problem could be your MBP 13 uses an integrated video card my buddy has the same issues and it came from the video card on his 13" MBP 2.8ghz

djkayg

Dang, so there is nothing I can do?

DeejayCore

Guys there's no issues with HD,the issue is what kind of HD and the bit rate can throw things off. What i personally do is run all videos through handbrake whether 640x360p or 1280x720p... keep aspect ratio,H264,avg 3000 kbps and i found this is the best setting for ME and SV and doesn't overwork a regular 15" with GT Card at all. I got a Mid 2012 15" Macbook pro,Nvidia 512MB GT Card. However for Integrated Card,you can do HD video or standard but you'll have to down convert to an average of 1000 to 1500 kbps in handbrake,quality is still good if you start with a good quality video.

djkayg

Deejay core can you explain how to do that in handbrake? Do I just check the average bitrate and change it to 1500 kbps and hit the start? Do I need to check 2-pass encoding? and what about the audio tab? It defaults to 160.

DeejayCore

yeah you can customize the bit rate...honestly handbrake is so good if you start with a good source,the video will still be quite amazing even at 1000 - 1500kbps...do the audio @ 44.100 160 for audio to 192 AAC sounds really good too,320 is for mp3. The lower bit rate requires less resources but still looks really good.

DeejayCore

2 pass is a waste of time...single pass is good enough...just set the resolution you want say 640x360 for wide screen/keep aspect ratio...tick the average bit rate and change it to 1000 to 1500kbps,audio 192 AAC and convert...save this as a preset after you get the quality you want...then you can always just batch encode videos using the saved setting.

djkayg

Deejay Core, so when I have the picture preview set to 640x360 and aspect ratio box checked I noticed that handbrake is doing its own cropping based on the automatic setting which lowers the height/width ratio. Should I keep that, or should I change it to custom and have all cropping set to 0?

djkayg

also, what does modulus do? Should I just keep it at 2?

djkayg

and what about anamorphic should I just put none?

DeejayCore

just let handbrake handle it...you don't lose any actual video material...leave anamorphic at none and personally,i didn't touch modulus. do your own preset and convert some videos...if you change something with the preset and want it saved,then make sure to update the preset

djkayg

Ok, I am running 70 videos right now lol. I just put it at modulus at 8 (half of 1280/720) because that uses 16... I guess it makes it sense, and customized crop at 0. By keeping crop customized at 0, do you think this will affect the video? Hopefully this helps with the issue of having dropouts. I'll keep you posted.

DeejayCore

handbrake keeps the aspect ratio of the actual video you're converting...some videos are shot with movie like wide shots while some are not...so to keep the various aspect ratios...make sure you check that box or you'll lose some material. black bars are the only thing removed sometimes.

djkayg

the various aspect ratios box is checked. So you keep the cropping to custom? If so, you don't have any issues with playing on multiple flat screens?

DeejayCore

cropping has to be left at automatic,don't mess with that