Export Quality/Short Vid sample freeze

Wal

Hi Nick, The quality of my new mixes has deteriorated. The color of the pictures/frames kinda fades out a bit...as if when one reduces the contrast of a picture and not as clear/sharp as my mixes used to be. Still using the same MBP, same export settings (720HD, Best quality fast encoder with the higest fps), same video sources etc. What is the best export settings you will recommend? I'm very keen on colors and high resolution. Any tips on how to achieve this? What are the key significance of a single pass and multi passes, and the two different fps to the final export? Another issue I have been having since day 1 is that some of my short video loops/samples freeze when I play them. Not a huge concern as everything looks fine when exported, plus it only lasts for about 15-20sec (the durations of the samples)...only plays the first 2-3sec before freezing. I've encoded those samples to HAP but still same issue. Any idea why? Another question re the sample player, will it be made possible in the future so that the short samples/loops loaded in the SP can play both video and the accompanied audio when triggered? And one unrelated question, not sure if it's just me, but why doesn't one receive a notification via email when there is a new reply/post in a discussion one is part of here on the site?

Nick

That's a lot of questions. What preset/settings are you using when you export? 1) As for export settings, I generally go for H.264 at 640x360, 720P, or 1080P (depending on the dimensions of my source videos, and where I intend to use the exported video). Single-pass is a lot faster (as it only has to process the performance once), but multi-pass will give you better quality. 2) Your samples shouldn't be freezing - especially if they're using the HAP format. Are you playing them from an external or internal drive. If it's an external drive, it may be that the drive has either fallen asleep, or is struggling to keep up with the transfer of data. 3) It's unlikely. MixEmergency has been written to handle video only. You can link it with the audio sample player in Scratch Live / Serato DJ, or even another application, such as Ableton Live, if you wish to trigger audio alongside it. 4) If you bookmark this discussion then you should receive a notification e-mail.

Wal

Thanks Nick, 1) I use the Best Quality fast encoder preset with the higest fps, and go for H.264 at 720p as my source videos support it. I think I'll start using a setting with multi-pass henceforth. Any idea why the contrast of the videos somehow seems reduced in the final export? 2) I'm playing the samples from my internal drive. I can send you those files if need be. 3) How can I link serato audio SP with ME video SP? One more question, how many Nicks are there? LOL...Just a hoax :) Cheers!

Nick

I'm not sure why that would be. Are they videos that you've encoded yourself? One thing I forgot to ask - what version of MixEmergency are you using? 3) What I mean by this is that you will have to MIDI map your controller to both Serato DJ and MixEmergency - this way, when you trigger the sample, it will play on both.

Wal

Yes, some of the videos I have encoded myself and some are from Smashvision, VJstreet and Co. I'm using version 3.0.1 (going to update to 3.0.2 now). 2) Will record the sample freezing with my phone next time and email it to you together with the files....as this has always been the case with some short samples that I use. 3) Thanks, will do.

omeratopdonn

Hi Nick. Just wanted to follow up on Wal's observations. The export quality of the mixes since 3.0 came out seems to have suffered when comparing them with the exports from previous versions. I did a comparison test and encoded exactly the same video's with exactly the same settings as used on previous version and u can tell the difference right away. PS All my video's are from legit sources as well so that's not the issue. Export Settings: H.264 720p This issue happens when using both the single pass and multiple pass options. Speaking of using the multiple pass options a while back I had suggested making the number of passes a configurable parameter. Right now I believe it defaults to 5. Is it possible to have this configurable? Thanks.

Nick

By "quality", do you mean the image quality (which shouldn't have changed at all), or that you're getting skipped/paused frames (which I have fixed for the next version, and which I've only seen on 640x360 exports).

omeratopdonn

Its the image quality.

omeratopdonn

Any thoughts on what could be causing this Nick?

Nick

That's odd. Do you have a sample file that you can compare? If you record a short segment with MixEmergency 2.7.1, export the first 30 seconds of each in 2.7.1, and then in 3.0.2, are you able to notice the difference?

omeratopdonn

Hi Nick. I'll export two short samples and compare image quality again.