Hi!

First at all thanks for the new update 6.1.3. Unfortunately, it does not solve the problem, that video playback is stuttering extremly with MM - regardless if i playback MPEG1 or MPEG2 or DIVX videos. MMVideo.dll for example is still the same version that came up with MixMeister 6.0.7. My machine/graphics card has enough power to playback movies in MPEG2 HDTV 1920x1080 and AC3 5.1 sound output with only 20-25% CPU load (or H.264 / AAC encoded 1280x720 clips with 30% load) and no problems at all. When i playback MPEG1 video clips (which look so ugly on big screens) with an external player, CPU load is not measurable at all So why is MM Pro6 not able to play back these videos fluent? The ability to playback videos is the feature that makes it cost over 100 bucks more than Studio6 and this is why i bought MM Pro6. I've experimented with the codecs, e.g. i tried to playback mpeg-1 with the standard Microsoft codec or with the Elecard codec. Both give me a stuttering video playback. When i playback mpeg-2 clips with the Elecard codec, it is the same. I also tried the nVidia DVD decoder codecs, but MM can not synchronise video playback at all with these.
But with the nVidia codecs i saw something very strange: MixMeister is allocating and deallocating multiple instances (2-3) of this codec while it plays back ONE video clip. You can see the icons of the codec instances flickering around in the taskbar during playback with MM with a 0.5-1 second clock pulse. Maybe there is the main problem: normally you need only one codec instance to playback a video, but MixMeister allocates and deallocates them all the time around. Unfortunately i don't have a monitor like this for the codecs MixMeister likes.

Apropos "likes": i like MixMeister very much

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SnoopyDog,

Hi again. I came to the conclusion, that video output with Mixmeister is currently not useable at all. My graphics card is a Gainward 1960 XP Golden Sample GLH (Goes Like Hell) which is really fast. With other applications i can play back highest resolution videos (1920x1080). With Mixmeister i can not even play back MPEG-1 video clips without stuttering (or random screen flashes). CPU load during playback of MPEG-1 clips as an overlay of an audio track in Mixmeister is maximum 20% . As i wrote above, i think the problem is that Mixmeister allocates and deallocates video codec instances like hell during the playback.

Sorry to hear about the difficulty.

MixMeister allocates multiple codecs because it needs to have the next one(s) ready when switching. It's just like a DJ needing two CD players to be able to switch back and forth smoothly.

Version 6.0.7 of MmVideo.DLL is still the current version with Pro 6 version 6.1.3.

Does the video play smoothly when using standard mixing? Or is this only a problem when switching between video segments?

Hi Aaron Thanks for the reply. What i saw with the video codecs: I started playback and i noticed, that MM is allocating and deallocating multiple codec instances all the time around (2,3,4 at one time) during the playback of ONE video clip. The icons were flickering like hell.

I've made some tests now: In my normal mixes, i first create an audio only mix. Later, i add the video clips as overlay tracks to the audio tracks, mute them and sometimes cut the videos so they fit to the remix versions. Maybe there is a problem (?) bpm of video and audio is the same, but i see stuttering playback when i do this.
O.k. - i've created a "mix" right now that contains only one video clip (MPEG2, 720x576, Gorillaz - Feel good inc) - nothing else. With the Elecard Codecs and with the nVidia DVD decoder codecs, i get a good video output with no errors. NVidia DVD decoder plays it a bit more fluent than Elecard. In this case, i only see one codec instance of the nVidia DVD decoder.
In the next step, i created a "mix" where i first added the MP3 file of "Gorillaz - Feel good inc." as a main track, and then added the video (MPEG2, 720x576) as an overlay track to the mp3 file and muted the video. When i play it back with the Elecard codec, i see a bit stuttering (not so much than in my real mixes with multiple videos) and very often random screen flashes. With the nVidia DVD decoder i also get a stuttering output and i can see that MM now allocates 2-3 video codec instances for this single video clip. It allocates and deallocates the third instance in a one second interval during playback.
I resume: one MPEG file as the main track: MM uses one video codec instance and plays back well. One audio track (main track) plus the same video as an overlay: MM gets totally confused and allocates/deallocates 2-3 video codec instances all the time around (and you see stuttering and screen flashes).
Seems, the problem appears only when i work with overlay tracks. But this is the only way to create professional mixes with video and audio.

Edit: i've forgotten: i used beat mixing for all cases in the simple examples above. In my "real" mixes, i tried to switch the video overlays from beat mixing to standard mixing to get rid of stuttering, but without success.

P.S. normally, i use the Elecard codecs but with nVidia i can monitor the problem with the codec instances (one task bar icon per instance).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SnoopyDog,

So no one can tell me if and when this bug will be fixed?

You should send a request to tech support for help on this, and it would probably help to reference the info you've already posted in this forum thread.

The problems you guy are having are because of the codecs not MM. I've been through this goto Microsoft.com and get Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility. It has proven to be a great problem solver with Mpeg Codec problems. You can switch to another codec that works with MMpro better like the http://www.elecard.com codec. I use thier latest codec to play mpeg 2 video in MMpro with great results. And if you guys are still having problems. Hook up a video camera and switch to it whenever MMpro messes up. It works great for me.

Hi!

Is there anything new? The fact is that Mixmeister is not able to handle video codecs properly. During the playback of ONE single video clip, Mixmeister allocates a new video codec every 10-20 seconds (it allocates a codec, plays 10-20 seconds of the video clip with this codec, then it throws the codec away, allocates a new instance of the same codec, plays back the next 10-20 seconds of the clip and so on...). This causes flickering and stuttering during video playback. Tested and veryfied (using debug options) with new Elecard mpeg2 video decoder, old Moonlight/Elecard mpeg2 video decoder, nVidia Pure Video Decoder, Microsoft system mpeg-1 decoder... Tested on 3 different machines (one notebook with 2.8GHz, Desktop with 3GHz and nVidia 6600GT, Desktop with 3.2 GHz and nVidia 7800GT)
The support here is PRETTY poor. The program is very buggy playing back video clips (even though it's audio mixing functionality is very excellent). I payed more bucks to get the feature of video playback, but i feel like getting fooled as months pass by and NOTHING happens. No response to email bug reports anymore, no upgrades, no bug fixes.
By the way: i'm also a software developer, i know how to analyse and debug things.

@Johnthedj: The problem comes from MM not from the codecs. Yes, you will find and use codecs where you don't recognize this effect so much as with other codecs. For example, with the Microsoft system MPEG 1 codec, you don't recognize it so much, but the bug is there. The only thing is that allocating the next instance during playback goes a bit faster, so you don't see the flickering and stuttering so much.
And you did not seem to read my posts before where i wrote down that i'm already using the Elecard codecs you've mentioned. But thanks for you help

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SnoopyDog,

I agree with you snoopydog. I paid the extra bucks for the video playback. I have not received any replies back from mm this year on when things are going to be fixed. If I don't hear anything back soon I may have to look for new ways of playing video and being a RELIABLE VJ.

I only can give some suggestions to minimize the "bad" effects (worked on all of my systems):

• Dummy item [LIST]
• Dummy item

If you have MMPro 6.1.3 running, use the DLL mmvideo.dll version 6.0.5 if you still have it. The stuttering is a bit fewer with this version. Fortunately i still have the old demo version 6.0.5 of MM i've installed before purchasing it.

To play back MPEG2 video clips, you can only use the old Moonlight/Elecard codecs "mpeg2dmx.ax" (i'm using version 3.1.200.50117) and "mpgdec.ax" (version 2.0.0.4714)

For the MPEG2 video codec, use the settings (in the registry):

• HardwareAcceletarion = 0 (this is misspelled by the SW developers)
• DoubleRate = 1
• SoftwareDeinterlace = 3

For the MPEG2 splitter, it is important to use the following settings (remember, that the MPEG2 splitter is used for playing back ALL mpeg files if you register/use it - also for mpeg1):

• Init Method = 1 (minimizes flickering significant, cause initialization goes much faster)
• Create a new DWORD value, name it "AlwaysSeekPts" and set this new value to "1" (one)

Don't use the new Elecard video codecs (that came up with MPeg player 4.x). Mixmeister can not synchronize MPEG2 playback at all with these. If you install MPEG Player 4.x, be sure to use the latest version, with an install file dated 10.January 2006. In older versions the mpeg4 splitter has a bug that makes MMPro crash after a short time of playing back (even though you don't playback mp4 video clips).

Write a batch file to start MMPro where you register only the video codecs you need for MixMeister (deregister all unneccessary video codecs), then start MMPro6 and afterwards you may register the other codecs again. [/LIST]

I tried so many combinations of codecs and settings and the things i wrote above gave me the best results so far.

Btw. Elecard released a new tool where you can configure the new codecs for each application (the settings are stored as a long binary value in the registry). You can download it here:
http://www.elecard.com/ftp/pub/directshow/FilterConfig.zip

But as i wrote above: the "new" elecard codecs don't work with MM at all.

All hints i gave to you may reduce the optical effects caused by the buggy behaviour of MM during video playback.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SnoopyDog,

Seems, as if things got a BIT better with the update MMPro 6.1.6...

I can appreciate the issues you guys have been having as i had them with one of my old computers. You just have to remember that sometimes it is just a compatibility issue. I'm sure theM crew will do their best to accomodate everyone though. My latest computer is brilliant and have had not even the hint of flicker.