PgcEditPreview doesn't work for me

[Calahan]

Hi,

I never had any problems with PgcEditPreview before, but I setup a new Windows XP machine, with Intel Core2Duo@2,66 GHz and I don't get PgcEditPreview to work properly (as before).

What it does in PgcEdit when it plays a cell (or if I move a vob file with drag and drop on the PgcEditPreview window) is that it draws the first frame and then the slider is moving on forward, but the picture is very seldom updated, sometimes never. When I press stop and play the actual frame is drawed, also when I move the slider or click on the left and right arrows.

When I click on Info, the timestamp is updated (but too fast, about 3 seconds in 1 second), the Sector/VOB info is updated very fast about 2000 sectors/second, the Avg.Bitrate is updated and FPS status field shows about 84,8-85.

I don't know, if this helps, but the processor time for PgcEditPreview is nearly 100% of one processor unit (about 49% in Taskmanager). If I play the vob file with Media Player Classic it plays fine and it uses about 16-18% processor time of one unit (about 8-9% in Taskmanager).

I don't know what I can do to make it work.
Can anyone help, please?

All the best,
Calahan

[r0lZ]

The preview runs always as fast as it can! It's probably something to change...

In the preview menu, try to disable the DirectDraw overlays, and select Full Size. It should be slower.

In trace mode, you can also disable the 2nd option of the preview (the autostart) and use the slider manually.

[jeanl]

I think the preview should offer the option of running "real-time" (i.e., as fast as it can, but no faster than then normal real-time playback of the video). r0lZ, any idea where this option should reside?
Jeanl

[bigotti5]

In the preview menu, try to disable the DirectDraw overlays, and select Full Size. It should be slower.

My playback speed is around ~83 fps (medium size)
~118 fps (small size)
Selecting "Full Size" results in same size and fps as "Small Size" :eek:

[r0lZ]

Jean, I can add the option in PgcEdit and pass a new argument to the preview, but it can be in the preview itself as well.

Bigotti, in which DirectDraw overlay mode did you the tests?

[bigotti5]

DirectDraw overlay mode disabled....
enabled I get ~270 fps, also no fullsize possible

[jeanl]

270 fps?!!! Now, that's a useful feature for a lot of crappy movies!
Jeanl

[Calahan]

Oops, I'm sorry, I had no problem with PgcEditPreview running too fast. My problem was that most of the time I see only the first frame (which is almost a black frame) and not the video (still picture only).

Nevertheless I thought that trying to disable the DirectDraw overlays could be a possible solution. I only could test it with VNC because I'm not at home at the moment but it seems that it works.

So thank you very much for the tip, r0lZ. (I think I should have looked a bit deeper into the playback options, sorry.)

While testing with my old installation, I also realized that when I switch to "1:1" in the Preview window none of the smaller preview options of PgcEdit (medium or small) is changing the preview size. You only get full size then.
It seems you have to click on "small" in the preview window to get "small" and "medium" size. Then "Full size" doesn't work. When you select "Full size" only a small size preview is displayed. Well that's not a big problem, I think :)

Beside that, I found out, that when I disable the DirectDraw overlay, the playback is about 50-100% faster.
So the help file was correct when it mentied, that on some systems preview is playing faster when the DirectDraw overlay is disabled :)

Just curious, can anyone explain why I had to disable the DirectDraw overlay on my new installation? On my old installation it's working fine with option on or off...

Thanks for your wonderful program, r0lZ!
And of course, thank you, jeanl, for the PgcEditPreview!

All the best,
Calahan

[r0lZ]

1:1 is always 1:1! The preview remembers the last small size it has used, and toggles between the two sides.
But the menu viewer and editor uses always the sizes defined in PgcEdit, hence the need for a "full size" setting in PgcEdit too.

I have no answer about the DirectDraw overlays. Initially, I have requested this setting because there were several big problems when running the preview with overlays under Linux's wine. But this setting has been useful in various circumstances under Windowze as well, so, every time a user has a problem with the preview, I suggest to toggle that setting. Most of the time, it works! Don't ask me why! Maybe jeanl knows, but for me it's chinese!

[Calahan]

Thanks again for your help and the info's, r0lZ! :thanks:

All the best,
Calahan

[frank]

Sometimes ago I already wrote:
There is a problem with Direct Draw enabled on Dual Core machines.

Same problem on my Dell notebook (Dual Core and on-board graphics).
Preview only works fine when Direct Draw is disabled.

[Calahan]

Hello Frank,

I may be wrong, but I don't think it's dual core related.
I have another dual core (only 1,89 GHz) and DirectDraw works fine. I think it's the graphics card / onboard graphics chip (or the software driver) which isn't compatible.

The computer where I had the problem has the Intel onboard graphics chip (Intel(R) G965 Express Chipset) and the computer where DirectDraw is working correct has an NVIDIA GeForce 6200 graphics card installed...

You wrote your notebook has an onboard graphics chip, so that really could be the problem...

I installed the latest DirectX, but no change. I have to disable DirectDraw. (Which is no problem, as I only use PgcEditPreview with PgcEdit.)

All the best,
Calahan

[r0lZ]

I have to disable DirectDraw. (Which is no problem, as I only use PgcEditPreview with PgcEdit.)Anyway, this setting is private to PgcEdit, and doesn't interfere with your system and with the other applications, even those like VobBlanker or ImgBurn that use the same preview.

[frank]

I think it's the graphics card / onboard graphics chip (or the software driver) which isn't compatible.Thanks, Calahan. You are right, I see.