Better/quicker handling of video files?

[brichi]

I recently switched to Xlights and am loving it, I just finished programming a 5 minute sequence with all my props and am now going back in to add all the video files I want to sync with the songs, I have 2-54 panel P10 screens in Xlights and set them as a group so they can mirror some of the videos. The issue I have is once I drop in a small video, this one was 15 seconds,  it takes a while, sometimes 2-3 minutes before I can even see the video in Xlights, then if I make a time adjustment to align anything it takes another 2-3 minutes before I can see the video and changes again, it took me almost a half hour just to add and align after a few adjustments a 15 second (1MB MP4 file set to 192x144 pixels). Would be nice if there was someway to have a less res preview quicker while it renders in the background maybe? not sure if theres any way to improve it

I am running a new MacBook Pro, i5 3.1, 8gb ram and 1tb storage on High Sierra, Also installed win10 on a partition to try the PC version and got the same results. Running 2018.6 for XLights

thanks again for the amazing software, I love it and you guys to an amazing job on the support end and zoom meetings!

[keithsw1111]

Try converting your videos to resolutions that match your p10s. That way xLights has much less work to do when it renders. 


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[brichi]

Try converting your videos to resolutions that match your p10s. That way xLights has much less work to do when it renders. 


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I have done that, I mentioned in the post that the video was converted to 192x144 which is my screen pixel resolution. Thank you for the suggestion though

[keithsw1111]

That sounds odd. I would need to see it to see why it is slow. If you package up the sequence and send it to me I will take a look.


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[brichi]

will do , ill do it now, just making a video on xscheduler maxing out my Mac cpu right now, possible bug

[brichi]

That sounds odd. I would need to see it to see why it is slow. If you package up the sequence and send it to me I will take a look.


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here you go, thanks for taking a look, if you need a video to see whats going on I can do that also

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19MyDL7dkFRROkiqYimR0PzFBRsmUJEa4/view?usp=sharing

[brichi]

here is a video also capturing whats going on. I opened the file, rendered it and then try and play the part of the video and it blacks out a lot, finally after I keep playing it over and over it played through but then I make a slight adjustment and im starting all over where its blacked out for a minute or more before I can see the full result of a 15 second  video

its all of the videos, this one imparticular is a 1MB 15 second video with a resolution of 192x144 for my matrix panels

https://youtu.be/60sH5Gxz7rI

[keithsw1111]

The packaged sequence above has a video file that is 1280x720 ... it has not been shrunken down to your prop resolutions as I believe you claimed.

[brichi]

my mistake Keith, I think I may have zipped that up before I tested with the good file at lower res. I will test more this week when I have time and report back and upload the correct file

[brichi]

So far this morning I did the first minute of my song with about 10 different videos strung together on 2 matrix screens and its working A LOT better now that all my files are 192x144 vs full resolution. Thanks!

[brichi]

The packaged sequence above has a video file that is 1280x720 ... it has not been shrunken down to your prop resolutions as I believe you claimed.

Keith quick question just so I know, Is it normal for a 6 minute sequence to take 10-15 minutes to render? I have a lot of videos in it, I have a 6 minute sequence and along it is about 30 small 1mb video clips that go to the song. It does take a while still but that is a lot of videos too obviously so I know it will take some time.

Also should would it be quicker to set a different render mode? erase vs canvas?

[keithsw1111]

Don’t change the render mode.

Time is entirely dependent on the amount of work xLights needs to do to calculate all those pixels. Length of song. Frame time, model resolution, number of channels and which effects are used all make a difference. Simple effects like on and colourwash should render quickly. Large video files, galaxy, complicated liquid etc can all render quite slowly in large shows.


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[brichi]

great, thank you Keith!