[ANSWERED] Palindrome Playback on Windows - Best codec? Wrapper?
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I think this question has been asked multiple times in multiple ways at different time periods on this forum. I also posted it to the FB group to see if other users had any luck. Basically I want the ability to "scrub" video files; reverse direction, play at multiple speeds, and/or use the palindrome loop function. What is the best codec/wrapper to use?
Here's what I've tried so far:
using Shutter Encoder I took native MP4 files (taken from my Sony A6000) and encoded them using the HAP codec. Then taking that file I would rewrap it to an AVI file. Results were: Would stutter on playback intermittently. FPS doubled from 59.97 to 119.94 fps.
using Adobe Media Encoder with a HAP plugin installed I took a similar route in encoding the files with that codec and then rewrapped the files to AVI. On the first attempt the video came out interlaced, but played just fine. I rewrapped them again with a progressive setting and they would play fine for a little bit, but then would stutter and slow down to a near hault.
In both situations above I tried to reduce the fps to 29.97 and downsized the resolution to 720p (from 1080p/59.97fps natively)...There was no real difference.
I 1st left the movie player with the default settings; playback engine, loop enable, performance, etc. Then I tried to change the settings to palindrome, interaction, and toggled between all the playback engines. Nothing seemed to work.
It's not so much what my files are right now, but rather how to properly encode them so that I can build that process into my workflow. From the native MP4 to the most optimal format/wrapper for a Windows 10 machine.
My computer is a HP OMEN with a NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and about 160GB of free disk space/1TB. I'm currently only plugged into an external monitor through the HDMI port and not running anything else besides Izzy. Adobe CC is of course working in the background, but in Izzy the load hovers around 4% playing 2 movies simultaneously with nothing but the movie player and projector actors. There are also no error codes or crashes.
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Also for fun, you can see the various files I've been trying to use here (certainly not all of them): https://drive.google.com/drive...
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Your approach of creating Hap files using Shutter Encoder and re-wrapping to AVI is a great approach.
I am concerned a little about your drive performance being that you are down to under 20% free-space.
Also, you don't mention the speed setting. It is CRITICAL to set the speed to Zero, and then modify the Position for scrubbing. Otherwise the playback engine will continue to move frames forward anytime there is a pause in the position coming in.
Reducing the frame-rate to 29.97 or 30 (depending on your outputs refresh rate) will help along with decreasing the resolution, as you have noted. This is really to reduce the data being moved from the drive, and is more or less important depending on the speed of the drive.
I would recommend running a drive speed check. I have used the Black Magic Disk Speed Test software for this in the past (included with the Black Magic Design Desktop Video software (https://www.blackmagicdesign.c...)
It will tell you what size video your drive is capable of recording without dropped frames. That's a good guideline to start from. -
Thank you DusX for that. It seems after running the speed test my computer froze. Then I restarted and transferred the files to my external SSD (USB). They worked fine running from there. I also tried running them from my internal SSD (usually used for the OS) and they also ran well from there.
Oh dear. Am I looking at purchasing a new HDD? The comp is about 1.5 years old at this point.
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Quick question kinda related: how do you calculate say a wave generator's frequency to play at a normal speed if hooked into the position parameter? I'm almost there with something like .004Hz (for 29.97 fps)... But it was by trial and error mostly...
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Is your goal to scrub back and forth at 'normal speed' via a Wave Generator?
If so the speed of the generator will be dependent of the length of the video file. -
This image shows how to get the media Percentage as a Time, and then convert it to Hz, for use with the Wave Generator.
