Izzy 2.0 Multiple movies on full screen playback

mockej

I am very excited about the current feedback on multiple HD movie playback:

http://troikatronix.com/troikatronixforum/discussion/1434/isadora-2-0-1920x1080-h264-x-4-performance-test

But the tests seem to be playing in preview monitors... my experience has been that playback can be excellent in preview, and then performance takes a massive hit as soon as the streams go out to actual connected full screen devices. @Michel it will be very interesting to know wether your 8 x HD streams were playing to preview or to connected full screen devices?

I also know that there are a lot of complications with hardware, graphics cards and v-sync that need hardware solutions. I have a 6-screen 720p installation up at the moment with Izzy Win 1.3.0f24, that is working OK, but can't wait to see if 2.0 might grease the gears a bit more!

crystalhorizon

I can confirm, that the performance is different between the preview stage and connected projectors/external monitors. This something I didnt thought of while preparing my last performance and stressed me a lot when I realized the difference. I suppose there is no other workaround than connecting external devices.

mark

Dear All,

Yes, there has been a problem with this in the past. But I found a solution for this thanks to the demands of [the gigantor show in Shang Hai](http://blog.bureaubetak.com/tagged/jet-set) that Fubbi and others created. We do need to test on full screen output, that's for sure -- and that's part of why I have delayed the release, but given what happened for the show in China, I am confident you'll find that full screen performance is just as good as preview performance. (I won't release this version until that's true, actually.)

Best Wishes,

Mark

Michel

@mockej

You are right, I will test that as soon as possible with 6 external sreens/projectors and report it here.

Best
Michel

mockej

Thanks for your attention to this @mark, it all sounds too exciting! ... a further query, is there a similar performance boost anticipated under Windows?

@Michel looking forward to the results of your experiment...

Take care

m

mark

Dear @Mockej,

Well, the thing is, under Windows your best option for movie playback is DirectShow. QuickTime is no longer being developed, and Apple stopped improving it for Windows years ago already. So the subsystem that plays movies on Windows is not changing -- but it has always been quite good because it is heavily multithreaded in nature. Users like @keftaparty have and @DusX have gotten really excellent performance when using Windows Native Playback (WMV/AVI files). (Maybe you guys can comment.)

Based on my recent experiences, I would make a very unscientific gues that AVFoundation may be superior to DirectShow, if only because it decodes H264 movies directly to the GPU. On the other hand, HAP is now available for [Direct Show under WIndows](http://vdmx.vidvox.net/blog/hap-windows), and if you want really fast, high res movie playback, that might be the way to go.

Best Wishes,

Mark

mockej

Thanks @Mark, oddly enough I have had very good results with Quicktime Prores under Windows...

But yes, HAP seems to be the way. The HAP Q files are enormous, but I have had fantastic multi-HD playback via Touch Designer, so really looking forward to harnessing that power in Izzy!

Take care

m

mark

Dear @mpckej,

Well, I must admit my experience with Windows is pretty much relegated to testing, not so much in real life usage. @keftaparty and @DusX can speak to the qualities of Windows much better than i.

All the Best,
Mark

DusX

Video playback on windows is great. To achieve playback similar to what AVfoundation is providing, I suggest compressing to WMV using the free Microsoft Expression Encoder. My tests show that these native microsoft formats are the most optimized, utilizing both extreme cpu multi-threading and GPU processing.
I have not done a playback test for sometime, so I can't say exactly how many HD videos it will allow, but I have found this to be surprisingly efficient.
Of course you loose some controls (time scrubbing for example) with native windows playback, not sure how the HAP on windows preforms in comparison yet.

mockej

Thanks for the tip @DusX, when I build a Windows machine again I will try the Expression encoder.

Take care

m

Michel

@mockej

Today I did a test with 6 separate .h264 HD movies (the same content). But only with 5 external screens because in lack of adpaters, the others are used in a show right now. Solid 30fps.

The first 2 screens you see are, 1 Samsung 40" LED TV and an Acer projector, after the pan another Acer projector and two lcd screens.

http://troikatronix.com/tt-movies/Izzy2.0.mp4

Best
Michel

DusX

@michel
Thats great.!

crystalhorizon

Wow, nice!

Bill Cottman

Excellent!

fifou

We want 2.0 ! We want 2.0 ! We want 2.0 !
Great news..
I just can't wait ...

mockej

@Michel thanks for setting that up... looks like dynamite is on its way!

Take care

m