<![CDATA[The dreaded black flash between movies]]>Hi all,

I am having a problem.  I am attempting to playback 720p PAL Pro Res Proxy files using the new GPU Movie player and Projector (2.0.5).
I am getting good frame rates, sometimes a stutter here of there at the very beginning of the file, but an acceptable amount.

The problem is when jumping from one movie to the next, either by jumping by one scene to the next, or by changing the movies in the player itself:
sometimes there is a black flash between my two scenes (or movies), sometimes not.
Unfortunately my video is on a white background....

Same problem occurs on a macmini from last year running 10.10 (I think)  and using AV Foundation as a playback engine.

Has anybody encountered this problem?  If so, any solutions?

I'm using an old Macbookpro (2008) and 10.6.8 and a fast SSD with an Esata connection(see my signature line for more details).

Thanks for any help.

ur,ummmmm.............................eric

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/topic/2119/the-dreaded-black-flash-between-moviesRSS for NodeMon, 13 Apr 2026 01:09:24 GMTSun, 16 Aug 2015 15:19:09 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:27:21 GMT]]>@vanakaru

please don't try any work arounds, keep your patch setup the way it 'should' work .. and hold on a little longer ;)
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17551https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17551Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:27:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Thu, 29 Oct 2015 12:11:46 GMT]]>I am designing a show where I need to trigger movies on que with midi. These movies are progressive states of the same subject. I get the black flash when trigger comes(midi or when I trigger manually) and I just cant't have that. The effect does not work with flashes.

Movie are ProRes422 1280x768 10sec long.
I wonder if I have the same problem and how the fix is coming along.
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17545https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17545Thu, 29 Oct 2015 12:11:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 16:59:19 GMT]]>@Skulpture

Can you let me know how your tests go with the latest Beta? @Old_Dog
The cue issue seems unusual. However, given your setup it seems like it would be hard to reproduce locally.
Is the data being received for this 1 'dead' cue in anyway different than in others? The serial parsing strings are very particular.
We think we may have the bug fixed, however, I haven't reproduced it myselft, so I am waiting for Skulpture to get back to me with updated test results.
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17433https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17433Sun, 18 Oct 2015 16:59:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 12:02:48 GMT]]>I have been experiencing the "black Flash" from time to time with the additional problem that deleting a cue is part of the event. I am using a Mac Pro 6 core matching

e with 16GB Ram and am sending content to a Christie 10KM and a Barco 20K unit. on most of the content feed to the Christie feed I am using two projector actors sending the same content to the same stage. This makes for a kind of pixel doubling except you need the intensity of the 2nd projector set to apron. 25% to keep the whites from being blown out.
Additionally, I am using a DMX receive actor that Mark sent me over the summer that is receiving that data through an Enttec Pro MK2\. The strange ting that is happening is that I have one cue in which the actor does not see the serial data. Oddly, if you activate the scene and watch the data as the info comes from the lighting console (ETC Ion) the actor responds, meaning you see the "message received" X and the DMX levels change in the display. The moment the cue with the actor is executed, the "message received" display goes to "-" and you cannot execute the next jump except manually. Now I have deleted the actor in that cue and replaced it with one that works in other cues and also deleted the cue, inserted a copy of a known working cue and in every instance the actor does not receive the data. There are 0ver 70 cues and all but this one is executing. So it would seem that I am some software instability and I considering a reinstall.
Your thoughts?
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17432https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17432Sun, 18 Oct 2015 12:02:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:38:39 GMT]]>@DusX,

Skulpture checked my patch and saw the same intermittent black flashes.
Have you sorted out the bug, and could I test a prerelease to see if that solves my problem.

Thanks,

Ur,ummmmm.............................................eric

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17416https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17416Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:38:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 07 Sep 2015 06:12:02 GMT]]>Got it. Will look into this today for you.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17003https://community.troikatronix.com/post/17003Mon, 07 Sep 2015 06:12:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sun, 06 Sep 2015 12:29:49 GMT]]>DB link sent to your email address at gmail.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16998https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16998Sun, 06 Sep 2015 12:29:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sun, 06 Sep 2015 10:40:53 GMT]]>Sure. Let me know when its up.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16996https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16996Sun, 06 Sep 2015 10:40:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sun, 06 Sep 2015 09:22:27 GMT]]>Yes, I can upload to Dropbox.  I'll email you a link if that is ok.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16995https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16995Sun, 06 Sep 2015 09:22:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Fri, 04 Sep 2015 07:30:57 GMT]]>Do you have a dropbox or similar?

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16991https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16991Fri, 04 Sep 2015 07:30:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Sat, 17 Jan 1970 16:21:33 GMT]]>@Skulpture, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Lotsa work. The show went well despite the "dropouts". How (where) can I upload the file for you?
5d38d9-p1030901.jpg

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16988https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16988Sat, 17 Jan 1970 16:21:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Fri, 21 Aug 2015 06:08:54 GMT]]>Could you maybe post one of the videos here for us to try? Even just a 10second loop?

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16836https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16836Fri, 21 Aug 2015 06:08:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:37:37 GMT]]>Sorry, I could be of more help.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16827https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16827Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:37:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:22:46 GMT]]>@DusX, OK.  I guess this show will just have a few black flashes.  It's too close the performance date to fiddle too much.

Thanks for the info.

ur, ummmmm..........................eric

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16826https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16826Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:22:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:08:02 GMT]]>@ursullivision

Your observation about the stage settings changing momentarily in the actor, makes me think it might be due to a recently identified and fixed bug.
Unfortunately, we are still testing.. and its not ready for release. Of course I can't say for sure, so I can only suggest using a work around for now (use 2 players maybe?.. different layers? .... preload?)
I will say that the next release is worth the wait! Awesome new features!
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16812https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16812Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:08:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 06:46:55 GMT]]>@ursullivision

From personal experience one izzy project would regularly crash my Mac Pro but is stable as anything on my new MBP. The crashes seemed to be due to the timing of scene changes so there may be some timing issue within the project causing the flash frames. Since I moved my license over to my MBP there were no crashes running the project at all so I never followed things up.
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16801https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16801Wed, 19 Aug 2015 06:46:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 17:35:02 GMT]]>@Unfenswinger  Hmmm, My machine does have a discreet GPU.  it could be RAM.   But that wouldn't explain why it had the same problem on the MacMini (4 gigs ram).  Also, this short "activation" of stage 1 is weird.

@Skulpture.  I guess I'll try that.  Thanks.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16797https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16797Tue, 18 Aug 2015 17:35:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 07:20:28 GMT]]>I see you only have 2GB of RAM from your computer description in your Sig line.

After the OS loads and Izzy that doesn't leave much left so I wonder if these flashes are to do with memory starvation? Does the MacBook Pro have a discreet GPU if not it's using system memory and the cliches causes by a clash on the bus.
I'm just guessing as I haven't come across these flashes with Izzy. AV Foundation does give me juddery playback on my Mac Pro test machine so I tend to use QT playback. On my MBP that I use for development it doesn't matter what I use.
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16794https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16794Tue, 18 Aug 2015 07:20:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 06:20:44 GMT]]>Hey @ursullivision  no, no it didn't read as being short. It's all cool.  

The only thing I can suggest is opening an ticket and getting the super clever dudes (DusX and Jamie) to check it out for you - maybe you can send them the movie and have a look into it for you.
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16793https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16793Tue, 18 Aug 2015 06:20:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 19:15:25 GMT]]>@Skulpture.  Sorry, I didn't mean to be short.  This is a great resource!  BTW.  the optimize for speed post is out of date (it does not recommend H264 for encoding, but Isadora 2.0.5 seems to like H264 if one is using AV foundation for playback; I am not as I am still using OS 10.6.8).

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16782https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16782Mon, 17 Aug 2015 19:15:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 18:02:31 GMT]]>Ok - I thought you would have, I just always ask the obvious first, because; well you never know!

Even us mods/beta testers have to check the knowledge base now and again. 
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16781https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16781Mon, 17 Aug 2015 18:02:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:48:27 GMT]]>@vanakaru, by PAL I mean 25 fps.  The codec is ProRes Proxy. 422 is slower on my machine.

@Skulpture, thanks but I have read those guidelines many times.  I think I'm doing everything I can to optimize.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16780https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16780Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:48:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 12:17:42 GMT]]>Have a read through this: 

http://troikatronix.com/support/kb/optimizing-for-speed/
]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16774https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16774Mon, 17 Aug 2015 12:17:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The dreaded black flash between movies on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 12:08:41 GMT]]>Every time when I see PAL mentioned I feel that there is something not quit right with the movie codec. I would try ProRes422. I do not see any problems with the same old MBP even pulling movies from SSD connected to internal PATA bus.

]]>https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16773https://community.troikatronix.com/post/16773Mon, 17 Aug 2015 12:08:41 GMT