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PI3: Uncomp. AVI Background Image:1021 Frames, PI Goes Black @ Frame 874
By “black,” I mean that the AVI isn’t shown past frame 874. My project background is black, so that’s what shows up if there is no clip or still.
This is not an inordinately huge file: 1.2 Gb. uncompressed, progressive, running off a separate hard drive I use for most large “work” files, and it’s only 34 sec. long.
Things I’ve looked at:
— Checked the Background image properties, and it shows 1-1021 frames
— Even with looping set at 1-1021 (total range), still goes black at 874.
— File’s fps/rez are NTSC 29.97, 680×480, progressive. PI’s Project Settings and Preferences match.
I’ve checked to see that the AVI is not corrupted at that frame 874:
— Clip is fine when dropped into a track and viewed in Vegas, as well as viewed in Windows Media player. Vegas file properties also show it has 1021 frames.
_________________________Whud am I doin’ wrong here? Is this a symptom of uncompressed files use problems in PI in general as mentioned a while ago here at the forum — and/or ?
I know it was suggested not to use uncompressed, but I have not been able to get FrameServer to work, so sticking to uncompressed. For now (until PI 3.02 comes out).
Thanks.
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2 Replies
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Some quick math (640 x 480 x 4 x 874) shows me that frame 874 is just about at 1 GB. I don’t know any intrinsic reason that pI can’t use files larger than that, but I also don’t know why uncompressed is a problem for some people with pI.
So, I have only 2 suggestions right now.
1) Break the clip up into 2 uncompressed clips and load them on different layers in pI3, with the second starting at the end of the first.
2) Don’t use uncompressed. I’ll say this again, because I feel pretty strongly about it: don’t use uncompressed. It’s a complete waste of HD space and requires a lot of bandwidth to move around. Instead, use a lossless codec like Lagarith or Huffy UV. In many cases, these LOSSLESS codecs (meaning you get perfect, unchanged video) produce file sizes that are 10 times smaller (or more), and use less bandwith (but a bit more cpu power to uncompress).
File size example:
Using a pI3 project with 4 emitters so the empty area of the frame is minimized and there is a lot of “stuff” going on in the frames, 640×480, 120 frames:
Uncompressed: 108.2 MB
Huffy UV: 43.8 MB
Lagarith: 27.9 MBEach of these produces identical output.
(A lossless codec uses compression that does not remove any information — like a ZIP file.)
Alan.
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Thanks, I’ll probably go Huffy UV, and if not, try your 2-fer idea.
I think I got my PI input and output codecs/formats mixed up in my mind, which is why I tried to play it safe with uncompressed. And/or oversimplified the AVI issue of the no-DV AVI in PI thing — which will change with the upcoming PI update.
I never liked using uncompressed files anyway due to size/space and processing effort needed.
So it’ll be a win-win to do otherwise.
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