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Glitching/Catching Pan


Fried

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Hi Everyone

Working on my new annual presentation and using the pan and zoom features for the first time.

PROBLEM:

Starting approx. 30 seconds into the attached presentation, I am panning a large (1.4 MB) JPEG (Credits_Montage.jpg) left-to-right for approx 20 seconds. In both the PTE Preview and the EXE version, the pan exhibits small but disconcerting glitches and catches. I've ran both the PTE Preview and the EXE on my laptop as well as my high-end workstation and it is consistently present.

QUESTION:

Before I try a bunch of random experiments with the artwork (I really don't want to change the animation too much), is there a simple explanation for why is this happening and what can I do to eliminate it? Is this file too big to pan? If so, what are the guidelines for that?

I'm having difficulty attaching the zipped EXE. Let me know if you need it or anything else. Appreciate all the help!

Fried

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Fried,

Try constructing an EXE which has ONLY the panned slide in it.

That will bring the file size down to something that you could e-mail (or use MediaFire).

If it still glitches then others could try it and give you an opinion.

What quality is the panorama JPEG? Will it work better if you reduce the quality?

Do you have anti-virus/firewall running? Have you tried turning them off temporarily?

There is a utility called "Enditall" which sometimes helps.

When did you last defrag your C drive?

Details of system and graphics card would help.

DaveG

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I'm saving it at the minimum size needed to cover the pan for the projection resolution. I am also saving it as a very high quality JPEG. It is 1.4MB in size.

Concerning the system-related issues, I've ran the EXE on a wide variety of systems here in the office and it seems to glitch at the same places. Some are full-blown workstations we use for video editing, etc. I'll go through all those system-related points if there isn't an obvious issue otherwise.

Attached is the EXE file.

2009SnipeNationals_v1.zip

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Fried,

Your 2009SnipeNationals_v1.exe tested smoothly without glitches and stuttering.

I ran it normally and also ran it with Pan & Scan parameter (-cover)

All antivirus and other background processes were enabled.

Here's my desktop specs :

[start- PcReport_MS Short File]

Report Date = June 17, 2009

----------

OS Name = Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version = 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

Processor = Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz

Processor = x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2793 Mhz

DirectX Version = DirectX 9.0c - 4.09.00.0904

--

Total Physical Memory = 1,536.00 MB

Available Physical Memory = 1.11 GB

Total Virtual Memory = 2.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory = 1.96 GB

Page File Space = 2.85 GB

--

Adapter Type = GeForce 7600 GT, NVIDIA compatible

Adapter Description = NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT

Adapter RAM = 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes)

Resolution = 1024 x 768 x 85 hertz

----------

[End- PcReport_MS Short File]

Comments:

Your system specs would be helpfull ... plus a few details of the project. Are you introducing any new music or 3D effects at this slides beginning in the full version build ?

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Hmmm... Okay. At the event, I eventually will be placing photos in the places currently occupied by the blue squares. If I'm still having the problem I'll adjust the quality of the JPEG downward. It appears more noticeable in the music version than the silent version.

My laptop (where I first noticed the problem) is a SAGER NP9262.

Sager NP9262 - Gaming Laptop

17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy Widescreen

nVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX 1GB

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9650 3.0GHz Processor w/12M L2 Cache - 1333MHz FSB

4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (64bit Vista Required)

2 X 320GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer)

Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Software

7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (All versions of MS + SD/MMC)

Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11a/g/n

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I would guess it's a combination of the pixel dimensions of the JPEG and the resolution of the screens on your computers. The quality of the JPEG compression should have no effect at all. I believe the entire JPEG has to be decoded and loaded into the video memory even if you only see part of it at a time. And the video memory requirements scale up by the square as the screen resolution goes up. So a big image sent to a big screen will start to run into hardware limitations. That is one reason it plays smooth on a 1024x768 screen. Try reducing the screen resolution a bit to see if that takes out the stutters.

Addition: Another approach is to break up the image into smaller slices and put them on different slides and make sure you turn off the transition between the slides.

As others have stated, small glitches can be caused by background tasks grabbing the computer's attention, though if the glitches are always in the same place it is probably related to hardware limitations. Try rebooting the computer and turning off all the widgets and background stuff. Then run the show. If it looks the same, focus on what you're doing inside PTE instead of the system. It sounds like your systems are very powerful, but that is where I've run into the high screen resolution problems before. In general as things scale up, some parts scale differently than others.

Steve Newcomb

Tucson, AZ USA

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Hi Fried,

It ran perfectly smoothly for me at 1600x1200 (almost same resolution as 1920x1080) on my Nokia 445Xi monitor. I'm using an nVidia 8800GT video chipset card (512 meg RAM) on a Dell Inspiron 530 (duo core) with 4 gig RAM. OS is Win XP Home Edition.

You wouldn't, by chance, be running some anti-virus software simultaneously would you? Sometimes it helps to temporarily stop AV software because some of it really hogs system resources (not video resources).

Do a Ctrl Alt Del while the PTE file is running to pull up the Windows Task Manager and see what your PTE memory load is. Also check the overall RAM loading for other programs.

Best regards,

Lin

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I suspect this is a recourse issue, but try slowing down your pan and you may find things then become far smoother. Although you say you don't wish to change the animation 20 seconds is a long time to be panning an image IMHO.

So, slowing the movement may be a win win situation....Just a thought

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Thanks everyone, all good pointers. I've got enough to play with when I get to the event to see what will work. I usually have intermittent Internet access at the venue so I wanted to get your feedback before I got there.

Oddly enough, I didn't notice the problem when I started with a larger (9600=5x1920 pixels in the horizontal dimension) image. But I added some stuff, which allowed me to reduce the size to an "odd" 7900 or so pixels thinking that would make it, in effect, pan slower, and then the problem appeared.

I'm running Vista 64-bit MS Server reconfigured as a Workstation. I'll ask my IT guys if there are any Services that could be preempting that would cause the glitches. The "Workstation" configuration is supposed to give Service priority to any use app but who knows what is really going on under the MS hood. :(

As a parenthetical comment, Vista 64-bit, Adobe CS4, mega dollar laptop... Other than a lot more pixels I don't know if anything is any better as far as effective usability is concerned. I really wish the computer industry would quit putting us through this rigamarole.

I'm running the show on an Optoma TX1080 projector. I like it!

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After downloading your sample and running it smoothly on my system (which has a higher screen resolution and weaker hardware - 2048x1536 9600GT 512MB) I would say there is some software running in the background that is interrupting the processor. May be difficult to figure out in a loaded machine, but I like to start out with the fresh reboot because a system that has been running for a long time slowly loses resources due to poor programming efforts, both in the OS and apps.

Edit: Oh, and as Igor always reminds us make sure the graphics adapter has the latest drivers.

Steve Newcomb

Tucson, AZ USA

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Hi Dave,

The compression level shouldn't matter. JPGS expand in memory to their full uncompressed size regardless of compression (quality).

Best regards,

Lin

"I'm saving it at the minimum size needed to cover the pan for the projection resolution. I am also saving it as a very high quality JPEG. It is 1.4MB in size".

That was my point - try same res and lower quality?

DaveG

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"I'm saving it at the minimum size needed to cover the pan for the projection resolution. I am also saving it as a very high quality JPEG. It is 1.4MB in size".

That was my point - try same res and lower quality?

DaveG

Thanks Dave, that is what I will try when I get the "final" version put together.

For those of you interested, here is a website that guides you through the process of converting your Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation.

http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpress/

I'm double-checking the Fine-Tuning Services page now...

http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpres...uning-services/

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Hi Lin,

Agreed - it was one of a number of suggestions made at the time when no one else was responding.

I didn't seriously think it would do anything but anything is worth trying.

I repeated it because I think he misunderstood.

DaveG

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