could somebody tell me thats actually using video sl what spec i need to run on a laptop pc i need .these tech guys are great to suggest mac all the time but if you make a pc freindly version you have to be able to back it up anybody out there that might be able to advise me spec wise what i need to have a glitchhhhhhhhhhhhhh free video sl. am buying a pc not a mac...........

memegenerator.net













*runs & hides* *yells*

"but it's true!"*

according to serato all you need is the minimum specs.

there is also a thread started containing a list of pc's that work with vsl but i am sure newer hardware is already out and the thread is may be out dated.

I tried to read the initial post.....

I had to stop to take a breath... lack of punctuation.


There are few guys here who use a PC laptop with success... but not after having to tweak and hunt down the proper video card drivers, etc. I tried that route when VSL was first released with no success .... just a lot of frustration. That is why I bought a Mac Book Pro and have had a "glitch free" system. Just plug-in-play... no tweaking or crazy configurations.

sir bazwald.... my apologies for the sarcastic post, but this forum is full of threads where people are frustrated with pcs and VSL.... there are a few that have made it work, try contacting them if u think u can too. Otherwise, the mac is a guaranteed solution.

and....^ what Al said

thats a whole lot of hooooo-ey!

heres the bottom line with a PC
it CANNOT be a cheap alternative to a MacbookPro.
you cant say, "oh, I cant afford a mac...so Ill get a mediocre pc for 1100.00
and it will be just fine"


If you buy a $2000.00 macbook pro, VSL is going to work
If you buy a THE RIGHT PC for $2000.00, its going to work

I would say lean towards a system that boasts graphics, multimedia and processing power superiority...
I have a dual core 2.53 the nvidia 8700mGT w/ 4gb ram and its rated at 5.1
and this sytem is 18 months old and still working...

oh, i know it's hooo-ey

hooo-ey ?

gosh golly gee beaver....

if your time is worth nothing, then yes you can buy a pc and get a working system eventually. you will spend lots of time fiddling. you will spend lots of time tweaking. you may or may not wind up with a working configuration.

i've known LOTS of people who have convinced themselves that pcs are the way to go, for no other reason than they just want it to be true. they want it to be true oh so bad. but it's not.

i was one of those people. purchased 4 pc computers for video mixing. spent way too much time fiddling, dealing with crashes, tweaking, etc. i'm a pretty smart computer guy too.

this story just repeats itself over and over and over. i can name how many personal friends eventually abandon the pc for a mac too. it's pretty amazing. but yet, here's a post from one more guy who is going down that road. again.

it amazes me, seriously. this entire forum could tell this guy to get a mac and he'll still be tweaking out his pc. getting new direct x drivers, spending time on the nvidia website getting drivers, tweaking his windows registry and shit. it's kind funny actually. it'd be really funny if it never happened to me.

The only thing I would add is that even the cheapest plastic MacBook *will* reliably run Video-SL (though it won't allow much in the way of effects at the higher quality settings). *And* that MacBook will also run Windows.

Ultimately, the cheapest tools (for any kind of "professional" use) are the ones that have long reliable service life.

So why make a version for pcc at all.., Other programs run well with pc and equally well with mac, so why did they release a version for pc if there are so many variables,If a company releases a product then they have to be able to back it up , this is a program designed for mac and they have tried to make it work for pc not very well at all...there are serious compatability issues that need to be fixed
You shouldnt have to spend your time tweakin and updating drivers .i never had such trouble with a piece of software before so am i right in saying that if i purchase a mac i wont have any issues with running the correct videos if i follow typical vsl installation

You are correct.

a lot of the pc problems can be summed up with serato's decision to use Quicktime as the video decode engine. It would have delayed the release of VSL 1-2 years minimum if they wrote their own engine. Quicktime is native on Mac and pc is a secondary platform.

I see the exact same problems with products that decide to use Windows DirectX as their engine. The mac versions of these programs are always inferior.

so it was basically a rush job, and anybody with a pc can lump it. i think they should get a grip and quick., lack of compatability and lack of format compaability spells bad software..................

Dude you need to chill. Here is the bottom line. OSX is a software program that is used on one vendors computer systems. Windows is a software program that is used on dozens of different vendors systems with thousands of different hardware configurations. It's impossible for Serato to test every configuration because of this. The people that have gotten it to work have managed to find the perfect combination. Talk to these people of get a Mac.

Talk to these people OR get a Mac.

A Mac is best type of PC to get at the moment!

lack of open mind to try a mac spells windows fanboy

it's this kind of comment that will pretty much guarantee that no one will be wanting to spend their time, for free, helping YOU. try to keep that in perspective the next time you come looking for FREE help.

there are plenty of users who use VSL on PC.

Serato is not the only company that makes video mixing software. If you're so hell bent on running it on a PC, my recommendation is to use software that made with Windows as the primary platform.

And I completely disagree with your statement that "they should get a grip and quick". that's wrong. If they make a ROCK SOLID VSL for Winwos, they are not going to sell any significant number of VSL licenses MORE than what they are selling already. That's a fact.

However, the cost of developing PC software and the insane matrix of windows versions, video card drivers, hardware platforms and a dozen other variables,... pretty much guarantees a much higher cost of development for the PC version. Hmmm.

Let's see now, a significantly higher development cost with nothing in return. If you owned a software company, you would take that deal and sink those development funds into a version that is not going to bring in any significant revenue? I doubt it. So who needs to get a grip? Who needs to understand exactly what effort vs. reward means? Who clearly has no idea of what supply and demand means? I'd say Serato has always been right on the money with having all that figured out.

The overwhelming majority of people who perform music and video with a laptop, in front of live audiences, chose Macs. That's a fact.

But honestly, I'd like to see what video mixing software and configuration you come up with for you PC. I don't care what it is,.. seriously,.. I'll compare that to my Mac running VSL and we'll see who has the better system with the least amount of time spent fiddling.

if you feel that way then don't use it.
it's one less person we have to deal with that can't be bothered doing a search before asking a common question and ends up not happy with the results.

i think you have got up on your high horse and its time to come down!!! i never said vsl was bad software when its running, otherwise i wouldnt be waisting my time looking for a way to get it to run. i will have to buy a mac thats fact. the core issue i was trying to get at before the mac police started jumping at me ,is that the pc user version is unstable ,there are no st minimum spec because of all the variables and how many other people have been in the exact same position as me .

There you answered your own question.

I am going back to my high horse.

very good. badum tish another mac user i bet

the pc version of vsl is not unstable. the target platform is. it's a moving target with dozens of variables.

not taking chance mac bought today

good call.

hopefully we will see you on the horse soon.

Welcome to the dark side.
We have cookies :)

the macrumors site says to wait...so im gonna wait.

mac deleted their macbookpro back-stock from best-buys online systems today.

so I think we are almost there!

Yes, I am excited about that too :)

I'm going to add to this thread because I found a working PC configuration:

Asus G72GX-RBBX05
17.3" LCD (1600x900), backlit keyboard
Intel Core2Duo 2.53ghz P8700
6GB RAM
500GB 5400RPM hard drive
NVidia GT 260M video w/ 1GB DDR3 dedicated memory
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
4xUSB 2.0, 1x eSATA, 1x Firewire 400
SD card reader
1.3MP Webcam
VGA output, HDMI output

Running SSL 2.0 beta + VSL 1.2 beta (Quicktime not DirectShow). Buffer set to 2GB, videos loading off a USB 2.0 500GB 5400rpm external.

Doing basic video (fader set to Melt, running a logo image overlay effect)
Medium Quality: 59 FPS average
High Quality: 55-59 FPS
Best Quality: 35 FPS average (runs 47 FPS with no fader effect)

CPU load hovers around 65-70%. SSL 1.9.2 and VSL 1.1.1 ran just about the same as this as well.

hey which public beta worked out for you DouggyFresh? im running a pc with similiar specs. just a i5 and 7200 rpm drives with 6 gb dd3 ram.

I'm using both the latest 2.0 beta (20038) and 1.2 VSL beta 3. I have the Quicktime registry patch installed because it runs so good with Quicktime, I don't see any reason to use DirectShow (and risk all kinds of crazy codec problems till the betas worked out).

I also did a short test (3 hours) with 1.92 and VSL 1.1 (the latest non beta). Also worked well. I ran the beta version for 19 hours straight (Autoplaying a folder full of videos). One time I had a strange issue where one channel of video stopped playing, but instant double and back seemed to fix it. I left it at 5am and came back at 1pm and it was still playing on both decks. I had a logo overlay on the corner of both decks for a few hours, and for a few hours I had a text overlay. Almost the entire time I had the video crossfader in the middle, either on Box H/V or Melt...

Windows 7 64 bit to me seemed like the least likely to work (considering the main install base of SSL/VSL users is 32 bit) but it all seems very solid.

I had one strange issue I'm not sure how it happened, but the text in the INFO tab was missing where it should have said "LEFT DECK FRAMES IN BUFFER". It just disappeared and never came back during that long run. I'm not sure when it even disappeared...

ditto, same here.

Im still living on 1.9.2 though when Im out...
Im waiting for that "optimized VSL" selection for the 2.0 display!
as of now it hogs my screen

i really want to get it. probaly do it on another pc. just dont want to take a risk at a gig. any of you guys try the beta verison at a gig?

When I go do video this week with this new laptop, it will be on 1.9.2 w/ VSL 1.1. Even with the new laptop, I'll still have my Compaq dual core laptop turned on and ready to swap over

As far as screen hogging, I'm pretty happy with the 1600x900 resolution, I still get to see 10 or 15 songs on my list with VSL open. I preferred the 1600x900 vs 1920x1200 17" screen only because the writing is much more readable and I still can keep the video tab open.

I am running a Sony Viao VPCF115FM (Sony F series for short). It is an i7 chip running window 7 64 bit with 6gb ram. It has the nVida G330 video card with 1 gb ram.

After doing the codecs that were missing I have running the new beta of SSL and the public beta of VSL.

I run a TTM57sl.

3 flawless performances 3 nights in a row running +80% videos.

Opps, I should add the monitor is set up for 1080p.

Awesome. I think PC laptops are finally getting ready for primetime VSL usage given the new technology that's out combined with better OS (Windows 7 64 bit).

I think the problem before was too many sub $1500 laptops didn't have dedicated video, big CPU's that today's $1000 laptops have. Still the bare minimum out there that has good video and a fast processor seems to be around $800. Mine was $1000 (new model came out, old model price drop).

Funny, I almost bought that same Vaio laptop, but the video card benchmarked a little less than the 260M, and I was unconvinced the i7 would work well (the 2.53 core 2 duo is always 2.53.. the i7's have this dynamic overclocking business that scares me).

This is going to sound like a total turn around from the conversation i started.
For a trouble free system
for almost no converting
for peace of mind
for no time updating drivers replacing/updating codecs uprgrading /downgrading quicktime and risk of a nervous breakdown.
JUST BUY a MAC!!!!!!!!!!
I had these same problems i spent months callibrating /converting.
Then i bought a mac book pro installed ssl and vsl pressed play and away it went .
THAT EASY.

I Agree with DouggyFresh, i have been using my gateway nv series for 3 months with no problems running video sl, and it only cost 600.00. And yes pc is a little behind mac, but for what i see coming out its getting pretty damn close now. And also if your not very computer savvy, just buy a mac. Its amazing how many people just want a press play system. And a word of advice, i have seen macbooks crash on video sl, do your reserch on what kind of laptop you want and read reviews, read reviews, read reviews.

For whatever it's worth, you're getting far better numbers than what I see with VSL on my year-old MacBook Pro ("best" quality is unusable in any situation)...so if nothing else, this has me thinking the next generation of MacBook Pro's will be a pretty major improvement (with both updated graphics and the i5/i7 cpu's).

The only things you don't mention that might be relevant is: what resolution are you sending to the external display, and do you have v-sync and frame blending on?

I think all of the Intel processors made in the last several years have dynamic clocking as a power/thermal-management feature. While they may report their maximum speed to the OS and hardware-monitoring/test applications, the CPU's aren't actually running at full speed most of the time. So I don't think there's much to worry about with the "overclocking" thing being added.

I was doing VGA out @ 1280x1024. I had Vsync and Frame Blending turned on.

www.vimeo.com view
sort of relevant.

my buddy was saying BEST is impossible to run. PC or Mac.
had to make this for em.

Are you guys running straight HD (true HD content) videos all night? Check Nathan & Glenn's posts in this thread that DouggyFresh started:

www.serato.com

Here's what Glenn says:


And Nathan's additions:


And if you're running your video output at 640x480 or 800x600 (which are the strongest recommendations - unless you're running true HD content), then Nathan adds this:

I dont ever run on best... but its more a testament to the ability of a correctly
setup PC that it can do best without frame drops CPU overload.

i think you'd need at least 1GB of Video Memory to run best smoothly

if i'm not mistaken, i think you already have one of those Joshua ;-)

no, mines a 512... i talk about it in the video.

melt + 4 of the more intense effects on best.

I've been running 1024x768 to the projectors using VGA (mainly because the projectors native resolution is 1024x768... I'm going to be switching to composite video because the club's other 4 screens don't have VGA, just composite... So I guess my frame rate should improve even more..