video output flickering constantly, ONLY when running VSL. When just mirroring my desktop (before I open Serato) no flickering occurs. This leads me to believe that the problem is not with my cables or connections, but something either with Serato or maybe my settings.

I tried searching the posts for info, but didn't find anything specifically like my problem, so I started a new post.

check your refresh rate of your output vs the refresh rate of the display

Will I find that in serato under setup, i assume?

in the display settings of your laptop. Usually running an autosetup with the external display will get this right, but I've had to change it before

just looked, there's nothing under the display icon that says anything about refresh rated. it gives me screen saturation numbers (1920x1200 and 800x600, 60 Hz) but that's it.

60hz is the refresh rate.

on the secondary display, yes. on the primary all is says is '1920x1200'. it does not list Hz

Try lowering the resolution

it's something with serato. I just tried running a quicktime video with serato closed, moving it over to the output monitor, and there was no flickering.

is your v-sync turned on? in the vsl setup tab

let me check... never noticed that before.

opened setup, went into vsl, there's nothing there about v-sync.

nevermind, found what you were referring to last night. Yes, v-sync is turned on.

no flickering in quicktime, flickering in serato. Trying some new tests. With serato closed, my desktop appears perfectly on my second monitor, no flickering. I open Serato, still no flickering on the secondary monitor (still just showing my desktop). I open VSL and that's when the flickering starts. I closed the output window to on the second monitor to see if that would stop it, but it did not. Once I open VSL my second monitor starts flickering. before I open vsl it's fine. Then when I quit serato entirely, my secondary monitor stops flickering.

Bueller....Bueller.....Anyone....Anyone?

Help!

need some more info I'd say... software version, laptop specs, OS, connection used, screen/projector used, etc

10.6.4
Unibody MacBook Pro, dual core 2.66 processor, 4 gig ram, dual video cards.
it's happening on SL versions 2.1, 2.0, and 1.9
it's happening on every screen I try it on
connection is a bit of a mess, but it's the same I've used since I got the mac:
Mini dsiplay port to vga to converter box to rca cable. Like I said, it's a bit of a mess, but it worked fine until recently. I already tried swapping out all cables and the converter box, but the flickering issue remains.

hmmmm.....have you tried firmware upgrade of your mini-display to VGA? (assuming it's a genuine MAC model)... running out of ideas.

Does it still occur when you go direct from VGA to a computer monitor/LCD?

no, I wasn't even aware that converter required firmware updates! Where would I go to find such a thing? That's a great idea, I just honestly had no clue that it would need updating.

so, I found the update (though it's dated previous to when I actually bought my mac) and tried to run it. It said that it could not find a connected adapter to update. My connector is hooked up, I'm running 2 screens right now. What next?

So I did some searching on my own, and found something interesting. If I go into my 'about this mac' and look under 'graphics and video' it lists both cards. However, only the second card (the nvidia 9600m-gt) shows that it is connected to the mini displayport to vga adapter. The 9400m card reads that it is not connected to a display. Could this be causing my issue?

I looked up firmware updates for the mini displayport to vga adapter, and found one release, but it was dated long before I purchased the item, so I believe my item already has the firmware upgrade.

the fact that it only flickers when vsl is run, i think its not your video card, mini display port adapter, converter, cables or 2nd screen. try ME (demo is free) and see if it gives you flickering. i'm not saying ME is the solution to your problems, but the fact that your 2nd display doesn't flicker with quicktime or your desktop means everything is working correctly.

That's exactly what I thought too, but at this point I'm trying anything I can think of! What exactly is ME?

MixEmergency by inklen. it's an alternative to vsl (although the vsl plugin must be installed for it to work).

if ME works with no flicker you know the issue is with vsl or vsl's settings.

I'll give it a shot.

it flickers in mixemergency as well

you've got some issues kid. i would uninstall everything me, vsl, ssl. and start with the basics.

try quicktime, mpegstreamclip and vlc media player on your 2nd screen @ 640x480 60Hz.

before you uninstall, does ME standalone flicker on your 2nd screen? you can load a video into the ME deck without ssl open and it will play (just no audio). put the output window on your 2nd screen and go full screen in ME.

once again, seems like we may be narrowing this down.
I ran ME fullscreen in the second screen. No flickering UNTIL I opened the crossfader option on ME (when I first opened it, all it showed were the 3 boxes and the toolbox to the right). Once I clicked the tool that gives me a crossfader, the flickering began. Once I closed that option, the flickering stops after a few seconds.

I had this issue with my PC and I had to downgrade my quicktime. Once I did that it was all good. I stop updating Quick Time because of that. So you may need to delete QuickTime then install vsl again which will have the version of quictime tested . FYI like you my videos played fine in Quicktime and VCL Player and any other player. Not saying it will fix your issue but it cant hurt.

so my order of action is:

Delete quicktime

re-install vsl

that's it? i just wanna be sure I'm doing this correctly. Thanks :)

yeah but keep in mind that was on PC. I do have a mac but I have not updated to 2.1 yet. But yes remove quicktime and reinstall VSL becasue it comes with the quicktime tested to work with that version... I mean it's somthing else to try... Yet after what you have discribed it could be just about anything.

ok I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes.

Also there is a bug program built in that helps to make a report to send to serato for help folks. Do a search I don't know how to do it off the top of my head. Once you make that send it to them and they can pretty much tell you what they see could be the problem.

I stand corrected and was refering to the crashlog and this will not help your cause at least I don't think so.

A useful thing to do if you're getting crashes and can't find a solution is to send Serato a crash log if possible.

NOTE: A crash is when the program shuts itself down and doesn't include program freezes or when you have to force quit the application.

Under Mac OS X the crash log will be located in:

~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Scratch LIVE.log

or:

~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ITCH.log

Funky, I got rid of quicktime, and I'm in the process of re-installing vsl. In the install, it gives me options of what I would like to install
VSL
Scratch Live
quicktime for leopard

Should I be re-installing qucktime from this menu?

yes

ok thank you.

I'm not having any crashing issues, just this damn flickering.

If none if this works the best advise I could give you is to post in the help section and let Serato team look at it. Nate is pretty good with this stuff along with a couple of others they could better help you with your issue.

yeah I tried removing quicktime, didn't help :(

I've been trying the help section as well, and thus far, nothing.

Thanks for trying though :)

then I think the problem is with your graphics card.....per se ,could be vsl but everybody eles would have the same problem.... Have you hooked it to an actual projector or tv, does your main output flicker or just the right or left video on your laptop?

Yes. I have hooked it up to a projector, a tv, and an lcd monitor. All behave exactly the same way. No flickering when mirroring my desktop. No flickering when I run a quicktime video on the external monitor. Once I open vsl, the secondary monitor begins to flicker. My main (laptop screen) never flickers, neither does the video playing on the laptop screen (which leads me to believe it's not my hard drive).

do you have Mini dsiplay port to hdmi and does it do the same thing when you use it.

I do not have mini displayport to hdmi. I only have mini displayport to vga

With the dual graphics cards, only one will be active. The GT is the one you want. The 9400m is the onboard graphics card, while the GT is your dedicated card. You switch back and forth using the Energy Saver settings.

Your secondary monitor is set at 800x600 with a 60hz refresh rate, correct? Quicktime can be upgraded from the packaged version. That shouldn't be an issue. Also, if you downgrade VSL from 1.2 to 1.1.1, do you have the same issue?

I am willing to try anything at this point. Where can I find the link to downgrade?

Main forum under Downloads. Here->scratchlive.net

In VSL click on setup and tell us what you have in your settings for output. Should be Medium, blending and v-sync checked. Buffer should be either 1gig or 2, or at least somewhere in that range.

those are my settings. Medium output, blending and v-sync checked. Buffer smack in the middle of 1gig and 2gig.

And your output to your secondary is at 800x600 60hz right? I just want to double check that.

yes.

it doesn't say 60hz, but it does say 800x600

That's wild man. I have the same video cards. And I have flickers with the 9400m, but not with the 9600GT. I also run at 640x480 though too.
Try the downgrade and see if that does anything. If not you might want to have the card checked out by and Apple Genius.

also check the firmware of your mini displayport adapter. when its plugged in you'll see the monitor name and mdp version in 'about this mac'. make sure it's 1.00 and up.

tried running it at 640x40, and downgrading to 1.1.1. Flickering still there. checked my firmware on my displayport adapter, it's 1.03.

If it were the graphics card, wouldn't my video be flickering on my main monitor as well as my secondary? Or at least on the secondary all the time? As it stands now it only flickers on the secondary monitor when I start vsl.

i've seen flickering occur with specific applications. i don't know why or how. but the flickering didn't occur on the main screen or with with apps like quicktime at full screen. at this point i would try a different mdp adapter.

When you uninstalled VSL did you run the uninstaller or did you drag it to the trash?

I didn't uninstall vsl...doesn't the installer just put whatever version you're installing over top of your existing version?

Not always. Better to install clean than to have any remnants from the earlier version still lingering around.

lol awesome. I'll give that a shot here in a bit and report back.

Any chance that you migrated (or cloned) the boot drive on your present computer from an older one? I've seen that cause all sorts of weird (and hard to diagnose/fix) issues with drivers that were fixable only with a clean Mac OS install.

Nope, wouldn't even have the slightest idea HOW to do that.

ok, tried the total vsl uninstall, reinstall 1.1.1., STILL FLICKERING :( I'm gonna go out and get a new mini displayport to vga adapter tomorrow...once I try that it will be a complete replacement of all of my cables/adapters. I seriously don't think that's the issue, for reasons I've already stated, but man I hope it is. I would love nothing more than to replace that piece and have it work.

Shooting in the wind here but have you tried switching to the 9400M and then switching back to the 9600?
Also there is a firmware update that came out in 2009 for the 9600 also. It seems that users had issues only when running CPU intensive programs like games. Here is the link. If it's not needed it will pop up and tell you.
support.apple.com

I have tried switching from 'high performance' to 'energy saving' and then back, but I didn't run anything while I was in 'energy saving' mode. Would that make a difference if I did?

I'll check the firmware, but I didn't buy the laptop till september of 2009, and have had no issues until recently, so I'm pretty sure it's up to date. Can't hurt to check though, thanks for the heads up!

The other "easy" things you could try doing:

1) create a new user in your existing Mac OS installation, and see if the problem is still happening when logged in as the new user;

2) do a clean install of the Mac OS (onto an external drive), and again see if the problem persists.

Doing that would at least help isolate whether the problem is software or hardware related.

No dice on the new adapter. Hooked it up, flickering remains.
Guess I'll try switching to power saving mode and running vsl...that should assign the 9400 card to being active, right? and if I get no flickering then I should know it's the 9600 gt card that has issues, correct? I just want to troubleshoot this thing as much as possible before I take it to a 'genius'. I've heard mixed things about the actual level of their 'genius'.

Mark, if it's not too much trouble, could you walk me through the process you described above? I apologize, but I'm not well versed in Mac (or any computer to tell the truth), I only bought the thing to run serato and have done absolutely nothing else with it other than that.

Bingo! switching to 'energy saver' mode and the 9400 graphics card did the trick! Now, my next question, before I take my nice expensive work/money-making macbook pro to the shop for god knows how long, is this:

Might the 9600m gt simply be missing some firmware, or driver updates, or something like that? If I can save myself the trouble of being without a laptop for a while I would certainly like to! If the answer is yes, where can I find said updates?

very weird

no kidding!

Did you update to this by anychance? Dont know if this would be the cause but it was a graphics update that just came out...

support.apple.com

I update regularly, usually checking once a week if not prompted by my computer, and I know I've got the latest updates as of Friday the 27th