Hi RAYMIXX,

Firstly, nice machine this is the same set-up that I am using apart from the firewire for data transfer into Scratch Live and rarely if ever have I had any major problems.

As long as you have Perian for MAC Installed, and if you use Handbrake with the Video-SL Preset to conform your videos (or another compatible encoder) you shouldn't have any problems.

Your Video-SL settings seem OK, although I do run with Frame Blend On and Buffer setting at 1GB you will find which settings are best for you and your machine. Make sure when gigging to switch off wireless and if you have any scheduled tasks set up disable during performance.

8GB memory will give you that little bit extra but as I see it your machine is well capable of running Serato Scratch Live and Video-SL in a professional enviroment.

Let me know if you have any further questions and have fun with the new machine :)

Thanks for getting back to me quick Anthony, (another reason why SL is the best lol)

I heard something about the Perian for Mac but not sure exactly what it's for or would it does to help, where to I find that link at?

I actually use quick time pro to conform ALL my videos but I do have the setting at what you guys recommend: MP4 with the H.264 Codec for video and AAC Codec for audio at 2000 bitrate and 25 keyframes.

I have blue tooth and airport mode off, I have all did all the settings you guys recommend to do on a Mac for optimize when using video-sl

I noticed when using Video-SL that my machine gets pretty hot on the bottom and the fan sounds like it is on full blast, is that normal when using Video sl on a mac because I am still new and getting use to this machine and not sure if it's suppose to be running like that or not? lol How can I check my CPU usage on Mac so I can keep an eye on how much my Mac is using when using Video-SL?

Aside from my waveforms being a lil jerky when using video sl it does run it fine, so far.

Thanks again Anthony,
Ray

Hi RAYMIXX,

You can Download Perian for Mac here: perian.org

Perian is an open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.

My machine runs a little hot also but not just with Video-SL and Scratch Live running. You could download iStat nano which is a Dashboard Widget that gives you Temp reading and CPU and a lot more.

iStat nano download: www.islayer.com

Let me know if yo have any further questions.

Thanks for the quick response again Anthony,

I will install the Perian and look into the iStat nano.

Thanks again for your help

Download smcFanControl for mac if you haven't already. It cools your mac when it gets too hot. It's great for VSL and video mixing. Suprised he did not mention that to you cause it will make a difference. I recommend increasing your ram if waveforms are jerky.

www.macupdate.com

Hi RAYMIXX,

Thanks for the input DJ Tecniq these are valid suggestions for RAYMIX also.

Coo, thanks a lot guys for your help, I will look into smcFanControl DJ Tecniq.

I know for sure i definitely want to go with 8gb of ram for my Mac but I don't feel like spending $400 bucks on it from the apple store, is there another brand that u guys might suggest that is way cheaper and will work just as good??

Thanks again guys

simple solution for you. Use this website they are awesome. It will run a test and find out exactly what ram you need for your mac. Screw the apple store.

www.crucial.com

Cool thanks a lot Techniq!!!

np, i've ordered ram from that site before. very fast delivery. good luck

Hi RAYMIXX,

Let me know how you get on with the upgraded Ram. I have responded to your .MP4 tagging issue in that thread. I would recommend changing your song info in the Scratch Live library window and re-scanning ID3 Tags every time you open Scratch Live.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Hey Anthony,

Yeah thing I'm going to go with Tecniq suggestion and get the 8 gig ram from crucial...it's way cheaper than what apple is selling there upgrade for and there is nothing but good reviews from everyone that put it in there machine.

I'll let you know when I update the ram on my system and how it goes

Thanks again guys!!!

What's happening guys,

So I got and installed the 8 gigs of ram from crucial, I went to mess with video SL to see if it helped any with the jerky waveforms and to me it feels like it got worse!!!

I don't know what else to do but I do have one more idea, I currently have all my videos on external hard drive thru the firewire port but it's portable HD so the firewire port is powering it up, would u guys suggest I get a powered HD so it would be less stress on my CPU?

If you guys have any other suggestions please shoot them at me bec that's the last thing I can think of that will help...and also wht setting should I use with Video SL? I tried backing my buffer on SL it's self to 10 but that still didn't help, I just figured that my Mac would be able to run Video SL with no problems sine it's got more than enough specs that u guys suggest to run Video SL

Thanks in Advance guys!!

Hi RAYMIXX,

Have you updated to the Scratch Live 2.3 full release ?

I wouldn't worry about the HD at this stage if you were getting the beach ball while scrolling through your library and loading songs we would have a look at the HD.

What have you set your Maximum Screen Updates to ? Scratch Live>Set Up>Display>(60 for best perform)

and Audio Cache (Seconds)

Did you install Perian for Mac ?

Hi Anthony,

Yest I have updated to 2.3 as soon as it was released.

No I have not got the beach ball at all while scrolling through my library

Maximum Screen Updates are set to 60

Audio Cache is set at 15

I have not installed the Perian for Mac yet bec I figured I didn't need it, but I will if you think it would help

One more thing I noticed but not sure if it would make a difference or not, I noticed my Mac came with QuickTime Player pre installed and not QuickTime 7 so I believe Video SL is playing thru just regular QuickTime Player and not 7, could that have anything to do with it at all?

Hi RAYMIXX,

You could try turning your Audio Cache up to 60 seconds this should help with the jerky waveforms.

As long as you have Quicktime Player installed and Perian for Mac then you should be good to go.

Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.

Download here: perian.org

Let me know how you get on and if you have any further questions.

Cheers

Anthony

Hey Anthony,

So I installed the Perian for Mac and moved my Audio Cache to 60 seconds and it did help, but just a lil.

I'm not sure what else I can do anymore to get them to complete run smooth, I figured I would have a lil jerky in the waveforms bec they are video files and the thing is I tried and set my Mac to the same exact settings I had on my old PC running XP on a Centrino Duo and only 2 gigs of ram and I didn't have any jerky waveforms with that thing at the same settings.

The only thing I can think of is to Download the smcFanControl for mac that DJ Tecniq susgested...what do you think? But I wouldn't know what settings to put it at...

Thanks again Anthony

Hi RAYMIXX,

You could download and install SMC fan control but this is for a specific cause and if you think your laptop may be overheating then go ahead and give it a go.

The other thing to install if it hasn't been suggested already is iStat nano widget which is a dashboard widget that will give you CPU readings, Temp readings and a whole lot of other useful information.

Dowwnload iStat Nano here: www.islayer.com

Let me know how you get on.

When you run your video sl settings at high it can cause the waveforms to be jerky unfortunately. I have that same issue when running on high so I lower it to medium.

Coo Tecniq I'll try it and see if it helps but I rater leave it on high, so I'll try it and see if it helps and than just go back to High during gigs.

Thanks again guys

Here's a helpful tip if you feel you need the 8gb of ram to run video smoother than try this website. It will scan your mac to find out the exact ram you need. Much cheaper than apple store.

www.crucial.com

I did bro, I put the 8 gigs of ram from Crucial in on Sat when I got back from my gig and messed with it and didn't see a difference with the jerky waveforms.

The thing is I figured that when my waveforms are jerky at times that the video it's self on the output screen would look like it would lag a lil bit but it doesn't, it runs smooth.

All my videos are on a 1TB external Seagate HD but it's not powered...do you think a powered one would help??? The videos load on the fly, there's no lag what soever with it but I'm not sure that could be the problem when playing them

Hi RAYMIXX,

Let me know how you get on over the next couple of weeks and if you notice any difference in performance.
Everything seems to be set up correctly and your system more than meets minimum requirements so i'm a little stuck right now with suggestions...
Keep me in the loop and let me know if you have any further questions.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

I think I'm going to go and buy a powered external HD and see if it helps even a lil more...after that I'm fresh out of idea'

Thanks guys.

Interesting..what I usually do to also help the lag of jerky waveforms is actually increase the frame buffer higher you will notice they will run smoother. Your machine will run harder but the extra ram will create a smooth performance with VSL.

I have had my ram set as high as it can go for video and can see a remarkable difference in playback. Bit laggy but does run smoother when the ram is higher.

Do you mean buffer higher and not ram??

Here are all my setting I have set in SL and video SL:

For Scratch Live,
I have my buffer set to 2 (Because you can't go to 1 on Macs)
I have the Hi-Fi resampler check, I know that will use a lil more CPU
I have both my Maximum Screen and Audio Cache set to 60 sec.
I have all the Plugins enabled

For Video-SL
For pic quality it is set to High
I have the buffer for Video-SL to 1gig

raise your buffer to 4gig's which uses your laptops ram. the higher it is the smoother vsl will run from my experience.

In Video-SL's buffer you can only go to 2gig's or do you mean back down my buffer from Scratch live it's self??

interesting..and your on mac? Mine goes to 4.

My bad I meant 2, I was thinking of something else..lol sorry but yeh i would try increasing that to 2 and then look at your waveforms.

For me the higher the vsl buffer is the better the waveforms run

Tried setting my Video-SL all the way to 2 gig's...no dice =(
Made it even more worse...I have no clue what's going on here...I have tried video-sl and scratch live in all different types of settings.

The only thing I think I can do is buy another external hard drive but powered.

Also Tecniq...with the smcFan, what is the highest settings you have the fans set up at?? I don't want to burn out my fans already

Hi RAYMIXX,

Drop your Video-SL Buffer back down to half way 1GB.

Is there any way you could make a video of the Jerky Waveforms that you are experiencing and upload it to this thread ?

There is no need to purchase a new hard drive at this stage if it was hard drive related you would notice the lag in loading the video files.

Im running out of solutions for you at this stage. I will endevor to get to the bottom of this one.

I run smcfancontrol at the default setting but you can always switch to higher rpm. I think default works best.

I do know that with older versions of serato video-sl seems to perform more smoother. 2.2 is good but it puts alot of load on your mac. My waveforms start to lag most when I have the fx plugin open and sample player. I would make sure those are unchecked/not in use when using VSL.

I truly appreciate it guys...I will get that video to you as soon as I can Anthony, but is there a software for Macs that can capture a video of my screen that you recommend?? or I'll just try and record it with my iphone

Thanks again for all the help guys
Ray

Hi RAYMIXX ,

You could try using a demo version of screenflow;

www.telestream.net

If not IPhone should be OK.

Also Quicktime Player 10 can record your screen. just click file then new screen recording.

Hey guys here's an updated,

I remember on my PC before I got my Mac when I would hook it up to the same Dell desktop screen like I am now for the output window thru the VGA, I remember getting jerky waveforms too, than I hooked up my PC from the S-Video on the back of it to the S-Video on my 50 inch Plasma and the waveforms seem to run 95% smoother.

So I ran Video-SL with out it hooked up to the Dell screen right now, but I didn't have it hooked up to anything so the output screen was still on my Mac so I messed with it for abt 10 min and noticed the waveforms where jerky now to a minimum, something I can handle...what would cause the waveforms to be jerky with it hooked up to a VGA or could it be the Dell Screen it's self???

Thanks guys

Hi RAYMIXX,

Are you saying that when you connect a Secondary Display to your MacBook Pro using the Mini Display port to VGA the waveforms in your Scratch Live UI appear to be more 'Jerky' than before ?

Hi RAYMIXX,

I would also suggest you have a look at this article: sera.to

Also in the Energy Saver Preferences you need to change Computer Sleep and Display Sleep to NEVER in both Battery and Power Adapter settings.

Let me know if this helps.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying Anthony, not sure why when I hook up my secondary display to a VGA it would cause the waveforms to be like that



And yes this is the first thing I did when I first purchased my Mac and was optimizing it...not sure what I can do to get the waveforms any clearer when it is hooked up to a VGA...any other idea's?? Is there any other setting with in my Mac I can change??

Thanks again

Hey guys,

It's been awhile but still having problems with Jerky Waveforms when using Video-sl. So I finally got a chance to hook my Mac up to friends ttm57 and I use output via HDMI adapter...I was still getting really bad Jerky Waveforms at times. Just don't know what I should do anymore. The video looks like it plays fine w/ no lag and I'm not getting no type of dropouts at all.

RAYMIXX, did you ever try the powered harddrive? I have the EXACT same computer and the EXACT same problem!

I am running SL only and i do get the jerky waveforms when i run the program.. it happens now and then, but its there and its bothering too.. I returned the Macbook when i first got it, thinking something was wrong with the mac, and now i have a different one with the same issue. Any updates RAYMIXX

Hey whats up guys...no I haven't found a solution yet and still having the same problem.



I haven't tried a powered HD yet djbestsent...there is only one other thing I can think it could be but not to sure, I have 750 GB 5400rpm internal HD and not a 7200rpm, not sure if that would make a difference.

Hi RAYMIXX,

I'm running out of options for this one...

Have you downloaded the latest Scratch Live update ? Scratch Live 2.3.3 which is now available to the public.

Could you try this version and let me know if there is any improvement.

Hi Anthony,

I just downloaded 2.3.3 but haven't tired it out with Video SL yet...I'm off for a whole week so I'm going to be doing a lot of testing with it and I'll get back to you and let you know how it goes.

And Happy Holidays by the way guys!!! =)

Ray

Hi RAYMIXX,

Been super busy here mate, let me know how things are going with your setup at the moment and if you have any further questions regarding Video-SL.

Hey Anthony,

Yeah I have also to get back to you guys...but I have been doing some testing w/ the newest SL update and no change at all, so I have been missing with the setting in SL like the buffer for both SL and also Video-SL and no difference at all...there not jerky all the times but more often than I think it shld. The only thing that made a lil difference was when I adj the quality of the video frm High to Poor.

I'm Not sure wht else I can do, and I can see I'm not the only one having the same problem according to djbestsent and Josh218 also experiencing the same thing.

Thanks Anthony, if you have any other ideas that might help please shoot them my way.
Ray

Hey Anthony,

So I think I'm finally getting somewhere, I recently reformatted my Mac bec I ran into a problem that wasn't concerning SL at all but once I got everything back to normal w/ my Mac I notice to waveforms consistently more jerky all the time and I put all the settings back to the same way they where before I formatted it, and I was totally stumped, so while I had a video playing and was watching the waveform jitter I just happened to pull out my mini display port to see if there was a difference and as soon as I did that the waveforms where not jerky at all anymore so was I playing with it a lil more with it plugged back in and that I notice that the output to my TV was at 1080p, so I adj that down to 480p and the waveforms totally stopped jerking, so I think that was it, my Mac can't put out a 1080p signal even tho it can read it

Was just wondering what output level do you recommend?? What do you have yours set at? I know I can't go any higher than 800x600 either.

Thanks again Anthony
Ray

Hi RAYMIXX,

Thats odd as I run the same graphics card and run HDMI out to my secondary display no problems.

Can you tell me what your laptop screen resolution is set to ?

Hey Anthony,

My resolution for my laptop is set to 1344x840 and the output to my TV is set to 800x600

While missing with the resoultion again on both my laptop and TV I notice the waveforms start getting a lil more jerky again and also SL froze on me so I forced quit and I reopened it again and it froze again while just scrolling thru my crates so I can pick a video to laod, so I forced quit again and restarted my laptop and it seems stable now, that's never happened and thats kind of scary =/

Hi RAYMIXX,

Can you try setting your laptop display to 1440 x 900 as that is the native resolution for that graphics card. This should make a noticeable difference.

Also, if you verify disk permissions on your internal hard drive.

Hey Anthony,

Adj the display to factory and it did help a lil bit but it's still a lil jerky but I am able to set my output display back to 1080i or p with a lil bit of Jerking...I noticed that its actually jerking in a pattern now...the waveforms will a pier to be going smooth for abt 10 sec than they will start getting a lil jerky for abt 5 seconds than smooth again for abt 10 sec and so on...not sure if that will help.

I'm not sure what you mean abt disk permission??

Thanks again Anthony

Hi RAYMIXX,

To verify disk permissions;

1) Applications folder>Utilities>Disk Utility
2) Select Macintosh HD
3) Click on Verify Disk Permissions

This may take a few minutes depending on the size of the hard disk and data contained on it.

Hey Anthony,

Sorry have been busy to get back to you, been a busy bee...but I went ahead and downloaded Serato Video to try it out and waveforms are a whole lot worse...does 2.4.1. and serato video use more processing power than prev versions??

I also did you said above but I did not notice a difference, how exactly could that do to help, curious??

I installed Lion last night also to see if I notice anything and I notice that my waveforms where also a whole lot worse than on snow leopard...even just playing mp3 my waveforms where a slight jerky and never had that using snow leopard, waveforms where smooth just playing mp3 on snow leopard.

I'm taking my Mac to Apple on Sun and see what they say and i'll get back to you and see what they say

Just read this whole thread. Question for you. Your Mac has two graphics cards installed. In the Energy Saver panel of system preferences, is it set to Higher battery life (integrated graphics) or Higher Performance (Radeon)? If its not on the Radeon card, switch it to that. You should notice an improvement

Hey damehype,

That was one the first things I did when first bought my Mac...I was reading on how to optimize my Mac way before I got it and I do have it set to use the highest graphic card so I unchecked the box but it doesn't make a difference, thanks tho

Hi RAYMIXX,

Let me know what the diagnosis from the Apple store is ?

The updates to Mac OS Lion and Serato Video should certainly NOT make the situation worse. CPU tests on Serato Video are definitely lower than Video-SL.

I have the same problem with my computer. Upgraded to 8gb of ram and that didn't help. Also when I pull out the video cord from the computer the waveforms no longer jerk. I have been working on it for a while and haven't had any solutions. Hopefully when can get to a solution for this. I run my computer screen at the recommended 1440x900 and my 2nd display at 800x600.

I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one experiencing this anymore...

@DJ Kidd Insomnia What are the exact specs on your MAC?

@AnthonyS I haven't had a chance yet to go to Apple bec I kind of wanted to wait for the final release of SV but I just got back from a gig over the weekend and decided to just miss around with Video-SL and waveforms are back to being constantly jerky again...I was messing with all the screen resolutions on both my Mac and output screen and the only way they would stop jerking was if I unplugged my secondary display...I also noticed if I launch Video-SL with the output window opening up on my laptop screen than the waveforms are not jerky, it's once I drag the output screen to my secondary display than thats when the waveforms become way jerky...any more ideas??

Thanks again Anthony for everything.
Ray

Hey Raymixx,
Mine also does the same with just opening the output window on my serato screen. Its only when I drag it to the second display. Here are my specs

Macbook Pro
Mac OSX Version 10.7.3 Lion Early 2011
Processor - 2 Ghz Intel Core i7
Memory - 8 Gb
Graphics - AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256 MB
Hardrive - 500GB

I am also running 2.2 because I had issues in 2.3 and the newest version of Video-SL. I also run Mixemergency at times and have the same issue.

So your having the same problem using Mixermergency also?

It has to be an Apple graphic card or thuderbolt display issue than

What is the rpm on your external HD, I wonder if that might have anything to do with it bec mines is on only 5400 rpm and not 7200 rpm?

I have a Lacie rugged that runs at 5400 rpm.

When I first got the computer I never had this issue. Everything ran smoothly. Then I had some issues with some corrupt mp4's that screwed everything up. Serato was crashing left and right. I finally got it to where my computer is stable, but have to deal with these waveform issues now.

Not sure if this is an issue but on 2.2 I have to start up in 32 bit mode for Serato to work.

I already had confirmation it is a serato software issue

“For a while we thought it did have to do with the refresh rate of certain graphic cards but have since been told by Serato that this is a fix that needs to come from them... not Apple.”

This is my post on another thread
“man i already have confirmation it is a serato software issue..... what pisses me of is that serato knows this for years and did nothing about it as they say "it's a minor issue"..... still not believe if they are already doing something about it....
well i just bought tractor pro 2 last friday, i have midi mapped it in 2 hours with my X1 (logical as they are from same brand) but i also midi mapped it with akai pac 40.... and let me tell you quite honest....it's far far advanced than serato.... unfortunately i use serato for 5 years and i prefere serato's user interface, loop and effects system ... but until they have this thing fixed i'll use traktor pro...

hope serato takes this complains seriously otherwise they will get some peolple to cross the line to the enemy as i just did....

"Love Serato and wanna stay with it"

Thanks for that nuno rendeiro, I kind of figured that becs my computer is beyond specs to run VSL or SV but I have the same problem with both, but I keep hearing from others on here say there Mac runs flawlessly and others are experiencing the same thing we are...I'm not sure what to do anymore or if there is anything that I can do.

Thanks again guys

hi ray, everything worked fine for me for 5 years.... a month ago i install version 2.3.3 with lion and started from there..... i tried going back several serato versions, back to mac osx 10.4 , leopard and so on and the waveforms still messed up.... i stopped trying things....

hope serato looks at this seriously....

Same thing with me nuno. I upgraded to newest version (at the time 2.3.3 and have continued to have this problem ever since. Still very hard to get use to and I worry about crashes constantly....

I have the same issue. Once I plug in my thunderbolt cable my MBP screen gets very choppy. But only when I'm running my secondary display.My whole screen looks as if my screen display refresh rate is low but I have it at 60. I have found no fix yet. I tried 2.3 and had stability issues so I am running 2.2 now. Runs better but have the choppy screen when running Video-SL. I haven't upgraded to the new Serato video yet. I also have a NS6 and I am gonna test the new Serato Video with itch to see if it does the same thing. My video on the 71" LED screens are not choppy but when my video guy plugs in his windows laptop his picture is way clearer then mine. I'm running Med quality and at 720p... HDMI . So I"m stomped at this point as to how to get a smooth serato display screen....

Let me know if there is any change with the new Serato Video though I can't imagine that would change anything, but maybe. There is no difference when I use ME.......Maybe this can be solved in 2.4 and above, but I'm worried we might have to deal with other issues.....suxs

i understand that for you guys that use video sl it could be more dificult to change software developers.

for me, and as a client it is unacceptable that serato team can't resolve this ASAP , and i went and changed dj software....

hi, i want to ask all of you that exprience same problem, even if it does not affect the audio, to open a single individual threat to see if serato starts to take this problem more seriously...

otherwise it seems that they continuasly provide update versions without solving this matter

thanks you

@jroc453 I would stay with Video SL for now, I have both VSL and SV and the quality of the pic on SV vs VSL is horrible...It looks like I encoded all my videos with the wrong FPS (frames per second) so I'm getting that ghost like with the picture on my secondary display but if you use VSL the pic is clear and the waveforms are a whole lot more jerky using SV vs VSL, not sure why but that's what I'm getting using SV...I already mentioned this during the Beta and I got no where.

@nuno... I'm not experiencing no audio or even video lag on my secondary or even getting a usb dropout, it's just my waveforms that are jerky only when VSL is open, even playing an mp3 with VSL open will cause the waveforms to be jerky also.
I can't say the same abt SV, I still want to run more test with it but I already found bugs with it and I can see we are not getting any more response from Serato team anymore.

thanks guys

oooppss I mean @DJ Kidd Insomnia stay with VSL for now...no changes and worse quality with SV

HI ray

i dont user neither VSL or SV... i just dj with it... in my case i get the Jerky Waveforms all the time, even if the interface is not connected (player only) with wav or mp3 files the result is the same.... the only diference i notice is that with my i5 macbook pro the problem is much worse than if i use my old macbook white... but in both cases simply not acceptable for me....after playing for 1h30 m i just cant look anymore to the screen....

I am going to wait to upgrade to SV.....Thanks for all this info guys and lets hope that Serato gets involved in this some how or its is a possibility I might be changing over to to Traktor.....Never thought that I would say that.

just for the record..... "Love Serato and wanna stay with it" but with this issues it just impossible....

I'm going to stick with VSL and not run SV when doing video mixes bec I have been doing a lot of changes with my Mac and output screen settings and finally got the waveforms to only be smooth for abt 10 sec and than slight jetery for abt 5 sec and than smooth again for 10 sec and so on, it's like a pattern like that now, SV is a whole another can of worms I don't really want to miss with yet ...my waveforms are completely smooth just running SL but once I open VSL that's when they get bad. I notice waveforms being jerky in offline mode also but are fine once I connect my SL1 as long as I'm not running VSL

honestly i think serato havent done anything about this because they cant figure out a pattern. too many diferent cases with diferent setups with diferent software, diferent hardware......

I think they have it just going to take some time to do it, read the third to last of this post

serato.com

ray they have been telling this for long time.... and nothing.... so i dont rise much expections about the fix.... but really hope they do ... sooner

Well I really don't expect them to fix this anytime soon but they know abt it and they seem to know what is causing it...the question is when are they going to decide to finally do something abt it??

I will always use Serato products and don't plan on going on to another software just to use there video feature I just hope they do do something abt this sooner than later

ray don't get me wrong... i also prefer serato..... its just causing me nauseas when i play....i can't play like that... i don't enjoy it if you know what i mean...lets hope they fix it

cu bro

Hey guys. Just an update. I had a crash this weekend when using an mp4 that I have had for years now and I have played it a bunch of times. I think that I am going to chalk it up to using the Lion OS. I am going to reinstall Lion on my computer this weekend and I will let you know if doing that helps the jerky waveforms.

It sucks that all of the graphic cards in the Mac's come with the AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256 MB. Not sure how to get around this right now but if this reinstall does not work unfortunately I will have to look into buying another computer. Maybe something with Snow Leopard but that is hard to find and do not come on the new Mac's. I will keep u updated.

Just buy the snow leopard disc and reformat ur Mac that way...I went ahead and upgraded to lion frm snow leopard and notice the waveforms having a problem with out enabling Video-SL and just playing mp3...so I reformatted my Mac back to snow leopard and that was the problem for the mp3 part but not sure abt videosl yet, u can go to an apple stor and buy the disk or online for like 30 bucks

I heard that some people may have problems with snow leopard when the initial format of the OS was Lion. Mine shipped with Lion so I have not gone to Snow Leopard yet. I will try a reinstall first.

i have tried all of that in an old macbook and in a new one... no luck but give it a try.......

Yeah, now luck with both, I think waveforms are a lot worse on Lion than snow leopard

Hi RAYMIXX,

Sorry to hear you are still having issues with this and we seem to have exhausted any troubleshooting tweaks possible.

It is not as black and white as nuno rendeiro has summed up in this thread.
There are two issues going on here;

1) Yes, the waveforms are drawn using shared memory with the CPU. In your case with 8GB of Ram this should not be a noticeable issue.

2) The fact that you notice a considerable de-gredation in the drawing of waveforms when you attach the secondary display, I would suggest this is directly related to the GPU.

As Martin has mentioned in the linked thread this has been relayed to the development teams and they are investigating. I don't have a timeline for this but we are working on it.

as i mentioned before, i use serato for 4 years and want to continue using it... but not like this... so just fix it.... we are the customers, i payed for a SL1 and a SL3 . i think we deserv more attention as costumers....
jus for you to know antony i writed an email to aplle costumer support about the responses i got here in the forum.... they just laught of it.... as i mention before it is confirmed it's a serato software problem... so work on it and resolve it...

i bought an upgrade version from traktor 2 lite to traktor pro 2 for 130 euros.... and works perfetc with SL3 and no fuc...ing Jerky Waveforms...

love serato and would love to keep playing with it

Hey AnthonyS
Yeah still have a bit of problem on Vidoe-SL still but not as big as the problem I'm having with Serato Video, wavforms are a lot worse and my main concern is that the output pic is putting out a very bad quality compared to Video-SL, I looks like it is adding in more FPS and I don't know why, it has to be a bug, are u guys aware of that?? the pic quality is perfect for me running Video-SL, its Serato Video that is very bad

Thanks

Hi RAYMIXX,

Have you changed the Serato Video setup Output Quality to Best and Buffer to 1GB ?



If its adding Frames Per Second this would result in better performance....

The pipeline for video files including re-sampling has not changed between Video-Sl and Serato Video. The Output Quality should be exactly the same.
Video-SL and Serato Video scale their performance according to the GPU that is installed on your MacBook.

Re - Jerky Waveforms - We are always working on developing our software and fixing issues as quick as possible. There is NO easy fix for this and it involves a huge re-factor of the code to address this issue. It does NOT happen with all Macs and we are still trying to find common threads that will pinpoint the issue.

RAYMIXX if you can take a screen grab while using Serato Video of your Output window and your Quality settings at the time of the grab we will have a look at those.

Hey Anthony,

I was actually going to take a pic and show you, using video-sl and just moving the record back and forth the video is clear, no extra frames but if you use serato video and play the same video you can see that there is extra frames bec in this one particular video which you can totally see what I'm talking abt there is like and extra hand more of like a ghost hand so it looks like there is two...I'll take a pic of both and upload them so I can show you exactly what I'm talking abt, even just leaving the record stop the ghost hand is still there, I'll get on that asap

Hey AnthonyS,

Here are the pics, the first one is the serato video and the next one is video-sl, mind you that these pics where both taken at the same exact time in the song one using SV and the other VSL and both video's where stoped so the decks where not spinning at all when I took the pics from the output screen and you can see how SV has a ghost like feature in it...

Hi RAYMIXX,

Are your settings the same for both applications Video-Sl and Serato Video ?

Do you have V-Sync and Frame Blend ON in both Video-Sl and Serato Video ?

Are your Output, Buffer and Quality settings exactly the same ?

High Anthony,

Yest I forgot to mention that everything is exactly the same in both, quality in both is set to High, buffer is at 1gb and both V-sync and Frame Blend are checked to On for both SV and VSL

HI* lol

Any ideas Anthony?? I know you guys are pretty busy but I was on this other help request and was wondering if it is related in anyway, except they say theirs is moving when the deck is stopped, not sure if it is a related problem

serato.com

S o just wanted to give you guys an update of where I am at. I haven't had a crash or anything in the last couple weeks. I chalk it up to some bad video files that I got rid of.

As for the shaky waveforms. I still have this issue and its a pain in the ass. I spoke with a friend who is a repair tech at Apple and said he gets people in everyday that complain about djing and video mixing. So thankfully we are not alone. He stated it is due to the Lion OS, maybe we shouldn't be as hard on Serato and focus our attention on Apple instead. Not to say that Serato shouldn't help us fix this, but it seems to be in the works.

Soultion - I am going to attempt it this week and see how it works out. First, I am going to partition my hard drive and create one for my documents pics and other assorted stuff and one for just my djing software (Serato, Video-SL, ME). Once I create the partition I am going to install Snow Leopard on the partition. I have heard from some that it may not be compatible depending upon the model you have (I have read this in other posts, this is due to drivers and other things like the processor. It also heard your computer may run a bit slower). I have confirmation from my tech friend that this should work. I am getting the disc from Apple tomorrow and I'll install it and let you know how it goes. Lets hope this works. Mountain Lion should be out in the summer but I can't wait that long for a resolution to this issue.....

Kidd i already had confirmation from serato that this is a serato software issue... do you really think that aplle has something to do with this? how about all the pro's that work just with video editing? this issue also affects PC user's......

as mention before in other treahts serato as to rewrite the software to solve the waveform issue...

just for you to know, i'm using another software with my SL3 and the wavforms are perfectly smooth...so it can's be from my macbook pro.....

Yes this is an issue that is due to Serato not updating the software to work with Lion. Many other people who have different programs or software are dealing with the same thing. The blame is to be put on Serato and Apple. We rely so much on their softwares and how many people buy their product because of their ability to be consistent.

kidd i have a macbook with leopard and does the same thing, when i was testing things i even installed the 10.4 ISO and still same problem... so dont tell me its a lion issue cause it's not....

i use lion with traltor pro with SL3 interface and i have no problems with the waveforms...

if you check the forum you will see more people reporting same problem with waveforms still running leopard and ios before leopard....but think waht you like...

just for you to know i contacted RANE presenting my problem and heres the response i had, it is posted on my thread about this issue..

" We (Rane) make the hardware. Serato makes the software. We are two separate companies.
This slight waveform glitch issue is within the software.
I understand your frustration but know that Rane cannot fix this on our end.
Serato is well aware of the problem and have told us they will need to do some low level surgery on the program to get it sorted. Hopefully we'll see this fixed in the near future.
I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you. I wish I did. "

and another one ...
"i'm not sure about Itch as we at Rane do not make hardware for Itch or support the software but I would assume it has the same issue.
Serato will definitely be able to answer that question though.
I saw that Chad here at Rane responded to the email you sent us and he forwarded your email to the Serato support staff.
I will apologize on his behalf for giving you some misinformation regarding the culprit of the problem.
For a while we thought it did have to do with the refresh rate of certain graphic cards but have since been told by Serato that this is a fix that needs to come from them... not Apple.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience or headaches this issue creates for you.
As I said, hopefully the fix will come sooner than later. "

i love serato and i would love to continue play with it.... but not like this....

I did not know people using leopard and such were dealing with this issue. I guess Im going to have to re-evaluate where I stand on this. Thanks for the info bro and good luck.

Update - I wasn't able to downgrade to snow leopard because my laptop came with Lion. I am pursuing other ways now including buying a new computer....

kidd no prob, let me know if you need anything, i have made all tests possible( i think) with diferent macbooks. diferente OS and diferent serato software versions.... until i give up.... now i just wait for serato to solve this issue... hope sooner than later...

kind reagards to all

Hey Anthony,

Have heard anything back and was just wondering if you guys figured anything or have an idea why Serato Video output Quality worse than Video SL quality??

Hi RAYMIXX,

Nothing has changed in the actual pipeline of the video stream between Video-SL and Serato Video, therefore there shouldn't be a change in Output quality.

It may be related to graphics drivers and settings on your laptop.

I will let you know if I find any further info for you.