Today I installed the K-Lite codec and it was still doing the video flicker.
I turned off frame blending and the problem vanished. Custom and bought
mp4s play fine now.

Is this something to do with the video container?

Also when using cursor controls for the crossfader it doesn't always transition 100%.
Sometimes it only does it about 98% and it seems to only happen with the left hand side.

Also sometimes when loading a video into the right hand side while a video is playing on the left hand side it will show the video on the right hand side in the output screen and on the tvs even though the video crossfader is set all the way to the left hand side. I'll have to grab the video crossfader with the mouse and move it slightly to the right and then back to the left and this seems to correct the problem.

Any fixes?

Hey DBDJ,

Thanks for getting in touch. Check out this FAQ, this might help you:serato.com

Let us know how you get on.

Regards
Dave W

Thanks. I knew about this already but my situation occurs from only one boot into Serato DJ so there's not time for dual instances of the .exe. However in my case I found that turning off "frame blending" resolved my flickering issue while testing at home. I'll test again tonight at a gig and let you know if I still run into any problems.

O.K great, let us know how you go.

Regards
Dave W

Turning off frame blending seemed to help a lot. Instead off having multiple instances (6 or more) of flickering videos I only had two instances where I had to disable and then re-enable the Serato Video plugin.

Any other suggestions?

Hey DBDJ,



Usually you'll get lines rolling down the screen if this is the issue. Here is what the manual says about V SYNC.

Use V-SYNC
This option is on by default, it synchronizes Serato Video’s frame rate to the refresh rate of your monitor to avoid ‘tearing’ on your output.

By turning it off you can see the frame rate your system is capable of achieving, this is primarily used as a benchmarking tool.

For best image results leave this option on.


I'd say that it is more likely the multiple instances of Serato Video being open as in the FAQ above or if not that, then something to do with your codecs etc. If you'd like to dig deeper this thread may shed some light on it: serato.com

Have a read of this post. DJ Listendat discuss LAV filter. This could be an option to try.

Let me know how you get on.

Regards
Dave W

I still am not sure how you can have two instances of Serato Video running when I've only launched it once but I'll open the task manager first thing and see if I see any doubles this weekend when I use it.

This is obviously a situation where the host software's coding for gpu rendering isn't at the level it needs to be. Serato has enough cash to be able to licence a stable video engine that can handle anything thrown at it. There's plenty of stable open source video engines so it's not for lack of viable plugins.

You say it might be a codec problem but installing k-lite was supposed to fix that problem. So if that's not the answer, what is?

Hey DBDJ,




It does sound like you are getting two instances of Serato Video open in the task manager hence why when you re-enable the Serato Video plugin the issue goes away. But this may only be part of the issue. Also:



There may be a conflict between the frame blending setting in Serato Video and the settings on your dedicated GPU. Make sure that your Nvidia GeForce GT 540M
is set to High Performance and GPU switching is turned OFF.

You can do this by following this guide:serato.com


What format and resolution are the video files you is playing?
What performance settings are you using in Serato Video Output?


What format are the "Custom" video files you is creating?
Where are you getting your video content from?

I'd also try running these two scripts: serato.com
Force Quicktime or
Force Directshow to check whether you are getting better performance out of Directshow or Quicktime.

Second issue:



Are you using any Luma, Chroma or Dissolve Transitions or Video Effects when this happens?

Is it specific video transitions that you're using when this occurs?

What setting do you use Cursor to Crossfade speed set to?
If you change the speed setting does the crossfade complete correctly?

Can you make sure you have the latest version of Serato Video:
Setup>Expansion Packs>Serato Video>Info TAB.
Serato Video version 1.1

Let me know how you go with these two issues.

Regards
Dave W

I have the latest version of Serato Video.
I installed fddshow as well.
I've used the force directshow script and this got rid of the flickering
but now there's a green line going through the bottom of the video.
When the flickering occured I opened up task manager and there was only
one instance of serato video running.
The format of the videos is mp4.
This happens with videos from Xtendamix as well as ones I've done custom edits to in Sony Vegas.

The output settings are:
Window aspect ratio: 16:9
Quality: Medium
Arrangement: Normal
Media Treatment: Preserve

Transitions:
I have my transitions set to random so I'm not sure if it only does it to some.
I'm not using video effects when this happens.
Changing the speed of the transitions doesn't affect the reliability of cursor controls.

I attached a video to show to show the green line happening.

That is codec related no doubt. Try converting a couple of those files using this guide:serato.com
Then test them again. See how you go.
Regards
Dave W

These files worked fine before and in the 3 years of using video with various Serato products never had this issue...until I installed further codecs to try and fix my recent video flicker issue. So I'm going to roll back to a previous restore point and then go from there.

Did the rollback and now I see no green lines. In the notification tray I see it's now showing a red LAV decoder icon or a white LAV splitter icon depending on the video played.

Now the problem is that some videos are not displaying the correct aspect ratio. Some look like they're stretched out full screen and the chyron is three quarters cut off. I've attached some examples of this including one in the QuickTime player that shows the correct aspect ratio of the video.

Unfortunately I spoke too soon. The green lines are still there. I'll install Serato DJ 1.5 today and see if that helps.

As for the aspect ratio, sometimes when a video is loaded I get a msg saying that Serato Video had to crop the video because it was too big, something that never used to happen.

After much testing I decided to go back to using the script to
force decoding with Quicktime. This corrected my aspect ratios
and got rid of the green lines.

However the video flicker on videos I've done in SonyVegas continues.
I did a test re-encoding with Handbrake on one of the files and there was no
more flicker so that leads me to believe that there's some sort of issue between
the container and Serato Video. I'm going to do a batch re-encode for all of my
custom video edits and then test them out this weekend.

I'll let you know how I made out.

This is getting rediculous.

I re-encoded all of my custom video edits that I made in Sony Vegas
with handbrake and I'm still getting the video flickers from the video.
it doesn't do it all the time or to the same video.

When I load the video it will play fine initially but if I stop playing it, let
it sit there for a few seconds and then press play it'll start the flicker
nonsense. Let me repeat that the custom edit videos (mp4s) play perfectly in
Quicktime for the desktop.

What's the next step?

I'm really not completely sure what is happening here. We have tried all of the things we usually do without a solution.

Maybe we can look at doing a remote access next week. I'll PM you.

OK. Thanks.

So the problem appears to be the way Sony Vegas encodes the video file. I went back and played the videos and noticed that the ones encoded in handbrake didn't flicker anymore. When I ran the rest of my custom edits through the handbrake the flicker totally disappeared. Now when I make a video edit I immediately run it through handbrake and I haven't had a problem yet.