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Green Blocks on Video Output
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Green Blocks on Video Output

Product
Video-SL
Version
Video-SL
Scratch Live
Hardware
Ortofon | Serato S-120
Computer
PC
OS
Platform
-
Sticky K 9:33 AM - 24 May, 2010
Product: video-sl
Computer: pc
OS Version: win764
---

Hi Guys,

Some of my videos are showing green blocks. Sometimes they are on the right side of the video & sometime at the bottom. I have been pulling my hair out trying to get this to work right.

My PC Specs:
ASUS G51Jx
Geforce GTS 360M 1GB Video Card
Intel i7 720QM Processor
500GB Hard drive
4GB Ram
Windows 7 x64

Configuration:
Running SSL 2.0 with VSL 1.2
Bios, chipset & Video drivers are up to date.
System is setup for best performance according to your guidelines
Processor priority is set to background services

This is what I have tried so far:

>I tried using quicktime to decode but my frame rates drop right down to 15 to 30 FPS. The videos look fine though i.e. no green blocks & video is correctly sized

2>When I use Directshow (I installed the FFDShow & haali codecs) the frame rates site between 55 and 70 FPS. But it shows green blocks

3>I also tried using the MovieInfoBatch utility and setting the dropdown from "one" to "off". I don't see green blocks anymore but my videos are not sized correctly and a few of them are in grey-scale (black & white)...
This is also a pain to set each time I want to run VSL.

4>I also installed windows xp x64 on a separate partition and tried everything again (as stated above) and get the same results.

I'm currently running the demo version of VSL and want to purchase it ASAP to use it for a gig in June.

Please help.
Thanks, K

9:34 AM, 24 May 2010
Sticky K attached a file: ScreenShot With Green Block.jpg
View· Permalink
Serato, Forum Moderator
Michael R 5:47 AM - 25 May, 2010
Hey Sticky K,

Green in the Video-SL output is usually caused by an outdated video card driver. I see that you mentioned that you've updated your drivers, but would you be able to download the latest driver from here -> www.laptopvideo2go.com (click link). Does this help at all?
DJ WoO 6:01 AM - 25 May, 2010
This thread is redundant. I know the mods in my thread suggested Sticky start his own but we have the same system and the same issues.

Sticky, for the time being the movie batch trick is the best bet. You just have to deal with your vids randomly resizing. I've got a busy week but I'm going to dive more into it later this week before my gig on Friday. I'm hoping nvidia releases another 64 bit update soon or the good guys at serato try to play around with more decoders so we have more options.
Sticky K 6:26 AM - 25 May, 2010
Quote:
Hey Sticky K,
Green in the Video-SL output is usually caused by an outdated video card driver. I see that you mentioned that you've updated your drivers, but would you be able to download the latest driver from here -> www.laptopvideo2go.com (click link). Does this help at all?


I will give it a try and report back...

Quote:

Sticky, for the time being the movie batch trick is the best bet. You just have to deal with your vids randomly resizing. I've got a busy week but I'm going to dive more into it later this week before my gig on Friday. I'm hoping nvidia releases another 64 bit update soon or the good guys at serato try to play around with more decoders so we have more options.


I suppose I 'd just have to use movieinfobatch. But my daft punk (one more time) video is in black & white. Is this related to how it's encoded?
Sticky K 1:39 PM - 25 May, 2010
Quote:
Hey Sticky K,

Green in the Video-SL output is usually caused by an outdated video card driver. I see that you mentioned that you've updated your drivers, but would you be able to download the latest driver from here -> www.laptopvideo2go.com (click link). Does this help at all?


Hi Michael, I installed this beta driver and it seemed to improve my FTP but the problem still exists. I have noticed that I get green blocks on most videos only after I play two specific vids.

example: When I play robin S (show me love) - it's fine on both decks. But when I play brandy (top of the world) then show me love, I get green blocks on robin S.

Does it have anything to do with how they encoded? Do these videos (top of the world) change something in VSL?

I highly doubt that we can simply blame the driver. This driver is being used by many GPU's i.e. 200M series, 300M series etc.

The same videos play fine in all other media players. This should definitely be treated as a bug with VSL.

What can I do now?
DJ WoO 8:25 AM - 26 May, 2010
Yes the way your videos are encoded will obviously have an effect of how they are decoded.

There is no one culprit for the most part. We have to get the right combination of solutions to solve this issue including video card drivers, decoder updates, vsl updates, etc. I'm convinced It has to do with newer nvidia cards & how VSL is using these decoders (some combo of these details). I tried the setup on an similar machine with an ati card and it didn't seem to have issues although I didn't mess around with it for long.
Serato, Forum Moderator
Michael R 4:14 AM - 27 May, 2010
Hey guys,

Ok thanks for trying out the drivers. It does sound like a strange issue indeed.

Sticky K,

Quote:
When I play robin S (show me love) - it's fine on both decks. But when I play brandy (top of the world) then show me love, I get green blocks on robin S.

Are you able to attach both of these video files to this thread for me to test them out?

Can you guys also please confirm which versions of which codecs you have installed?
DJ WoO 1:50 AM - 30 May, 2010
I'm using the latest versions via the links you guys have posted in the windows vsl thread. It definitely has to do with nvidia cards. I don't know why. I'm just using the moviebatch trick for the time being till I can think of something else.
Sticky K 8:38 PM - 30 May, 2010
Quote:
Sticky K,
Quote:
When I play robin S (show me love) - it's fine on both decks. But when I play brandy (top of the world) then show me love, I get green blocks on robin S.

Are you able to attach both of these video files to this thread for me to test them out?


I'm in the process of relocating and will upload the vids once my DSL line has been installed.
Serato, Forum Moderator
Michael R 3:01 AM - 1 June, 2010
I think you are right DJ WoO, it may be one of the codecs and the graphics card not getting along. Is it only a particular file format you are having this problem with? This way we can narrow down which codec it is.
DJ WoO 8:14 AM - 2 June, 2010
All of my files are mp4's. The issues I'm having is random (resizing)....I could load a video and it will look fine then instant double or drop and drag it on the other side and its resized and not properly full screen stretched. I just updated ffdshow again. My frame-rate is solid and the green boxes are gone (because I'm using the moviebatch trick). Do any of you guys at serato have any laptops using any new nvidia cards so you can see exactly what we are talking about?
Serato, Forum Moderator
Michael R 2:47 AM - 4 June, 2010
Hey DJ WoO,

Have you tried using Quicktime as the default decoder for Video-SL? If you have, did you still get the green blocks? If you haven't, can you give it a try? There's an FAQ explaining how to do this here -> www.serato.com

When you do see the green blocks, do they appear in the video itself, or in the black area around the video?
Sticky K 8:03 AM - 4 June, 2010
Hi Michael.

When I use quicktime to decode, I don't get green blocks and the videos are sized correctly. The major problem with this is my frame rate drops from 60/70fpt to 15/25fps, which makes the vids very choppy.
DJ WoO 9:00 PM - 7 June, 2010
The green blocks appear in the areas around the video. For example if I leave the selection on "one" (moviebatch loaded while video sl is loaded) the green blocks are where the black space would be if I turn the selection to off.

Using quicktime kills my framerates and causes the videos to freeze randomly and I have to use instant double to get things working again. The framerates drop more than half. (from 45+ using ffdshow, vids on both sides to around 15-19 using quicktime)
Polanka 3:40 PM - 8 June, 2010
I am having the same issue and its really effecting my performance at my gigs. I think Serato should team up with one of these decoder companies to make a customized decoder that comes pre installed with 2.0. Out of the box VideoSL should come with all the decoders needed.
Sticky K 8:34 AM - 9 June, 2010
Quote:
I am having the same issue and its really effecting my performance at my gigs. I think Serato should team up with one of these decoder companies to make a customized decoder that comes pre installed with 2.0. Out of the box VideoSL should come with all the decoders needed.


I agree.

But i still think this can be fixed by the serato guys. I have noticed that If I play the same video on both decks, only one deck will have the green blocks. The same video on the other side loads fine. It just depends which deck it's loaded to first. If it was the codec / driver then it should happen on both decks (And it should happen on other media players).

It's very disappointing as I just dropped $3k on a 57 + new laptop to do video and getting this annoying problem.
Polanka 2:40 PM - 9 June, 2010
Its definately the decoder because if you force scratchlive to use quicktime the problem goes away.
Sticky K 4:15 PM - 9 June, 2010
Quote:
Its definitely the decoder because if you force scratchlive to use quicktime the problem goes away.


I hear you but my point is that the VSL developers need to put some code in there to prevent this behavior. How would we get the codec guys / Driver company to fix something that's only happening in 1 video application. How would you even report this error to them. Thing is that they decode fine in other media players....
Sticky K 4:16 PM - 9 June, 2010
@Micheal - The upload will take forever. I got the video from 8thwonder (Brandy - sitting on top of the world). Do you have an account with them?
DJ WoO 1:43 AM - 11 June, 2010
Like I said before and you guys have now said....its the decoders. Serato guys.....videos encoded from smashvidz are very prone to this issue. If you guys have an account there or a contact.....test there vids in win 7 and give us some feedback
Culprit 3:27 PM - 11 June, 2010
this is definitly a driver issue, can you try different older drivers from laptopvideo2go?
Sticky K 3:11 PM - 15 June, 2010
Hi Guys,

I might have found a solution.

I was playing around with ffdshow's settings and managed to get rid of the green boxes and sort out the resizing problems. I have tested this on both my Windows 7 x64 installations and it seems to work.

I also went through alot of videos and haven't had it yet.

Here are the settings I changed:
enable "overlay" and un-check "UYVY" from the supported colour spaces

picasaweb.google.com

Enable re size & aspect and in the re size section - set it to "Specify aspect ratio (4:3)". I also set the aspect ratio at the bottom to "manual"

picasaweb.google.com

Please try it and let me know if it does the trick...

Cheers, K
Polanka 3:53 PM - 15 June, 2010
I tried just Enabling Resize & Aspect and did a 4 hour long gig and had no problems with Green artifacts. Just by changing this setting it solved the issue I was having. I will try to enable the overlay setting to see if it helps my performance. Another thing I did was set the priority to the highest for FFDshow so that it will always use FFDshow for every video.
Sticky K 4:13 PM - 15 June, 2010
Thanks great news!!!

the overlay setting just changes the color space permanently as apposed to changing it every-time using the moviebatchinfo tool.

Which priority setting did u change?
Polanka 4:51 PM - 15 June, 2010
Under the FFDshow configuration settings. Click on Directshow control set the merit to the highest setting.
DjChris"DaDoc" Roberts 12:37 AM - 20 June, 2010
I did these changes, my system is similar to the first one mentioned..

My PC Specs:
SONY VIAO F-Series
Geforce GTS 360M 1GB Video Card
Intel i7 720QM Processor
500GB Hard drive
6GB Ram
Windows 7 x64

I did the changes as instructed above and the problems seems to be actually worse. The green bars are gone and they are black, and not as 'intrusive' on the screen now. However it seems to happen more often and I have videos that are playing upsidedown now. My sololution.... is to turn the plug in off, then back on. Getting paid the money the clubs are paying me thats not good...
DjChris"DaDoc" Roberts 12:42 AM - 20 June, 2010
Ok... Now i just notices that in my program menu there are both a FFDshow AND FFDshow X64... I only made changes to the FFD show setting, I made changes to both, will see what happens tonight...
DjChris"DaDoc" Roberts 9:35 PM - 20 June, 2010
Well last night the same problems came back to haunt me... I forced quicktime after the first hour attemp during a performance and no problems after that... Of course the frame rates drop and you can have very jerky transitions. It made it through the night, but is not what I would expect in terms of performance.
Sticky K 4:56 AM - 21 June, 2010
I would suggest removing both installations of the codec (looks like you have bothy x64 & x86 versions) and reinstalling the ffdshow 32bit codec only. Then see how your videos load. If you get green blocks then try the resize adjustment...

I'm sure you could solve this by getting the right settings in ffdshow...

By the way - can you test it @ home?
Culprit 5:20 AM - 21 June, 2010
Quote:
I would suggest removing both installations of the codec (looks like you have bothy x64 & x86 versions) and reinstalling the ffdshow 32bit codec only. Then see how your videos load. If you get green blocks then try the resize adjustment...

I'm sure you could solve this by getting the right settings in ffdshow...

By the way - can you test it @ home?


agreed please use the 32 bit version only, dont forget halii media splitter (make sure halii is your default splitter).
Serato, Forum Moderator
Michael R 2:54 AM - 23 June, 2010
Hey Sticky K,

Nice work on finding a solution :) I've a taken a look into what these settings mean and there is a good explanation here -> ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net (click link). This part I found interesting:

Quote:
YVYU & UYVY: Rare and unused, avoid.

So it looks like you could try turning off YVYU also.

So is everything running as expected for you now?
Sticky K 3:31 AM - 23 June, 2010
yes thanks. I suppose we can close the thread.
Sticky K 3:32 AM - 23 June, 2010
by the way - it fixed the problem for my windows 7 & xp installations..

cheers