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Forum: VirtualDJ 8.1 Technical Support

Topic: Should I convert all my video clips to WMV?

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Hi guys, I'm running VDJ8.1 on a PC, and I was wondering (since I can't see what decoders are being used for each format in v8) if I should go ahead and loop all of my clips to be of suffucient length and render them all as WMVs, since they have a fairly small filesize and are the most compatible with the windows video decoder?
 
Posted Mon 07 Mar 16 @ 7:22 pm
Ok, so I found out the answer to my initial question is no. So the next question is, does any format not suck?

MP4s load/loop incorrectly
WMVs freeze for awhile every 20-30 seconds
MOVs just outright suck and cant play for 5 seconds without lagging

What do I do?
 
When vdj first released clipbank there was a few problems concerning images where they were loaded as grey, black or even empty square blanks,
at that time I discovered/worked out only rendering video files as hd wmv would always give an image from the video file into it's proper slot in clipbank, so since then I always make my video files in wmv hd 720 and never have any problems for myself or any of the guys that download my stuff have mentioned anything with that format in either playing them or with quality on screen.

As far as I can tell there is not that problem so much in V8, so in your case I would just hang fire before going to the trouble of converting all of your video files, it won't do any harm but you could be giving yourself an unnecessary task.

Simple thing to do would be to input your files into into the video sampler and see which ones don't work and just do the conversion to those, might be an idea to also install k-lite codec pack it's free and just run the standard install option, you don't say which format your converting from, but if your file plays in windows media player I don't see why it shouldn't play in vdj.
 
What size file are you intending to use.
 
That exact problem you are describing in v7 is happening in v8. Sometimes when I load an MP4, the first few frames will be black or a frozen image from the video and it will take 2-3 seconds for the video to actually start playing. WMVs solve that pretty well but they lag terrible in spots if theyre loaded into the deck and theyre practically unuseable as a linked video.

As for filesize, idk. Most of my videos are 10-30 second loops in 720 or 1080. So I can either have VDJ loop them live (unlikely) or render them all as 3-4 min loops. The time difference effects the filesize, so I dont know yet. Also, I need a better way to format my video clips, because some of them can be up to 700mb, which I think is too big for a 4 minute video.
 
Haha, as you've found out size does matter... lol, at 700mb you could be watching a two hour video.

Ok, select a file that you know you are having problems with and convert down to 640x360 HD WMV at either 25 or 30fps, that is my usual settings, quality is normally ok, but it is all down to personal preference when viewing on screen and maybes you may be limited to the quality you can push your preference up to in choice of size and fps, depending on the machine specs you are using.

FYI I regularly use 2-3 minute videos in clipbank without any problems, when trying out test videos on v8 on the desktop I can easily overlay two or three - ten to fifteen second looped videos onto a music video so far without problems.

I still only gig with v7 as some of the features I prefer are not available on v8, even though some of the effects available in v8 are way superior to v7 they still don't compensate for the features that are missing, if you understand what I mean.

Anyways, it would be interesting to hear of your results and I'll keep an eye out for any future posts on the thread.

EDIT Could you describe the sequence you use when saving to the video sampler.
 
Well I do prefer to run 1080p or 720p. I can get 1080 videos that are 2-3 minutes that weigh less than 100mb, I just don't know how to make all of my clips that way.

For playing videos I do 1 of 2 things:

1. Render the loop I have into a 2-3 minute clip. Load it directly onto a deck.

2. Get the original 20-30 second loop and drag it onto the left or right video preview window, a dialog box comes up and I click save. And it automatically loops the video (in a quite poor fashion, usually). The track playing in that deck is always muted, as I like to control the audio from separate decks.
 
mp4 should be fine for that. Perhaps there's something wrong with the settings of your mp4 encoder, so that not enough key frames are encoded for fast seeking?
You can also try to enable the 'useDXVA' option to speed up decoding of videos.
 
I wouldn't doubt there is something wrong with the encoder. Problem is, I have no idea how to confirm that or fix it.
 
I have all mp4s and have no issues. Been usinging virtual dj since conception so 7 & 8. Big secret is your codecs. Definitely download the codec pack. I also highly recommend 'Shark007" codec pack. Both I believe are on downloads.com

Double check your video card is updated etc.

Hope this helps!

JD The DJ
 
I forgot to mention - All the pro video sites - VJ Pro, Promo Only, Xtendamix etc. use MP4's
 
VDJ only uses internal codecs, so no need to download any codec packs since vdj 8.
 
There used to be an option in advanced settings.. ??? and at least if it plays well in microsoft windows media player. Either way I had issues with Virtual downloaded codecs everything fine now.
 
For VDJ 7 yes, for vdj 8 no.
 
it would also been an easy test if your videos play fine in itunes/windows media player you know they are properly ripped/converted
 


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