Video Breakup

[AJL14]

Hello all. I have an older system, which is still, for the most part, doing a terrific job with EDIUS 3.2. But when editing in HQ (.avi trascoded from .m2t), I'm getting a lot of picture noise and hash. This ONLY occurs simultaneously when the hard drives (2 500 gig Matrox in RAID 0) access the data, which is about once per second - loading enough, I guess, to satisfy the buffer, then accessing again a second or so later. Every time the access LED's on the drives flutter on - the picture hgets noisy - not badly or unrecognizeably - just bothersomely (if that's a word!). In between accesses, the pix is terrific (in Canopus 16x9 - not HD).

I suspect 3 possibilities - and I'd love to hear from you experts. I have a 450W PS, twin AMD 1.6's, Canopus board and a couple other boards.

Possibility #1 - when the discs go into access, it's putting a strain on the PS, crating video glitch!

#2 - Twin AMD 1.6's might be underpowered for a moment while power is used by the seek and transfer.

#3 - the Video card might glitch as the power goes down a bit during disk seek and transfer.

Anyone have some experience at fixing this bothersome malady? Or even guesses from you experts?

Many thanks,
Alan

PS. DO think it's time for a hardware upgrade pretty soon!!!!!!!

[GrassValley_BH]

Hi Alan,

1. How many drives do you have?
2. Possible, but a crash is more likely than just a decode problem
3. Most times you'd lose overlay first

So... a couple more things to check.

• To eliminate #3, check the real-time output to a monitor. If it's scrambled there, then it's no the video card (as it's a parallel and separate output from the hardware output).
• I get the feeling that your RAID is just really fragmented. While there's data in the buffer, decoding happens normally, but once it has to really go to disk for data, it can't grab the data fast enough for proper decoding.
  Try defragmenting the RAID volume, if you haven't already.

There is the slight possibility that either the hardware (if you're using a hardware board) is picking up noise from the HDD data transfer, in which case moving cables around would help.

Otherwise it might be an overlay data transfer problem. Try reducing the size of the overlay and see if that changes things.

[AJL14]

Thanks Brandon, as usual.
1. System drive, the RAID 0 2 500 gigs, Sony DVD-R, Iomega 3.5.
2. The RAID is a newly formatted clean set of discs - unlikely fragmented.
3. I do have a Canopus hardware board handling the decoding. Wll move some cables.
4. Did reduce the size of the picture on the editor screen - and that did help SOME - but I'll get a pair of good glasses and see if the hash and noise is just "smaller".
5. By reducing the size of the overlay - please explain that one to me if different than just the size of the editor pix. How do I reduce the overlay?

Thanks again, Brandon.
Alan

[GrassValley_BH]

Hi Alan,

Hmm, if the RAID volume is newly formatted, then you're right - fragmentation shouldn't be a problem.

So... either something is "clogging" the overlay data transfer, or something else is wrong.

Since you're using a Canopus board, can you check the S-Video or Composite output from the board? That's help to determine whether the problem is with the decoding itself, or just with the on-screen display.

Yes, you're right - by the size of the overlay I meant the size of the on-screen preview.

Also, you can go to the Hardware Settings and if there are multiple Overlay options for your Canopus hardware, try a different mode - you'll need to change modes, close EDIUS, then restart EDIUS for it to take effect.

[AJL14]

We'll give it all a try, Brandon. Thanks for the help. Will get back to you later - it's nearly the weekend now - time for a glass of nice wine!
Have a great weekend.
Best,
Alan

[bigtree]

I think Acronis True Image 10.0 Home is a good choice , just download it at http://www.oursdownload.com/utilities/backup3.html

[Zorro]

Assuming that you use a Raid controller: does the card have an exclusive IRQ? Same question for your Canopus board.

[AJL14]

The IRQ question is a good one - and one I will investigate. Thanks for the hint. My entire system just MIGHT be getting too old to handle HD.
Thanks,
Alan