[closed] Serious Issues...

[Matt]

Mike, first let me start by saying, I really like the look of the product, and I'm interested in seeing where it goes in the future.

In trying your software large in part due to a Cali Lewis recommendation, I have to say I'm very disappointed, and am curious as to how anyone could reasonably use this product for production work.

I'm the co-host of a video podcast with over 100,000 viewers per episode, and wouldn't use this even for live event streaming.

First let's start with the specs of two test machines.

Box 1
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
2GB RAM
2TB Hard Disk
8600GT
XP SP3

Box 2
Intel Core2 Duo E6600 @ 3.0Ghz
4GB RAM
2x 150GB 10,000RPM WD Raptor Drives in RAID0
8800GT
XP SP3

In testing the latest release on both of these machines we experienced the exact same issues both times.

1) Previewing the cameras works great, is smooth and flawless. However during recording, and when looking at the preview monitor for the master output, the display and recording is extremely jagged, and inconsistent. There are constant "hiccups" in the recording, and in the preview monitor.

2) When recording , CPU percentage is at 26% and memory utilization is at a meager 400MB out of 2 & 4 gigabytes. I see you've answered some other questions related to performance as your potential customer's computers being to blame. But I can assure you, both of these systems were not taxed, and both were fresh installs of your latest version.

3) Upon playback, the quality of the recording is absolutely horrendous. There are digital artifacts everywhere, and in addition the "hiccups" viewed in the preview monitor are recorded to disk as well. Switching cameras leads me to believe that there are no key frames in the recordings.

These are the 3 glaring issues I've encountered in my 10 minutes of playing around with the software. Aside from missing menu options, (or a complete lack of options I should say) these are issues that MUST be resolved in order for VidBlaster to be taken seriously as a contender in the production / live broadcasting market.

I encourage you to contact me should you have any questions about my findings or would like me to test changes you make to the software in an attempt to resolve these issues.

Best Regards,
Matt

[Mike]

Hi Matt,

Obviously the program is not supposed to work like this so there's a problem with both your PCs, most likely they share a common app, driver or codec (package) that messes things up. Unfortunately Windows video system is very complicated and very open, so it is easy for any program to mess it up. Finding what's wrong can be a long and tedious program, but looking for common factors between the two machines is a good start. Also consider the camera you are using, is that a common factor? It won't be the first time I see a USB or firewire port having severe problems the moment CPU goes up. Try a different camera. Of course make sure to start from the ground up, i.e. NO camera (use a clip) and later one camera.

I'm sure if you have patience we can figure out where the problem is, but it may take some time. Be sure to also try the next version, it has a built-in CPU Usage monitor. Just in case..

PS: moving this thread to bug reports.