14b2&b3&b4&b5 windows 7 experience

I've been wrestling with the B2 lite, on w7 (optimized for editing) with an amd 8320 cpu and an nvidia 750ti, 24GB ram, realtek onboard audio. I backed up the database in 12.5 reconnected on 14 and worked on that database for a while until I decided to make a new database and import the project I was working on. It is a short 2 minute rendition of an art gallery event with some attempt to make an elaborate audio mix, it is 4k h264 media (optimized dnxhd) on a hd timeline. First impression, Ram and cpu usage is way lower and the whole system is snappier.

Many bugs and problems, and I will cite a few:

I had to delete and redo optimized media a couple of times, when changing cache location and exporting or renaming project. Rediscovering doesn't seem to do anything.

Timeline name not always sticking in composer window, duplicate timeline does not follow name of timeline duplicated, moving clips on the timeline always ovewrite, cannot make them insert,
I have to click on timeline view options to make it go away. Shift select audio sometimes selects the following clip as well and you have to control click to unselect it.
Double arrow playback control, goes to the beginning of the clip instead of the beginning of the timeline (loop play was selected). Trim tool seems to be inconsistent when there is a gap in the timeline.

Inspector controls and composer window transform controls not responding sometimes, ad hoc.
Render cache not responding ad hoc.


Mixer panel has to be resized continuously. in the audio mixer I cannot enter numerical values. nor in the timeline. audio levels don't seem to update in real time. This doesn't work in Fairlight either.

Cannot find dockable windows, cannot find audio effects in fairlight, maybe it's studio version only.
Performance mode doesn't seem to have an effect.

Versioning does not work in Color page. AT ALL!!!
Reset all nodes does not work, with versions.
rgb value 10bit not working, 8bit source.

Cannot get keyframes to work in Fairlight. I did not dwelve into patching.

With the exception of the inability to make versions, I would not revert to 12.5 yet, as a longtime avid user, this can become a real joy to work on. I hope these aren't windows 7 issues. Not looking forward to upgrade to 10.

Some requests: set play around frame duration in preferences, insert/ ovewrite mode when moving clips. differentiate display names in timeline tracks, second click to move clips on timeline when hovering, save timeline view, deselect thumbnail view when adjusting keyframes. Disk space warning with render cache****.

Either the machine is learning, or I am. Main issue lately has been trying to achieve smooth playback, in order to tweak the final edit.

I can't seem to find the bottleneck. Cpu, gpu, sdd, Ram, are all at 50%, but the playback is still choppy on 1080p timeline with optimized media DNxhrsq at 1/4 of 4k. Even when everything is rendered. blue line, it is still choppy.

The project is less than two minutes long, I have 21 timelines, with minor changes, less than 5 nodes (3 at timeline level, one has an openfx,) plus a couple of speed changes, plenty resizing, and few dissolves. I suppose the problem is my gpu memory, it is only 2GB.

I' ve tried every possible combination of cache optimized resolution, performance mode and rendering, and can't achieve really smooth playback. All flavors of dnx.

Making a new bin and moving media did not work well at all.
I've tried making a new database and importing the project
Uncompressed resolution at 1/16th doesn't seem to work.
Optimized media auto select hangs the app.
Moving clips to new bin crashes app. This isn't working.

I finally uninstalled, cleaned registry and reinstalled the application. Default database, import the previously exported project with a new name. Mounted my media drives. Optimized media location not sticking I Imported the project, it takes ages to load. Stuck at 100%. restart.

New empty project opens instantly.
I am importing project from the file menu with a new name. It worked

Optimized media location has now changed after saving project and restarting the app.
I can make dnxhr sq with auto select resolution - it chooses 1/8,

Suttering almost gone at proxy mode 1/4, presumably until gpu memory is full.
Simple dissolves seem to tax the system a lot. To be fair Both clips have time fx, one is backwards.

I can't seem to get render cache to work. I don't dare switch performance mode on.

I tried disabling LAN because the program seemed to lag even more when resolve processes were calling home.

Helas, Gpu memory drops to 700MB. gpu load at 25% , Jkl smooth as butter, maybe too smooth.

Summing it up, after a lot of juggling databases and project names, long loading times, and trying out various combinations of rendering and optimized media, I can get reasonably smooth playback on a 1080p timeline with UHD MP4 media, if I transcode to dnxhr sq at 1/8th resolution, while playing back proxy mode at a quarter resolution. This apparently keeps gpu memory low enough. my computer is offline, if this makes any difference. The timeline looks like minidv ln full screen mode, but is definitely workable, kind of nostalgic, too.

I am eagerly waiting for the next beta and experiences with the upcoming vega, a naples system seems tempting in the future as well.

some more bugs
avid keyboard mapping A and S key not working
clip duration in edit index not showing
cant see to find a way to make audio waveform bigger.
Pops and scratches while scrubbing audio.

some requests
a simple render in out would be useful
Tc select In out clip duration etc
lift and cut keys

Beta 3 seems very usable for the time being.
New features, and older ones are great.
I am using Clip groups. Fairlight. Play around. Lightbox. Bypass. Jkl. Fx.I really like being able to inspect closely what it is exporting while it is exporting.

updated nvidia driver to 373.06

Bugs or not:
Project takes many minutes to load.
Ram very slowly ramps up, while cpu is working at 10%
Autosave, duplicate timeline also take a while.

If the cache location is on a partition of C, it seems to be a problem.
Revert to saved, doesn't always work.
Could other programs using the network interfere with resolve. I disabled telemetry from firefox and the whole system seems to be more stable, resolve is continually using the network, sending data, could this be eventually user defined in a way?

I have left the cache on c, had some problems importing the project from beta2 and creating a new one, but once this was done I haven't had any other problems with the database.

Also, the database I backed up from 125 seems to work, I have it permanently connected, I checked out some projects and everything seemed to work fine, I didn't do anything fancy. I will be using it to export projects and import them into 14, as needed.


Render cache is usable this way, i find: If you mark in/ out select play in out than it will render in to out.
Apparently if I select user cache, hit play and then stop it will continue to render while I am writing this in a text file, If I simply click on resolve it stops rendering, when I go back to the notepad it continues.

With user cache on, I am marking in to out and selecting play in to out and it loops while it renders, if i hit stop it stops rendering. would be nice to have it render in the background.

However even if everything is rendered at dnxhr lb, and I quit the application, thus freeing up gpu memory, I still don't get real time playback.

The playback indicator shows 25 and a green dot, but it isn't even close to that.
I cannot see where the bottleneck is. Is this a dnxhr issue on amd or w7, only?

Why is it not possible to implement a traditional: "render this, there, wait, and then play it back"?

Versions still seem to get lost and reappear in a haphazard fashion.

Pops and crackles persist even when the sound is turned down in the application.

Nearest gives better results with retiming than optical flow?

I Completed the final tweaks in a three hour session without a crash. I was writing this in a text file while resolve was rendering and delivering mp4. Looks good.

I will post the final video when it is done.

Some requests

I would still like the timeline options to disappear upon moving the mouse out of boundaries, with out having to click. Please add Lift button, or even better, a few customizable buttons.

I think this concludes my posts. I will continue using beta 3 on w7 for the time being. But would probably not start a critical/paid/longer job on it yet. Finally I am not totally convinced that investing in a gpu with more memory, like a used 980, 1070, or the new radeon rx, will solve the issue of no realtime playback when the dot is green and the full framerate is displayed.

Maybe.

"Minimum system requirements for Windows
Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit"

So I returned to the project with the intention of trying out some new ideas, and i cannot open it anymore. The timelines have gone up to 25, I added a still from another project and applied the grade to a group. And I cannot open the project anymore. The size is around 25MB, I tried everything new databases, importing a backup, uninstalling reinstalling, restarting, etc. The project wont open, Ram usage ramps up to 13+ GB, it takes 10 minutes, CPU starts around 30% with all 8 cores, then drops to 12-14% ,loses 4 cores, than is idle, and then nothing. Previously after 5 to 10 minutes the project would load. Of course If I clicked anywhere or tried to open firefox, the resolve process would idle, and I would have to end the task and start over.

I suppose I will now be obliged to go with windows 10.

May it also be an amd FX cpu (8320) on w7 issue, or could it be slow Ram 24GB@1366. I' ll probably wait to try the next beta as well and see.

Could the problem be the number of duplicated timelines?

Back to the drawing board, I managed to load the 24 timeline project with b5, it took ages too load and subsequently stopped loading at all in beta 4. I copy pasted the last timeline into a new project and reset all color nodes, proceeded to with the new picker tools (work great!!).

I am adding some new stuff with a different framerate, and rendering clip source at dnx sq, instead of using optimized media. U wait some to get a blue line, but all cores on my amd 8320@4.3 cpu are working and once its done I get real time playback with very few glitches.

I think you guys are getting there.
This is definitely almost totally operational on my system, thanks.

I know I am clinging desperately on my w7 system, but it feels pretty responsive and comfy.

Dared to play around with the fairlight mixer,a bit without a crash.

Versions are working as well.

some bugs:

changing view option or making the track bigger makes the timeline disappear

lost video playback, in the beginning, it came back with a restart

Some resolve process created a 20 GB text log at some point, after quitting the program, could not open it to see what it said.

I had a problem with memory usage, I have 24GB ram, and use a very small swap file, 128MB, this didn't seem to work well, w7 was running out of memory even though have the ram was free. I upped the page file to 4096GB on a fast drive, and this seems to have solved the problem.

i would suggest you leave your comfort zone and install win 10. it might bring a new set of headaches, but at least you'll be in good company....

yes, it's hard to let go of an old friend i know, but....