No preview of DV-AVI with GPU playback option

[RJ Johnston]

In preferences the "enable GPU playback" option is enabled, but that seems to cause the problem stated below:

Any clips on the timeline that don't require rendering in a DV project will not display in the preview monitor during playback. More specifically if there is a green line or no line above clips, the corresponding clip portions will not display in the preview monitor during playback. Only portions of clips under red lines will display during playback.

I discovered that if I undock the monitor, after showing docking headers, and move the monitor "here and there" until an image appears in the monitor, that afterwards the video displays properly during playback. Then I restore the workspace and everything is fine after that until I restart Premiere Elements 8 (trial).

Windows XP Pro SP3
Pentium 4, 3GHz, HT.
nvidia GeForce FX 5500 256MB
1280 x 1024 Windows screen resolution, 75Hz.

[Steve Grisetti]

Uh oh. This is starting to get suspiciously close to voodoo. I sure hope Adobe, Microsoft, Quicktime or whoever gets this thing figured out soon! We can't be having to do all this hooky pook every time we want to edit a little video!

[Bobby]

Welcome to the ... Twilight Zone!

[RJ Johnston]

Now I have preview without voodoo, unless you consider the following voodoo as well.

On the Program Settings tab in the NVIDIA Control Panel, Version 1.5.2400.14, I can add "Adobe Premiere Elements.exe" to the list of applications for which I can customize 3D settings. One of the settings is called Extension Limit.

This is what it says for Extension Limit:

"Description: Extension limit indicates whether the driver extension string has been trimmed for compatibility with particular applications. Some older applications cannot process long extension strings and will crash if extensions are unlimited.

"Typical usage scenarios: If you are using an older OpenGL application, turning this option on may prevent crashing. If you are using a newer OpenGL application, you should turn this option off."

So I turned Extension Limit on, and now I don't have to do any voodoo.

[Chuck Engels]

Excellent troubleshooting once again RJ, where do you find the time for all this investigation?

[RJ Johnston]

Excellent troubleshooting once again RJ, where do you find the time for all this investigation?

I don't watch television, and I eat Cheerios.

[Chuck Engels]

Now that's a healthy lifestyle

[Steve Grisetti]

Robert, you should try eating Cheerios while watching TV. It's awesome!

[RJ Johnston]

Robert, you should try eating Cheerios while watching TV. It's awesome!

I'll just have to try that next year sometime.

[Paul LS]

I always have Cheerios with my beer at breakfast... a champion way to start the day!!!

[Chuck Engels]

Paul, is the beer at room temperature when added to cereal or do you actually chill it when used in that way?

[Paul LS]

We have it at room temperature over here, helps the Cheerios slip down nicely. You know what they say "Beer is so much more than a breakfast drink!!!"...

[Chuck Engels]

I've heard TV commercials that say "orange juice, it's not just for breakfast anymore"
Maybe that should be "Beer" instead

[Svein Berger]

So I turned Extension Limit on, and now I don't have to do any voodoo.

I knew it, Premiere Elements 8 is an old application. Adobe must have Pre8 in a the drawer for a few years, and
detected it by a coincidence...

[Ken Jarstad]

In preferences the "enable GPU playback" option is enabled, but that seems to cause the problem stated below:

Any clips on the timeline that don't require rendering in a DV project will not display in the preview monitor during playback. More specifically if there is a green line or no line above clips, the corresponding clip portions will not display in the preview monitor during playback. Only portions of clips under red lines will display during playback.

I discovered that if I undock the monitor, after showing docking headers, and move the monitor "here and there" until an image appears in the monitor, that afterwards the video displays properly during playback. Then I restore the workspace and everything is fine after that until I restart Premiere Elements 8 (trial).

Windows XP Pro SP3
Pentium 4, 3GHz, HT.
nvidia GeForce FX 5500 256MB
1280 x 1024 Windows screen resolution, 75Hz.

Hi gang. Doing a little research before evaluating PrEl v8 on my new rig and spotted this topic. I have also been researching Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus. There seems to be an issue concerning GPU support and I can't find any definitive answers as to what combination of video cards, drivers and applications will work together properly. For RJ I suspect that the FX 5500 video card is simply too old to properly support GPU playback even with up-to-date drivers. Here is an excerpt from the Magix forum about ATI GPUs:

http://support.magix.net/boards/magix/index.php?showtopic=47544
<Begin quote>
Unified Video Decoder 2
HIS Technology, January 1, 2008

The Unified Video Decoder, previously called "Universal Video Decoder", or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of AVIVO HD technology.

UVD/UVD+

The UVD is based on an ATI Xilleon video processor, incorporated into the same die of the GPU and part of the AVIVO HD for hardware decoding videos, along with the Advanced Video Processor (AVP). The UVD, as stated by AMD, handles decoding of H.264/AVC, and VC-1 video codecs almost entirely in hardware. The decoder meets the performance and profile requirements of Blu-ray and HD DVD, decoding H.264 bitstreams up to a bitrate of 40 Mbit/s. It has context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) support and dual-stream decoding support, which would make picture-in-picture possible.

Unlike video acceleration blocks in previous generation GPUs, which demanded considerable host-CPU involvement, UVD offloads almost the entire video-decoder process for MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264. For example, neither ATI Radeon R520 series' AVIVO nor NVidia Geforce 7 series' PureVideo assist front-end bitstream/entropy decompression in VC-1 and H.264 - the host CPU performs this work.[1] In addition to handling VLC/CAVLC/CABAC, frequency transform, pixel prediction and inloop deblocking, UVD also contains an advanced video post-processing block. Post-processing includes denoising, de-interlacing, and scaling/resizing. AMD has also stated that the UVD component being incorporated into the GPU core only occupies 4.7 mm² in area on 65 nm fabrication process node.

A variation on UVD, called UVD+, was introduced with the Radeon HD 3000 series. UVD+ support HDCP for higher resolution video streams. But UVD+ was also being marketed as simply UVD.

UVD 2

The UVD saw a refresh with the release of the Radeon HD 4800 series products. The UVD 2 features full bitstream decoding of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 video streams, and in addition it also supports dual video stream decoding and Picture-in-Picture mode. This makes UVD2 full BD-Live compliant.

UVD 2.2

The UVD 2.2 features a re-designed local memory interface and enhances the compatibility with MPEG2/H.264/VC-1 videos. However, it was marketed under the same alias as "UVD 2" as the "special core-logic, available in RV770 and RV730 series of GPUs, for hardware decoding of MPEG2, H.264 and VC-1 video with dual-stream decoding". The nature of UVD 2.2 being an incremental update to the UVD 2 can be accounted for this move.

Codename Product Name UVD Version
RV770 Radeon HD 4800 Series UVD 2
RV730 Radeon HD 4600 Series UVD 2
RV710 Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series UVD 2.2
RV670 Radeon HD 3800 Series UVD+
RV635 Radeon HD 3600 Series UVD+
RV620 Radeon HD 3400 Series UVD+
RV630 Radeon HD 2600 Series UVD
RV610 Radeon HD 2400 Series UVD
<End quote>

This is the most revealing posting I can yet find on GPU support - and it only refers to ATI cards. Would I assume the most useful card purchase would be one with the RV710 codename? And is it supported by either PrEl v8 or MEP 15+? Are the drivers still in a state of flux - as to how they are supposed to interact with various applications - games vs video editing? Comments?