NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/graphics/2330

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 5.4 KB

Path: news.mel.aone.net.au!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Mark P Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: VLAB Motion/MovieShop "Data Transfer Phase Error"?
Date: 23 Mar 1996 12:38:25 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
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On 22-Mar-96 01:31:55, Michael Martin wrote:

>>Sorry about the sheer bulk of this post, but any help with the following
>>queries would be much appreciated:

>>1) Does anyone know what aspect of the data transfer phase produces the
>>"Data Transfer Phase Error" of MovieShop's vmotion.library?

 MM> Yes and I'm using an A4000 buster 11 and a Fastlane ZIII.

 MM> If you get any good answers to this, please let me know or post them
 MM> publicly.

I have had no "definitive" (ie., MovieShop specific) replies, but there
are a couple of points to note:

 1) Never use the same drive for both video & audio, no matter how fast
    the HD is. I was using (until I could rearrange my partitions) the
    ATLAS for both video & audio, since it's data rates outperform the
    VLAB/Zorro II bus by about 3 or 4 to 1 (6.2MB/sec create/write,
    9.4MB/sec read). Changing this arrangement, however, seems to have
    immediately stopped the "Data Transfer Phase Error" during playback,
    though I still very occasionally see it at other times (I suspect poor
    VLAB initialisation in these cases).

 2) Obviously, termination issues must be sorted out correctly. IMO, this
    does not necessarily mean theoretically "correct" termination, but
    a termination scheme that works. Experimentation is the key here,
    using correct theory as the guideline. I mention this simply because
    my A3000T SCSI does not always like "correct" termination. The WARP
    Engine seems fairly predictable though.

As far as strange audio problems are concerned, I've at least confirmed
I'm not the only one. Odd phenomena range from audio being re-arranged and
becoming out of sync with the video, requiring re-digitising and editing
(for me, this has occurred after a re-org), to the audio partition
mysteriously and suddenly showing 100% full. I've also noticed that the
figures presented in the audio re-org requester are always out of whack.

I have also, on two or three occasions, had entire Groups disappear from
the scene list. This has happened when I am inside one group, I have done
something I cannot now recall (but just a normal and common action), and
find that the parent gadget is suddenly ghosted. The second time this
happened I found the "root" gadget to still be active, and using it took
me to the root alright, but all other groups that were originally in the
root had disappeared (only the one I was working on at the time remained).
MovieShop desperately needs a recovery scheme implented, that will scan
partitions and re-create a project file from the data found. The project
file is an extremely vulnerable file, and needs better security or
recovery capabilities.

I have intermittent problems with some effects (refuse to parse and
crash MovieShop, even though the timeline check has OK'ed the
arrangement), that are then also difficult to remove from the timeline
without crashing MovieShop again. Once they are removed (after much
experimentation as to which to remove first etc) and the project resaved,
it's often possible to start again from scratch without any problems. I
suspect a bad prefs or project file is responsible for this behaviour, but
cannot know for sure.

I also still can't work out why adding a 1 minute audio sample to an
existing 12 minute soundtrack, makes the entire 12 minute video unstable.
The first time it happened, the problem also disappeared two days later,
just as quickly as it arrived. This second time has been more persistent
(or pernicious). I've exhausted every avenue I can think of (including
equipment external to the VLAB) in trying to remedy this one, with no
difinitive result to date.

 MM> ps.  you might want to foreward this to [e-mail]. He is the
 MM> tech support person at Draco Systems who makes and distributes the
 MM> vlab motion.

 MM> He does tech support.  I meant to do this regarding my errors but
 MM> didn't get around to explaining it as clearly as this.

I have heard for some time now that MacroSystem are going to initiate a
"proper" support mechanism via the net and/or BBS services, but it has
not materialised as yet. IMO this is an absolute requirement. We need a
public forum for the discussion of all aspects of VLAB Motion usage, and
technical support from the company. We also need faster access to upgrades
and bug-fixes.

IMO, MacroSystem and it's agents have not taken enough interest in VLAB
users in general, as evidenced by the lack of any presence anywhere on the
net. Combine this with zero support in Austraia, and negligible English
documentation after the 2.1 manual (after all this time, the help system
is still only available in German!), and I'm feeling like they'd better
pull their socks up if they want me to buy any more of their products. I
feel left out in the cold, and every time I plea for help in public forums
I get replies from equally desperate VLAB users. Both the product and us,
the users, deserve better than this IMO.

<ooops, soapbox mode off>

Regards,

         Mark

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