Who else misses the Change Preview settings axed from the newest versions?

[The Stranger]

I love VideoPad. It's simple, yet loaded with features. After using an older free version for some time, I purchased my first licenced copy today after briefly trying out the trial of v7.30 . I should have paid more attention to the changes before paying i think. Though most of the features are still intact (and a bunch of new features that have some cool potential), I can't help but notice the "Change Preview Settings" are gone, replaced by an array of slightly confusing aspect ratio options. What seems like a minor change can have a huge impact on the usability of this software. 

The truth (i think): VideoPad is for amateurs. That's not a bad thing. Far from it. There's something about this software that keeps me coming back. It's easy to learn and use, has lots of neat features and isn't more complicated than it needs to be.

Another truth: Amateurs never have great gear. I love VideoPad because (until recently) I could scale down my video clips to a resolution that this amateur could live with... that my amateur gear could work with... in order to make my amateur videos.... on software geared at amateurs. Before you say, "have you tried proxy editing?", please stop. VideoPad had it right before with the Change Preview Settings which allowed us to tailor the program towards our CPU limitations. (As any amateur knows, video editing is a CPU heavy endeavour.) Though proxy editing no doubt works, something about it feels wrong. I shouldn't have to prepare my media so that my software can handle it, especially when older versions had that flexibility built in, flexibility that I found essential to being able to create accurate projects. Was there a good reason for axing this feature? If not, BRING IT BACK so I can love VideoPad again and continue to use it! Otherwise, I might as well chuck my cheap gear in the trash, go to film school legit - with all the best gear - and make my same synonymous with Spielberg....😆 but I'd rather use VideoPad for some elusive reason I'll never understand.

I read on another thread that registered customers receive free updates for six months after purchase. What about older versions? I've seen other posts where customers are begging for access to older versions. I understand why this isn't possible. With a one licence/one computer policy,  giving current customers full access to past versions would allow them to have multiple copies (albeit different versions) of the software that they could in theory share with others. I suppose the solution is to give potential customers access to all the older trial versions and allow them to purchase the one they like best. The alternative is to have to read posts like this, complaining blindly to the internet, hoping for the improvements in the next update. 

There's no way to please everyone all the time and so we struggle on. VideoPad is without a doubt improving. New effects, GPU acceleration, cleaner interface... but there's a reason so many amateurs love it: Does anyone else miss the Change Preview Settings for caching in low resolution?  We all want a faster CPU with more cores, more RAM, dedicated GPU ad infinitum, but in the meantime there's VideoPad! Don't forget the professional amateurs!

(And if it isn't unbearably obvious, I cast my humble vote for bringing back the Change Preview Settings in VIdeoPad!)

[FlyingNando SV]

Am with you all the way, and think we need to keep making posts like this till the issues are resolved

In my case had an old laptop, with V5.03, and there video Pad worked perfect, just that the laptop was old and as my editing became more complex, the laptop became an issue, so bough a new gaming laptop to cope with editing of 4k footage 

With this came the loading of the new version 7.33 and the startof all the issues,  as in my opinion it is full of bugs

Keeping in mind that I used the old version for around 2 years with no issues or bugs, it soon became apparent that something  is not right with the new version

[borate]

Voice your concerns to the developers by clicking the chevron at the top-right of the VP interface and choosing the appropriate option.  They do read the suggestions and bug reports.

The missing PV res options are related to processing of aspect ratios and effects.  This was revamped for the better in recent releases.

Caching has been considerably improved.  Allow the green bar above the sequence to fully complete.  Once that's done the files are quickly accessible, and editing should be fluid - in many cases without the need for proxy files...

Proxy editing, also known as offline editing, is a technique used in video editing to make large files more manageable. You essentially create low-quality copies of your high-quality raw footage, then use those low-quality “proxy files” during the editing process.  It is commonly utilized with higher-end editing systems.

Old versions are available here.

[Ivan187]

Even after all this time I still haven't updated from v7.03, because every version from that point on has made things more complicated.

[The Stranger]

Thanks for the suggestion borate. I've left some feedback with the developers. I think i can safely pull my tongue back out of my cheek for now. 😏

Before I updated to the newest version, I took a few minutes to check out the changes and liked everything i saw other than the preview settings. I guess we all get used to doing things a certain way. I recently upgraded my computer, as FlyingNando did, (despite my self-proclaimed amateurism) so I'm confident this won't be a huge issue for me going forward, though if i hadn't upgraded my gear it would have been, and I'd definitely have to use an older version that has this feature. I'd still like to see the feature returned just for that extra flexibility. If I'm doing something complex with many effects, it's always nice to have the option to lighten the burden on the CPU. I feel for anyone who's stuck in the middle, as I once was, watching in horror as the CPU graph grinds the top of the screen at 100%, blood pressure boiling, eyes locked in fury at the buffering/creating preview message. Let the developers know if you need this feature people!

[borate]

Very good.  When loading, allow the green caching line to complete, as suggested earlier.  Proxy editing is an alternative that you might want to explore when dealing with HD large files.

[c_major]

Thanks for bringing up this issue. This is a very interesting poll.

I'd like to clarify that the reason that effects now being applied shower is not because of removing preview options.

In order to maximize output (including preview and export) quality, some of the effects must be applied before the video being down sized. For example if you zoom in a 4k video to 400% and output a HD(1k) video, the result should has no detail lost.

We will work on optimizing the pipeline for non-resolution sensitive effects. 

If many users are requesting lower preview resolution for performance reason - even that means lower preview quality, we will provide option for something like automatic proxy editing.

 

[The Stranger]

Thanks for considering this. I think it really comes down to what users need from Videopad. In my case, I don't mind using a low quality preview if it means getting a preview in real time. (which is unfortunately a choice people with old, slow equipment have to make) A real time preview is more important to me than a high quality preview. I use a lot of effects which I try to lay on the tracks at the latest possible stage after I get the core of the project together. This helps. But seeing the preview in real time is essential to comedic projects because timing is so important in making a joke work. If the joke sits too long or is cut short it can be disastrous. Even a fraction of a second can really affect if a joke lands properly. Getting the flow right and hitting the comedic "beats" is top priority. If I weren't using many effects and working with large blocks of video I doubt this would be much of a concern. Thanks again for looking at this.

[c_major]

We've applied some changes such that preview can be played in real time without cache but with lower quality (for some effects).

The cache would still be generated from original video if needed.

When the cache finish the preview will automatically switch to high quality.

This change will be applied to the next release.

[Mickets]

I arrived here specifically because of the [missing] Preview Options (which, by the way, are still listed on this page at NHC Software.

Let me give some context.

I used VideoPad once about 5 years ago, on someone else's computer, and liked it a lot. That was a high-end computer. At home, I still have an older computer (I'm sorry but we really can't afford a new one now). I've edited videos on it for years, mostly using PowerDirector, which is quite good. But the new versions of PowerDirector are just too much for this old computer.

So I remembered about VP, decided to give it a go, and... it performed quite better than PowerDirector. So I went ahead and purchased it.

But surprise: unlike the old version I used years ago, today I found that the Preview Options aren't there. Search NHC Software site, which says they are there (link above). But now I find this topic.

The new methods of caching, the using proxies (which I already did, but didn't know it had a name) are good, but they're not enugh. On my computer the Preview always lags, even with proxies and even waiting to buffer. When I preview, the "buffering..." message pops-up always. I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that for this specific video, I increased the speed of the clip almost 8x (I tried many ways of increasing the speed or exporting every 8th frame via FFMPEG but it never worked).

So in short, IMHO there should be still be the option to decrease the quality of the preview. Despite the aforementioned improvements, this option, I believe, will help those with older computers like mine.

Thanks

Edited October 20, 2019 by Mickets
I forgot to mention that the Preview lags, even after caching and using proxies.

[c_major]

Hi Mickets,

Thanks for the feedback.

Could you please let us know the version of VideoPad you are using and the specification of your computer?

Thank you.

 

[borate]

Go to OPTIONS|EDITING menu and toggle the Hardware Acceleration item to the other state, to see if that has an impact.

It would also be helpful if others could see and run the project - on both low-and high-end PCs.  Please share it in full, or a segment that displays the buffering issue...

Here's how...  http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/

If it contains sensitive material you can link it in a personal message (PM) to me, via the envelope above.  Be sure to FILE|SAVE PORTABLE PROJECT AS, not simply SAVE PROJECT, and don't forget to share it.

[Mickets]

On 10/20/2019 at 8:23 PM, c_major said:

Hi Mickets,

Thanks for the feedback.

Could you please let us know the version of VideoPad you are using and the specification of your computer?

Thank you.

 

System:

Dell Optiplex 740, AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ 2.20 GHz, 8GB RAM, 64-bit Windows 7 (it won't upgrade to 10...)

VideoPad 7.34 (purchased just the other day)

[Mickets]

On 10/20/2019 at 9:05 PM, borate said:

Go to OPTIONS|EDITING menu and toggle the Hardware Acceleration item to the other state, to see if that has an impact.

It would also be helpful if others could see and run the project - on both low-and high-end PCs.  Please share it in full, or a segment that displays the buffering issue...

Here's how...  http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/

If it contains sensitive material you can link it in a personal message (PM) to me, via the envelope above.  Be sure to FILE|SAVE PORTABLE PROJECT AS, not simply SAVE PROJECT, and don't forget to share it.

Interesting... I resumed my PC from sleep, ran VP (which opened almost instantly - very different from PowerDirector I must say), and opened the project. This is the one using the proxy. And disabled the hardware acceleration option.

The preview was instantly much better. So then I enabled hardware acceleration again to check, and... the preview is still quite better. 

So now I'm puzzled if it's all to do with disabling hardware acceleration or if there's something to do with closing VP completely and opening it again.

 

Regarding testing on other computers: are we eligible to install on a second computer? I have an ASUS T100 tablet running Windows 10. In one way it's better than this PC, while in many others it has its limitations (it won't run PD, for instance). Or I could check if I can try on a relative's PC.

I'll look in to sending a snippet, but that might take a few days as this week I'm really busy.

 

THanks

 

[borate]

Hard to say why performance improved.  It's wise to Clear Unused Cache Files, under OPTIONS|DISK when first starting to edit a project.

Then let the cache load fully before previewing.  Reloading, if the project is still in cache, should be relatively speedy.

Rebooting occasionally isn't a bad idea.  If you get the time, do share part or all of your project - for analysis.

[Mickets]

On 10/20/2019 at 9:05 PM, borate said:

Go to OPTIONS|EDITING menu and toggle the Hardware Acceleration item to the other state, to see if that has an impact.

It would also be helpful if others could see and run the project - on both low-and high-end PCs.  Please share it in full, or a segment that displays the buffering issue...

Here's how...  http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/

If it contains sensitive material you can link it in a personal message (PM) to me, via the envelope above.  Be sure to FILE|SAVE PORTABLE PROJECT AS, not simply SAVE PROJECT, and don't forget to share it.

OK, so I had a chance to export the project as a portable version and try it on another computer, a high-end i7 running Windows 10, and with 32GB RAM. The only thing is that the version of video pad was an earlier version and it was unable to import the project I had exported. Nevertheless, I started a new project with the same video files.

The performance of the preview is outstandingly better, even when using the full video files (not the proxies). But that's what I expected: it's a really high-end computer.

But going back to my older Athlon 64... I had since rebooted the computer, and re-opened the project using the proxies. I must say I can't complain, it worked pretty well. Sure, some lag, but less than I had originally mentioned (I also disabled HW acceleration as recommended). I rendered the project (and uploaded it here - in case anyone is interested in tortoises...). I also worked on another quick project.

Comparing VideoPad to PowerDirector... moving from PD to VP is like moving from water to wine. VP opens almost instantly, all steps are pretty smooth and fast even on my old PC. I wish I had checked on VP years ago... I wouldn't have left so many uncompleted projects (Hmmmm... my wife might ask me about our 2012 vacation video....).

Thanks for all of the support and for a great piece of software. Keep it good and working with the older computers!

 

Michael

[borate]

Definitely a Holiday For Strings!  Wasn't Max on Dancing With the Stars? 🤣

[Nationalsolo]

Oh!   Let him in!      Let him in!     😀

With regard to the preview and the "Buffering" message. I use a Vista machine with pretty much the same specs as your own. In general this works OK but testing a few things associated with Aspect ratio recently I noticed that if you alter the sequence preview to show a different AR, a clip which previously played OK in preview will now show frequent, sometimes very short regular  "Buffering" messages. This might not occur with a faster PC but I think it's something to bear in mind. For maximum speed it;s probably best to select Match content. for the preview screen.

Nat