Hi there

Nice shirts as always...

But I have a problem with "LibraryRightPanel.mov". Quicktime and iTunes on OS X 10.5 hang immediately and do not respond anymore after opening or adding the file. Strangely, I can watch it with QuickLook (the space bar thingy when the file is selected in Finder...).

Every other file I've downloaded so far plays nicely.

Someone else with the same problems?

Thanx

rugydp

Yes, I have the exactly same problem and bless you sir for pointing out that
"Quick Look" (on Macs) will play the segment (I don't think I would have tried that if
you hadn't mentioned it) - thanks!

I will re-encode that video and re-upload it, however it will not be done until this coming weekend. I will post here when it is replaced.

Thank you, Chris

On my Macs it takes about 30-40 seconds before it loads and starts to play in Quicktime Player. During that time, QT Player is unresponsive.

Interesting, I waited about 2 minutes before killing Quicktime Player. I tried many times. Even bigger files opened flawlessly in a few seconds.

*** Sorry, doublepost!! My browser got stuck ***

I just tried again and it somtimes it helps to double-click on the file again. My MacBook Pro opens the file in about 40 seconds but on my G5 it's more like the double.

Chris, I seem to have the same problem with file number 29 - Print. I tried what francois suggested, and after about 4 minutes it was added to iTunes' film list. I then changed some information as I want all LL videos listed as TV shows in iTunes. Every access or change to those two files takes about 4 minutes for me.

I tried to save the file to a new location with Quicktime but it stops exporting after 4 minutes and 4 kb data written.

I would really like to know what causes this. And it would be great to have the files as separate downloads so we don't have download the full .zip files?

cheers

Ditto the file #29-Printing. Takes extremely long for Quicktime to play it, although most times it will. Curiously, its the only title that doesn't have the underscore in it.

--Dave

More bad news:

I just took a chilled beer out of my fridge, home alone, free time for THE tutorial on my big TV screen at last. I'm used to watching the LL stuff with Apple's Front Row on my MacMini (no keyboard or mouse attached...).
And I'm afraid to tell you that all movies that have index or chapter markers (or whatever they are called) are not playing smoothly (I don't know the right english word for it, but you know what I mean). iTunes is even worse. Quicktime is okay.

So now I have to attach a mouse and get up from my comfy chair after every movie and start the next one in quicktime... what a royal PITA

Why I know that it is because of the chapter markers? The introduction and wrap-up play nicely... but it's the in between that I'm interested in.

I tend to blame Apple for this not LL. I think that's fair. ;-) Why can Quicktime play it but not iTunes an FrontRow? What's wrong here?

Cheers, I'll get another beer...

The files are designed for QT Player not for Apple TV or other device. You need to encode the files properly for use on an Apple TV via iTunes if that is what you are doing. All this has been covered extensively on the FAQ

Interesting that there have been these playback problems reported - and a couple of others by email. Anecdotally, it seems that G4 Macs are more affected (perhaps exclusively?) than Intel machines.

The H264 codec used for the video encoding is a CPU & RAM hog, that is for sure. So...

The best that I can suggest for Mac users is to reboot the computer (which I know you have done...) and then boot QuickTime Player as the first and only app running, then try to open the videos from within QT Player.
If you still have problems, boot Activity Monitor (in your Utilities folder) and check to see what the CPU & memory usage is. In theory, there should be very little else going on other than QT Player; if there is, it should be recognisable what else is hogging your CPU & RAM.

I will re-encode these few files on the weekend. Unfortunately there is no way to get them to you other than through the full packaged zip files of your order.

Chris

Ah, ok. Thank you for clarifying this. Is this new for the Lightroom 2 tutorial? I didn't have problems watching your other tutorials and video journals with Front Row (and I bought all of them). It was always a very pleasing experience to watch it right after download. Re-encoding will take some more hours, but yes, at least it's an automatic process I can run through the night.

Thanx a lot Chris.

I just watched the first part and it's just great work as always. High quality, funny and interesting.

Greetings to all of you and I'm looking forward to LLVJ 18 ;-)

Hmmm...I just tried #29 Print on iTunes and it paused, thought about it for a while and then played just fine. My guess is that on older machines, a file this size might overwhelm the CPU/RAM but on Intel it seems to work fine.

Chris- Note from my signature that I'm using a rather new MacPro Intel. I've not had the problem with any of the other segments that I've tried. Be that as it may, I would suggest that you might want to include anote somewhere on the download site when and which segments have been re-encoded.

Thanks-

Have you tried to play the files with VLC (here) instead of Quicktime Player? When I triy to open the problematic file (#4), it opens instantly, even on an old G4 iMac.

Thanks Francois - sometimes I should follow my own FAQ advice
VLC Player works very well with the files - the only thing missing is the Chapter markers.

You're welcome Chris. VLC is an often forgotten application.

I've also tried to play file No.4 (Right Panel) in Quick Time nothing happens.

3.06Ghz iMac......... However in preview it play's fine.

as suggested above, use VLC Player available free here

Yes, I would but the download keeps timing out...........

and I have a very fast connection,

maybe there servers are just being hit hard by all the people trying to view file number 4......

There seem to many files that the picture is frozen but the sound is fine.
Will this be fixed as well.
I am using Quicktime Pro and never had a problem before.
I am using a pc.
Thanks
Wayne

VLC Player which is a free program will likely sort out the problem

Same here - sound is fine but the picture doesn't follow ie frozen. I've been fiddling, like quitting Quick Time and reopening it etc.. Still, doesn't solve the problem. Plus, VLC player doesn't work on my G4/10.4.11.

I think I have pretty much established that there is indeed a problem playing these files on some older Mac G4s. For most people on Intel the files will play (if with occasional problems). I am working on a solution or workaround as I write this.
BTW VLC player comes in two Mac flavours: an Intel version and a PPC version, make sure you have the right version; one will not work on the other's machine
Chris Sanderson

yes Chris, you were right I had the wrong version - Now I have installed the right one/power pc version and it doesn't run either!!! pictures are partially scrambled (like pay per view that you don't pay)... so I'll wait for your workaround many thanks.

I am now 99% certain that the files are just overwhelming the G4 with their size/resolution. I believe the solution is likely to be that we publish an 'SD' version at a considerably smaller size either 960 x540 (probably still too big), 854 x 480 (reasonable) or 720 x 406 (starting to get iffy in terms of reading the small LR UI text). I am working on this and will let you know what my plans finally are.

In any event, it is going to take me a few days to complete all the re-encoding, so it is likely there will not be a proper solution until Monday, Aug 3rd at the earliest.

My apologies to those who have had problems - mea culpa. I let the good looks of the higher resolution get away from older machines...

Chris Sanderson

960 x540 IS still too big - the G4 croaks
854 x 480 plays OK and you can just read the small UI type - so that looks like the one that will go... one more test and I will make a decision...

748 x 420 plays fine on my old 667MHz G4 PowerBook - (although if you do anything else the frame rate slows). So that's the resolution we'll go with - 854 started to stutter eventually.

748 x 420 also imports into iTunes fine. I should be able to publish it by Monday and it will go up on the Store as a Standard Definition version. Anyone who has bought the original and cannot play it will be able to get a coupon to download the beast free of course.

I am hoping & reasonably confident that this will also solve the scattered problems that other OS & machines have had with playback

Chris

I would really appreciate to have a SD version. I just had a look at the "Camera Raw" and the "From Capture to Print" files. They are only 640 x 360 and I was even happy with that resolution. I think 854 x 480 would be a good compromise.

Thank you for listening.

...and still, enjoy your weekend

I have decided to go smaller yet for the SD - back to the 640 x 360 size. I was breaking a compression 'rule' that says that each dimension should be divisible by 8

I have had to exercise a little 'triage' in the replacement of the #4 & #29 files. More people (about a dozen) have had problems overall with the files, so my first priority is to get an alternative SD product into the Store. I plan to replace the original (HD) files #4 & #29 as soon as I have encoded the 40 SD files - should be sometime in the next 72 hours - thanks for your patience. I will make a post here when those two files are replaced.
Chris S

I have just replaced the first zip package of files named LR2_00-04.zip. Within that package the only file that has been revised is #4 Library Right Panel.

I would appreciate it if someone who had problems with this file can tell me if the new one has made a difference to play-ability

Chris

Chris,
On my Mac, the newly encoded file is opened instantly and plays smoothly. I tested on an old dual G5. The original file took between 30 seconds on 1 minute as I mentionned in my previous post.
Thanks for the re-encoding!

Many thanks Francois!

I have also now replaced the big #29 Print

Let's hope the same applies.

I have had one complaint about # 21 - any others?

Well, #29 was also slow to open but #21 was fine.

Francois, I wonder if you could do me another favour?... if you have QuickTime Player Pro.

Make a duplicate copy of the new # 29; open it in QT Player, do a Command J (show attributes), you will see four tracks; select the Text track (the chapters) and hit the Delete button top left; Save the movie with an appropriate name. Quit QuickTime Player and then try the new chapterless-file again and tell me if it still is slow to load or if perhaps it is the Chapters track that is making the file a 'problem child'.
Chris

This is it. It makes not only file # 29 open as fast as it should. Deleting the text track on each file makes them play in pristine quality in FrontRow on my MacMini streamed from my iTunes library on the G5 PowerMac over WLAN. Even with the 1280 x 720 resolution. That's great.

Chris, for me all problems are solved. Thank you very much.

I've given up on staring at frozen images... waiting for SD versions tomorrow.

Hmmm... The only reason I use .mov files instead of the more universally playable .mp4 is the damned chapter markers for use navigating through a tutorial.

Makes me wonder if in fact Chapters are worthwhile at all or if rather a more detailed accompanying Table of Contents would not be better.... thoughts anyone?

Chris,
I'm sorry but I was out for dinner, but rugydp handled your request.

IMO, ditching the chapter markers won't hurt anybody and it makes playback smoother.

A detailed table of content is enough for my needs. I think if we get so many files per tutorial, which is a good thing, those files don't need more fine grained chapters.

A Standard Definition version of LL Guide to LR2 is now available here
If you have already purchased - you can get a coupon from customerservice@luminous-landscape.com

and I believe most gremlins of the original version have been banished to the bowels of the 'net...

I have used the Chapter Markers seldom so far, but when needed for reviewing a specific topic, online markers are really handy.
Nevertheless an equivalent Table of contents with annotated timings would be OK too.

I have yet another theory about the dreaded chapter markers that have caused problems....

Should you have the interest and have QuickTime Pro, open one of the original files with Chapter Markers that has been causing grief.

Then,
- do a Command J (show attributes), you will see four tracks
- select the Text track (the chapters) and Uncheck the little checkbox toward the bottom of the window that says 'Cache'
- Save the movie.
- Quit QuickTime Player and then try the file again to see if it works better.

Somehow this little checkbox (which is certainly not needed for regular playback) has become checked and I have a sneaking suspicion about its role in the playability of longer files with more markers

I started downloading the SD versions, and 15-22.zip and 23-27.zip failed to decompress themselves. I'm downloading one at a time. I tried the second time and failed again .... what can I do now? I am on MAC G4 (yes, 'older' machine) but normally decompression happens automatically - in fact up to 11-14.zip it was all fine.

It is possible that the uploads or your downloads were scrozzled. Bear with me while I see if there are any other complaints. If so, I will have to take the files down and spend a few hours uploading again...

Thank you Chris... I tried to open them with free softwares like Zipeg in vain.
In the meantime, 28-29.zip went fine. And 30-35.zip also, so most probably those two/15-22, 23-27 are the ones.

umm.... does that mean I am the only one having problems with those two zips?
I tried again both (separately) without any success.
Well, I'm still watching no.5 anyways.