Just tried on my rev. B 12" PB... I'd say the same as Torifile. Sound seems to stutter notably on window scrolling in Safari, and minimizing windows. Switching apps would cause a very temporary stutter.
Just tried on my rev. B 12" PB... I'd say the same as Torifile. Sound seems to stutter notably on window scrolling in Safari, and minimizing windows. Switching apps would cause a very temporary stutter.
What OS are you running?
I'm starting to think that some of the PowerBooks have sound issues -- because I can record just fine on my 15" PowerBook.
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
I hadn't noticed it before... when I was trying to record things from Quicktime, I never did anything else while it was recording, so I didn't notice an audio stutter. I didn't think about trying to record a screen with iTunes playing in the background.
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
We've heard of it for some people on the 12" as well as the 17" PowerBooks. The weird thing is that it does not happen to everyone.
Are you running with your monitor set to Thousands, or Millions? If not Millions, try switching into that mode. Also, what video card is in your machine?
It's possible that your computer is just overloaded -- do you have much RAM in the machine? Many applications running? If it is low on RAM, and virtual memory starts swapping things in/out to disk, that could account for it.
We've heard of it for some people on the 12" as well as the 17" PowerBooks. The weird thing is that it does not happen to everyone.
Are you running with your monitor set to Thousands, or Millions? If not Millions, try switching into that mode. Also, what video card is in your machine?
I'm running with monitor set to Millions (I found that Thousands caused problems, as you noted before)... the Graphics in the 12" Rev. B PB is a Geforce 5200FX, 32MB DDR.
I'm running with monitor set to Millions (I found that Thousands caused problems, as you noted before)... the Graphics in the 12" Rev. B PB is a Geforce 5200FX, 32MB DDR.
okay... but how much RAM is in your computer? And do you have lots of applications open that may be using up a good amount of RAM, thus causing VM to kick in? Also are you running any CPU intensive programs at the time of the video capture?
Finally, just a sanity check -- you DON'T have the "Smoother (but more CPU-intensive) video capture" checkbox checked, right?
Ah, that might be it then... probably something to do with VM and swaps. I guess I have 512MB, but about 12MB is free (I do have several apps open, though none are CPU intensive, just things like chat programs, text editors), so I assume some memory swapping would cause the lags while switching programs.
Scrolling, minimizing, and Expose do appear to cause notable audio stutters (but the video's fine), so I'm guessing maybe the Window Server?
And I did not check the option for smoother but more CPU intensive capture.
I'll try restarting and see how it acts with just iTunes playing and a couple finder Windows.
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
Are not the 12" Powerbooks the only ones that have the popping sound issue when awaken from sleep? It could be some hardware peculiarity of this specific model.
Are not the 12" Powerbooks the only ones that have the popping sound issue when awaken from sleep? It could be some hardware peculiarity of this specific model.
I've done some testing and it appears that this issue is solved by plugging in a pair of headphones or speakers and then unplugging them. I think it's more a physical hardware problem than a technical one (if that makes any sense). So I don't think that the system is affected in any way by it.
The video captures actually look quite good, except for the sound stuttering. The second video seems near-flawless. Does it only happen when playing a song in iTunes? What about other audio sources, like playing an audio file in QuickTime player? Also what about playing a CD (not an mp3) from itunes?
Also, what framerate are you trying to record? Whatever it is, drop it down a few notches. You definitely do not need to record at 30fps for everything -- the movies end up being too large to realistically put on the Internet, unless you compress them very highly.
Basically, it looks to me like the window server does things at a higher priority than your sound providing task, and add Snapz Pro X capturing to the mix, and it is enough to starve the sound provider. I bet you can probably make your sound stutter just by a lot of intensive Genie-effecting, even when SPX2 isn't recording.
Those samples were recorded at 12 and 10 fps, respectively. The video is excellent, I'm extremely happy with the video recording. I wouldn't typically record something with audio playing in the background, so this isn't a big issue for me, but it'd still be nice to be able to do so.
I'll try playing an audio file in Quicktime later and see how it works out. (wouldn't iTunes and Quicktime play through the same audio frameworks though?)
I also have another question... on the SPX2 samples page, the sample iChat recording had the audio compressed as MPEG-4 Audio, but I don't see any option in the movie audio recording for MPEG-4, am I missing something?
Those samples were recorded at 12 and 10 fps, respectively. The video is excellent, I'm extremely happy with the video recording. I wouldn't typically record something with audio playing in the background, so this isn't a big issue for me, but it'd still be nice to be able to do so.
I think we may just be running into your CPU being overdriven. The video cards in PowerBooks (and all portables) are scaled down versions, the memory bus is slower than desktop machines (especially to VRAM).
It seems like the window server combined with doing a large video capture may just be too much for your machine. It works, but it starves the audio provider.
Quote:
I'll try playing an audio file in Quicktime later and see how it works out. (wouldn't iTunes and Quicktime play through the same audio frameworks though?)
No, they use entirely different techniques. Play an uncompressed AIFF file if you can, because it will require almost zero CPU for QuickTime to play. Also do try an audio CD -- mp3's take a decent amount of CPU to decode on their own.
Quote:
I also have another question... on the SPX2 samples page, the sample iChat recording had the audio compressed as MPEG-4 Audio, but I don't see any option in the movie audio recording for MPEG-4, am I missing something?
That video is one that someone else produced actually -- he told me that he saved it out uncompressed, and then did the final tweaking in Final Cut Pro. iMovie would work just as well, too.
Rochester, NY -- May 31st, 2005 -- Ambrosia Software, Inc. announced today the release of Snapz Pro X 2.0.2. This updated version, which is free to registered users of Snapz Pro X 2.0.x, may be downloaded here:
Snapz Pro X 2.0.2 features the following changes/enhancements:
-- Includes full MacOS X 10.4 ("Tiger") compatibility
-- Fixed a bug that could cause Snapz Pro X to not include the audio and/or microphone track in recordings unless you clicked on the "Settings..." button for the compressor after rebooting
-- Addressed a bug in AmbrosiaAudioSupport that could on certain machines in very specific conditions cause the audio in a movie to stutter or get out of synch after 10+ minutes of recording
-- Fixed a but that caused the window borders on Tiger to be slightly off visually
-- Snapz Pro X now uses hardware acceleration for many aspects of operation, which will make it faster on many machines
-- Included an Uninstaller for Snapz Pro X
-- Added a Traditional Chinese localization to Snapz Pro X
-- Fixed a number of other bugs and issues
Why take a static screenshot when Snapz Pro X 2 makes creating a movie just as easy? Snapz Pro X 2 does that, and so much more -- what a difference a version makes! Download a free demo version from our web site today or check out the demo movies we've created and see for yourself:
Comments
Originally posted by MCQ
Just tried on my rev. B 12" PB... I'd say the same as Torifile. Sound seems to stutter notably on window scrolling in Safari, and minimizing windows. Switching apps would cause a very temporary stutter.
What OS are you running?
I'm starting to think that some of the PowerBooks have sound issues -- because I can record just fine on my 15" PowerBook.
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
I hadn't noticed it before... when I was trying to record things from Quicktime, I never did anything else while it was recording, so I didn't notice an audio stutter. I didn't think about trying to record a screen with iTunes playing in the background.
Originally posted by MCQ
I'm running Panther, 10.3.2.
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
We've heard of it for some people on the 12" as well as the 17" PowerBooks. The weird thing is that it does not happen to everyone.
Are you running with your monitor set to Thousands, or Millions? If not Millions, try switching into that mode. Also, what video card is in your machine?
It's possible that your computer is just overloaded -- do you have much RAM in the machine? Many applications running? If it is low on RAM, and virtual memory starts swapping things in/out to disk, that could account for it.
Originally posted by moki
We've heard of it for some people on the 12" as well as the 17" PowerBooks. The weird thing is that it does not happen to everyone.
Are you running with your monitor set to Thousands, or Millions? If not Millions, try switching into that mode. Also, what video card is in your machine?
I'm running with monitor set to Millions (I found that Thousands caused problems, as you noted before)... the Graphics in the 12" Rev. B PB is a Geforce 5200FX, 32MB DDR.
Originally posted by MCQ
I'm running with monitor set to Millions (I found that Thousands caused problems, as you noted before)... the Graphics in the 12" Rev. B PB is a Geforce 5200FX, 32MB DDR.
okay... but how much RAM is in your computer? And do you have lots of applications open that may be using up a good amount of RAM, thus causing VM to kick in? Also are you running any CPU intensive programs at the time of the video capture?
Finally, just a sanity check -- you DON'T have the "Smoother (but more CPU-intensive) video capture" checkbox checked, right?
Scrolling, minimizing, and Expose do appear to cause notable audio stutters (but the video's fine), so I'm guessing maybe the Window Server?
And I did not check the option for smoother but more CPU intensive capture.
I'll try restarting and see how it acts with just iTunes playing and a couple finder Windows.
Originally posted by MCQ
I'll try restarting and see how it acts with just iTunes playing and a couple finder Windows.
Cool, let me know how it goes.
Originally posted by MCQ
Do you think it's something across PB lines, or is it more restricted to the 12" PB?
Are not the 12" Powerbooks the only ones that have the popping sound issue when awaken from sleep? It could be some hardware peculiarity of this specific model.
Originally posted by PB
Are not the 12" Powerbooks the only ones that have the popping sound issue when awaken from sleep? It could be some hardware peculiarity of this specific model.
I've done some testing and it appears that this issue is solved by plugging in a pair of headphones or speakers and then unplugging them. I think it's more a physical hardware problem than a technical one (if that makes any sense). So I don't think that the system is affected in any way by it.
Originally posted by moki
Cool, let me know how it goes.
Okay moki, here's some sample videos, I still experienced sound stutters (I'm still evaluating so the demo watermarks are there):
Movie 1
Movie 2
Originally posted by MCQ
Okay moki, here's some sample videos, I still experienced sound stutters (I'm still evaluating so the demo watermarks are there):
Movie 1
Movie 2
The video captures actually look quite good, except for the sound stuttering. The second video seems near-flawless. Does it only happen when playing a song in iTunes? What about other audio sources, like playing an audio file in QuickTime player? Also what about playing a CD (not an mp3) from itunes?
Also, what framerate are you trying to record? Whatever it is, drop it down a few notches. You definitely do not need to record at 30fps for everything -- the movies end up being too large to realistically put on the Internet, unless you compress them very highly.
Basically, it looks to me like the window server does things at a higher priority than your sound providing task, and add Snapz Pro X capturing to the mix, and it is enough to starve the sound provider. I bet you can probably make your sound stutter just by a lot of intensive Genie-effecting, even when SPX2 isn't recording.
I'll try playing an audio file in Quicktime later and see how it works out. (wouldn't iTunes and Quicktime play through the same audio frameworks though?)
I also have another question... on the SPX2 samples page, the sample iChat recording had the audio compressed as MPEG-4 Audio, but I don't see any option in the movie audio recording for MPEG-4, am I missing something?
Originally posted by MCQ
Those samples were recorded at 12 and 10 fps, respectively. The video is excellent, I'm extremely happy with the video recording. I wouldn't typically record something with audio playing in the background, so this isn't a big issue for me, but it'd still be nice to be able to do so.
I think we may just be running into your CPU being overdriven. The video cards in PowerBooks (and all portables) are scaled down versions, the memory bus is slower than desktop machines (especially to VRAM).
It seems like the window server combined with doing a large video capture may just be too much for your machine. It works, but it starves the audio provider.
I'll try playing an audio file in Quicktime later and see how it works out. (wouldn't iTunes and Quicktime play through the same audio frameworks though?)
No, they use entirely different techniques. Play an uncompressed AIFF file if you can, because it will require almost zero CPU for QuickTime to play. Also do try an audio CD -- mp3's take a decent amount of CPU to decode on their own.
I also have another question... on the SPX2 samples page, the sample iChat recording had the audio compressed as MPEG-4 Audio, but I don't see any option in the movie audio recording for MPEG-4, am I missing something?
That video is one that someone else produced actually -- he told me that he saved it out uncompressed, and then did the final tweaking in Final Cut Pro. iMovie would work just as well, too.
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/
Snapz Pro X 2.0.2 features the following changes/enhancements:
-- Includes full MacOS X 10.4 ("Tiger") compatibility
-- Fixed a bug that could cause Snapz Pro X to not include the audio and/or microphone track in recordings unless you clicked on the "Settings..." button for the compressor after rebooting
-- Addressed a bug in AmbrosiaAudioSupport that could on certain machines in very specific conditions cause the audio in a movie to stutter or get out of synch after 10+ minutes of recording
-- Fixed a but that caused the window borders on Tiger to be slightly off visually
-- Snapz Pro X now uses hardware acceleration for many aspects of operation, which will make it faster on many machines
-- Included an Uninstaller for Snapz Pro X
-- Added a Traditional Chinese localization to Snapz Pro X
-- Fixed a number of other bugs and issues
Why take a static screenshot when Snapz Pro X 2 makes creating a movie just as easy? Snapz Pro X 2 does that, and so much more -- what a difference a version makes! Download a free demo version from our web site today or check out the demo movies we've created and see for yourself:
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/