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PC specs causing lag? Windows 10 better?


brichi

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I notice a lot when playing back a sequence in Pixel Editor that the visualizer in there lags at times and needs to catch up. I though my laptop was plenty powerful but maybe night. I Have a HP Core i5 2.60 with 12GB of ram, 160gb SSD drive and Windows7 64 bit. would updating it to Windows 10 help at all? I figured those specs would be plenty good

 

also was debating whether I should run my final show from LOR MP3 director for $260 or but a low end laptop just to run shows. What are most of you guys doing? 

thanks for any info!

Edited by brichi
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1 hour ago, brichi said:

also was debating whether I should run my final show from LOR MP3 director for $260 or but a low end laptop just to run shows. What are most of you guys doing? 

I have a dedicated show computer.  Remember that it takes very little CPU horsepower to run the show player.  Mine is an old HP desktop running Windows XP that I bought five years ago as a lease return refurb, so I assume it was several years old when I got it.  I do plan on replacing it this year primarily so I can upgrade to Windows 7.  I ran into two issues in 2016 that would have been solved with an OS upgrade.  Since I know you are going to ask what the two issues were, first was that I could not run Bob's MIIP (requires a version of .NET framework that can't be installed on XP), and the second is that Windows Vista introduced application specific volume controls which would have allowed me to set the volumes different for Zara Radio and LOR playback (Zara played back almost 10dB higher level).  Unless you are running MIIP or Zara Radio, it's not an issue.

BTW, running intensity files dramatically reduces CPU load (particularly if you have a large number of DMX or E1.31 channels).

 

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You can get some very nice OFF lease refurbs at Wallmart.com

(I got a Dell Optiplex core duo 8G RAM, 1 T HD and W7 PRO for under 400

(the rebuilder is Joy Systems)

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I got my lease return refurb from TigerDirect.com  They also are using Joy Systems as the rebuilder.  I've had several and never any problems.

 

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3 hours ago, brichi said:

I notice a lot when playing back a sequence in Pixel Editor that the visualizer in there lags at times and needs to catch up.

Go into the Play drop-down menu and see if "Move grid with play" is checked.  If it is, uncheck it and your sequence will probably play just fine in the SE.

EDIT:  Oops!  I didn't notice at first you were referring to the PE and not the SE.

 

Edited by George Simmons
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thanks guys, ill keep messing with it. On my MacBook running bootcamp it looks and works great, Windows 10, but the actual lights attached to the pixie4 are delayed a little for some reason when I use my MacBook vs my HP, very weird

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We are using an old HP business machine with Vista busniess 64 bit on it for running the show..  Picked it up at a thrift store for 40 bucks.  Works just fine to run the show, but not so much for programming.  Bad Bad lag if you use visualizer, so it just stays in the workshop for Pandora and the show

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My 14 YO laptop with 4gb ram operated everything just fine, until I started playing with SS. Then my SE started giving me fits. Today I will pu the replacement.

The one thing I can tell you, swapping this old Dell Inspiron that came with Windows ME and has been on its death bed many times over the years was harder that I thought. Several hours trying to find a laptop that didn't cost a small fortune and I liked.

The new one has 8gb rams and a great processor so I should be able to sequence and run the show without problems for at least 14 more years.

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thanks guys, I can't use the laptops really as the show laptop, I use both my Mac and pc daily so most likely ill grab a crap laptop to run the show or grab the LOR Director so it take up no room

I like programming on the HP because the screen is 17" vs my MacBooks 13"or else I would program always on my MacBook since it is running so much more smooth

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seems it may have been the video driver. I saw it was from like 2013 so i tried to update it to the latest intel and it kept failing cause it said i was using a "
modified version of the driver" which makes no sense being it was windows 7 that installed it years ago but whatever, its a pc so im not shocked, lol

i installed a fresh copy of windows 10 after formatting the drive and the visualizer looks smooth now, no delays. Now hoping the actual lights stay in sync with the software, had that issue on my other windows 10 install

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3 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

Windows 10, now you have a whole new set of issues to worry about  :D

Please, say it isn't so. I have been using win 7 on most sequences however I have had to use my Win 10 desktop a couple of times for some more complicated face sequences. I had no problems with my Win 10 desktop the few times Ive used it.

I just upgraded my 14 yo laptop with a new one which of course is Win 10.

What issues have you incurred so I know to keep an eye out.

Thanks

JR

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yes, curious on the issues i may face also, I have been using W10 for a little on my work computer and starting to slowly deploy in the school district im in and its been ok, Not really enterprise ready yet and if flaky with Active Directory using policies but for the average stuff its been ok

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