Occasional jumps while playing sequence

[jandelee]

I'm a new 16 channel LOR user, and overall am very satisfied with so far. I am having one issue, however: when I play back sequences in the Sequence Editor or when running a show, every once in a while (maybe once every 20 minutes or so) the song and lights will suddenly jump ahead a few seconds. Its almost like a few seconds just disappeared out of the sequence. It never seems to happen in the same place twice, and seems to happen completely at random.

I read that there might be issues with using mp3 files that are not using 128Kbps bit rate, so I re-ripped the song using those settings and I'm still seeing the issue. It also seems to occur whether I'm running lights or just looking at the animation without controlling lights. It also seems to occur whether I use the "Full Sequence" play range setting or the "Visible Screen" play range in the Sequence Editor.

Here's my setup:
Windows XP SP2
AMD Athlon 2800+ w/2GB RAM
1 CTB16PC controller

Edit: I'm using Sequence Editor x2.6.0 with a Basic Plus license.

Any ideas of what I should try?

[chartrand]

Convert the .mp3 to a .wav file and test. If the problem goes away you can continue to run like that, or you can conver back to .MP3 with proper encoding. If the problem continues after that let us know.

-Pat

[Max-Paul]

jandelee,

Not sure if this will help your situation. But there are other time related problems and this is what has helped others. If running a sequence from the seq. ed. then turn off the moving of the grid while playing. This is helpful for when you are programing the seq. but is still a resource drain to update your screen. Also do not have the animator running. Disconnect your wi-fi or ethernet cable. Even though network traffic does not show up as a % of CPU usage. It does tie up resources on the data buss.

Disclaimer: Most of the above is for when the lights seem to stop for a split sec. then resume. Sounds like you are saything that the lights keep on moving / playing. But at some point it just like someone had bump a record player and the needle skipped forward about 2 seconds in the song. Still try some of the above and see if it helps any.

[jandelee]

Here's an update on the steps I've taken to try to resolve the issue:

- Installed XP SP3 (I was at SP2)

- Upgraded Windows Media Player from 10 to 11

- Tried using a WAV file instead of an MP3 file for the media file in the sequence

- Tried turning off the moving grid while playing (I'm not sure this would matter since I also get the issue when running a show, but I figured I would try it anyway).

- Moved the USB adaptor to a different USB port on the computer (in the old location it was starting to work itself out of the socket)

None of these steps have resolved the issue. There is still an occasional skip ahead during playback (as another poster said, just like someone bumped the needle on a record player). My next step is to try a different computer to see if that makes a difference. But if anyone has another idea, I'm open to that, too.

[eldoradoboy]

have you tried running that sequence as part of a show? I found that the sequence editor takes a lot of overhead.. im running my shows on an old 1.6 Ghz laptop.. and they play perfectly as a show, however if i open them in the editor they tend to be a little laggy...

(I sequenced my shows on a Dual core machine and had no issues on that one in sequence editor)...

-Christopher

[jandelee]

Yes, I did run the sequence as part of a show, and the issue still occurs. However, I just noticed that there is a new version of S2 out (2.6.2), so I'll try upgrading to that version to see if the problem goes away.