Freeman's Mind Episode 38 getting it's ass kicked by Windows

[Pinkie Pie]

Self explanatory. Discuss.

[danielsangeo]

I, for one, would like some elaboration on the nature of this ass-kicking.

[Sir Raffi]

It's called 'the blog'.

[BTGBullseye]

It's called 'the blog'.

'the blog' is not very specific.

 

I had troubles getting things to run when I first started using Vista/7, but now the only thing that refuses to work right is Doom 3... Problem is I have to know what programs he's using to be able to tell if any of my tricks will work on them.

[Frostiken]

Weird how people's experiences with the same software can be so wildly different. I haven't had a single issue with Window 7, not even with Doom 3...

[Bugthing]

Talk to us Ross. We may have a few tricks up our sleeves.

[Frostiken]

Maybe he's just baffled by the jump from Windows XP to 7

[Ross Scott]

I've been at it for days, though I'm still trying to work a lot of stuff out. Finding software replacements for all the functions I was using under Litestep has been a real pain in the ass and still is incomplete. While I could try using Litestep as a shell replacement again, it seems kind of dated compared to some of the GUI improvements Windows has made since then. This in itself isn't bringing anything to a stop, but not having all these shortcuts and configurations I was using is slowing things down a ton.

 

A lot of the slowdown is simply installing (or finding software replacements for) all the programs I was using. I use my computer for a lot of things. Video editing, encoding, audio editing, encoding, legacy gaming, GUI customization, office applications, internet communication, etc. The number of programs I use regularly (not counting games, which I haven't done much of lately) is probably close to around 50, with a larger number for those used less frequently in specific situations. Starting from scratch on all this stuff is an involved process.

 

The biggest problem I'm facing at the moment is trying to get the HuffyUV codec to behave properly under the 64 bit version of windows 7. While I plan on moving to Lagarith for lossless encoding and editing since it seems to behave better under a 64 bit OS and offers better compression, I have a lot of older material still tied up in HuffyUV that I need to access. For the life of me, I can't get the HuffyUV codec to open up in the 64 bit version of Adobe Premiere, nor is it an encoding option in the 64 bit version of Virtualdub. While I initially tried just installing the 32 bit version of the HuffyUV codec (which is a somewhat involved process on Windows 7 64 bit), I do that only to find out that for the LIFE of me, I cannot get the 32 bit version of Avisynth working under Windows 7 64 bit. So I've been kind of screwed either way on this. I think what will have to happen is since I can read HuffyUV footage in the 64 bit virtualdub, I'll have to convert all my HuffyUV footage that I need to access over to Lagarith. However this is kind of a big deal because that's going to take up a substantial portion of space that I don't have at the moment because I'm still organizing my old files, which adds to the time there. It would be a lot easier if I could just leave the old HuffyUV footage alone and simply open it in Premiere. Installing the 64 bit version of HuffyUV is a snap, it just simply isn't recognized under several applications in Windows 7.

 

While I think things will get easier in the long run, the transition process is still hell for me. For example, I recently did some tests to confirm that the colorspace wasn't getting distorted in the Lagarith codec and the new version of premiere (and I'm glad I did, because it WAS). Well on the old 32-bit version of Virtualdubmod, I could simply find a frame I wanted, and output the frame directly to PNG or TGA, allowing me to make good screenshot comparisons in a variety of situations to do an eye-check in addition to making sure the colorspace is being converted properly. Well lo and behold, Virtualdubmod doesn't even open some of the Lagarith clips, depending on how they're encoded, I can only use the updated version of simply Virtualdub for that. It's missing some conveniences like that where I can only copy the frame to the clipboard, so now I need to open up MSpaint, paste it there, then save it to another folder. This isn't a big deal, but I was taking dozens of screeenshots to do a comparison, so the time invested starts adding up for inefficiencies like this. Almost EVERYTHING on Windows 7 has been like this and probably will be until I get more familiar with new software and workarounds.

 

If you want an easier problem to tackle, I have a couple other annoyances I wouldn't mind some help with:

 

1. Windows 7 is too bright for me for some reason. My videocard is a Geforce 9800 GTX. Nvidia has great color control options, so I opened up the Nvidia control panel and changed them. As soon as I even moved the slider, the brightness was IMMEDIATELY fixed, like this whole time it had been stuck on some incorrect value. However once I rebooted, it's back to the too-bright mode again. I looked up this problem online and only found people where their color settings in the Nvidia panel were getting reset. This isn't my case. If I set the brightness to 47% (the default is 50) and reboot, it still SAYS 47%, but it's still too bright again. I have to manually go and move the slider just a notch and suddenly everything is fixed again. Is there a way to fix this? Or if not, is there a way to run some sort of script to "wake up" the color controls every time I boot up? Also before people say "update the drivers", this is on a formatted drive with a fresh install of Windows 7 with drivers from Nvidia's site from about a week ago.

 

2a. The latest version of Adobe Audition has some nice improvements and a VERY big annoyance for me. When I seek and play through an an audio clip, I'm finding some problems. If I make a selection, then play it once, it works fine. If I press play again, it continues playing AFTER that. If I press play AGAIN, it plays from the beginning of the clip and completely ignores my selection afterwards. I want it so if I have part of the clip selected, IT ONLY PLAYS WHAT IS SELECTED. EVERY TIME.

 

2b. If I move the (scrubber?) time indicator to a specific point in the clip, then press play, it plays from that point. After it's done playing, it moves the scrubber to the end, completely resetting where I just had the scrubber. I want it so that if all I'm doing is playing a clip from a specific point, it keeps the time indicator where I left it.

 

I'm hoping like hell these are just default options that can be changed somewhere, but I haven't had time to research if they exist or not.

 

3. Objectdock (a taskbar / systray / folder group replacement) has a bug where it sporadically ignores commands to bring some windows up to the front. Best I can tell there's no update for this, limitng its use as a replacement for how I was using Litestep. It also has a bug where it ignores icon changes for some programs, though I found a workaround fix for that, even if it's annoying.

 

4. Nexus dock (another taskbar / systray / folder group replacement) has a bug where trying to access menus from programs running in the system tray will cause it to IMMEDIATELY lose focus, limiting its use as a replacement for how I was using Litestep. This might be solvable, but I need to research it more.

 

5. Exporting uncompressed audio in the same format as the original project is WAY slower in the newest version of Premiere than before. This might be related to me using Lagarith encoded clips instead of HuffyUV though, since they require more processing and maybe the muxing process is different. I'm not sure and I can't test this until I can fix the HuffyUV problem.

 

 

EDIT: I've now fixed part 2a and 2b, thankfully there was an option to disable the default control seeings

[Pinkie Pie]

I appreciate the fact that Ross takes the time to write out paragraphs of stuff so we actually know what he's talking about. I mean, I'm not enough of a tech guy to understand almost anything he said, but I appreciate the way he wrote it.

[J.C.]

1. Windows 7 is too bright for me for some reason. My videocard is a Geforce 9800 GTX. Nvidia has great color control options, so I opened up the Nvidia control panel and changed them. As soon as I even moved the slider, the brightness was IMMEDIATELY fixed, like this whole time it had been stuck on some incorrect value. However once I rebooted, it's back to the too-bright mode again...

I had a nice chat with someone named Anupama from Nvidia Online Support. She said "Well, this is not a normal behavior." and after going back and forth a few times, she recommended you try this beta driver http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-275.50-beta-driver.html (I don't know if this is the one you installed, if it's not I guess it's worth giving it a shot) and remember to check the "perform clean install" box.

 

[sullygass95]

Unfortunately I don't have that many programs on my computer and the ones I do have, had updated versions that I got easily once I installed 7 which was also a fairly quick process. I was also upgrading from XP, but since my laptop doesn't have as much software, I never came across many obstacles so I'm afraid I'm not experienced with the kind of problems you're dealing with Ross to give you any advice on fixing them, hopefully others can, but if you could let us know how long they might take to get resolved at their current rate I'd greatly appreciate it.

[reddog]

he biggest problem I'm facing at the moment is trying to get the HuffyUV codec to behave properly under the 64 bit version of windows 7. While I plan on moving to Lagarith for lossless encoding and editing since it seems to behave better under a 64 bit OS and offers better compression, I have a lot of older material still tied up in HuffyUV that I need to access. For the life of me, I can't get the HuffyUV codec to open up in the 64 bit version of Adobe Premiere, nor is it an encoding option in the 64 bit version of Virtualdub. While I initially tried just installing the 32 bit version of the HuffyUV codec (which is a somewhat involved process on Windows 7 64 bit), I do that only to find out that for the LIFE of me, I cannot get the 32 bit version of Avisynth working under Windows 7 64 bit. So I've been kind of screwed either way on this. I think what will have to happen is since I can read HuffyUV footage in the 64 bit virtualdub, I'll have to convert all my HuffyUV footage that I need to access over to Lagarith.

I installed the same codec on my X64 machine, and it apears that encoding option only appears in the x86 version of Vitual Dub. It almost seams that the decoder works in both x64 and x86 but the encoder only in x86. If that's the case, you should have been able to import it in premiere and save it to Lagarith.

[\\Vincent Vega]

I had a nice chat with someone named Anupama from Nvidia Online Support. She said "Well, this is not a normal behavior." and after going back and forth a few times, she recommended you try this beta driver http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvi ... river.html (I don't know if this is the one you installed, if it's not I guess it's worth giving it a shot) and remember to check the "perform clean install" box.

Good Idea!

But the issue is with windows update, Like usual it is the culprit of driver corruption

Save yourself the pain and manually update so something like this won't happen in the future

 

this thread should solve your issue

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/colors-in-windows-7-too-brightwashed-out-after/d622de4c-4c96-45e5-a8ed-6bd2c9ff46aa

[Ross Scott]

I had a nice chat with someone named Anupama from Nvidia Online Support. She said "Well, this is not a normal behavior." and after going back and forth a few times, she recommended you try this beta driver http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvi ... river.html (I don't know if this is the one you installed, if it's not I guess it's worth giving it a shot) and remember to check the "perform clean install" box.

I did do the "clean install" check when I installed it, but I haven't tried the beta drivers, though I'm skeptical that fixes the problem, maybe I'll try it later.

 

Good Idea!

But the issue is with windows update, Like usual it is the culprit of driver corruption

Save yourself the pain and manually update so something like this won't happen in the future

 

this thread should solve your issue

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/colors-in-windows-7-too-brightwashed-out-after/d622de4c-4c96-45e5-a8ed-6bd2c9ff46aa

 

Have a good day

This doesn't seem to be the same issue since 1: I didn't use Windows update, I updated manually from SP1 with the Windows update service turned off via the services tab, THEN installed the Nvidia drivers and 2: the problem has existed before and after the Nvidia update. I may try it later, but rolling back the driver doesn't make much sense it if it's been giving me trouble the entire time.

 

I installed the same codec on my X64 machine, and it apears that encoding option only appears in the x86 version of Vitual Dub. It almost seams that the decoder works in both x64 and x86 but the encoder only in x86. If that's the case, you should have been able to import it in premiere and save it to Lagarith.

Well unfortunately "should" doesn't seem to make it happen. My next step (short of installing a virtual machine, I hadn't planned on doing that so soon), is to see if there's a way to strongarm custom codecs directly into Premiere since it seems to be ignoring the 64 bit huffyuv install.

[\\Vincent Vega]

I think I know the issue, but fixing it might be somewhat difficult

 

Here is what happens

windows 7 default's to it's own screen brightness over the nvidia CP

making the Control panel brightness settings not take effect on startup

But when you go into the nvidia CP and change the settings, it automatically switches to the Nvidia brightness settings over the Windows defaults because you made it so, but this is not permanent

 

What you somehow need to do is disable windows from defaulting it's own brightness, so the Nvidia CP has a chance to work right

 

I know that this is not a solution but you sound like a resourceful person, and I am sure you'll find a way to do this

Edited July 26, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[Ross Scott]

Yes it is, they're all set to default settings. I recommend re-reading my post to better understand what's happening.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Have you tried running a color calibration in Windows?

 

Go to Control Panel, Monitor and click on Color Calibration or whatever (using Norwegian so not sure what it is in English), and from there the rest should be obvious. It doesn't have to be Windows, but your monitor itself.

 

This would in theory give you a new default setting and you won't even have to use the control panel to use the nVidia sliders.

[FlareKitsu]

Why didn't you just go with Vista? 7 is incredibly bugged and broken.

 

Vista is a lot more reliable, especially with Steam games.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Why didn't you just go with Vista? 7 is incredibly bugged and broken.

 

Vista is a lot more reliable, especially with Steam games.

Nah, you got it wrong, it's the other way around.

[Blightmare]

Why didn't you just go with Vista? 7 is incredibly bugged and broken.

 

Vista is a lot more reliable, especially with Steam games.

 

So that's why Windows 7 runs 50% more of my programs than Vista?