I've been playing with the trial version of Aspect HD 3.4 using my shiny (well, matte black, actually) new XL H1. I've run into a problem that I don't see discussed either in the user manual or after searching here on DVinfo...

In the PPro capture applet, the slow motion buttons are greyed out, the shuttle and jog controls work sluggishly until the system rests at the pause button, after which shuttle and jog don't work at all, and the remaining controls (play, stop, pause, FF, FR) then become extremely sluggish (10-20 second pause).

On the timeline, scrubbing medium-compression Cineform AVIs is almost as snappy as for DV, so no problem there...just in the capture window. I'm planning to fork over the cash for Aspect, but hesitate due to this. I often prefer to set my batched IN and OUT points for capture manually, making this slow-down a significant problem for me.

Is this usual or do I have a system problem? Any solutions or work-arounds?

Unfortunately the MPEG2 transport stream of HDV prevents us supporting a visual slow-motion or shuttling controls, something that works much better with the decks (which Canon doesn't offer yet.) The sluggishness doesn't sound correct, so I have QA investigate that Monday.

Thanks David. I'll check in with you guys tomorrow after a long winter's nap!

Pete,

I've spent some time this morning looking at the jog and shuttle in the device control of Aspect HD. It seems to me to be working OK with the XL H1. The camera is a little sluggish in response, but this does not seem to be a function of the device control, but rather a function of the camera. I tried controlling the camera with the Adobe device control as well and saw similar timing.

That said, I presume that you are aware that using the jog/shuttle on the timeline will be significantly more responsive than the jog/shuttle when controlling a mechanical device.

Thad H.
CineForm

Thad,

I guess between David's comments and yours, I'm not sure if my system has a problem or not.

As described below, there is NO option for slow motion at all at any time; the little buttons are greyed out. All shuttle and jog is lost once the the applet has the pause activated. In other words, I can shuttle or jog, but as soon as I let go of the mouse button and the pause button is highlighted, nothing will happen for 15-20 seconds even for Play or or Stop, and the Shuttle and Jog then do not function at all...not sluggish...I can click and hold for minutes and nothing will happen. This can't be normal?

If necessary, I'm happy to continue this by private email and/or telephone? Would like to run this to ground before deciding to give Cineform my credit card number! ;-)

I saw Thad using the device control with Canon H1 this morning and it seemed to be working fine, although occasionally sluggish, but not as much as you describe (we confirmed this to be a function of the camera.) I never saw an issue with pause caused the job/shuttle functionality to fail. Note: try shuttling with the J,K,L keys, to see if that helps. I will ask that Thad follow up with you, as he knows more about it than I.

David, will try the shortcut keys (ashamed to admit I'm a "mouse cripple"...don't usually use shortcut keys). I just sent Thad a fairly detailed email about my system specs.

I gotta say publically that even though I have a concern while using the trial version of what to my wallet and taste is expensive plug-in software, the open, honest, and sustained support you give your customers impresses the heck out of me. Even before we run this to ground, I'm pretty sure I'll be buying an activation number tomorrow not only because I have confidence that the product will be worth my money, but I can trust that it'll be well-supported. Thanks a ton for being the the kind of company I WANT to do business with!