playback speed with 0.9.2 is buggy
Posted: 21 Sep 2008 21:04
Overall, the 0.9.2 seems pretty good. However, the playback speed function seems a bit buggy.
1) The slider is very buggy. Videos almost invariably crash when I increase the speed in large steps instead of in smaller steps, for example, going straight from 1x to 4x instead of 1x to 2x to 4x.
2) The 8x speed is a lot more jerky than it was under 0.8.6, where it was pretty smooth. I have a quad-core Q6600 w/ a 4870 ATI card using Vista x64 and 4GB of memory so I don't think it's because my computer is too slow.
3) I think the change from fast forward and slow down buttons in 0.8.6 to to + and - signs under 0.9.2 was a mistake. I think people are used to the convention that pressing a fast forward button multiple times speeds up playback; it's how almost all remote controls operate. Changing to the PLUS and MINUS signs messes with this familiarity and I don't see for what benefit. Plus, the placement of the PLUS and MINUS signs on opposite ends of the timeline make them easy to miss; the minus sign is especially small and difficult to differentiate from the timeline, you hardly notice the space between. Also, from an UI standpoint, having the signs on opposite ends of the timeline makes for a lot more mouse travel when you want to quickly slow down or speed up. Under 0.8.6, the buttons were right next to each other so it was trivially easy to speed up or down. Now, there's a lot more mouse travel to go from one end to the other. Admittedly, this is not a deal killer but I think it's a important UI consideration that's a step back from 0.8.6.
edited because I discovered some of my initial feedback was already available in 0.9.2. I missed it because of the new skin.
1) The slider is very buggy. Videos almost invariably crash when I increase the speed in large steps instead of in smaller steps, for example, going straight from 1x to 4x instead of 1x to 2x to 4x.
2) The 8x speed is a lot more jerky than it was under 0.8.6, where it was pretty smooth. I have a quad-core Q6600 w/ a 4870 ATI card using Vista x64 and 4GB of memory so I don't think it's because my computer is too slow.
3) I think the change from fast forward and slow down buttons in 0.8.6 to to + and - signs under 0.9.2 was a mistake. I think people are used to the convention that pressing a fast forward button multiple times speeds up playback; it's how almost all remote controls operate. Changing to the PLUS and MINUS signs messes with this familiarity and I don't see for what benefit. Plus, the placement of the PLUS and MINUS signs on opposite ends of the timeline make them easy to miss; the minus sign is especially small and difficult to differentiate from the timeline, you hardly notice the space between. Also, from an UI standpoint, having the signs on opposite ends of the timeline makes for a lot more mouse travel when you want to quickly slow down or speed up. Under 0.8.6, the buttons were right next to each other so it was trivially easy to speed up or down. Now, there's a lot more mouse travel to go from one end to the other. Admittedly, this is not a deal killer but I think it's a important UI consideration that's a step back from 0.8.6.
edited because I discovered some of my initial feedback was already available in 0.9.2. I missed it because of the new skin.