video playback compnensation manually?

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ewal
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Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2018 8:08 pm

video playback compnensation manually?

Post by ewal » Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:14 pm

Okay so direct from the Ableton.com article "How delay compensation works", it states:

"Level meters, video playback and other graphic elements might be displayed slightly ahead of time with respect to the audio."

So I loaded up some linear eqs and ozones on a track to really get an overabundance of latency going and sure enough the video played back WAAAAY ahead of the audio.

Its a huge bummer that video playback isn't delay compensated (even though video render is). I really like Live a lot but if it can't sync video playback correctly I just can't use it to make music to picture.

I was thinking maybe I could sync it manually since there is a readout of how much latency a device introduces if you hover over it. Of course that would mean constant adjustment of the video track when adding and removing plugins with latency, but hey, I really wanna try working to video with Live so I be down to do that.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this, and how they go about adding up all the latencies and then offsetting the video. Is there a readout somewhere of total introduced latency? Is there a way to move the video file by an exact amount of samples or milliseconds?

Or, is there a better way to work with video in Live using some sort of external video player? I tried to load reaper as a rewire slave and host the video there but the same video playback latency issues exist.

Stromkraft
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Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by Stromkraft » Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:48 pm

ewal wrote:
Or, is there a better way to work with video in Live using some sort of external video player? I tried to load reaper as a rewire slave and host the video there but the same video playback latency issues exist.
I assume there is such a way. If you can sync a DJ app to Live on the same computer, why not a video app? Then run the video on another display and make use of delaying the video, assuming this is possible in the video app.
Make some music!

ewal
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2018 8:08 pm

Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by ewal » Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:42 am

Stromkraft wrote: I assume there is such a way. If you can sync a DJ app to Live on the same computer, why not a video app? Then run the video on another display and make use of delaying the video, assuming this is possible in the video app.
Cool, I didn't even think to look into the Link functionality, I'll have to take a look and see if there are any good apps out there to play video, thanks! But as you mention, there still would be the need to manually offset the video. So it's kind of the same boat as reaper in rewire (If I need to manually offset, Reaper's video playback and offset abilities are much better than Ableton's built in video player). The only catch with reaper is that the frame doesn't update unless you actually click play in Ableton. if playback is stopped and you jump around with the selection or playback cursor in Ableton without pressing play, the corresponding frame of the video doesn't update in reaper. Come to think of it it would be displaying the wrong frame anyway since it is manually offset. The workaround to this is to also have the video loaded in Ableton and used for this purpose only and then use the offset reaper video for playback. It's clunky, but it works

There might be a linkable app that works better than reaper for video playback and also updates the frame when playback is stopped so if I find one I'll mention it here in this thread. If anyone else has any insight on this it would be much appreciated!

So if so far an external video player with a manual offset is the only good way to work to video, I am wondering still if there is a way to calculate the EXACT amount of offset to apply.

If I were to look at every device and add up all their latencies, would that be the proper amount to offset? Is there a simpler way to add all these latencies up (like is the total latency of all plugins reported somewhere?) Do I need to include the "overall latency" reported by Ableton Preferences in the calculation?

I am going keep testing all this out and if I find any concrete surefire way to calculate the offset I'll report back to this thread.

one approach that Im thinking might make sense is to look at it on a routing level, so like if there was 5 normal tracks and they all routed to the master track, perhaps you would find the normal track with the most latency and calculate its total latency, ignore the other 4 normal tracks , and then add the latency of the master track to that, and then possibly add the "overall latency" reported in preferences. I don't know, could be a lot of ways to figure it out.

apren
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:21 pm

Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by apren » Tue May 26, 2020 6:28 am

Same problem.

Impossible work with Ableton and video. Converting from mov to mp4 I did not get it to sync well either, and that I use the codecs that ableton recommends.

Adjusting the latency compensation of the audio and midi tracks ... don't works.

All trouble.

I wanted to avoid trying to use rewire together with Reaper, but I tried it as a last solution and ... it works!

Perfect synchronous, and instant play / stop, both audio and video.

I do not suffer the problem that you mention. Is it because I use Reaper 6? Maybe that play / stop and synchronous problem has been solved.

Thanks for the idea to use Reaper.
Ableton Live Suite 9 - Ryzen 2700 - 16 Gb ram - RME Babyface - Dynaudio BM6A/Genelec 8020 - Free VST plugins.

diegux
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by diegux » Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:44 am

Ableton, it's 2024.
Can we please get a statement on what the company thinks about this?

is it a priority?

Making video work is really hard this way. The DAW features a lot of video opportunities, so it seems to be a part of the DAW's concept.

It really needs to be fixed. Thanks for listening

[jur]
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Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by [jur] » Tue Jan 16, 2024 2:37 am

As long as you're not adding latency plugins during the process, i.e if the overall latency stays the same from start to finishing your project (not easy!), then the delay doesn't really matter while you're working since it doesn't move.
A trick could be using a dummy track where you put a plugin with a lot of latency, so that when you add plugins to other tracks their added latency stays below your "dummy latency track" and thus don't add up.
It's then just a matter of exporting your audio and print it to the video in another set (with no plugin) or another software. That's what claps/beeps are for.
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diegux
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: video playback compnensation manually?

Post by diegux » Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:55 am

[jur] wrote:
Tue Jan 16, 2024 2:37 am
As long as you're not adding latency plugins during the process, i.e if the overall latency stays the same from start to finishing your project (not easy!), then the delay doesn't really matter while you're working since it doesn't move.
A trick could be using a dummy track where you put a plugin with a lot of latency, so that when you add plugins to other tracks their added latency stays below your "dummy latency track" and thus don't add up.
It's then just a matter of exporting your audio and print it to the video in another set (with no plugin) or another software. That's what claps/beeps are for.
But if you do this, you loose the ability to playback in sync while you are working right? It is very hard/almost impossible and really , really cumbersome to work without latency adding plugins during a whole sync to picture process. Anyone who does it knows this. A noise reduction plugin is added, and then something needs to be changed in the project.So what?

Sorry, but at least Im missing something there are no tricks or workarounds for this. It makes no sense at all. Not any other DAW has this problem. It has to be fixed ASAP.

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