Generating thumbnails in timeline much slower than PD15

voom

Newbie Joined: Dec 04, 2015 09:16 Messages: 22 Offline

Solved by

Jan 10, 2018 09:56

Since upgrading from PD15 to PD 16 the thumbnails are more like thumbsnails... Every little change of view in the timeline - like fitting the whole project into the width of the window etc. results in a re-generation of the thumbnails and that is really really slow. I have been working with many versions of PD over the years and it was never so slow. Until there are thumbnails I have to stop working - so it is really an issue.

Now this is not about going from 1 second to 1 minute but definitely like going from 20 Seconds to 1 Minute. And in computer terms that is a very noticeable difference. Anything I can do about this?

Edit: v2313 and this is already true without any effects etc. added, just a pure single video added freshly to the timeline. I do understand that the first time the file needs to be analyzed, and may take a little while. But then even if I pull the timeline accidentally a little, it all goes back to black and thumbnails start to slowly slowly appear from the first frame up, often much slower than the first time.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 10. 2018 10:08

Peter Podder

Member Location: Long Island, N.Y. Joined: Dec 03, 2016 16:13 Messages: 116 Offline

Jan 11, 2018 00:51

I have noticed this as well. Same thing happens if you undo anything. Much more noticable in 16 than in 15. I dont have an answer though. Just commenting so you know its not just you. ____________________________________

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____________________________________

PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jan 12, 2018 05:05

Hi,

My information is that, in PD16 the generation of thumbnails has been changed to optimise system performance by reducing hard drive reads etc. when other editing or playback operations are being carried out.

I suppose that will affect different systems differently and be more noticeable for some, than for others. I have no idea how many users have the thumbnail generation on or off but there have not been any other posts on the issue as far as I can see.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

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voom

Newbie Joined: Dec 04, 2015 09:16 Messages: 22 Offline

Jan 12, 2018 05:58

Quote Hi,

My information is that, in PD16 the generation of thumbnails has been changed to optimise system performance by reducing hard drive reads etc. when other editing or playback operations are being carried out.

I suppose that will affect different systems differently and be more noticeable for some, than for others. I have no idea how many users have the thumbnail generation on or off but there have not been any other posts on the issue as far as I can see.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

Well my system is quite performant and has been configured to go well with PD. This way is has the exact opposite effect of being optimized because I never missed performance with editing or playback operations but the repetitive wait for the thumbnails throttles my workflow noticeably.

While I have no idea how to work at all without seeing at least to some extent where to click. Turning them off is no option, would make it even worse. The problem is not that thumbnail generation throttles other operations of the program, but that I need to wait until I can see where to click before I can procede.

Any way this could be an option: faster or slower thumbnail generation with more or less effect on the performance?

If the "optimization" comes from less hard drive reads, even working on an SDD will not help.

Also: how about generating thumbnails faster when there are no concurrent operations being carried out? The worst situations in my case are as said when really nothing else is going on.

voom

Newbie Joined: Dec 04, 2015 09:16 Messages: 22 Offline

Jan 12, 2018 11:42

It appears that after activating "shadow files" in the settings the problem has almost completely vanished. After the first generation of thumbnails changes of the view in the timeline now appear almost instantly. I suppose that the shadow files include a cache of the thumbs? That would be IMO the only explanation, as before they where seemingly generated from scratch with any small change.

TechManiacHD

Newbie Joined: Aug 03, 2017 13:49 Messages: 18 Offline

Jan 18, 2018 04:41

Quote Hi, My information is that, in PD16 the generation of thumbnails has been changed to optimise system performance by reducing hard drive reads etc. when other editing or playback operations are being carried out... PowerDirector Moderator

Summarising - in PDR15 and older versions thumbnails were generated in the background, also on not visible parts of the timeline. From PDR16 it is generating only on parts that are shown on the very moment, right? Let's say. I have visible timeline from 0m00s to 0m30s so only those thumbnails will be generated. I need to scroll all the way slowly to load them all. If it's like that I would prefer to have an option to re-enable thumbnails generation in the background.

Dimitrios123

Newbie Location: Greece Joined: Nov 20, 2017 13:15 Messages: 17 Offline

Feb 24, 2018 14:58

Quote It appears that after activating "shadow files" in the settings the problem has almost completely vanished. After the first generation of thumbnails changes of the view in the timeline now appear almost instantly. I suppose that the shadow files include a cache of the thumbs? That would be IMO the only explanation, as before they where seemingly generated from scratch with any small change.

I can verify that. See my response in a similar discussion.