If you encounter a problem that is not covered by the documentation, and you believe it is a
bug or glitch in this software, please submit a bug report so that it can be investigated.
The template menu selections are all black and do not have any text - This can occur when
QuickPIP is run on a user account that has reduced privileges. The cause is simply that the
template and style files are installed under the "My Documents" folder of the user who installed
the software. Being that installation requires administrative privileges, it ends up being
installed into the admin or primary user account. The best way to solve this is to make a copy
of the "QuickPIP" sub-folder from the administrator's "My Documents" folder into the desired
user's "My Documents" folder. On Windows 7, both can be accessed from under the C:\Users folder.
However, a quick and easy workaround is to just launch QuickPIP as the administrative user
(right-click and select "Run as administrator").
"Unrecognized or unsupported file format" Error - The file you are attempting to use is
not a recognized or compatible file format. Please see the list of
Supported Input File Formats, and convert the file into a
supported format. For better compatibility, it is recommended that your system
have Apple QuickTime 7 installed.
No video and/or no sound from media in a supported format -
Your system most likely does not have a suitable video or audio codec installed for QuickPIP
to use to decode your media file.
You may have better results if you install the latest versions of
Apple QuickTime and
Microsoft Windows Media Player.
Some codec problems, especially with AVI files, may go away after installing the
"ffdshow tryouts" codec package
with the "VFW Interface" option enabled. If you are still unable to resolve the problem, you may have
better results using a different supported format, such as
MPEG-4 / H.264. If you use the AVI file type, it can also help to encode the audio in PCM or MS-ADPCM format.
See Also: "Which file formats work best?"
AVI file stops playing before the end of the file - In some cases,
AVI files that are larger than 1 GB may not play after the 1 GB point. This occurs when the
Video For Windows interface is being used to decode the AVI file, and therefore may not
apply to all AVI files or codecs. This can be avoided by encoding the video in a
different supported format, or compressing it to make
it smaller. However, if you already have an AVI file that is affected by the issue, a
relatively quick and simple solution can be to use an AVI file splitter utility to split
it up into files that are less than 1 GB each, then use QuickPIP's
Input File Join
functionality to make them work as one continuous input file.
Popping or other glitches in AVI audio - Some AVI files may have occasional popping and/or
other glitches in the audio, depending on which audio codec was used and how the file was encoded.
This may not be noticeable in motorsports footage due to the typical engine and wind noise present,
but can be an issue for music and dialog. It also tends to be more apparent when playing a preview,
rather than when creating an output video file. If this is causing you problems, you should have
better results using a different supported format, such as
MPEG-4 / H.264. If you still use the AVI file type, the PCM or MS-ADPCM audio formats
should work better. You may also find that changing the preview or output video's audio rate can
lessen the effect. See Also: "Which file formats work best?"
AVI files in general - Audio Video Interleave (AVI) was once a very widely used and
compatible container format, but it is now over 20 years old and has seen a variety of
extensions and hacks to make it do things that it was not designed to do. Therefore, it is
difficult and inefficient to fully support. This is a problem that affects most video
applications. The complications are due to several different format variations and improperly
supported codecs in use, as well as continually diminishing or changing support for it in
Microsoft Windows. QuickPIP implements several approaches to attempt to provide a
reasonable level of compatibility with AVI input files, but there may still be some that don't
work 100%. If you are using AVI files, it is recommended that you use files encoded with
well-known video codecs, such as Xvid or DivX, and PCM or ADPCM encoding for the audio. You
will want to have compatible VfW (Video for Windows) and DirectShow codecs installed on your
system.
Problems with H.264 video - Although most MPEG-4 H.264 video works very well with QuickPIP, it
has been observed that a small number of products produce "H.264" video that doesn't seem to be quite right,
and does not function properly in QuickPIP. In those cases, they often also fail to play properly in
Apple's QuickTime Player or Windows Media Player. You should have the best results on
Windows 7 or newer. On older versions of Windows, it may help to install the latest version of
QuickTime for Windows on your system.
"Not Authorized" / "This application cannot be used to play this content" Message - You are
attempting to use DRM-protected media. QuickPIP can use unrestricted M4A files, but not its DRM-protected
counterpart, M4P.
MPEG-1 media does not play sound - MPEG-1 is not an officially supported format. It may still work, but
possibly without sound. For better compatibility,
convert the file into a
supported format, such as MPEG-4 / H.264.
See Also: "Which file formats work best?"
Problems with MPEG-2 media - MPEG-2 is not a supported format. For better compatibility,
convert the file into a
supported format, such as MPEG-4 / H.264.
See Also: "Which file formats work best?"
Preview screens sometimes turn black - This is a screen painting glitch that is more
likely to affect slower computers, and Windows XP in particular. In some cases, you can manually invoke
a refresh by pressing the F5 key. Alternatively, dragging the window off the screen and back can also
work.
The performance and system requirements of this product are largely dependent on the codecs and
bitrates of the media files that you use, however you do have some choices that can improve
performance:
Use the MPEG-4 H.264 file type option when using QuickPIP to create video files. The H.264
encoder is often much faster than Windows Media or AVI, so it should be used whenever practical.
Resist the temptation to create 1080p60 videos. The option exists in case you really need it,
but a 720p30 video encoded with the best picture rescale quality will often be virtually
indistinguishable to the casual viewer, while the 1080p60 version can take more than four times as
much computing time to render each frame. Keep in mind that video upload websites often reduce the
quality further, and many do not make full use of a 1080p or 60 FPS render. Also, when recording
your video footage, you may find that 30 FPS gives you a brighter picture with better colors than
the 60 FPS mode, depending on your camera. See Also: Performance Chart
Reduce the picture size. Although the rendering core is fast, and most of your CPU time
is going to the video codecs, you can still reduce the amount of work that it has to do. For
example, a 512x384 picture has 36% less pixels to render and draw than 640x480, and a 720p
picture has 56% less pixels than 1080p. When creating a video file, this also affects the
speed of video encoding. See Also: Performance Chart
If a display object or input file is not being displayed (or is hidden behind other media),
un-check the display object's "Active" checkbox until you want it to be visible. Or, if you only
want to hear its audio (and not see its video), use an "Audio Only" display object instead. These
approaches can reduce or eliminate much of the work that your computer has to do. However, this is
not needed if the input file has simply reached the end of its playback.
Make use of your hard drive. File access can be significantly slower on other drives,
such as: memory cards, thumb drives, network shares, and optical media. Copy the video files
to your computer's hard drive, and then use those copies with QuickPIP. Using files directly
on a memory card may result in very poor performance.
Lower the picture rescale quality. Lower settings may cause parts of the image to appear
jagged or too sharp, but will also reduce the amount of work that the rendering core has to do.
It is recommended to use a lower quality setting for the preview and any draft videos that you
create, and then use a medium to high setting when creating the final output video.
Mute the preview audio. Preview rendering performance can be slightly improved if it doesn't
have to process the audio.
Windows users: Use Windows 7 or newer. Media decoding and encoding tends to be faster on
Windows 7 due to improvements in Microsoft Media Foundation.
Number of Pixels Processed per Second. 480p30 is DVD-quality. (additional codec processing times vary)
The third party product and brand names mentioned here are trademarks of their respective owners.
They are referenced here in order to provide compatibility guidance, and do not construe any
endorsement or affiliation by those entities.
