Network performance in class room - clips on a file server

[Markus]

Problem:
In Movie Maker 2.1 editing clips (i.e. the length) is very slow and it takes
seconds till the vertical blue line moves with the mouse when cutting. This
is not in the beginning of a movie project, it happens regulary in the end of
a project.

In a class room we use 10 Windows XP SP2-Workstations. In each movie there
are about 10-20 AVI-clips + 2 mp3 songs included + title + a few effects. All
this is located on a file server. Video mostly as AVI, file size about 10-150
mb. It s a LAN-network with 100mb.

I can think of 2 reasons:
1.
The network is to slow. All student want to use the same clips. Often the
project file is saved on the file server as well. For the preview window and
for the thumbnails in the time line all the data has to come through the
network from the file server. At the start of the project there is simply
less data, because less clips are included in each movie so far.

2.
The workstations are to slow. For the preview window and the decoding of the
mp3 songs a lot resources must be used. Each work station has 1 GB RAM. Is
this simply to less?

 

[Graham Hughes]

What sort of avi files are they?
MM only works well with dv.avi, none of the other 800+ different types.
Find out what sort yours are with avicodec
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/WebPages/UsefulProgrammes.htm
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorials/avicodec.html

MP3's don't help either, use wav audio files
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorials/Convert_mp3_To_WAV.html