CanSpoilU
VDJ has worked extremely well for me. No crashes. Frankly this program is pretty f'in awesome. I'll never DJ with CDs or DVDs again.
Granted... I have superior hardware (laptop)... and I have minimal CRAP on my laptop that would interfere with VDJ. I dual boot my laptop... I have Windows Vista installed for my everyday use and I have WinXP for just VDJ.
The only programs I have on my XP partition are: VDJ, DVD Decrypter, Hercules MK2, MS Money (shouldn't be here - but I am testing something), and my Sprint Broadband Wireless Card software. THATS IT! Nothing else is going on this install.
At the first sign of trouble with VDJ... I am not even going to bother to troubleshoot it. I will simply wipe the partition clean and reinstall XP. No sense toying around with something so important.
I tried version 3.4 last year and frankly I thought it was horrid. It crashed on me alot. Definitely not production worthy (at least for me). I wasn't even going to give the new version 4.2 a shot, until my buddy downloaded a copy of it and told me about it. I tried it, ran MUCH better. Bought it.
Granted... I have superior hardware (laptop)... and I have minimal CRAP on my laptop that would interfere with VDJ. I dual boot my laptop... I have Windows Vista installed for my everyday use and I have WinXP for just VDJ.
The only programs I have on my XP partition are: VDJ, DVD Decrypter, Hercules MK2, MS Money (shouldn't be here - but I am testing something), and my Sprint Broadband Wireless Card software. THATS IT! Nothing else is going on this install.
At the first sign of trouble with VDJ... I am not even going to bother to troubleshoot it. I will simply wipe the partition clean and reinstall XP. No sense toying around with something so important.
I tried version 3.4 last year and frankly I thought it was horrid. It crashed on me alot. Definitely not production worthy (at least for me). I wasn't even going to give the new version 4.2 a shot, until my buddy downloaded a copy of it and told me about it. I tried it, ran MUCH better. Bought it.
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 2:12 am
CanSpoilU
DJ ANGEL S wrote :
As bryantpb mentioned. 1 out of 10 is still 10%. I can afford to go into a wedding gig not feeling confident that the software wont crash.
DJ Angel S
DJ Angel S
Do you feel 100% confident that your DVDs will never skip? Or that your amp will never overheat? Or that your light show won't blow a fuse at your venue?
Nothing in the DJ world is 100% guaranteed to work. I was using a Numark DVD01 DVD player and frankly I have a hell of a lot more faith in VDJ not crashing than I do with the Numark not skipping or locking up on me.
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 2:24 am
DJ ANGEL S
canspoilu
There is no such thing as a 100% guaranteed of a dvd not skipping. However, if a dvd is skipping it doesn't take much to switch over to another dvd playing on deck 2. No time is wasted in having to reboot. The dvd players I am using is not the cheap DVD01 by Numark. I have a Pioneer rig with 2 DVJX1 , 1 DVJ800 mixer, V4 video mixer. and I have two regular dvd players I use in case of back up. (never needed the back) but I bring it just in case.
As professionals DJ we need to prepare for the worst case scenario. We bring back up equipment if needed to assure the music keeps on going. So you probally asking if I have this expensive rig why am I looking at virtual dj.
The answer is quite simple, I am looking to work smarter not harder. The rig is a great set up but requires alot of muscle in transporting and searching for tracks in a software is a lot easier that looking for dvd's. I mentioned in previous post, that I also been mixing with VDMX software for about 2 years and have not have any issues. However, they dont have video as an option. I would like to add a video software to my rig that I am considering on ordering but I haven't been sold on a stable software the is reliable for live events such as Weddings and Sweet Sixteens etc.
I feel that you get mix reactions when it comes to opions on most users about the stabilty of virtual dj.
Someone posted that if you are carefull in remembering on certain options that cause the crash then you will eliminate the possibility of future crashes. Why not just fix those bug and make Virtual more reliable.
DJ Angel S
There is no such thing as a 100% guaranteed of a dvd not skipping. However, if a dvd is skipping it doesn't take much to switch over to another dvd playing on deck 2. No time is wasted in having to reboot. The dvd players I am using is not the cheap DVD01 by Numark. I have a Pioneer rig with 2 DVJX1 , 1 DVJ800 mixer, V4 video mixer. and I have two regular dvd players I use in case of back up. (never needed the back) but I bring it just in case.
As professionals DJ we need to prepare for the worst case scenario. We bring back up equipment if needed to assure the music keeps on going. So you probally asking if I have this expensive rig why am I looking at virtual dj.
The answer is quite simple, I am looking to work smarter not harder. The rig is a great set up but requires alot of muscle in transporting and searching for tracks in a software is a lot easier that looking for dvd's. I mentioned in previous post, that I also been mixing with VDMX software for about 2 years and have not have any issues. However, they dont have video as an option. I would like to add a video software to my rig that I am considering on ordering but I haven't been sold on a stable software the is reliable for live events such as Weddings and Sweet Sixteens etc.
I feel that you get mix reactions when it comes to opions on most users about the stabilty of virtual dj.
Someone posted that if you are carefull in remembering on certain options that cause the crash then you will eliminate the possibility of future crashes. Why not just fix those bug and make Virtual more reliable.
DJ Angel S
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 2:44 am
CanSpoilU
I hear what you are saying. If you want to make your rig smaller.... what about VDJ and bring a small DVD player as a backup? Maybe buy one or two of those portable DVD players (the ones with the screens attached to them?). Or maybe buy two of the crazy cheap small Cyberhome DVD players as backup.
I have the Numark here as my backup since its whats installed at the club (its not my choice). If I ever do a wedding and need video... I will simply bring two crap home DVD players as backup as well as my laptop with VDJ.
At the club... i typically keep a song cued up in the Numark and ready to go just in case VDJ fails. Lately I have been using Sexyback as my cue-up song. If VDJ were ever to lock up.. i simply hit play on the DVD player. What do I have... 3 seconds of dead air?
If VDJ would ever lock up on me (hasn't yet).. ill live with that in order to use a great product (VDJ).
Hell... to even talk about how reliable VDJ is... I am typing to you on the web... AND i am writing a DVD ISO using DVD Decryptor... AND i am currently live playing video on the laptop. No issues.
Now THATS reliability.
I have the Numark here as my backup since its whats installed at the club (its not my choice). If I ever do a wedding and need video... I will simply bring two crap home DVD players as backup as well as my laptop with VDJ.
At the club... i typically keep a song cued up in the Numark and ready to go just in case VDJ fails. Lately I have been using Sexyback as my cue-up song. If VDJ were ever to lock up.. i simply hit play on the DVD player. What do I have... 3 seconds of dead air?
If VDJ would ever lock up on me (hasn't yet).. ill live with that in order to use a great product (VDJ).
Hell... to even talk about how reliable VDJ is... I am typing to you on the web... AND i am writing a DVD ISO using DVD Decryptor... AND i am currently live playing video on the laptop. No issues.
Now THATS reliability.
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 3:08 am
bagpuss
anewsome (and all),
I hope you've brought attention to those Crash causing bugs on the VIP/Beta Threads, in all my experience they take this kind of feedback very seriously and fixes are issued pretty quickly, so I'd be surprised if they know of these issues yet have not acted yet.
Perhaps the reason why I haven't experienced a crash is simple, I don't use Video, I only operate VDJ within the bubble of Audio, which is something that VDJ has had much time to perfect and stabilise.
Database wise, I use real folders with the main folder added as a favourite as well as a few essential sub folders, I couldn't ask for an easier way of organising my music, I think any good database needs good foundations which requires real music folders separated according to Style and Year, just tailored to the way you DJ. I definitely wouldn't recommend doing a database scan during a live performance, I was so close to doing it last weekend when I started playing at the club only to realise I hadn't scanned my database since adding new music, I saw sense and used the CD player for a mix whilst I performed a scan involving no risks.
So I don't doubt there are bugs in VDJ, especially within the areas I least explore such as Video, all I ask is that people report any such findings so the Dev team can act, although I don't miss the propagandist headlines being posted claiming ridiculous problems exist in VDJ, such threads are nearly always down to the end user over the software itself.
I hope you've brought attention to those Crash causing bugs on the VIP/Beta Threads, in all my experience they take this kind of feedback very seriously and fixes are issued pretty quickly, so I'd be surprised if they know of these issues yet have not acted yet.
Perhaps the reason why I haven't experienced a crash is simple, I don't use Video, I only operate VDJ within the bubble of Audio, which is something that VDJ has had much time to perfect and stabilise.
Database wise, I use real folders with the main folder added as a favourite as well as a few essential sub folders, I couldn't ask for an easier way of organising my music, I think any good database needs good foundations which requires real music folders separated according to Style and Year, just tailored to the way you DJ. I definitely wouldn't recommend doing a database scan during a live performance, I was so close to doing it last weekend when I started playing at the club only to realise I hadn't scanned my database since adding new music, I saw sense and used the CD player for a mix whilst I performed a scan involving no risks.
So I don't doubt there are bugs in VDJ, especially within the areas I least explore such as Video, all I ask is that people report any such findings so the Dev team can act, although I don't miss the propagandist headlines being posted claiming ridiculous problems exist in VDJ, such threads are nearly always down to the end user over the software itself.
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 9:16 pm
anewsome
Bagpuss, there's plenty of audio only problems that will crash vdj too. Well maybe not outright crash it and make it disapear from the screen like the old days, but bugs that cause you to have to restart vdj in the middle of your performance (which is nearly as bad as a crash). Switching from automix to regular mixing is one that comes to mind. It's been reported numerous times that switching from automix to regular mixing will almost always have jacked up audio on one channel. I've seen this happen with my system plenty of times when at home using automix to test for bad video files. This is why I'd never use automix at a gig. I saw a friend of mine get bit by this bug last week. He had to restart vdj in the middle of his set. You can bet he won't do that again.
And that's just one bug. And yes the dev team knows about all these bugs. I usually don't even report a lot of these when I find them, I'll just co-sign when someone else posts them (since I seem to find, and get bit by a LOT of bugs).
So again Bagpuss, I'm glad none of these bugs has never once caused you to crash. I think most people report the same thing. I'm just not one of them, and I expect more stability than what I've experienced in the past. I'd imagine that most of these bugs that can cause crashes will be addressed sometime after the mac version is released. That seems to be the hot button these days.
And that's just one bug. And yes the dev team knows about all these bugs. I usually don't even report a lot of these when I find them, I'll just co-sign when someone else posts them (since I seem to find, and get bit by a LOT of bugs).
So again Bagpuss, I'm glad none of these bugs has never once caused you to crash. I think most people report the same thing. I'm just not one of them, and I expect more stability than what I've experienced in the past. I'd imagine that most of these bugs that can cause crashes will be addressed sometime after the mac version is released. That seems to be the hot button these days.
Posté Wed 14 Feb 07 @ 10:27 pm
A Man and His Music
anewsome wrote :
Obviously you've been very careful with the software. I keep a mental list of things that will cause the program to crash and I try my best not to do those things while DJing. Dozens of things will cause VDJ to crash, if you're a new user and you figure this out WHILE PERFORMING, then that's not going to go over very well. Things like
* Activating sonique plugin while video is playing
* Using virtual folders
* Deactivating video out while playing a song
and many other things will crash vdj. I'm glad you've never once had a crash Bagpuss but I've had enough crashes for everyone. I haven't discovered any new crash causers in a month or so, which means I haven't crashed in over a month, which is good. What would be better is if it never crashed at all though.
Bagpuss wrote :
Used most days since release, not a single crash.., if it did I'd be shouting and screaming about it believe me.
Obviously you've been very careful with the software. I keep a mental list of things that will cause the program to crash and I try my best not to do those things while DJing. Dozens of things will cause VDJ to crash, if you're a new user and you figure this out WHILE PERFORMING, then that's not going to go over very well. Things like
* Activating sonique plugin while video is playing
* Using virtual folders
* Deactivating video out while playing a song
and many other things will crash vdj. I'm glad you've never once had a crash Bagpuss but I've had enough crashes for everyone. I haven't discovered any new crash causers in a month or so, which means I haven't crashed in over a month, which is good. What would be better is if it never crashed at all though.
Don't know what careful is. I am a little slow with computers, and can only tell you what works, not why. However as a scientist, if we both start out with the same software, and it works on my machine, and not yours, I would look at the machine. Now you might say what if it only works on your machine, and not anyone else. I would still look at all the other machines to see what it is they don't have that mine does. If that doesn't work, then you look at the software to see what needs to be added. That is not the case. I am not positive, but It works on more machine then not.
@anewsome
I have done this "Activating sonique plug in while video is playing" numerous times, and did it just now, live to make sure. This does not even give my machine a flicker. Maybe I am not doing the same thing you are, so explain what it is, and I will repeat. As for "Using virtual folders", I have to admit, I really don't understand what this is, and what it is for. So, if you will tell me, I will try this also. The same thing for "Deactivating video out while playing a song", tell me what it is, and I will do it, and report back. I don't use auto mix either, but will try. I don't know jack about software or code, so maybe my observations are wrong. However, I have used this machine with another DJ software, and had the same great results, where others were having problems. Word travels fast, and if this software was not reliable, it would not sell. I don't owe this company anything, and if it was a piece of crap, I would be the first to express that. Does this software have issues, yes it does. Do I recommend it, in a heartbeat. I do weddings and sweet sixteens also. The first dance is played in VDJ, with a backup in the CD player. I would have the same backup if I was using a CD player. So for me, the software is very reliable.
Posté Thu 15 Feb 07 @ 12:00 am
A Man and His Music
Just tried the auto mix with video, no problem. Just activated the automix tab at the top of the skin, is that what you are refering to? I actually don't get the purpose of that tab.
Posté Thu 15 Feb 07 @ 12:07 am
Dj Xeo
ditto, never had a crash using just audio (other than by using a busted effect), dont realy use automix but the times i have its worked as expected, on all versions. when i use video its not quite the same, loading over the network is not smooth (even tho there is ample bandwdth) open a large folder over a network and VDJ will stall (not the music) until the request is completed.
Posté Thu 15 Feb 07 @ 12:54 am
luis14538
I never a had a prob with VDJ 3.4. I loved the cue points using my DAC-2. In 4.2 it is diffrent but all is good. I plan ti buy the numark DMC2 when it comes out.
VDJ is truly THE best tool for any DJ. I had gigs where people drop their jaws when they see NO CDs!
I am asked "where are your cds?" and I answer, CDs are in the past just like 8 track!!!
VDJ is truly THE best tool for any DJ. I had gigs where people drop their jaws when they see NO CDs!
I am asked "where are your cds?" and I answer, CDs are in the past just like 8 track!!!
Posté Thu 15 Feb 07 @ 1:25 am
djnan2
I used my vdj v4.2 in a sweet fifteen last saturday and was really a headache the sound was terrible the automix cut out the song...I used 3.4 before but I changed it in order to use new skins..I rather go back to 3.4 till 4.2 get more stable...I have another Fifteen this saturday I hope everything goes well with 3.4 which never has given me any problem...
Posté Mon 26 Feb 07 @ 7:08 pm