Having a difficult time understanding and operationing R_E_C_U_R

This is my first project using a rpi to do anything.

i enjoy hardware projects like diy guitar pedals and 3d printing, but this software deal is kicking my butt.

ive finished building recur with incur + clickr and made a custom enclosure.

this thing is so buggy and laggy! i have to tap multiple times on the clickr to get to the next menu or even scroll down through settings.

i can’t get any video thru the incur and my videos ive loaded on are really slow loading / wont play / or super compressed.

am i using this thing wrong ? where can i found more info about these issues?

because right now im really bummed about how this project came out and it seems like im facing a learning curve that seems like a wall.

thank yu for yur consideration.

Also if this project is a bust, does anyone have any advice or whatever i can use this hardware for (other video effects/programs)

hi! i moved the topic to “underscores,” which the r_e_c_u_r and related are a part of.

sorry to hear you’re having frustrations with your build. i haven’t used the clickr yet, but when i did use the r_e_c_u_r more as part of my live performance setup (with the old numpad controller) it wasn’t laggy or anything. it definitely sounds like something is not working correctly. unfortunately, my knowledge is pretty out of date and i’m not sure what specifically would be the issue. here are some general raspberry pi tips:

which generation is the pi? (such as: 3b+?)

they need a lot of amperage in their power supplies. how much exactly depends on my previous question. is the power supply you’re using up to spec?

there’s probably a lot more that could be checked but hopefully @cyberboy666 and/or someone who uses the more recent r_e_c_u_r images will see this thread and have some suggestions.

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Hi thanks for replying, im using a rpi 3 model B+ quad core 1 gb ram and the power is 5.0v 2.A.

the 3b+ is rated for 2.5 amp power supply, but if there are any other things plugged into the pi - clickr, lcd screen, (incur?), etc - that would also draw more power. again, i’m not positive that is the only issue, but you might want to try it with a power supply rated for more like … 3-4 amps? more is better, as you probably know an excess of amperage won’t hurt anything, i think it would be best to give it some overhead

I think another element that can impact the speed of the pi might be the micro sd card? Logically you’d want a sd card that has a quite fast read speed to run. Here’s an article about micro sd card types, etc.

https://www.kingston.com/en/blog/personal-storage/memory-card-speed-classes

I remember having a similar issue than yours and I bought a V30 micro sd card and it stopped being buggy. Don’t know if video sd cards are necessarily the best tho!

Surely somebody else knows more about this

okay, i will order a power suppy with more amp

the micro sd card im using is a “san disk ultra 32gb a1”

but i could try a different card for testing

i also was reading that the video files have to be exported a certain way for optimization. any recommendations?

I put them through handbrake on a 1080x720 30fps fast preset (its a handbrake preset) save as mp4 or mov I think its the same. In my recur folder they are both, and all work the same. I use the HDMI output though to get a higher res.
Are you using the HDMI or the composite?

currently im using the composite but i can switch to hdmi

Try it on HDMI and see if you still have the same problems. I’m guessing, if its a system overload or power problem, then you should have more of the same problems with HDMI as it’s using more system overhead.
It does sound like its something on your particular pi. They really do need a ton of juice for looping and displaying video. Hopefully that will sort it.
I think the pi displays a little lightning bolt if it’s low on power, but maybe that’s not in the recur distro. Do you see that on the LCD?

I use incur plugged to a Edirol v4 mixer using composite. As the size of the composite signal is so small i always use videos reduced to 720x405. No lag and no undervoltage thunder on the upper right corner of the screen. Instead, when using 1280x720 videos usually get the undervoltage thunder but didn’t really felt any lag. Optimizing your videos for your needs may help unless you have a hardware problem than can always be happening. Hope this helps.

okay so now i’m using the hdmi output and that fix the quality.

i also got a higher amp output and that fix the laggyness over all.

now the only issue is playback, sometimes between the loop the start up image will flash a couple frame and switching to some videos will freeze the rpi and i would have to unplug and restart it.

I think these videos are unsupported types for playback. Examine the metadata of one that fails vs one that plays well. You will see the difference there somewhere.

This is a great tool for showing metadata. It can be some weirdness in the display aspect vs storage aspect or something like that.

Make the videos you put into recur fit the specs of a file that plays back well. I Use handbrake.fr to convert them.

okay! i will check those out and see if that fixes the issue