DJLindseyLeigh
Hi guys,
I video DJ almost every day and over the past couple of years have had every possible problem with freezing and did hours and hours worth or recovery, testing, and have scrambled during gigs to get things back up and running after updates, etc. so here's what helped me!
Obviously, you need to have a good enough video card, etc. If your computer is slower and a few years old, it will not play videos well. You must have a newer laptop or an upgraded VRAM and video card.
Assuming that you have all your settings optimized for video DJing, if you're still freezing-this is finally what I figured out!
Connect an external backup drive.
In your computer's hard drive, go into your Virtual DJ folder and delete "settings.xml" and "license.dat".
Copy the Virtual DJ folder in your computer over to the external drive. Make sure you cope over the "folders" folder as well so you don't lose your VDJ folders (this killed me once-I strongly suggest you do not solely relay on using virtual folders-make playlists in iTunes in case you lose your virtual folders-trust me!
Double check that the VDJ folders have copied over to your external drive!
On your actual computer, delete the Virtual DJ folder and clear your trash.
Re-copy the Virtual DJ folder back into your computer from your external drive (remember you had to delete the settings and license files earlier, or this will not work)
This will clear most of your settings and you'll have to sign back in, etc. once you re-open Virtual DJ.
This is the ONLY thing that will fix your problem if you've updated (or not) and you know for sure everything else is not broken or running slow.
If you're still running slow, and you're using an external hard drive to DJ, your external drive has gone bad or is going bad, EVEN IF DIAGNOSTICS SAY OTHERWISE. This happened to me and I blamed VDJ (sorry y'all) because the external drive passed all inspections, but that was indeed the culprit another time, and it was less than a year old.
I just wanted to update you all since there are tons and tons of forums and digging through them in a crisis can give anyone anxiety, and I wanted to give back because this used to drive me CRAZY. haha! I hope this helps!
I video DJ almost every day and over the past couple of years have had every possible problem with freezing and did hours and hours worth or recovery, testing, and have scrambled during gigs to get things back up and running after updates, etc. so here's what helped me!
Obviously, you need to have a good enough video card, etc. If your computer is slower and a few years old, it will not play videos well. You must have a newer laptop or an upgraded VRAM and video card.
Assuming that you have all your settings optimized for video DJing, if you're still freezing-this is finally what I figured out!
Connect an external backup drive.
In your computer's hard drive, go into your Virtual DJ folder and delete "settings.xml" and "license.dat".
Copy the Virtual DJ folder in your computer over to the external drive. Make sure you cope over the "folders" folder as well so you don't lose your VDJ folders (this killed me once-I strongly suggest you do not solely relay on using virtual folders-make playlists in iTunes in case you lose your virtual folders-trust me!
Double check that the VDJ folders have copied over to your external drive!
On your actual computer, delete the Virtual DJ folder and clear your trash.
Re-copy the Virtual DJ folder back into your computer from your external drive (remember you had to delete the settings and license files earlier, or this will not work)
This will clear most of your settings and you'll have to sign back in, etc. once you re-open Virtual DJ.
This is the ONLY thing that will fix your problem if you've updated (or not) and you know for sure everything else is not broken or running slow.
If you're still running slow, and you're using an external hard drive to DJ, your external drive has gone bad or is going bad, EVEN IF DIAGNOSTICS SAY OTHERWISE. This happened to me and I blamed VDJ (sorry y'all) because the external drive passed all inspections, but that was indeed the culprit another time, and it was less than a year old.
I just wanted to update you all since there are tons and tons of forums and digging through them in a crisis can give anyone anxiety, and I wanted to give back because this used to drive me CRAZY. haha! I hope this helps!
Inviato Tue 25 Jul 17 @ 10:20 pm
djcel
Not sure about your solution... Maybe a setting you changed. But you can reset all the settings in the option window so no need to delete files...
Inviato Sat 29 Jul 17 @ 12:45 pm
Don Moir
Yeah was about to say Charles.
These instructions are not clear to what actually fixed your problem.
all I know from reading this is:
1) delete settings.xml and license.dat - did this fix the problem ?
2) copy VDJ folder over to another drive, delete existing VDJ folder, and copy back from other drive... Did this somehow magically fix the problem? If so you have other problems
Usually it is bad advice to say something like "this is the only thing that will fix your problem" especially since actual cause was not determined.
About hard drives going bad
I don't know anyone that is an expert about what the signs of a hard drive going bad are. There could be some kind of an expert like this for special users. They simply don't go bad often enough as far as I know so hard to be an expert on it. In the early days it was easy to tell and hard drives failed easily. But today I am assuming not only is the technology much better but there are error recovery systems in place and this is at least one clue.
This is how it happened for me. I had my main hard drive go bad recently. I noticed that everything started taking longer time to execute... Webpages, load times, etc... But it was very gradual. Hardly noticeable... and then progressively worse.. and began to see 'program not responding' momentarily for any program... I am assuming the fail safe system is taking longer and longer to execute. I took the drive in to be checked and ended up replacing the drive..I have not had a drive go bad in many many years though and I beat the living hell out of them.
Some times about the same problems can have multiple causes. Heat is another thing that cause your computer to run slower. This is a built in thing to save your laptop. If the heat builds up too much, the laptop is designed to shut down.
These instructions are not clear to what actually fixed your problem.
all I know from reading this is:
1) delete settings.xml and license.dat - did this fix the problem ?
2) copy VDJ folder over to another drive, delete existing VDJ folder, and copy back from other drive... Did this somehow magically fix the problem? If so you have other problems
Usually it is bad advice to say something like "this is the only thing that will fix your problem" especially since actual cause was not determined.
About hard drives going bad
I don't know anyone that is an expert about what the signs of a hard drive going bad are. There could be some kind of an expert like this for special users. They simply don't go bad often enough as far as I know so hard to be an expert on it. In the early days it was easy to tell and hard drives failed easily. But today I am assuming not only is the technology much better but there are error recovery systems in place and this is at least one clue.
This is how it happened for me. I had my main hard drive go bad recently. I noticed that everything started taking longer time to execute... Webpages, load times, etc... But it was very gradual. Hardly noticeable... and then progressively worse.. and began to see 'program not responding' momentarily for any program... I am assuming the fail safe system is taking longer and longer to execute. I took the drive in to be checked and ended up replacing the drive..I have not had a drive go bad in many many years though and I beat the living hell out of them.
Some times about the same problems can have multiple causes. Heat is another thing that cause your computer to run slower. This is a built in thing to save your laptop. If the heat builds up too much, the laptop is designed to shut down.
Inviato Sat 29 Jul 17 @ 1:11 pm
drjust
I need to buy a new computer that will properly handle VDJ 8 .... in video DJ mode IE play back of music vids, without freezing lagging etc.
What are the best specs for a small form desk top PC?
What are the best specs for a small form desk top PC?
Inviato Tue 21 Nov 17 @ 6:47 pm
A Man and His Music
@drjust, your question has nothing to do with this topic. You may start your own thread. Please don't hijack someone else's thread, thank you.
Inviato Tue 21 Nov 17 @ 8:38 pm
drjust
ok ill start a new thread question...but you guys are inconsistent.... ive made posts in the past and have been told to not make posts where some one else has posted or asked similar questions...and i was told to do a topic search and ask my question on a related post....and I did so here... in terms of my current issues with vdj 8 are video mixing play back freezes the laptop im currently using.... so this is why i made the post here ... thinking i was following instructions that i was once given...
Inviato Tue 21 Nov 17 @ 8:54 pm
A Man and His Music
You could ask here about your laptop freezing, and maybe someone could help you with that.
Inviato Tue 21 Nov 17 @ 9:16 pm