Hi.

I installed from ppa:sunab/ppa using apt-get. There were notes on the download page about if you are using KDE 4.3 / 4.4 which confused me as I use standard ubuntu/gnome.

Anyway. It was crashing a lot, no sound in playback or playback freezing depending on options chosen, and the time-line wasn't working. It seemed the time-line needed an update to fix so I added ppa:sunab/sunab2 and updated to 0.7.8, thinking it would also add stability for the other problems.

The time-line fix seemed to be there, but so were all the other problems.

If I use the default playback settings of Video: automatic Audio: ALSA:
- Click play, video plays for a few seconds, with jerky audio and then Kdenlive hangs. Needs force quit. At least two other threads report similar.

If I change to playback settings of Video: XVideo Audio: ALSA:
- Click play on playback, instant hang with black playback screen.

Next I read something about If I change the background colour and restart. So I did this, and the first time I play, it goes back to video plays for a few seconds, with jerky audio and then Kdenlive hangs.

Next I try to run from command line with

env XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1 kdenlive

This gives an error:
** (:23355): CRITICAL **: atk_object_set_name: assertion `name != NULL' failed
kdenlive(23355) MainWindow::parseProfiles: RESULTING MLT PATH: "/usr/share/mlt/profiles/"

But it runs. Again, it plays a few seconds and hangs. Grr.
At the point of hanging, teh command line says:

kdenlive(23355) KThumb::getAudioThumbs: reading audio thumbs from file

So I find something about deleting thumbnails. I delete the thumbnails, make no other changes and run from command line again.


Now the playback screen is repeatedly flipping between the clip monitor and project monitor tabs. The command line is repeating:

kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- STARTING MONITOR: "project"
kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- MONITOR: "project" WAS STOPPED
kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- MONITOR: "project" REFRESH
kdenlive(23385) Render::stop: ///////////// RENDER STOPPED: "project"
kdenlive(23385) Render::stop: ///////////// RENDER STOP2-------
kdenlive(23385) Render::stop: ///////////// RENDER STOP3-------
kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- STARTING MONITOR: "clip"
kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- MONITOR: "clip" WAS STOPPED
kdenlive(23385) Render::start: ----- MONITOR: "clip" REFRESH


It did this a couple of hundred times, and then stopped on clip monitor.
Press play. It plays a few seconds and hangs.

So. Force quit. Delete thumbnails.

Try changing again. I'm doing this because I got it working with video but no sound from the command line in 0.7.7), but can't repeat is 0.7.8

Changed audio to OSS. This time it hangs as I open clip. Just a random hang.

OK, try again. Now this time it will play the video clip all through, but there is no sound.


It's a mess. So I'm looking for more solutions. I see something repeated many times...
"You should first remove all old MLT packages (the one that have version 0.3.8). Install only MLT packages with version 0.4.4"

But I can't see any documentation for how to do this.

I found information here:
http://www.kdenlive.org/user-manual/downloading-and-installing-kdenlive/installing-source/installing-mlt-rendering-engine

About how to remove mlt. I did the following as advised:

- Use your package installer to remove any mlt* and libmlt* packages. - DONE
- Inspect /usr/local/lib and /usr/lib directories and look for mlt* and libmlt*. Remove files and directories if any. - NONE PRESENT
Remove pkgconfig files (mlt-framework.pc, mlt-miracle.pc and mlt-valerie.pc). Remove the following files: /usr/lib/pkgconfig/libmlt*, /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libmlt*. - NONE PRESENT

Re-installed mlt, and kdenlive (synaptic pulled it as a dependency on libmlt).

Unfortunately it is still the same. Also as I use it more, I find that adding extra clips to the timeline caused a crash too.

I seems this install is seriously broken.

For the audio problem search the forum for "pulseaudio".
There are some problem about this but the solution is posted somewhere I think.

I've seen the pulseaudio threads. I'd rather take not pulseaudio off unless I absolutely have to as it will affect other apps I use.

Before I invest time in that, are there any other areas to address for stability? I can;t find anything conclusive about gnome implications, or 64 bit.

You should at least give removing pulseaudio a try to see if that is the problem. It can be easily re-installed if needed. It was the only thing that worked for me (when I was using Jaunty and Karmic). See some of my posts from months ago on this topic. And yes it may affect some of your common pulseaudio using apps.
A few thoughts: don't removoe the pulse libs or synatpic will try to remove everything. Turn off all system sounds in gnome. You will not be able to run more than one audio using app at a time (ie. no browser flash and kdenlive at same time).

FWIW - I'm now using Fedora 12 and have not had any of these problems with kdenlive - but of course no distribution is perfect.
Hope this helps.

If I remember correctly you don't have to uninstall pulseaudio.
You just need to install a library for the connection between sdl and pulseaudio.

Thanks thatonefilmguy, I followed step A and I now have audio working with the small amount of artifacting. That's fine. I;m not looking for precision, I just need to be able to do some basic edits on home movies.

Playing clips now works. Unfortunately...

Adding clips to time-lines crashes kdenlive 1 in 10 times. Just dragging and dropping does this.
With three clips on timeline, playing the project results in a crash 1 in 3 times.

Adding transitions doesn't work.

This is not looking good. Everyone says this is the best NL video tool on Linux. Maybe it's not stable on 64 bit? For general applications I would class 1 crash in 500 to be reliable. Even my browsers achieve this. What's the best kdenlive can achieve? Point being I don't want to put many hours of work into this and get it to be the best it can be, and still have it too unreliable for me expectations. Any comments appreciated :)