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[Since this is specifically an E-Prime 2 issue, I have reposted this here from http://support.pstnet.com/forum/Topic1850-4-1.aspx (under "Installation").]
Brandon.Cernicky (7/22/2008)
There have been enough reports that there are some issues for certain Vista configurations. The scope of these problems have been related to loading some video and sound formats timing out and experiments aborting when using StopAfter for movies. PST is investigating these issues and feel [sic] that a solution to them should occur shortly (weeks, not months).
So, it has been seven months now (yes months, not weeks), I am finally starting to use movies, and this problem is not yet fixed. So what gives?
Using EP2 2.0.8.22, which is still the latest version available. Using this under Vista. Just testing with the 7 sec face.mpg file that comes with the installed MovieRT sample. If I give my MovieDisplay object a duration of, say, 10 sec, then the program reliably crashes with a "Stopped working" error at the end of the 7 sec video, whether StopAfter is Yes or No. Everything works fine if I set the duration of the MovieDisplay object to 5 sec, whether StopAfter is Yes or No. Finally, if I set the duration of the MovieDisplay object to 7 sec then it works fine if I have StopAfter set to Yes, but crashes if I have StopAfter set to No. So this seems to be about more than just StopAfter, and have a lot to do with the duration of the MovieDisplay or Slide object being longer than the duration of the movie file.
Have not tried this under XP yet, for all I know it all works OK there.
-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
(Hmm, on an editorial aside, I generally seem to do a more diligent job of debugging and proofreading your systems and documentation than your own engineers. Why don't you folks just hire me and be done with it?)
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OK, I did PST's job for them and thoroughly tested the new MovieDisplay object on two computers under Windows XP and Windows Vista. I tested every combination of StopAfter, EndMovieAction, and difference between durations of movie file and MovieDisplay object. But the results can be stated very simply.
Under XP everything worked fine. Under Vista, EP2 crashed whenever a movie file played to its end. By "crash" I mean that Vista forcibly shut down the entire E-Prime application (E-Studio or E-Run). Movies did play as long as StopAfter was set to Yes and the movie file had a longer duration than the MovieDisplay object, but in every other case EP2 crashed.
So we do have a workaround for those stuck playing movies with Vista. Make your movie files a little longer than you need, set StopAfter to Yes, and make sure to set the Duration of the MovieDisplay object to something less than the duration of the movie file. If you need the stimulus object to last only as long as the movie file, then put the appropriate duration for each file in the stimulus list and use that as an attribute to set the Duration of the MovieDisplay object for each movie presentation. This leaves much to be desired, but may work well enough until PST fixes this.
Better yet just keep using Windows XP instead of Vista. So far all my tests show that everything in EP2 works fine under XP.
-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
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| Thanks for the thorough analysis. The stop after position issue under Vista appears to be related to a problem introduced when applying Windows Vista Service Pack 1. There is a fix to this issue that has been released internally and we are trying to remedy this issue in a public release as soon as possible. There remains a couple of outstanding issues related to Vista as well that are one of the causes to the hold up. -Brandon
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Hello,
I was just wondering: has the problem with E-Prime and Vista been resolved? I recently bought E-Prime Professional 2.0 and I also need to buy a new laptop, so I was wondering if I should buy one with Windows XP or Vista.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Evi Kyritsi
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| E-Prime 2.0.8.73 and later should have more stable movie playback under Vista which may require some configuration changes on your system to allow this. Since the release of 2.0.8.73, there have been no reports of any issues specific to movie playback in Vista.
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Evi,
I have not yet had time myself to install 2.0.8.73 and see whether sound and movies (let alone response timing) now work with my Vista system (which I use only for development, never running subjects). So, if you want to be a pioneer for the rest of us, please go ahead and get Vista, or even Windows 7, and then report back with your experience. Otherwise, stick with XP. As for me, I see no reason to graduate from XP for running subjects until Vista or Win7 provide real advantages instead of drawbacks.
-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
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