New to the program, running on a Lenovo Thinkpad, Windows 10, 64-bit version of Purr-Data (most recent). I am simply trying to play a video (AVI). I can create the window, open the file, see the video file show up in the window, but it does not play. When I toggle auto, the program crashes, forcing me to quit. I have tried using pix_movie instead of pix_film, and the same result occurs. I have also tried using 'auto 1' instead of 'auto $1', and they both crash the program. Is there a way to resolve this, or am I just wasting my time here?

@thisprogramsucksonwindows said:

New to the program, running on a Lenovo Thinkpad, Windows 10, 64-bit version of Purr-Data (most recent). I am simply trying to play a video (AVI). I can create the window, open the file, see the video file show up in the window, but it does not play. When I toggle auto, the program crashes, forcing me to quit.

One recommendation is to install the K-Lite Codec Pack -- I can't find a direct link on this machine (regional search restrictions -- I can find "uptodown" style links but I don't trust them) but it should be easy to search. Gem depends on the codecs available on your system. If one fails, another might be successful.

With that said, though... it's with some regret that I have to say that the state of the art for graphics passed Gem by quite some time ago. I still use it in class because the students just need a basic smattering and it's good to stay within the Pd paradigm, but it's far less advanced than Jitter in Max/MSP ($) or vvvv (Windows only I believe, so you're in luck there -- free for noncommercial use) or Processing.

In Pd, there's also Ofelia, but get ready to write Lua code into the objects. It's much more performant than Gem but a lot harder to use.

hjh

PS There's a rant in there somewhere about that user handle but I haven't got energy for it now...

@thisprogramsucksonwindows For more...... https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/13772/loading-a-mpeg-file-in-pix_film-is-creating-problem-0-frames-why
It seems uncertain where the problem arises and no-one has posted a solution. Gem is broken somehow in the 64-bit environment.
32-bit Pd + Gem was pretty stable (Pd extended) and Vanilla and extended can be run at the same time without preference conflicts in windows.... so I would suggest that you open extended +Gem for the video, and Vanilla for other stuff..... and communicate between the two with [netsend]+[netreceive]

You will find Pd extended here....... https://puredata.info/downloads/pd-extended/releases/0.43.4 ... including a portable (run anywhere) version. The preferences are stored separately to Vanilla in the registry.
It should play an AVI without problems I think.
David.

@ddw_music thank you for your reply. I see in a thread linked to me by another user that K-Lite potentially has an issue with Premiere Pro, a program I use frequently, but I appreciate your other suggestions and will look into those. I'm just trying to use a free program right now to explore if this is something I want to use in my artistic practice, so perhaps vvvv would be a better place to start. That being said, I'm sure this program is great in Windows, and have had a fun time with it despite the many issues I've run into--it just seems that it has better functionality on Macs.

@whale-av thank you for your reply. I will check out pd-extended and see if that works for me.

Yes, K-lite should be installed to be able to play most of video formats.
You can check which backends are installed on your system by sending a "loader" message to [pix_film]

As an alternative, you can try pof library that is close to Gem.

@whale-av said:

You will find Pd extended here.......

Not sure if it's a good idea to use such an obsolete version, but purr data should contain Gem also.

@60hz Purr-data is the program I had an issue with. Pd-extended did work for my computer--however, I have just downloaded vvvv and it seems like a better option for generative visuals. The loader message tells me I have "DirectShow" and "image". To my understanding, DirectShow should allow me to play AVI files without an issue, but it does not. I have also seen that K-lite has a codec compatibility issue with Premiere Pro, a program I frequently use, but thank you for your reply.