Hi
I have just been doing some tests comparing each of the versions and for this I simply created a short slide show with just images. (As I thought it might run/load faster.) For the tests I created a test project which consisted as follows.....
88 jpg images loaded to the media list of which 19 were added to the sequence line.
Each of these 19 images displayed for 5 seconds with a total film length of 1min 26 seconds
There were 18 transitions
I then created a .vpj file which I tested in the following manner.
The .vpj file was loaded to VP first with an empty cache folder and the loading time found along with the number of cache files generated and the size of the cache folder
With the cachefolder now filled, VP was shut down, restarted and the .vpj file then reloaded.
The cache file in each case consequently only contained data from the project in question.
Result for Version 2.41
Film length on sequence line............................................................1 min 26 seconds
Time to load project (.vpj file) from scratch (empty cache) .............27 seconds
Time to load project (.vpj file) with a filled cache..... ........................2 seconds
Number of cache files generated......................................................177
Cache volume................................................................................... 88 Megs
Note these last two values remained constant after repeated loadings of the project to VP
Result for Version 3.04
Film length on sequence line............................................................1min 26 seconds
Time to load project (.vpj file) from scratch (empty cache) .............1 min 50 seconds
Time to load project (.vpj file) with a filled cache..... ........................3 seconds
Number of cache files generated......................................................313
Cache volume...................................................................................177 Megs
These last two values increased every time the .vpj file was loaded.
The first loading resulted in 313 files
The second loading resulted in 419 files
The third loading resulted in 549 files
The fourth loading resulted in 605 files (400+ megabytes!)
Conclusion
VP 3.04 is decidedly slower to load if the cache has to be filled first and in this instance took about as long as the actual film.
With a previously filled cache both versions seemed to take about the same time but this may not be representative of a longer project than the one tested here.
The other main differences was the size of the cache file generated. It was smaller in version 2.41 but even after multiple loadings of the same .vpj file to VP the cache size and content didn't alter.
In version 3.04 the cache file was much larger (probably since different thumbnails had to be generated e.g in the media list window) however it continued to grow, doubling every time the project was reloaded.
i.e, every time the .vpj file (the same project file) was loaded ALL the files were regenerated in the cache for some reason which therefore doubled in size each time .
WHY????
Why did VP need to recreate the cache each time..There had been no changes to the project and the data presumably remained the same.
It means that if you work on a project for some time, reloading the vpj file each time to continue working on it, the cache will become enormous!
Nat