Frequently (and Occasionally) Asked Questions

Microsoft Windows

The download file is a compressed archive .zip folder. That folder contains executable files for either 32-bit or 64-bit DAW hosts.

For Microsoft Windows the executable files are called VidPlayVST32.dll and VidPlayVSTv2.dll.

To install, copy the relevant executable file into the VST plug-in folder used by your host DAW. Instruct your DAW to re-scan the plug-in folder.

Example Windows VST install screenshots:
Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2

Apple OSX/macOS - VST install

The download file is a compressed archive .zip folder. That folder contains executable files for 64-bit DAW hosts.

For Apple OSX/macOS the executable files are called VidPlayVSTv2M.vst, which uses Apple's proprietary Metal graphics, and VidPlayVSTv2.vst, which uses OpenGL graphics. Technically, an OS X plug-in is a 'loadable bundle' package, which itself is a folder having a specific internal directory structure containing the executable code.

To install, copy the relevant executable package into the VST plug-in folder used by your host DAW. Choose file VidPlayVSTv2M.vst for macOS 10.13 or later. Choose VidPlayVSTv2.vst for macOS 10.8 to 10.12. Instruct your DAW to re-scan the plug-in folder.

For those who do not know how to copy and paste in Finder, for macOS 10.13 or later, there is an easy installer in folder /AUTO_INSTALL_macOS-10.13_AND_LATER

Example macOS VST install screenshots:
Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2

Apple OSX/macOS - Audio Unit (AU) install

The download file is a compressed archive .zip folder. That folder contains executable files for 64-bit DAW hosts.

For Apple OSX/macOS the executable files are called VidPlayAUv2M.component, which uses Apple's proprietary Metal graphics, and VidPlayAUv2.component, which uses OpenGL graphics. Technically, an OS X plug-in is a 'loadable bundle' package, which itself is a folder having a specific internal directory structure containing the executable code.

To install, copy the relevant executable package into the Audio Unit plug-in folder used by your host DAW. Choose file VidPlayAUv2M.component for macOS 10.13 or later. Choose VidPlayAUv2.component for macOS 10.8 to 10.12. Instruct your DAW to re-scan the plug-in folder.

For those who do not know how to copy and paste in Finder, for macOS 10.13 or later, there is an easy installer in folder /AUTO_INSTALL_macOS-10.13_AND_LATER

Where are Apple Mac plug-in folders?

This discussion is for Ableton Live but applies to most other DAWs as well.

Linux
The Linux version is distributed as a self-extracting archive. Please refer to the Linux Page.
VidPlayVST is a VSTi instrument plug-in. It is listed with 'synth' plug-ins in the host DAW. It is not an 'effect' plug-in and should not normally be dropped into an effect slot.

The manufacturer name for VidPlayVST is 'AnthonySJaques'. If you are having trouble finding the plug-in in your DAW try looking for that name. Some hosts (e.g. Brainspawn Forte) organise their plug-in lists by manufacturer name.
When installing the Full version it is important to delete and replace any previous Demo plug-in file. There must only be one occurrence of VidPlayVST in your DAW plug-in folders.
Please check that the plug-in is not bypassed in your DAW. For VidPlayVST to work it must be enabled like any other VSTi instrument.

Also check the 'MIDI: Cue with any C note' option. If this is set then the plug-in will not start playback until a MIDI C note is received.
The audio project is probably running at 90% or more CPU usage. VidPlayVST is losing synchronisation because there is not enough CPU time available to the plug-in. Check the CPU load in Task Manager/Resource Monitor (Windows) or Activity Monitor (OSX). Refer to the next question for a solution.

It is advisable to test VidPlayVST first in an empty project. Confirm that it syncs correctly in your DAW before using it in more complex projects where CPU usage might be an issue.

Videos encoded with long key frame intervals will compromise the performance of the plug-in. See item 20 on this page.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator
The best way to optimise the required resources (CPU time and memory) is to reduce the video frame size. If you halve the width and height then each frame will decode and render four times faster. This allows more CPU time for the DAW to do its main job of processing your audio project.

There are tools available online to re-encode a video down to a smaller frame size. 426*240 is the default size of the VidPlayVST window, so that would be a good minimum size to choose. Frame size greater than 1920*1080 is not practical except on super fast hardware.

Close down all other applications (including your internet browser) and disconnect from the internet.

Videos encoded with long key frame intervals will compromise the performance of the plug-in. See item 20 on this page.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator
Open the file in VidPlayVST and click on the logo. This displays various statistics, including the video and audio codecs, and the frame size.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator
This happens in Cakewalk Sonar, MOTU Digital Performer and Bitwig Studio because of the way in which they implement the Steinberg VSTi plug-in interface. These DAWs report the sample offset timeline location to plug-ins only when the transport is actually running. If you move the timeline by clicking or dragging then VidPlayVST does not know the new song position until the transport is restarted.

In Sonar and Digital Performer you can change this behaviour by setting the 'SYNC: Use PPQ position' option. For Bitwig a workaround is discussed here: Bitwig Page
Hold down the Ctrl Key while dragging the slider. You are then able to set the time to within 30ms so a specific video frame can be selected.
This happens in Acoustica Mixcraft, Zynewave Podium, Cantabile and LMMS because of the way in which they implement the Steinberg VSTi plug-in interface. In these DAWs the current sample timestamp increments constantly, regardless of the host transport status. The solution is to use the VidPlayVST 'SYNC: Use PPQ position' option. LMMS also requires 'Sync VST plugins to host playback'.
VidPlayVST supports the video and audio codecs that were licensed to FFmpeg, for decoding, as of July 2018 and including H.264.
Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX/macOS
Yes, but keep in mind that you also need sufficient CPU power to run the audio processing for your project. The plug-in will skip frames if there is not sufficient CPU time available for it to keep synchronisation with the host.
Linux
No.
Yes. It is included with the OSX/macOS distribution available on the downloads page.
Not at the moment. A good option is to use a wrapper plugin such as DDMF Metaplugin Synth. VidPlayVST can then be loaded in Avid Pro Tools, which does not normally support VSTi plugins. There is a demo of how to use Metaplugin in Pro Tools, presented by Production Expert. Skip forward to 3:15 to see how a VSTi instrument is configured.
VidPlayVST has a special optimization feature for handling a long video. Before opening the video, select the 'OPTIMIZE: Cache File Analysis' option. Open the video and the plug-in will save away to disk the important file analysis data. Next time the video is opened it will load very quickly using the cached data.

The cache files are created in the same folder as the video. They are named with "_acache.vdp" and "_vcache.vdp" appended to the video path name. The 'OPTIMIZE: Cache File Analysis' option must remain set, otherwise the cache files are ignored. You may delete the cache files at any time, and the plug-in will simply re-create them next time the video is opened.

There is a test video available DAW-Seek-Test.mp4. This is a short 25 fps video which has the 'performance time stamp' (pts) displayed on every frame (the frames are 40 milliseconds apart). You can compare the pts against the time displayed in your DAW transport. These two values should normally be within 40 milliseconds of each other (unless you are using the 'MIDI: Cue with any C note' option).

A longer 30 minute version Test-DAW-Sync-30-mins-with-click.mp4 is available. This has a click track and is a 33mb download.

No, this does not work in OSX/macOS, although it may be OK in some Windows hosts. Please do not try to 'bridge' from 32-bit to 64-bit. Always install the 64-bit version of VidPlayVST for a 64-bit host.

Please rename the file using characters from a US or European keyboard ANSI character set.

The video probably has very long key frame intervals. Click on the plug-in logo to open the About window. Video statistics are displayed here, including 'Average key frame interval'. If this exceeds 5000 msecs then seek time will be noticeable as a delay in synchronization when the DAW timeline is moved.

A video may have been encoded with long key frame intervals in order to get maximum compression. For a video to be quickly 'seekable' it needs to have key frame intervals of 1000 msecs or less. The fix for this problem is to re-encode the video.


CPU overload can compromise the performance of the plug-in. See items 5 and 6 on this page.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator

The video has probably been encoded without any key frames. Click on the plug-in logo to open the About window. Video statistics are displayed here, including 'Final key frame'. If this is zero it indicates that VidPlayVST was not able to find any key frames in the file.

As an example, the GIF format encodes video without key frames, and also without a video length parameter in the file header. In VidPlayVST synchronization takes a long time when the DAW timeline is moved because the plug-in has to decode all the frames from zero to the sync position. The fix for this problem is to make the video 'seekable' by re-encoding with key frames, preferably at an interval of 1000 msecs or less.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator

The fix for this is in FL Studio OPTIONS, General settings, Miscellaneous. Uncheck 'Auto select linked modules' and check 'Detach all plugins'. In the wrapper window for VidPlayVST select option 'Detached' to allow it to float outside the bounds of the FL Studio application window.

VidPlayVST displays a video exactly as encoded, without view rotation. The free applications MovieMaker on Windows, and QuickTime Player on macOS, both have the facility to re-encode a video with rotated orientation. FFmpeg command line tools can be used to read rotation metadata which may be present in smartphone videos.

Windows Movie Maker: Use Rotate option as required. Choose 'Save movie' to re-encode. Windows 10 rebrands this application as 'Photos Video Editor'.
macOS QuickTime Player: Use Rotate option as required. Choose 'File, Export As' to re-encode.

There may be errors in the sequencing of the video frame decode time stamps (dts). dts should always monotonically increase, i.e. it should never step backwards. VidPlayVST requires a correct dts sequence for file seek to work correctly.

Frame sequence errors can be caused by attempts to edit clips into a new video file without re-encoding the whole finished result. Players such as Windows Media Player or QuickTime may be able to correct for this by substituting time stamps calculated from the average frame rate (obtained from the file header). VidPlayVST is not currently able to 'fix' videos that have sequence errors. FFmpeg command line tools can be used to check the integrity of a video file.
See also: VidPlay VideoValidator

Some early Apple Macs have GPU (graphics processing unit) incompatibility with Apple's proprietary Metal 2 graphics framework. Such systems require installation of the legacy OpenGL version of VidPlayVST. Refer to READ-ME.TXT in the download .zip file.

FAQs for previous purchasers - transfers, macOS upgrades, lost software, VST3

  1. If the previous machine was an Apple Mac
  2. Buy the current Windows version of the plug-in.
  3. If you have kept a backup copy of the original download .zip archive
  4. Copy the .zip archive over to the new Windows PC and install there.
  5. If you have lost your original backup copy of the download .zip archive
  6. Find the plug-in file VidPlayVSTv2.dll in your DAW plug-in folder (prior to August 2018 it was called VidPlayVST64.dll). Copy the plug-in file over to the DAW plug-in folder on the new Windows PC.
  1. If the previous machine was a Windows PC
  2. Buy the current Apple Mac Notarized version of the plug-in.
  3. If your original purchase was before February 2020
  4. Buy the current Apple Mac Notarized version of the plug-in.
  5. If your original purchase was after February 2020
    1. If you have kept a backup copy of the original download .zip archive
    2. Copy the .zip archive over to the new Apple Mac and install there.
    3. If you have lost your original backup copy of the download .zip archive
    4. Find the plug-in file VidPlayVSTv2M.vst in your DAW plug-in folder. Copy the plug-in file over to the DAW plug-in folder on the new Apple Mac.
Since 2019 Apple have made operating system updates which failed to maintain compatibility for users' existing software (deprecated and faulty OpenGL graphics modules, mandatory software Notarization). You will need to buy the current Apple Mac Notarized version of the plug-in.
When you made the original purchase we asked you to keep a backup copy of the download .zip archive. If you have not done that you will need to buy a new copy of the software.
You will need to buy the current macOS version of the plug-in. It is compiled as a universal binary for Apple Silicon compatibility.
VST3 versions of the plug-in have been included in the distribution downloads since October 2022. If you bought before that date you will need to buy a new copy of the software.