I’m trying to use shotcut for the first time and I am encountering this problem in Windows 10. My harddrive is not full, I have over 20 GB free space. I made a new project, it is empty, there are no files added or previewed, but it still constantly has Disk usage at 100% in Task Manager and, presumably because of this, if I do add a file and try to work with it, it is extremely glitchy and choppy the whole time, basically unusable, even if I reduce the preview resolution. I tried using wondershare filmora to see if it would also be extremely slow, and it ran completely smooth and fine with no issues, so I don’t think it is a problem with my processor…
Do I need to do more to configure this to run smoothly on my computer and if so what do I need to configure?
That is not normal except maybe a short time to load various resources or do cleanup in background upon start. How long did it stay like this, and have you ever opened videos previously within Shotcut? You have a track on the timeline (that is not the default state), and preview scaling is on, which suggests you had done some work. When you add a clip to the timeline, it generates an audio waveform in the background. Probably that is what you are observing. That continues even if you remove the clip from the track.
P.S. If you turn on preview scaling, and all you do is watch a video whose resolution matches that of the project (Video Mode), then you are actually giving the software more work to do (i.e. scaling) than if it were turned off. Preview Scaling only makes sense when used with Proxy mode or heavy usage of Filters (effects).
Thanks for your reply. I left it open for 20-30 minutes as it is shown in the screenshot, but it still remained at 100% disk usage the whole time. I’ve read about the audio waveform issue but it doesn’t seem like it should persist for so long… I will try leaving it open again for longer to see if it will go away eventually, and I’ll try turning preview scaling back off
I cannot imagine what it is doing for this long. I know sometimes people install Windows system extensions that hooks itself into every app process and can do weird things to our app. It does not affect every app in the same manner and may only cause side effects in certain apps. Moreover, it is often not obvious that installing a piece of software may do this (system extension). Kind of sad, and partly why I used to have to periodically reinstall Windows. Now, I am very careful about what to install and try to keep my Windows very much stock like it was after first installed and not customized.
It has been a year since I’ve done a refresh of my system, so it could be related to that. I also wonder if my HDD is getting on in its life, and will probably upgrade to SSD soon. This time when I left shotcut open I left the file in the timeline and checked on the waveform generation while watching the disk usage and it did finally finish that and the disk usage went back down. I think it probably also took so long because I imported a rather long piece of raw footage, and my computer is not exactly high end, though it’s not too bad either (mostly just old). I’m guessing it is a combination of factors. Anyway, it is running pretty smoothly now that the waveform generation is complete. Thanks again for your replies.
