Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

[Dick_Davis]

I've been having a long-time ... 10 months?... issue with Version 4.18.10. Opening DPP up I get a combination of a blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow. This goes on for 4? minutes. I have to wait until it stops before I can begin editing. This will also appear during editing. Technical support has been ... unfortunately ... less than supportive. I just discovered the newer Ver4.19.10 version. I'm wondering if anyone has had this similar issue. Let's see what happens with the newer version. I've had a Canon camera for 60+ years and would be disappointed if I had to switch.  

[Dick_Davis]

Hi Shadowsports. Do you remember the FTB?, AE1? Currently have an EOS 90D. Computer - HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-1052, 10th Generation Intel Core i5-10400 processor, Windows11, 16GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM memory(2x8GB) Also had a secondary hard drive ...('G').. installed at time of purchase. Installed Ver4.19.10 yesterday but haven't played with it yet. Thanks 

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
The value of a camera system is not, to me, dependent on the performance of one element alone, particularly the free post-production software.  I am surprised that you would consider walking away from a brand you have used, assumedly for most of your life, on that basis alone.  

The performance of software is dependent on the system it is running on: the type of computer: e.g. Mac, PC or Linux, the processor(s), RAM, hard disc and the configuration of cache memory.   None of which we know and yet that detail is significant.

Inevitably, as applications become more capable, they also become more complex, requiring more system resources.  So, it is important to be cognizant of the minimum system requirements for the version of the program you are using.

[Dick_Davis]

TY Trevor. My computer is adequate enough and I have a lot of free space. I've just been so frustrated at how slow DPP is running. Just as frustrated with Canon Tech Support. After my many, many, many calls to them they know me by my first name now. I was expecting them to work with me and diagnose my issue and come up with a solution. Isn't what 'support ' is supposed to do ? I won't walk away from Canon, but it sure has crossed my mind as a last resort. 

[wq9nsc]

I am in the middle of processing 2,000+ images I shot at Friday night football which included senior night and a celebration at halftime of the 100th anniversary of the football program.  I just upgraded to DPP 4.19.1 and I noticed a huge improvement with the complex files from my 1DX III bodies.  Prior versions had an annoying lag when switching between the main adjustments and cropping tabs but with the current version I can instantly switch from tool to tool making changes without having to wait which is a HUGE improvement in processing.

I have it set for maximum quality instead of speed and at least on the twin CPU workstation I am using, there is no need to opt for the lower quality/higher speed option of 4.19.1

Rodger

[Dick_Davis]

TY Rodger. I'm nowhere near as accomplished as you are. When talking with tech support he had me change to 'HIGH'? or 'SPEED"? ... I can't remember which, but I installed v4.19.10 last night and we'll see what happens

[shadowsports]

We'll have to wait until the OP replies.  Then we will have a better idea once he provides details about his system specs and software environment.

Gary,

As far as what 4.19.10 will do.  You're MAC is certainly powerful enough to run DPP.  I've been running 4.18 until recently, although I do my post on PC's.  The laptop I use for travel is a few gens old.  Windows 11, i7 with 16gigs of RAM.  Its not super speedy, but gets the job done.  Its doing fine with DPP 4.18 & 4.19.  I haven't tried DaVinci Resolve on it (probably won't).  The screen is 14 in.  There is no way it will process 4K video well.  My MAC is an M1 with 32GB.  However I prefer windows to Mac os.  🍎😋

[justadude]

Windows vs. Mac OS... all personal taste, isn't it, Rick?  I do find Photoshop and Lightroom run smoother and faster on the couple of Mac systems I have compared to my Windows system, but I'm sure that has something to do with the way they are configured on each device as well.  I also find Mac OS more user friendly, but I know just as many people say the same about Windows.

I noticed someone else on this thread said something about DPP loading all of your photos and videos in your startup folder, which slows it down.  That may be true if it loads a bunch, however mine points to a specific "Temp for DPP" folder on my SSD that only has the handful of photos I want to edit at the time, then they get moved to the Lightroom folder to be uploaded into that program.  So I might have 20 photos max that I'm loading into DPP at any given time.  

Bottom line, DPP works great (although slow) on the few photos I actually need it for, and I don't use it often (compared to Lightroom daily use).  So I can "suffer" with the slowness.  😂  Maybe I could get caught up on my reading while waiting for the program to run?

[Dick_Davis]

Thanks again justadude 👍

[Waddizzle]

Your default startup folder must contain a LOT of photo or video files.

Because DPP does not keep track of a catalog of imported files like many other apps, it scans the startup folder for image files every time it starts up.  On a Windows system, the first time DPP runs it needs a startup folder, so it uses the environment variable for the Windows Media Player startup folder as its initial default.

Assuming this is your issue, how do you “fix” it?  Create a new folder in the root directory of your C drive.  Allow it to be completely empty.  Start WMP and change its default startup folder to this new folder.

Cross your fingers.  Start DPP.  It should  start fairly quickly.  DPP will still grab the WMP default because you have not set a default within DPP.  Once you set a default within DPP,  then it will use your setting, instead of grabbing the default environment variable.  

If you wish to reset WMP back to its initial setting, then feel free to do so.  I do not recommend it.

[Dick_Davis]

OMG Waddizzle ... I think I understand what info you gave me, but before I try that I'll have to visit Dr. Jack Daniels first. 🤣