We have developed a paradigm that requires participants to view a series of short videos (approx. 120 videos of 4-5 seconds in duration) and respond to each. We are playing on using MediaLab as the platform through which to run this paradigm but we have consistently had problems with the program freezing and crashing throughout the development and piloting of this task. The odd thing is that the crashes are unpredictable. They don't occur at a consistent point during the task, nor do the crashes occur every time the task runs. Because of this it has been very hard to troubleshoot the problem. I searched the forums for help but to no avail. We have tried multiple types of video files with the same result. Our IT staff was unable to identify any problems with the computers that might lead to this issue. The computers are brand new Dell laptops with Windows 7.

We must get this problem resolved as soon as possible as we will be beginning data collection shortly with parents and children and in the event that MediaLab freezes or crashes, we will be unable to simply have participants complete the task again as they will have already been exposed to the videos and their ratings will, therefore, be biased. Data from participants will be non-recoverable is the program freezes or crashes. We have several colleagues interested in our paradigm and in order to use it, we are suggesting that they purchase MediaLab as we know of no other software that will allow us to run
this task. However, before our colleagues purchase dozens of licenses, we need to be absolutely certain that MediaLab can support the task and that this problem can be resolved.

I would greatly appreciate any help that can be offered in resolving this technical issue. Please let me know if there is any information you need to help in assessing the potential problem such as computer specifications. I can not stress how anxious we are at the possibility of beginning data collection with a task that might or might not crash for any given participant. Additionally, the thought of costing our colleagues thousands of dollars for a program on which the paradigm can not be run is equally upsetting.

Please let me know if there is anything that can done to solve this problem or whether it might be best to pursue other potential programs for running this task.

Thanks for you time and help!