Does Dynamic RAM allocate actual RAM only when used (Shift+B pressed)?

cadudesun wrote on 9/25/2021, 1:24 PM

Hi.

I'm using Vegas 19.

By chance does anyone know whether the Dynamic RAM Preview function allocates actual RAM just when being used (Shift+B pressed)?

Or is the amount (%) of RAM set in "Preferences>Video" always taken over by Vegas just by starting the app, even Shift+B isn't pressed?

 

My doubt appeared after set Dynamic RAM and the message pop (screenshot attached) appeared, stating:

"The Dynamic RAM Preview function uses RAM shared by other applications on your computer, including your operating system. If you notice playback issues or general computer performance problems after increasing this setting, lower the amount allocate here."

 

Thank you,

Carlos

 

Comments

fr0sty wrote on 9/25/2021, 2:17 PM

VEGAS caches frames to DRP during playback as well, IIRC, as many as it can fit. Shift B tells it to focus on a specific section highlighted by the loop region, or to render from the beginning of the timeline as many frames that it can fit into RAM.

Former user wrote on 9/25/2021, 10:52 PM

Hi.

I'm using Vegas 19.

By chance does anyone know whether the Dynamic RAM Preview function allocates actual RAM just when being used (Shift+B pressed)?

Or is the amount (%) of RAM set in "Preferences>Video" always taken over by Vegas just by starting the app, even Shift+B isn't pressed?

 

 

It allocates the ram when you use Shift+B, but also that ram allocation keeps building with just using the timeline . When you use Shift+B it will reserve that chunk of ram in full if needed and not let go until you close project, a new project will start with a reset of ram allocation. That is how it worked when I tested that a while ago, most likely not changed

cadudesun wrote on 9/26/2021, 10:53 AM

Thanks all of you for the responses!

Actually, after some testing I realized how fast and improved is the performance of the "Selectively Prerender Video" (Shift+M) in v19. I intend to stick with it, and stop using "Build dynamic RAM preview" (Shift+B).

Since "Build dynamic RAM preview" is out of my workflow now, does it make any sense to set any % for "Dynamic RAM Preview max" (Preferences>Video) just for improving the overall preview/playback?

Or should I keep it 0% as shown in the attached screenshot?

 

 

Yelandkeil wrote on 9/26/2021, 12:37 PM

1.
The dynamicRAM preview (Shift+B) has a potential problem that everybody must realize: 

It caches the PREVIEW-Resolution which we often misunderstand as "should go now" by degrading. 
But in fact, when your videotrack (with stills or just being empty) can't be played back in full framerate, then the dynamicRAM can't help, too. 
e.g. my project looks like so -- 

My hardware even cannot play back with half (Good/Best) preview. 

2.
So, my default preview is Good-Quarter. 
I have 64GB RAM, the default 5%=3272MB can provide ca. 5sec dynamicRAM preview. 
And that's enough. 
Bigger dRAM doesn't suck efficiency by me, but the big caching-cache seems to interfere (unwanted jump or flash of pictures occur). 

3.
The dRAM can be sometimes persistent. 
If your caching at same place failed, you'd better cache another pace firstly (to release the "old" one) then come back doing it again.  

Selectively Preredner (Shift+M) is useless for me because it's only for SDR(ec709) production.


 

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Kinvermark wrote on 9/26/2021, 3:04 PM

Actually, after some testing I realized how fast and improved is the performance of the "Selectively Prerender Video" (Shift+M) in v19. I intend to stick with it, and stop using "Build dynamic RAM preview" (Shift+B).

+1 This is the sensible choice. There is little if any benefit to using Dynamic RAM compared to this. Plus they are a little bit more "permanent." Hopefully more work can be done by devs to improve this system, perhaps automating certain elements of it (e.g "smart cache") and making it less "twitchy" about minor timeline changes.

RogerS wrote on 9/26/2021, 7:25 PM

I wouldn't zero out dynamic ram preview unless you have problems as it has some utility as a preview buffer but agree shift m is more useful these days.

Former user wrote on 9/26/2021, 8:05 PM

I wouldn't zero out dynamic ram preview unless you have problems as it has some utility as a preview buffer but agree shift m is more useful these days.


Yes, in a 60fps video I get max 45fps with dynamic preview on 0, but with dynamic ram preview on 50Mb or higher Max fps at 60. The problem is a partial solution to Vegas crashing is setting the value to 0.

RogerS wrote on 9/26/2021, 8:37 PM

Good point though the original poster didn't mention crashing.

cadudesun wrote on 9/27/2021, 7:01 PM

Many thanks for all responses. I learned a lot from this thread 👍

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 6/9/2022, 1:20 PM

Can any DEVS who monitor this comment on why Dynamic RAM Preview still causes glitches/crashes sometimes? It's been that way since at least Vegas 11 when ppl recommended setting it to 0 for increased stability. Is it bugs with handoff to video cards? Bug with memory handling? A design problem?

Just sayin' .. it's been a long time coming for it to get more solid in performance.

I re-enabled it (setting to 200) yesterday and WOW.. my preview got much smoother, and honestly my render time got faster too (is that possible?!)... but then I saw weird glitches (flashes, weird artifacts/memory-corrupt-graphic) in some frames of my render and had to disable it again.

DISCLAIMER: I'm still using V18 -- tried 19 but didn't see performance or stability improvements I needed to justify the upgrade. Is there a set of release notes that might list all the fixes?

Last changed by RedRob-CandlelightProdctns on 6/9/2022, 1:32 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Vegas 21.300

My PC (for finishing):

Cyperpower PC Intel Core i7-7700K CPU @ 4.2GHz, 64GB mem @ 2133MHz RAM, AMD Radeon RX470 (4GB dedicated) with driver recommended by Vegas Updater (reports as 30.0.15021.11005 dated 4/28/22), and Intel HD Graphics 630 driver version 31.0.101.2112 dated 7/21/22 w/16GB shared memory. Windows 10 Pro 64bit version 10.0.19045 Build 19045.

My main editing laptop:

Dell G15 Special Edition 5521, Bios 1.12 9/13/22, Windows 11 22H2 (10.0.22621)

12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores, 20 logical processors), 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU w/8GB GDDR6 RAM, Realtek Audio

 

 

Former user wrote on 6/9/2022, 7:01 PM

I re-enabled it (setting to 200) yesterday and WOW.. my preview got much smoother, and honestly my render time got faster too (is that possible?!)

@RedRob-CandlelightProdctns That's correct, it's a byproduct of the frames being created faster just like in playback on timeline

... but then I saw weird glitches (flashes, weird artifacts/memory-corrupt-graphic) in some frames of my render and had to disable it again.

Normal

Can any DEVS who monitor this comment on why Dynamic RAM Preview still causes glitches/crashes sometimes? It's been that way since at least Vegas 11

If they reply FIX IN VP20! if they don't try again next year around this time. Something I've noticed they don't reply to bugs they can't fix or have no intention of fixing. No news is better than bad news. Although if you look at new features of build VP19 build 636, there were comments about them in forum, and possibly never replied to by staff.

tried 19 but didn't see performance or stability improvements I needed to justify the upgrade. Is there a set of release notes that might list all the fixes?

The main one is the auto ripple crash that happens when moving around clips or deleting during playback with auto ripple on, I tend to think it also related to very fast editing during non playback. In this guy's compilation of crashes I think many are auto ripple related, but he cuts to close to the crash.

RogerS wrote on 6/9/2022, 7:04 PM

19 did address dynamic ram preview and GPU encoding conflicts.

Former user wrote on 6/9/2022, 7:24 PM

@RogerS are you saying the dynamic ram bug is fully fixed in current VP19 , and there is never any need to use a value of 0 now?

RogerS wrote on 6/9/2022, 7:27 PM

It is substantially fixed and I no longer change it to 0 before GPU encodes.

I have downloaded one project from a user that still exhibited issues but for what I do (images, captions, video) it appears fixed.

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 6/9/2022, 8:47 PM

The main one is the auto ripple crash that happens when moving around clips or deleting during playback with auto ripple on, I tend to think it also related to very fast editing during non playback. In this guy's compilation of crashes I think many are auto ripple related, but he cuts to close to the crash.

I see he was using V14 in that video, but yeah.. also seems like since he lost 1.5 hrs of work in one of his shots he didn't have any kind of auto-save, and never got used to pressing CTRL-S... *headdesk*.. hopefully he's learned?

Vegas 21.300

My PC (for finishing):

Cyperpower PC Intel Core i7-7700K CPU @ 4.2GHz, 64GB mem @ 2133MHz RAM, AMD Radeon RX470 (4GB dedicated) with driver recommended by Vegas Updater (reports as 30.0.15021.11005 dated 4/28/22), and Intel HD Graphics 630 driver version 31.0.101.2112 dated 7/21/22 w/16GB shared memory. Windows 10 Pro 64bit version 10.0.19045 Build 19045.

My main editing laptop:

Dell G15 Special Edition 5521, Bios 1.12 9/13/22, Windows 11 22H2 (10.0.22621)

12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores, 20 logical processors), 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU w/8GB GDDR6 RAM, Realtek Audio

 

 

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 6/9/2022, 8:49 PM

It is substantially fixed and I no longer change it to 0 before GPU encodes.

I have downloaded one project from a user that still exhibited issues but for what I do (images, captions, video) it appears fixed.

Well THAT is lovely to hear.

Do you know if any change logs between 18 and latest 19 say "improved stability with Dynamic RAM Preview and GPUs"? I'm a big fan of transparency -- makes me want to upgrade especially when I see an issue I've had has been fixed.

Vegas 21.300

My PC (for finishing):

Cyperpower PC Intel Core i7-7700K CPU @ 4.2GHz, 64GB mem @ 2133MHz RAM, AMD Radeon RX470 (4GB dedicated) with driver recommended by Vegas Updater (reports as 30.0.15021.11005 dated 4/28/22), and Intel HD Graphics 630 driver version 31.0.101.2112 dated 7/21/22 w/16GB shared memory. Windows 10 Pro 64bit version 10.0.19045 Build 19045.

My main editing laptop:

Dell G15 Special Edition 5521, Bios 1.12 9/13/22, Windows 11 22H2 (10.0.22621)

12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores, 20 logical processors), 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU w/8GB GDDR6 RAM, Realtek Audio

 

 

RogerS wrote on 6/9/2022, 9:13 PM

Yes, it was in the first release of VP 19.

Dynamic RAM Preview Improvements: Settings have been improved to reduce the need to adjust them for rendering and playback.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-vegas-post-release-history--104998/?page=2

RogerS wrote on 6/9/2022, 9:15 PM

There was some discussion here:
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/dynamic-ram-preview-in-vegas-19--131083/

As this was something that affected me I did test it at the time and found it fixed for my purposes.