"Lower the preview quality?" = this has no effect

"Use "Render to new track" to make a scratch track of the video in a simple AVI file, then mute all others."

i did yes i always render a scratch track before starting audio work. and performance is flawless until i hit record at which time it gets "choke-ish" and lagging to the point you cant do lip sync at all (using the video preview anyway)

this is my render of my scratch track

General
Name: FULL-DAY1.mp4
Type: Sony AVC
Size: 2.80 GB (2,867,402,836 bytes)

Streams
Video: 01:35:44.138, 29.970 fps progressive, 1280x720x12, AVC

...and my project settings

(1280x720, 29.970 fps)
24 bit 48K

pick a different drive to record to than the one used for playback... that might help.

also check the temp audio folder. if it's on the OS drive or the one used for video playback, that can also create a bottleneck because the read/write head on the drive has to read and write... you may wanna try moving it also.

(these suggestions are assuming the problem is when you record and not on playback... i could easily be off-base)

"the problem is when you record and not on playback" ...yes - exactly
here is what i have

pre-rendered file folder: C:\Users\iMAC\AppData\Local\Sony\Vegas Pro\10.0
temporary files folder: C:\Users\iMAC\AppData\Local\Sony\Vegas Pro\10.0
Vegas project file: V:\Vegas\ (extremal SATA one)
recorded files folder:U:\Audio\VO\ (extremal SATA two)
video assets (project video files) are on both (extremal SATA one and two)

just changed it to:

pre-rendered file folder: E:\VEGAS_SCRATCH (SSD Drive)
temporary files folder: E:\VEGAS_SCRATCH (SSD Drive)
Vegas project file: V:\Vegas\ (extremal SATA one)
recorded files folder:U:\Audio\VO\ (extremal SATA two)
video assets (project video files) are on both (extremal SATA one and two)

no difference in performance upon record

Render the video to SD DV, that's all the quality you need for ADR. Add pips at the start so the talent has a cue. Use a new project just for the ADR.
Send video to an external monitor via firewire. Never had a problem with video playback even on an ancient 486. Doing it this way Vegas has to do no video processing, just send the DV to the D>A converter. As the video is converted to composite I can run the cable a long way to get the talent in a different room to me and the noisy PC.
I also do a mix just for the talent's cans in my Firewire 410 so they can hear the scratch track and themselves. Also in that mix I have a "control room" mic so the talent and I can talk.

Bob.

ok, that's interesting.

i was gonna suggest creating real low-res versions of the video/audio (avi/cinepak half-rez, uncompressed wav audio)

but now i'm wondering if you have a driver problem... have you updated them recently?

also have u tried recording using a different soundcard?
not a solution but to see if Vegas slows down no matter what, or only with that soundcard.

and i've fixed some random audio problems in Vegas by configuring the audio card in Vegas > Preferences, then saving, closing, and rebooting the computer... this is getting desperate however.

@ farss

good idea, will look at doing that if other attempts dont work. are you also saying that you have tried the general formats (or similar) I am trying to use and you were not able to have fluid video during record?

@robwood

so far this issue has been the same on 2 different computers (a mac pro and an iMac each with tons of power) using the audio interface - Edrol UA5 and interface was tested with the usual driver options including, the 64 bit driver provided by Roland, windows classic, asio4all, as well as using just system sound (tried analog and digital i/o on system sound both the same). last night i thought using digital i/o on system sound would solve it because it seemed to me it would take any strain off of vegas but i guess i was wrong - no matter what i have tried its the same.

"are you also saying that you have tried the general formats (or similar) I am trying to use and you were not able to have fluid video during record?"

Never even tried to use anything else.
It only took a few minutes to render out the required section of the movie as DV. As I was feeding vision to my old SD TV in the loungeroom why do anything else. I guess I'm naturely good at risk aversion :)

Bob.

i didnt think DV would be more efficient than mp4 - i guess because you are using firewire it is.

do you just choose default DV widescreen template from an HD project?

"General

AVC is a compressed format - your PC still has to process every frame, sucking resources from the PC. I said a simple AVI file. something that the PC doesn't have to work with in playback.

so whats the best format for a timeline render exactly?

i could do uncompressed avi but it would be really huge. is there any other or does it have to be uncompressed avi? default settings?

I recorded VO on my most recent project (a "director's commentary") using an external audio recorder mainly because I have very nice audio gear. I simply rendered an SD MPEG-2 of my project, with 1KHz beeps at the beginning, then played it back on my laptop for viewing whilst recording the VO through my audio equipment. Timing was not critical, so it was a no-brainer to line up the VO track to my original project in Vegas.

Just another idea for you.

-Steve

rendered default avi uncompressed.
plays back at 29.9.
hit record = plays at 6 fps

Can you try recording the VO to a different drive than you have the video on? That might help since it will mean that each drive is only sending information one way.

just changed it to:

System C: (SSD Drive One)
pre-rendered file folder: E:\VEGAS_SCRATCH (SSD Drive Two)
temporary files folder: E:\VEGAS_SCRATCH (SSD Drive Two)
Vegas project file: V:\Vegas\ (extremal SATA one)

recorded files folder: G:\VEGAS_TEST_AUD\ (extremal FW800)

video assets (project video files) are on both (extremal SATA one and two)

no difference in performance upon record

i will just have to render it out to a new session

can anyone confirm the best format for timeline render? is it avi uncompressed?

DV-AVI would probably be your best. Uncompressed is overkill.

Dave T2

i see the NTSC DV Widescreen template (in avi render options) gives me a 724x480 video but it still looks pretty good in a 1280x720 project...could be the ticket

"rendered default avi uncompressed.

That's seriously not right. You're not trying to do this on the same hard drive, are you?
(Your System Specs in the profile are blank, so we have to ask more details). Is this on a laptop with one drive? Possibly an SSD?

[edit]
OK, I saw the rest of the comments - SSD reads are super fast, which is why people use them for their system and programs - they load really fast. But SSD writes can be slower than HDD drives. If you are recording to the SSD drive, then yes, I would expect performance to be poor.

"do you just choose default DV widescreen template from an HD project? "

Yes, that'll do, you could almost do it without any vision but it does seem to help the talent get back into character.

DV AVI is less compressed than mp4 (H.264), it's nowhere near as efficient but "effiency" in that context means it requires more CPU cycles to decode and that's the last thing you need getting in the way of recording audio.

Bob.

thanks what i have found out in the case of my current setup and project so far is no matter what config i do using the full project itself vegas chokes on record.

but if I drag renders into a new project it seems to not really matter what the config is hardly at all and it works at or near full frame rate

we'll see what happens once I get the full render in + several audio tracks....

"gives me a 724x480 video but it still looks pretty good in a 1280x720 project"

Doesn't matter in the slightest how good it looks, as long as the talent can follow the movements. It's only going to be used for the talent to sync to. Once that's done you're back to using the original version and can toss the DV file in the trash.