Frequent Freeze while previewing video

Liam_Vegas wrote on 3/20/2003, 8:22 PM

With VV4 the preview locks up after a few minutes of playing video. I found a reference to adjusting the audio buffers.. and also suggested shutting down everything but VV4. This however has not cured the problem.

I have a 1.7Ghz Toshiba Notebook with 512KB RAM and Windows XP. The processor utilization while previewing never goes above 20% so I don't think anything is being over stressed.

I have seen some references to this issue in several posts... but I am unsure if there is a simple/obvious fix that has been uncovered.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Liam

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stormstereo wrote on 8/21/2004, 3:58 PM

I used to have this freeze problem but it disappeared. Don't know why. I remember getting the "unable to mix audio" error message. It unfroze after a while and then I could work for a few minutes until it froze again. Drove me nuts!

An old post of mine: "It is a Vegas issue since other software have no problems playing back the avi. In a reply I got from SoFo they claimed to have adressed the problem in Vegas 4 as long as the firewire drive had the Oxford 911, but I'm still experiencing problems."

Here's my workaround from the same thread back in 2003 (if it's a huge project then forget it - time consuming):
Right click the audio on the timeline. Choose "Apply Non-real-Time Event FX...". The plug-in window opens. Double-click any plug-in, for example Graphic EQ and click OK. Now the EQ window opens. Bypass the effect by unchecking the box in the upper left corner and click OK. The Save dialogue opens. Save with the suggested name, or any other, to the same drive. It does not have to be a different drive. Done. Apply this workaround to all audio clips on the timeline. No need to copy the whole AVI.

Best/Tommy

Liam_Vegas wrote on 8/21/2004, 4:53 PM

Wow... this takes me back....

Just as an update... I have not experienced the problem for a LONG time now... because I have different external drives.

So for me... this is no longer an issue. But... I can see that if you are unlucky enougth to have a drive system that exhibits the problem... then that is a problem.

What does this say about the root cause of the problem... and whether Sony should "provide a solution and response to this thread", In my book they did provide a "solution" and that was to use a drive enclosure that does not exhibit the problem. Is this a hardware only issue or a hardware/software issue or just software? I don't know enough about the problem to understand what it actually is. I know I was pretty annoyed by it when I first experienced it... it is just since then I have standardized on drive enclosures so I know I never get it.

I hope you find a solution to your problem.

rmack350 wrote on 8/22/2004, 12:05 AM

Yeah, definitely takes me back.

Since then I've replaced all my enclosures with ADS boxes. Why? Well, the ADVC100 smoked and every other 1394 device got much, much worse. So I replaced just about everything. Recently I got a second 1394 card in the system just for the ADVC100 because it wouldn't play nice with the drives.

Anyway, the problem was a combination of Vegas and certain enclosures. Yes, Sony could have fixed their end of it, I suppose, but truth is that 1394 is just a mixed bag of shoddy hardware, firmware bugs, and bad voodoo.

My recomendation (still) is to buy your 1394 gear at a retail store with a good return policy. You may go through a few brands until you get things working.

In another thread, Buster Keaton provided this interesting link:
http://www.bustrace.com/products/delayedwrite.htm

My take on why Vegas has more trouble with firewire is (and it's just a guess) that because Vegas has to read both media and peak files that this somehow causes a timing issue with some 1394 bridge boards. The solution is to get a different enclosure.

Rob Mack

Dr_Z wrote on 8/22/2004, 4:51 AM

Somehow I'd expect SONY to give clear messages if their application has problems with certain 1394 drives. A statement like "we have experienced various problems with ext 1394 drives that use a oxford chipset" would be valuable. But somehow I doubt that ANYONE at Sony has looked into this problem. And THIS is what I find annoying to the max. I opened an incident by email . Let's see if they come up with a reasonable answer. I'll keep you updated.

Dr_Z wrote on 8/22/2004, 5:05 AM

Thanks for the suggestion stormstereo. Unfortunately I think I'll go mad if I have to do this for all the audio clips in my project.... As you said it is a workaround for projects with few audio files.

Spot|DSE wrote on 8/22/2004, 7:50 AM

Sony CAN'T really respond to this in any specific manner, because the problem isn't just the 1394 card and/or enclosure. I've experienced this problem once, and only once, out of over 60 enclosures we have here. That was with a Maxtor drive enclosure where most of ours are ADS boxes. The Maxtor started everything being strange. Yet if I remove the Maxtor from my main editing systems and run it into my VAIO, it's flawless.
Various hardware combinations make this more or less likely, but there are too many hardware combinations out there. BIOS, RAM, resource priority, IRQ, all come into play here amongst other things. I can't see the incentive for Sony to try to come up with all the combinations. Several people have sent them drives to read, and Sony hasn't been able to repro the specific problem. I think they've done what they're obligated to do; diligently look to see if Vegas has a 1394 problem, and prove it doesn't. Which they've done, IMO.

Keep in mind, viewing media from the Explorer or Trimmer is also different than viewing from the timeline. Unbuffered vs buffered.

Dr_Z wrote on 8/26/2004, 8:52 AM

Here is the answer from SONY:

This is an issue that has been reported before but we have yet to reproduce the problem here. As several others pointed out in that thread, all of your hardware factors into the issue. The problem can also be related to how the rest of your hardware interacts with the external firewire drive enclosure. Some have been able to resolve their issues by installing the Microsoft fix located here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329256

Aside from that, there are several other things that you can try:

-Update the firmware for the 1394 enclosure from the manufacturer's website.

-Update motherboard drivers and BIOS.

-Update Windows.

-If the drive can be connected via firewire or USB 2.0, you may want to try using USB 2.0. Some have had better luck with USB 2.0.

If there was a solution that could be implemented on our end, I assure you it would have been done long before now. I hope this information is helpful. If you have follow up questions or need further assistance with this issue, please update this incident.