Green Thumbnails / Frames ?!

PeterWright wrote on 3/25/2009, 7:14 PM
I'm editing a project with mpeg2 clips supplied by the client - shot on an AVCHD cam, I believe. Using 8.0c

It's been going ok till yesterday when I started getting occasional timeline thumbnails that were green, even though the video still plays in preview ..... THEN, more mysteriously, some clips played back green, even though the timeline thumbnails looked normal.

I even have one instance where I have duplicated a clip on adjacent tracks to blur someone's face - one event thumbnails are normal, the other is green!

edit - to show how random and inconsistent this is - an event was previewing green.
I accessed the original clip and re-added this to the timeline on the track above the original, deleted the original and moved the new event down - it's behaving normally ..... at the moment ....

Has anyone else struck this situation, and found any explanation, or better still, solution?

Comments

farss wrote on 3/25/2009, 8:08 PM
This reminds me of something that happened in India decades ago.
The govt. decided that public service morale was suffering from everything being bound up in red tape. An edict was issued that henceforth all documents were to be bundled up with green tape.

Sorry, that doesn't help one bit I know.

I haven't a clue what red or green frames mean, I've seen them only appear very briefly. The do seem to correlate to tape dropouts in HDV but how that could happen with AVCHD escapes me.

My best advice is not to put problematic codecs onto the timeline. Pretty well everyone who is not having issues with complex projects is using some form of intermediate codec. I've found since I've moved the complex stuff (compositing etc) to AE, Vegas has been rock solid for me even with HDV and/or XDCAM in long but simple projects.

Bob.
PeterWright wrote on 3/25/2009, 8:26 PM
Thanks Bob, yes I'm sure it's something to do with the codec, but I'm getting towards the end of a quite complicated project, and as the problem comes and goes, I'll edit with crossed fingers rather than render a huge number of clips to another format.

- and who knows, maybe there's a bit of Indian logic at work here - to prevent any more grumbling about red frames, we'll make them green ; )

(Yesterday I wasn't smiling, but last night, coincidentally, I went to hear a visiting Indian Swami, and he made it very clear where anger, and indeed happiness come from!)
farss wrote on 3/25/2009, 9:19 PM
One thought that just entered my head.

Do these files by any chance reside on a USB drive?

I've had another Vegas user have several wierd problems with rendered output developing what looked like tape dropouts with source files on a USB drive. Problem totally went away when the files were moved to an internal or firewire drive.

Bob.
PeterWright wrote on 3/25/2009, 9:36 PM
No, it's on an internal drive, Bob.

It's now started crashing Vegas almost as soon as the project has opened, and I've written to Support - don't you love having to type all your previously submitted information plus Serial numbers and computer IDs from a separate computer - and I've sent them the Crash report ...

In the meantime, I'm copying the whole project - about 85Gb - onto an external drive to see if the same thing happens on other machines.

edit - That didn't work - still crashed.

PeterWright wrote on 3/25/2009, 11:13 PM
Pending reply from Support, I'm biting the bullet and batch rendering everything to HD 1080-50i YUV.

Will take all night, but I'm better off doing something useful rather than getting frustrated.

So
- go out and find a carpet remnant for the music room
- do some saxophone practice
- vacuum the pool
- walk the dogs

See you tomorrow, Vegas!
teaktart wrote on 3/26/2009, 11:56 AM
This may be way off the mark but some of my HD YouTube videos start with a weird green frame which is not at all in my original material... I've seen it on several of my YouTube videos which makes me wonder where it happens...with me, or with Youtube's reformatting my video...

I too had Vegas start to seize up and crash immediately after trying to put a CFDI clip on the timeline. The solution was to reinstall Vegas. I wonder why it all of a sudden goes haywire and I'm starting to suspect the Windows updates as thats the only change made that could have messed up Vegas.

Have you tried to reinstall ? Prior to reinstalling I also went and found any and all remnants of V8 folders and files in the registry and deleted them, reboot, and reinstall....cross fingers and pray!

Eileen
PeterWright wrote on 3/26/2009, 6:50 PM
Thanks Eileen and John

I haven't reinstalled, mainly because I tried the project on a different computer and it still crashed, and I don't think there were any dodgy installations, let alone two.

I have now heard from Support, who tell me to render to the HDV Cineform avi Intermediate. Same basic solution to what I'm already in the course of doing, although the YUV version is eating up space - not sure if the Cineform uses more or less ....

They didn't actually tell me how to replace the old footage for the new - I'm still waiting for renders - but I assume I just rename the folder containing the old, then when Vegas asks me where the MPEG2's are, I point it to the corresponding YUV avi. I'll report back, hopefully to describe success.
Xander wrote on 3/26/2009, 7:34 PM
Yes, that will work.

I too have a workflow similar to farss. I bought NeoScene so I can shuffle video between AE and Vegas.

Cineform files are bigger than HDV / AVCD but smaller than YUV / uncompressed. You also get great playback speed.
PeterWright wrote on 3/26/2009, 11:22 PM
Thanks Xander - yes the YUVs (about 1,100 Gb of them!) have stopped the crashing, but playback frame rate isn't too special - fortunately I've almost finished this one, then I have a second similar project for the same client, and I'll definitely use Cineforms for that.
winrockpost wrote on 3/27/2009, 6:40 AM
I had a similar experience, and vegas would crash, with no warning no message poof just gone. luckily I was able to identify the one bad clip (hdv ), and removed from project and deleted it,, recaptured and all was well.
i c e wrote on 3/27/2009, 3:44 PM
I didn't read all the post here but thought I would chime in becuase I have had the exact same problems. I have a sony CX12 which is AVCHD and MPEG2
I had so much fun you wouldn't believe it (sarcastic). I went back and forth with the Tech Support from Sony for over a week and posted the problem on every forum I could find.
I tried 8.0b, 8.0c and 8.1 and none cured the mysterious error.
After a week of slaming my head into my key board (you wouldn't believe the head ache you get from that ) I took the suggestion of ...I think it was Bob.... to get Veggie Tool Kit from PeachRock and convert all my files to AVI.
I did this and am problem free.!!! I don't know what I will do if I ever want to use HD but for now.... At least I am up and running!
Every once in a while I will accedently drop a MPEG2 file into the timeline and everything will seem fine but later when I go back to it. *phoof* it's green or red. Magic, uh?
I don't think there is a solution for this problem yet.... Maybe V9? Sony says that 9 will be better for AVCHD.. I guess we will see when it is realesed at NAB in a few weeks.

Have you ever installed 8.1? If so, it might be causing a conflicting Codec Problem... If you do a clean install you might be able to fix it. I was told that would work but never had the time or need to try it becuase I am not doing HD, you know?

Also It helps to disable all of windows back round work. A lot of software can do things all the time while you are working. They use your CPU and cause you to run slower. You can search it here on the knowledge base.... (I wish I knew how to post the link)...

So anyways, hope you get it figured out...If you do please post the solution.

Best wishes,

Josh
PeterWright wrote on 3/27/2009, 6:54 PM
Thanks Josh - yes, I solved it the same way - batch rendering to avi - I chose 1920 x 1080 YUV, which takes up a mere 1,100 Gb !! Next time I'll use the Cineform version, which should occupy less space, and give smoother playback from the timeline.

(I have 8.1 but haven't installed it yet.)