HD rendering - help!

JohnnyW wrote on 5/28/2009, 2:26 PM

Hi Folks - hoping someone can give me some pointers on how to successfully render HD in Vegas Pro 8.0c.

Summary - I am having problems rendering my HD video. I have previously rendered standard definition files successfully.

My PC - Vista (SP2) 32 bit, with Vegas Pro 8.0c, Intel Core i7, 3GB RAM, with 3 x 320GB hard disks (1 for OS & apps, 1 for data, and 1 for capture). I have an Nvidia GTX 280 graphics card with the latest drivers.

Project - I have a 4 minute, 30 second project, 1920x1080, 25.000 fps PAL, with stereo sound.

Workflow - The AVCHD files were captured from my Sony HDR-SR12 PAL camcorder and converted to the Cineform AVI intermediate format using NeoScene from Cineform. The project settings are HD 1080-50i (1920x1080, 25.000 fps), and editing and playback in Vegas Pro 8 was fine.

Symptoms
1. Every time I render to the AVI HD format (using the HD 1080-50i YUV preset, uncompressed format, or using the Cineform codec) Vegas crashes.
2. Every time I render to the MP4 HD format (using the Main Concept or Sony MP4 codec) Vegas reaches about 90% to 97% of the render then just seems to stop working. Sometimes the elapsed time continues to count up, but the frames stop counting up.

Solutions and workarounds already attempted (without success)
1. I have tried reducing the number of rendering threads from 4 to 1.
2. I have tried uninstalling Vegas and re-installing.
3. I have tried uninstalling other Sony software, including DVD Architect, and re-installing only Vegas.
4. I have tried the information in this thread http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=648054 but this made no difference.
5. I even tried modifying the Main Concept dll’s so they could use the space beyond 2GB. This made no difference, so I un-installled and re-installed Vegas to get back to a clean state.
6. I have read through the information in this thread http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=653417&Replies=22 but found nothing that has helped.
7. I have tried rendering to different drives
8. I have tried using both 5,000K constant bit rate, and 5,000k-8,000K variable bit rate (single and double pass), none of which has resulted in a single successful render.

I would be grateful for any advice on what I need to do to be able to render HD successfully. Ideally I want to render using the Main Concept MP4 codec for uploading to Vimeo.

I have also raised a support ticket with SCS, and will post back any fixes or solutions here.

Thanks
JW

Comments

MTuggy wrote on 5/28/2009, 8:54 PM

I had similar problems for a long time but with a LOT of experimentation found that my page file was the issue (tried a lot of what you did below too but that didn't fix the memory leak causing the crash).

I created TWO fixed 6 GB page files - one on my C drive and one on my D drive (I have 8 GB of RAM). I read this is someone post a while back. It worked. I can render big JPEG images, all kinds of compressed HD video types without crashing. I do use only 2 threads on my Quad Core - 4 was actually slower. Go figure.

Try it and let me know.

JohnnyW wrote on 6/1/2009, 10:30 AM

Thanks for responding MTuggy. I tried modifying the swap files, but no joy.

I did get a successful render however. Here's what I had to do.

When I captured the video and converted it using the Cineform Neoscene software to the Cineform avi format, the setting I used was High for quality. I decided to try re-capturing in Medium quality, and with the "Smart rendering" option selected. Once I had captured the video in NeoScene with these settings, I was able to successully render to Main Concept mp4.

Now I just need to try some other renders to make sure that is a real, stable solution rather than a one-off fluke!

JohnnyW wrote on 6/1/2009, 10:35 AM

For completeness, here is the response back from SCS, which I shall take into account for the next render session, and may or may not help others:

1. Try going to Options / Preferences / Video tab. Try adjusting your Dynamic RAM Preview. You can set this first to 0 and test rendering. If this doesn't help, try raising the number to a setting between 400 - 800; and lower the maximum number of rendering threads. You may want to run a test by setting this value to 1.

2. Try using one of the lower Bit-Rate settings while selecting the Sony AVC or MainConcept MPEG-2 formats.

3. Try using to AVCHD 1440x1080 NTSC (or PAL) Template

4. Render to a different non-AVCHD format, import the rendered file back into a new project in Vegas and then re-encode the video to AVCHD;

Formats that also allow for HD 1920x1080 export:

MainConcept MPEG-2
Video for Windows *.avi
Windows Media Video *.wmv

If you're burning to Blu-Ray disc, then the MainConcept MPEG-2 format will be a good alternative to AVCHD.

5. Turn off thumbnails and display in timeline during your render. To do this, go to View / Waveforms and Frames.

6: If the above suggestions do not help, please try downloading and installing the free 30-day trial of Vegas Pro 9.0.