Media player is the latest version (I'm running Windows 7 32 bit version BTW). There are other players installed on the PC - BBC iPlayer, Sky Player, Quicktime Pro, maybe some others?

I can't remove everything and have one PC specifically for Video editing though!

Any 3rd party codecs (K-Lite? FFdshow?)? You may have to uninstall all of them and reinstal VMS.
May be your antivirus software intrudes the process? Just try to plug-out of net and try to close/unload your intivirus.
Please check if your video driver is up to date. I don't know if VMS use it but bundled with your handycam PMB really care what driver or video adapter you have. BTW, uninstall the PMB - I had PMB and VMS simultaniously @ previous PC - everything worked fine.
Also you may problems with the stability of system. You may perform the memtest or some of freeware "burn" tests to check the memory HW errors or any system stability issues.

Don't blame the VMS - first check it @ another PC...

No 3rd Party codecs I know of.
Video drivers are up to date.
System is pefectly stable and this is the only application I have any bother with. It's a virtually brand new laptop.

I'm already prejudiced against VMS because of the > 2Gb "hack" I've already had to apply! I'm hoping for another PC to try it on soon but it should work on this one!

The other night I created a new project and didn't bother with the media explorer - I just dragged files to the timeline from the explorer tab. This worked and I managed to edit together a 3 and a half minute clip.

However I found another problem - the scroll bar at the bottom of the timeline was just solid black. It still worked if you guessed correctly where to click but what a 'mare that was!

I've just opened VMS again and the black scroll bar seems to be permanent fixture now!

I then tried rendering to a .wmv file. It crashed at different points on 4 attempted renders. Restarting PC etc in between. I tried running the app as Administrator, in compatibility mode with other versions of windows, everything I could think of? Next day I boot the PC up and immediately try a render and it works 1st time. It's just random and is wasting large parts of my life!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the ">2GB" fix is for 64 bit OS's. The issue is the ability to address memory that is greater than 2GB.
32 bit machine/OS can address about 2 GB, I think the fix you applied is for 64 bit addressing.

Your question is good, but I think that the ">2GB fix" is also for certain 32 bit versions of Windows. 32-bit computers can address 4GB of memory, but Windows by default provides a 2GB virtual address space for each individual 32-bit user process, reserving the other 2GB of address space for all system processes. However, certain 32-bit versions of Windows can be configured with the /3GB switch in the C:/boot.ini startup file so that each individual user process can have a 3GB virtual address space reserved for it leaving 1GB of address space for all system processes. I haven't tested this, but I would think that the ">2GB fix" will only be effective on computers in which certain 32-bit versions of Windows have been configured for 3GB user processes, and possibly all 64-bit Windows versions. The ">2GB fix" itself sets the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag within the modified executable files telling Windows that the process created for each such executable should be allowed to address 3GB of memory, provided that Windows also allows it. (I haven't found the original post that explains the ">2GB fix" so I don't know how it was explained there*.)

In summary, having >2GB processes on certain versions of 32-bit Windows requires two independent enabling steps: Windows must be configured to allow 3GB virtual address spaces in user processes, and the individual executable files must have a flag set within their executable file. 64-bit versions of Windows might only require the individual 32-bit executable files have a flag set within their executable file, or maybe they also require the /3GB switch.

Here's what Microsoft has to say about it:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

The Microsoft article I cited above was last updated in 2005. It states that the /3GB switch only works with Windows XP Pro of all their operating systems often used on home computers. It doesn't mention Vista or Windows 7 since it was written before they existed, and I don't know what they allow. So, if you use 32-bit Windows XP Home Edition, or possibly some of the 32-bit Vista or Windows 7 versions, the ">2GB fix" will not work.

---------------------

* Update: for reference, I found what seems to be the main thread describing the ">2GB fix:"
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=671862
It's a very long thread, and it's in the Vegas Pro forum, not in the Vegas Movie Studio forum. Few posters mentioned what operating system they use or how it is configured. To be most helpful, people should include that info, as well as the version of Vegas they use.

Update to my previous post:

I found a more recent (2009) Microsoft article than the one (2005) I cited in my post above. The newer article has more information about this issue:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspx

In summary:

1) 64-bit versions of Windows do not need to be configured to allow enabling the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in 32-bit applications. If the flag is set then the application process will have a 4GB virtual address space rather than 2GB.

2) All 32-bit versions of Windows XP, including Home Edition, can use the /3GB switch in the C:/boot.ini file. (This contradicts the 2005 Microsoft article.)

3) Vista and Windows 7 do not have a boot.ini file; they have something called BCD (Boot Configuration Data) instead. The BCD uses the IncreaseUserVA element in BCDEdit rather than the /3GB switch that boot.ini uses, but only for 32-bit versions of these OS. (BCDEdit is the BCD editor.)

recall that the >2gig hack worked only on XP pro

Back to my constant crashing problem:

I have just got another PC up and running.

Intel Core Duo CPU E6540 @ 2.33GHz
2.00GB RAM
Windows 7 Pro 32 bit

Clean install so no other players or anything. No other software yet!

Installed and registered VMS Platinum Pro on it. Copied some projects and files across. The problems are the same as on my laptop!

Sometimes when I try to render the estimated time left just keeps going up until I end task the app. Sometimes it gets a random % through the render before this happens. Sometimes it just crashes back to desktop with no error.

So I don't think my PC is the problem. It seems VMS just doesn't work with HD video files on Windows 7 32 bit?

Has anyone got it working on this? Is it time to admit I've wasted over 50 quid and to try a different editing software package?

This is proper annoying now.

I use 32-bit Windows XP Home Edition so I can't directly comment about the Windows 7 question you asked about. I agree that I don't think it is your computer at fault. Did you apply the ">2GB fix" to your new VMS9PE install? Did you use BCDEdit to set the IncreaseUserVA element to 3072?

I must say that I haven't applied the ">2GB fix" on my computer (but I have always had the /3GB switch set in my boot.ini file; Windows 7 uses BDC rather than boot.ini). But I haven't (yet) had the problems you've had so I haven't needed to. Something you can try is to make a new project as a copy of one of your others. Delete everything but one clip and try to render it. Does it crash too? If not, add a second clip and render to see if it crashes. If not, make a couple copies of one of your original projects and delete the second half of the clips in one and the first half of the clips in the other copy. Render both. Does either work? The idea is to try to isolate the problem to (hopefully just) one particular thing in your project. If you knew specifically where the problem was coming from, finding a workaround might be pretty easy. Right now there are so many variables it makes it hard to know where to look for the solution. This is all a pain, but at least working with really short test projects is fast.

David, are you saying that if I'm running W7 HP (64 bit) then I don't need to do any additional patching to get it work optimally with VMSPP9B? I've done some minimal work on my I5 machine and so far, so good.

I'm saying that with 64-bit Windows 7, you don't need to enable Windows to recognize the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in 32-bit executables. (That is, you don't have to, and shouldn't, change the BCD (Boot Configuration Data). That's only required for 32-bit versions of Windows.)

But you still need to set the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in each 32-bit executable if you want it to have more than 2GB of virtual address space allocated to user code and data. (Setting the flag gives a 32-bit executable application, which is what VMSPP9b is, the entire 4GB virtual address space for user code and data under 64-bit Windows.)

I have already applied the > 2Gb fix to the new install (I tried without it first with no joy).

I've just done "BCDEdit / set increaseuserva 3072"

Trying a render of a problematic project now......

... and it worked first time! :) A 10 minute clip rendered to wmv in 720p (took nearly an hour and a half) which I've never got past a few percent before.

I'm not counting my chickens until I've done more testing but... it does look like the problem was memory for any projects over a pretty small length and the BCDEdit has sorted it?

Thanks for your help David. I'll confirm whether this has cured my problems permanently when I have done more?

I had my fingers crossed... glad to hear it worked out so far! Hopefully this was all you needed.

Having experimented further on both my machines I can confirm that both the < 2Gb and BCDedit fixes are required for crash free rendering.

I've tried a few renders and they've all worked. I can even render to mp4 now which I never could before :)

I have one problem remaining - the bottom zoom scroll bar is still blacked out on my laptop! I've tried uninstalling and re-installing and it's still like it!?

Well we're all hoping you'll be "Happy, Pierre".

To Mad Pierre,

I don't have any idea why you are having that problem with the bottom scroll bar on your laptop. You could try starting a new thread about just that issue... maybe someone else on the forums that hasn't followed this thread will know about it.

------- update --------

Hmmm... I just thought of a possibility... you may have a virus or some other type of bad program running on your laptop that is interfering with the proper operation of Vegas. A little background: nearly everything in Windows, including scroll bars, is actually a window. Each window in Windows is in a sense independent and has a unique ID. Windows controls windows by issuing messages to them. But it does this through a single message chain common to all programs rather than by a direct link to each program. This is where a virus may come in. Programs hook themselves into the chain of message processors. If a program doesn't "own" or recognize a window ID, it should pass on processing the message to the next program in the message chain. But if a program does "own" a window ID, it processes the window message and terminates it, i.e., does not pass it to the next program in the message chain. Viruses can insert themselves into the start of this message chain and eavesdrop on every message controlling every window of every program running on your computer. This is one way a virus can intercept every keystroke and mouse movement you make and send them over the internet to prying eyes waiting for credit card numbers and so on. Anyway, if the virus terminates the handling of a message it has intercepted rather than pass it to the next program in the message chain, that would result in failure of that particular window.

Every time you start Vegas, each window will be assigned a different ID, so it seems pretty unlikely a virus would always affect the same window (i.e., your bottom scroll bar). But I imagine it is a possibility.

So, you might try running several malicious software removal programs (several are free, like Ad-aware and Spybot) and see if that helps. You could also inspect every process running on your computer and verify that each is something that you expect to be running. I really hate to even suggest this because it is such an incredible pain, but if you have a virus running on your computer that you can't eradicate, then reinstalling Windows is always an (awful but extremely effective) option.

Hi David

Thanks for the idiots guide but (I never mentioned before): I'm a software developer by trade and have an MCSD in .NET so I know the basics of how Windows apps work! ;)

It's not a virus and is only affecting this scroll bar in this app. I'm wondering if it's something to do with the fact I ran a trial version of VMS on this machine before purchasing? I'm gonna try uninstalling again but also making sure I purge the registry etc before re-installing......

[update]That didn't work so I have started a new thread.

I've also started another to clarify the rendering crash fix as there seem to be several related posts on this issue.

Great that you got the rendering bug fixed, but what about the playback crashes? I have that problem when my timeline is over 2 minutes (working with JVC .mod files - non-HD). After a while Vegas Movie Studio 9.0b just crashes on me. This has been the case on 2 different computers. I have applied the >2GB fix already.

Help is greatly appreciated. I can't really edit my files very well and I certainly can't watch them in Vegas.

Sorry to hear about your problem. What you have described is different than the problem discussed in this thread, though. I suggest starting a new thread; you will be more likely to get the help you need (focused on your particular problem).

Good luck!