No fix for "high-core" Intel CPUs, was told "ASAP" by devs in 2018

jeff-a wrote on 3/16/2020, 7:35 PM

Hi,

I've been complaining about this issue since I bought Edit & DVDA on Steam in 2017... if I use any Intel CPU with 6 cores or more, it's completely unusable: crash city.

On Steam Community, I was told:

MAGIX [developer] 4 Oct, 2018 @ 6:55am
Hello,

there is currently some odd behavior on high-core Intel systems. One troubleshooting step is to switch off Intel Turbo Boost. This can make the program work even with all cores enabled.

Anyways, the development team is aware of the issue and is working on resolving it ASAP.

Best regards,

your MAGIX support

Well, it's now March 2020. Where the #$&*^ is the fix? Nobody has responded since.

I have two 6-core Intel CPUs (these are hardly "high core" these days) that are my main workstations. The only solution is to go into the BIOS and disable any one physical core. Disabling Turbo Boost does not help at all. 8-core AMD processors work fine.

Hello?

Comments

john-de wrote on 4/16/2020, 3:38 AM

I'm using DVD Architect on 2 machines one of which is a HP ZBook 17 G5 professional workstation with 6 cores, turbo boost on - it works fine with no crashes. Try moving your temp folder and start the DVDA with admin privileges (right click icon>properties>compatibility> tick administrator box). You can limit cores though for a particular application by using task manager - I would do that rather than going into the bios.

jeff-a wrote on 4/17/2020, 11:28 AM

I'm using DVD Architect on 2 machines one of which is a HP ZBook 17 G5 professional workstation with 6 cores, turbo boost on - it works fine with no crashes. Try moving your temp folder and start the DVDA with admin privileges (right click icon>properties>compatibility> tick administrator box). You can limit cores though for a particular application by using task manager - I would do that rather than going into the bios.

No, that absolutely doesn't help. Believe me, I have tried all that. Temp folders, Admin privileges, affinity don't do anything. I've tested this with an i7 5820k (6-core HT), Xeon W3680 (6-core HT), an i3 laptop (2-core HT), AMD FX-8120 (8-core), AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core) and an i5 of some sort (4-core, no HT), Windows 7 and 10, AMD and Nvidia video cards. The two 6-core intels behave exactly the same way, but the other systems all work. The *only* solution was to disable a core in the bios. It's a very specific behaviour that I can reproduce every time. I was able to produce an ISO sporadically with all cores on, but one time it went through the entire process and the video in the iso was scrambled garbage. Trying to use the program with all 6 cores enabled works only briefly, then the program starts failing in all kinds of ways. Vegas Pro 14 Edit is subject to the very same problem, so it's some issue common to both products. As soon as I disable one core, 95% of the instability of Edit is gone, and DVDA will always finish generating a fully-functional ISO.

If you have better results, it may be related to codec, as I have had better success when using files that were not from my camcorder. I was told by support a very long time ago that I should re-encode my files to BD-compatible, but they are already AVCHD-compliant straight from my video camera, and do not require any transcoding (and I've used them with other software no problem, or straight onto a disc to play as files). They also closed my initial support ticket without even bothering to wait for a follow-up to their canned response.

The company claimed they were aware of the problem and producing a fix, but for a year and a half since have simply refused to respond. That is inexcusable.

j-v wrote on 4/17/2020, 12:07 PM

@jeff-a We are now on VPro 17 with still updates till now that made big strides forward from the situation that you bought your "Steam"version in 2017. Which version that was you "forgot" to mention.😉😁

jeff-a wrote on 4/17/2020, 4:16 PM

@jeff-a We are now on VPro 17 with still updates till now that made big strides forward from the situation that you bought your "Steam"version in 2017. Which version that was you "forgot" to mention.😉😁

Not sure what the wink and the laugh are for. I quoted Magix "support" posting direct copy and paste from the Steam discussions.

Congrats if version 17 works, but that has f-all to do with DVDA or 14. I purchased a Steam bundle of Pro 14 Edit with DVDA 7. I complained about this issue from the very start, and it was never resolved. Why would I pay them for 17 if they never made 14 work?

vkmast wrote on 4/17/2020, 4:25 PM

Why do you think "ASAP" would mean that the issue would be "resolved" in an update?

john-de wrote on 4/18/2020, 4:06 AM

No, that absolutely doesn't help.

I am sorry it didn't help but I am not Magix support - I don't think the others trying to help you are either. I am a professional TV and Film editor who just uses DVD Architect and I do know AVCHD from consumer cameras is a nightmare codec that we always have to transcode just for editing in Avid. DVD Architect is a 32bit progamme that last saw serious development over 4 years ago, I doubt they're going to do much more now - hell I got my copy free with another £39 Magix programme . Although AVCHD is part of the Blu Ray spec it is specifically a consumer one. DVD Architect was designed for more professional BDMV authoring and as such requires compliant transcoding for all it's output - support gave you sound advice. You are probably better using other solutions, that you say work to get your camcorder footage onto Blu Ray.

jeff-a wrote on 4/22/2020, 3:38 PM

Why do you think "ASAP" would mean that the issue would be "resolved" in an update?

Is this a troll?

Anyways, the development team is aware of the issue and is working on resolving it ASAP.

jeff-a wrote on 4/22/2020, 3:59 PM

No, that absolutely doesn't help.

I am sorry it didn't help but I am not Magix support - I don't think the others trying to help you are either. I am a professional TV and Film editor who just uses DVD Architect and I do know AVCHD from consumer cameras is a nightmare codec that we always have to transcode just for editing in Avid. DVD Architect is a 32bit progamme that last saw serious development over 4 years ago, I doubt they're going to do much more now - hell I got my copy free with another £39 Magix programme . Although AVCHD is part of the Blu Ray spec it is specifically a consumer one. DVD Architect was designed for more professional BDMV authoring and as such requires compliant transcoding for all it's output - support gave you sound advice. You are probably better using other solutions, that you say work to get your camcorder footage onto Blu Ray.

If the video is BD-compliant, there's no reason to bother transcoding. It doesn't need it, and it works with a disabled core. If it works with up to 5 intel cores, but not more, then it's not the fault of AVCHD.

If it supposedly is OK if you disable Turbo Boost (even if this doesn't work for me), then it's not the fault of AVCHD.

Is it a actually an FPU-count issue, which I only don't see on AMD since an 8-core Bulldozer actually only has 4 FPU?

Due to the nature of the product, you inherently have to use it so long in the first place that it goes past the refund threshold for Steam just via troubleshooting. I don't see why I'm out of line for expecting them to live up to their word that they were working on a known issue.

They sold the product to me in 2017, it didn't work, said they'd fix it, never did, and now Steam says it's no longer available for purchase by request of the developer. Edit 14 is still available, and it is subject to these same problems. This behaviour is not isolated to DVDA for me. If they fixed issues in 17 that they implied they would fix in 14, they should offer a free upgrade.