I've asked for this a few times, but most people don't seem to understand the need for it. I often use XP's set priority function while rendering if i need to do something else CPU or disk intensive on the computer for a while. This has never affected the rendering process at all, except of course to slow it down a bit.

Renders take a LONG time. Sometimes it's nice to be able to use your computer for something else while the rendering is taking place and not have to fight with Vegas for CPU cycles. Set priority helps (if your OS has it); pausing would be better. Being able to suspend a render, close Vegas, even shut down and reboot the computer, then reopen Vegas and restart the render from where it left off would be fantastic! This could be a huge benefit to laptop users who find themselves needing to move their computer somewhere but don't have enough battery power to keep it running during the move.

I would love that as well.
John

Lets see if we can list some other good reasons:

- some program is stuck on your computer and taking the OS down with it in a spiral, reboot necessary now but render is only 83% complete

- your kid brings his best friend over after school to play that hot new video game you bought for his birthday present

- your spouse needs to work on the computer for a while and you don't want him/her to see the anniversary video you're making as a surprise present

- the power goes out 97% of the way through a render, then when the power comes back on, Vegas continues rendering from the auto-saved point at 95% so you've only lost 2% of the rendering time instead of almost all of it

I'm sure most reasons that could be added to this list apply to home/hobbist users with one shared computer. However, that last one could certainly help even pros with a looming deadline.

- you don't have a Mac and you need to make a sandwich.

:-) MJ

I'd like a Pause/Resume feature too. You can force a hault using the cancel button. I've done that a time or two like when I was in the middle of a long render and then a severe thunderstorm rolls in where the power may go out and not come back before the UPS peters out. I haven't tried with a MPEG-2, but seems to work fine with AVI, at least if you are rendering to a file. Whatever is rendered to the point you hault seems fine so you don't have to start over. I assume it would work just as good if you were feeding it to a camera tape. So if you have to hault you can, just note what frame you're on. <wink>

Why not use the "Selectivly Pre-Render Video" I use it then you can cancel anytime and all the bits that are green, remain green, do a save and carry on when time permits.

When you're rendering for DVD or Windows Media, you can't render the bits. I've been trying to render a file for a few days now, but the minute my son wakes up he wants to play a game. Then my render never finishes!

leave the machine rendering overnight

i do. i only have a p3-667, so it takes a while. :(

I often run 3 instances of Vegas, with 2 of them set to lowest priority. As a result, there is no performance hit with the Vegas task in the foreground, and yet the rendering work gets done.

What I wish for is an easy way within Vegas to set priority, rather than having to go to Windows.

When I was in college we used SGI o2 computers with Maya 1.0 installed. The REALLY nice thing about them was that you could start a render and then logout of your account, and the render would keep going! Then, other users could log onto the computer. Really nice and wasn't much of a performance hit. Too bad windows doesn't allow that.

oh, I just ordered an AMD XP 1800 upgrade (MB, cpu, case) so i'll be soon i'll be able to finish my renders before my son gets onto the comp! yeah!

Friar,
Actually, WinXP does allow one to switch users while your user account is doing something. Problem is that renders tend to take up all the available CPU so the switch sometimes doesn't occur. I havn't tried to reduce the priority of Vegas to see if that helps. Generally, I render late at night when all are asleep ;)