Thanks... it works....

Do we have a Windows Expert around here who can tell how to start VMSP with another priority than "Normal" - i think it should be possible using a shortcut or ??? -

In that case I would like to have 2 VMSP start-icons on my desk:
One with Low priority for rendering and
One with high for editing (High helps a little for better previewing)

Yes, yes - it is no much work via the Task manager - but I'm born lazy...

I don't think that starting VMS with a lower priority will help you with rendering getting on the background. You see, most of the encoding libraries are separate programs than VMS, so even if you start VMS with lower priority, during rendering/encoding these will remain on "normal".

No, it works. Setting VMS's priority to below normal adjusts the entire rendering process. I do this all the time.

ritsmer, if lazy is what you're shooting for, then in my opinion bringing up task manager and switching priority is faster, easier and less effort than starting up the reduced priority VMS icon and loading the project again.

I keep task manager running all the time, so it's only a single mouse-click away.

So the rendering engine is stable enough to work with a lower priority and the associated "interrupts" from other applications?

What about Architect (Studio), can you lower the priority when rendering disc contents without causing problems in the VOB files?

This idea of setting two VMS processes going, so I can edit in one while the other is rendering, it tempting. However I'm always nervous of doing work on a machine while it is rendering video - I just always think the render is going to get "goofed up".

Based on your (Chienworks, or anyone else reading this) experience, is my concern valid, or should I drop it and start taking advantage of this dual edit-render idea?

Thanks - much appreciated!

I think MSmart and mickbadal are confusing the rendering process with real-time operations such as capturing and printing to tape. There is no relationship whatsoever to real-time operations and rendering. With capturing and printing to tape the computer MUST be available to perform the next operation at precisely the right time to keep in step with the tape running through the camcorder or deck. The computer may be idle spinning it's wheels for 99% of the time while capturing, but if anything disturbs it during that 1% when it has to be talking to the camcorder then the capture process can be interrupted and corrupted.

Not so with rendering!!!!! Rendering is an async process, just like printing or saving a file or color correcting a photograph. The computer takes as much time as it needs to do the job, never skipping a single operation because there is no time requirement for completing it. If anything interrupts the rendering process then it just picks up again from where it left off. It doesn't matter if the interruption lasts a few microseconds or a few centuries.

So, please do use your computer for lots of other things while rendering. Unless you run something written so badly that it crashes your computer, you won't disturb the rendering process at all. You might slow it down a tiny bit, but chances are not enough to matter. Vegas is polite. It lets other programs run well, then it just grabs all the processor cycles that are left over and uses them to render with. Since most other programs aren't going to use much of the CPU cycles for any significant period of time this still leaves Vegas most of the processor time.

Heck, i'll suft the web, word process, edit photos, write documents, play .mp3 or video files, run other rendering sessions, even capture, all while rendering. It never messes up, ever.

Thanks Chien. I wasn't confusing rendering with real-time operations such as capturing. The reason I asked is that I used to use (Shh, don't tell anyone) Pinnacle Studio 9 (and 10) and itwould crash if you tried to do other things on the computer at the same time. I used to restrict long render jobs to starting just before going to bed for the night.

I have been doing quite a bit of rendering the last few days (with VMS) and have been surfing and using other apps at the same time. I have to say how I love how stable VMS is compared to that *other* app. It's good to know that if the PC becomes too slow for the other things I'm doing while rendering, I can lower VMS (or DVDA) priority.

I remember a few years back reading a review of Vegas. The reviewer said something like, "... and then i started the render. After a few minutes the remaining time indicator showed 18 hours 43 minutes. I was insensed! What arrogance! Not at the long rendering time itself, but what programmer could be so confident as to assume that his program would run for 18 hours under Windows without crashing? And yet, it did. It finished the render without a hitch."

Kinda makes ya proud, doesn't it?

To Chienworks: yes, it does. BTW: good idea letting the Task Manager be open all the time.

To Mickdabal, MSmart and Eugenia: Sure, the background rendering works and all threads under the process VegasMovieStudioPE80 or the like do run nicely under lower priority making it possible to edit in a foreground job.

I have been doing this regularly for couple of years now and never had any issues.

I have even started 2 or 3 renderjobs before bedtime and let them render along the whole night giving me 2 or 3 freshly rendered videos in the morning. I give each job a different priority than the others so that VMSP can finish them sequentially - this should minimize Windows swapping over the long run - I think - at least.
Beware, however, each such job takes 800-1000 MB of your memory, so be sure, that your paging file is big enough...

In my experience each job takes about 200 to 300MB, though i suppose that depends on how much non-AVI media you use.

Paging is swap. You want to avoid going into swap at all if possible. I've never had problems with this. I can run a dozen or more simultaneous renders with them all at below normal priority and they all complete fine.

Thank you Kelly for your post on the difference between capturing and rendering. Very informative for me. In the past, when I went to render a project, I considered my computer completely 'out of order' until it was finished. I would walk and talk softly around it, repeat some zen sayings, burn incense if needed, just praying some background app wouldn't want to briefly use the processor for some reason and mess up the whole project. Not sure if I'm brave enough to actually run something at the same time, but it sure gives me piece of mind. Thanks. Cin

I do understand the distinction between capturing and rendering. I NEVER EVER do anything else on the system while capturing, but with rendering, I've been undecided, not sure if software in general (pinnacle, vegas, etc.) ever runs into a problem with results if cycles are not available. This stream has alleviated that concern, so I'll use process priority settings and launch a few video games or excel documents during my renders!

I sure can learn a thing or two from you folks about how to setup the physical hardware. Along those lines, any tips / best practices on how to set main memory to maximize video previewing/rendering?

I have to admit, this mutlitasking stuff is still kinda new for me. Even though i use it all the time and am comfortable with it, i spent the majority of my PC career using systems that could only run one program at a time. If i wanted to use a different program then i had to quit the one i was using before i could start the next one. There wasn't even anything like alt-tab until recently, on my personal timescale. Even when that came out, only the one program showing on the screen was actually running and the others were frozen.

The fact that multiple programs can not only be running, but that you can actually have mutiple windows open and visible at the same time with all of them still running ... just kinda blows my mind. I suppose those with more mainframe experience than me aren't quite so amazed though.

Kelly, now that we've got rendering figured out, what about burning? Do you use your PC with reckless abandon [ ;) ] when burning discs with DVD Architect? Since this is the Studio forum, I have DVDAS 4.5. What say you about burning?

As Task Manager has been mentioned here, I thought I would let all of you know about Process Explorer. It's a Task Manager *substitute*. I've been using it for a few years now (since before Microsoft acquired Sysinternals and highly recommend it.

I use my computer with reckless abandon while rendering, burning, rendering, capturing, rendering, watching videos, and rendering all simultaneously. And y'know ... i started doing all this stuff at the same time back on my ol' 866MHz PIII.

The ONLY thing i've found that causes a problem is if i scroll a browser window while Vegas is building peaks when i'm also capturing. That can cause a few frames to drop.

Thank you MSmart for the link to the app. I love stuff like that :) Thanks again. Cin

Cool. Question though, how much caffeine does it take to do all those things simultaneously??

Cin, you're welcome.

Ken

P.S. I'm printing DVD booklets, burning a disc, launching a spell checker app all while posting this. Rock on!!!

I set my XP machine under performance to "Background Services" (don't confuse this with using the computer as a network server & caching, that will drag the machine down). Overall performance of the computer is more responsive, haven't noticed much degradation of video/audio apps performance on a 3.2Ghz P4 machine.

I'm feeling a litle bit stupid because before starting all my renderings I always close EVERYTHING with a software called something like "KillThemAll 2" (sorry, but I'm not at home and I don't remember the exact name). I also disable antivirus, firewall, antispam and unplug the pc from the DSL line (but not from the power source :-) ).

BigEgg, there's nothing wrong with doing that. In fact, your renders probably run faster because of it. Maybe not much faster though, probably not by more than a few percent. If absolute fastest rendering speed is your overriding concern then you're doing the right thing.

The main question of this thread though was geared to those who want to still be productive using their PCs for other tasks while rendering is going on. That's certainly doable, but at the cost of slowing down the renders slightly.

In my case, if i always waited for the render to finish before i used the computer to start the next project, i'd be years behind by now. I can get an hour or two worth of work done on the next project while the previous render is running at the expense of adding a minute or two to the render time. So, a couple extra minutes vs. hours saved ... easy choice.