Thank you for answering my question.

I find it hard to believe the problem is system power because the CPU utilisation is never more than 30% and less with hardware acceleration enabled. If system speed was the issue then also wouldn't using lower quality preview setting help?

I mean the i7 4770k is not exactly a slow processor and should handle basic editing of 1080p, even an iphone can do that!

You are missing the point 100%.

Generated media and effects do not exist as files (yet), they are only a set of instructions. Those instructions must be sent through a system of algorithmic filters before they can be previewed (real time rendering!) or rendered to a file. The result is a lot of cpu cycles, sometimes through a single thread.

Rather than employ a background rendering scheme, which slows everything down, Vegas provides you with file prerender, RAM prerender, proxy, and digital intermediate options to get you to a smooth preview for your effects and transitions. Use the friendly Search feature on this forum, using those terms, to lead you to working solutions.

Thank you for answering my question.

 

I find it hard to believe the problem is system power because the CPU utilisation is never more than 30% and less with hardware acceleration enabled. If system speed was the issue then also wouldn't using lower quality preview setting help?

 

I mean the i7 4770k is not exactly a slow processor and should handle basic editing of 1080p, even an iphone can do that!

Musicvid's given the most practical advice already. Besides that, keep in mind that CPU processing power is not, by itself, the most relevant factor for realtime processing. Realtime work is about the maximum overall throughput thru all the (rather complex) processing chain of your pc - which includes I/O buses, ram, disk controllers, etc.. and _anything plugged into the bus_. In other words, it does not depend on the best component, but on the worst.

To understand the difference, if you have, say, a network adapter whose driver isn't written very well (Intel chipsets up to a two/three years ago were notorious for this, don't know how more recent one behave), it will execute a lot of interrupts, constraining the flow of information to the CPU - which in turn doesn't have much to do (and thus exhibit low utilization). It's like having a Ferrari engine on a Golf chassis, all that nominal power is present, but can't be used. And Windows itself by itself (and the pc architecture) is not designed to be realtime.

You have the same issue with audio (which while being far less demanding than video, it still requires realtime processing).. and it's often an issue with laptops - where components cannot be swapped away easily. That's why two systems with identical CPU specs can still behave quite differently from a realtime perspective. Ask gamers ;-)

I'm not saying it's necessarily your problem, but a low CPU utilization is a little suspicious. You could use programs like LatencyMon to check the realtime properties of your current hardware/software combo.

The motherboard and the relative chipsets are of course the hardest bit to deal with, but a common trick is to disable any unessential peripheral (such as network controllers, card readers, basically you want only a system running monitor, disk, mouse and keyboard. If CPU utilization improves noticeably, there you have it. If it doesn't, you can head to a gamer forum and ask about your motherboard, RAM etc..

I thought I'd add a little to this. I installed Shotcut (a free editor) to see if it performed the same. While I haven't actually figured out how to add 'effect text' overlays it did comment when importing my video file that it was using a variable frame rate. That of course makes it more difficult for an editor.

I went back to Movie Studio and tried adding the text effect in the default opening file that comes with the program rather than my own file. I found that it stutters less than in my own video. Still does it a bit, but far less. Also if I play the same part a number of times it becomes smoother, but not always. So it seems my Samsung S6 saving variable frame rate videos by default might be a part of the issue.

As for my CPU never showing more than 30% utilisation during preview I've no idea why that is. Anybody with an educated guess? I do get full utilisation during export, just not preview.

Finally, I'd love to get an answer as to what features the RX550 supports in Movie Studio? Does it do a good job with the preview rendering and can it offer hardware encoding on the export?

Thanks!