Print Video to Tape Miscalculating

wcoxe1 wrote on 10/25/2002, 10:55 AM
It happened, again, last night. It is only the fifth or 6 time in as many months, and in the grand scheme of things it is no big deal, but it is really disappointing then it happens. Just seems odd.

Last night I set a tape to process using Print Video to Tape. I did as I always do, to maximize resources, I rebooted the computer and started VV 3.0c bld 138 on my current project. (There are no background programs running, I checked.) There were no previously rendered or prerendered clips.

I knew from previous experience with the same project that an ordinary render would not be finished when I came in this morning, and I couldn't just wait. So, PTT, with its many 10 second prerendered segments, was the ideal solution. I could stop it, save, start over, and perhaps even finish it during my breaks today.

Unfortunately, something went wrong. I have noticed the exact same problem on other occasions. I have even stopped the PTT and started it over to correct the miscalculation on those occasions when I noticed the problem. However, last night I didn't catch it.

When I came in this morning the first thing I noticed was VV was on clip 18 of 23. Oh, boy! The project has hundreds of segments, when it calculates properly, and this time it didn't. It said that it was on some HUGE numbered frame, in the tens of thousands, rather than some normal number (always 300 or below, when working properly). I knew that the whole night was wasted.

I stopped it, and just like every other time, NOTHING was actually prerendered, according to the little green line that SHOULD have appeared above the timeline.

VV had miscalculated something; 23 clips is just plain wrong. And, it proceeded to work from that miscalculation. The whole night was wasted, and now I am another day behind.

After stopping the false PTT, I restarted VV, after rebooting, just to be sure. It promptly recalculated and told me it was rendering clip 2 of 347, and went merrily on its way. A day late.

Why does it do this? Especially, why does it to this when I'm not looking for the problem and don't notice it? (Don't answer that one.) What can be done to avoid it (besides being perfect and always remembering to check to see if something is wrong before walking away at night)?

And, why does it usually, but not always, seem to start on clip 2, even when it is working correctly?

I have done this procedure, dozens of times, with no problems. It is a rare night that I DON'T do this. It is odd that it would only happen so infrequently, and with such bad results.

Any ideas?

-=---------------------------------------->

Camcorder
Sony: DCR-TRV20

Vegas Video
Version 3.0c Build 138

Operating System
Platform: Windows 2000
Version: 5.00.2195 (Service Pack 2)
Language: English
System Locale: English
User Locale: English

Processor
Speed: 1GHz
Class: Pentium III
Identifier: GenuineIntel
Number of processors: 1
MMX available: Yes
SSE available: Yes
SSE2 available: No

Display
Primary: 1024x768x32

Video Adapter
Name: nVidea RIVA TNT2 Model 64
Memory: 16MB
Bios: 2.05.1704

Memory
Physical memory: 261.3 MB
Paging memory available: 631.7 MB
Virtual memory possible: 2,097.0 MB

External Monitor:
Sony PVM 1353MD

External Monitor fed by:
Firewire card to DataVideo DAC-2;
then, Component VUY to Sony PVD 1353MD

-=---------------------->

Comments

wcoxe1 wrote on 10/26/2002, 8:21 PM
Hmm! It happened, again. That is the first time it happened twice in a row. This time it calculated that there were only 7 segments in the whole project.

After stopping, rebooting, and starting, again, it had 347 segments. At least this time I caught it before wasting another night in a bad PTT.
wcoxe1 wrote on 10/30/2002, 7:59 AM
Since I have had this happen at least 6 times, I find it hard to believe that I am the only one it happens to. Am I just lucky, or what?

More important, am I causing the problem.
SonyEPM wrote on 10/30/2002, 8:40 AM
Please send the project to drdropout@sonicfoundry.com- maybe I can figure out what is going on.
wcoxe1 wrote on 10/30/2002, 8:10 PM
I will try the suggestion you so kindly gave. However, it is going to be difficult to tell if it really solved the problem since it was definitely NOT consistant.

Regardless, I was most impressed with your attention to my problem. Thank you.
AlexB wrote on 10/31/2002, 8:20 AM
wcoxe1,
Is there anything generally useful in the solution you got from SF? If yes, please share it, I'd hate to have something like your problem happen to me as well. (Bad things always seem to happen when you're not looking....)

Alex
SonyEPM wrote on 10/31/2002, 8:53 AM
After looking at a project file from wcoxe1, it appeared that one track's opacity was not at 100% (accident). Track opacity at not-100% means a project-wide composite is taking place, so a prerender would be needed for everything. He's going to try again and see if this really was the problem- I think it is.
sqblz wrote on 10/31/2002, 9:32 AM
Sonic, funny that you mention it, because that IS REALLY a problem. I mean, fiddling with the switches without noticing.
Many times I do the same: I select one header to do something and then, by distraction, I use my left/right keys trying to move the cursor in the timeline. When I notice it, I have accidentally changed something in the header switches (the opacity or the volume, what else ...)
Wouldn't it be nice to have a lock on the track properties so that this doesn't happen ? We can already lock at event level, but not at track level (I guess, VV3 is at home).
wcoxe1 wrote on 10/31/2002, 6:51 PM
After fixing the problem brought to my attention by SonicEPM, I saved the project. Later in the day I had 3 occasions to do a bit of rendering using Print Video To DV Tape (PTT).

The first time PTT told me that I had 23 segments to render. Since this is an hour long project, I knew that this was incorrect. I didn't catch this immediately, only after it rendered a few sections (VERY quickly). These seemed to be OK.

I stopped the PTT, saved what was already PdTT, and exited. I rebooted and then restarted VV a bit later. This time it told me that there were only 15 segments. Since it was rendering VERY quickly, I just let it run for a while. On this occasion, as on many occasions, it started with segment 2 of 15 (for some odd reason), and proceeded. Everything was find, flying through the 300 frame, 10 second long segments. However, when it reached segment 12 of 15 it counted out over 2000 frames and still had not, according to the counter, processed even 1% of this particular segment. It had hit the bad section. I canceled, saved, and exited.

A few minutes later I rebooted, started VV, and told it to PTT, again. This time it told me that it was starting on segment 2 of 341. This time I was confident that the calculation was correct, since it made sense at 10 seconds per segment. I left it running overnight. It should be finished, or nearly so, by morning.

Unfortunately, even after adjusting the project as suggested by SoFo, it was still more prone to miscalculate than to process this particular project properly.

Guess I am just going to have to watch for miscalculations more carefully. I hope that the next project isn't so bad. As mentioned in the first part of this thread, miscalculation has been rare in my project. Unfortunately, it is not so rare on THIS project.