Project Media Window and Timeline Cursor problem

Dexcon wrote on 3/25/2019, 6:22 AM

VP16 build 361.

I have three projects on the go at the moment, and they all have media from the same sources both video and audio (Sony AX100 @ 4K, GoPro Hero Black 5 @ 2.7K, Samsung Galaxy S5 @ 4K, Mercalli 4 SAL stab, stills from the GoPro, BCC FX inc Mocha Pro in all 3 projects, Colorfast 2, and original camera audio as well as camera audio edited in SpectraLayers 5). With one of the projects, if I merely open the Project Media window, the timeline cursor will immediately go to the zero position on the timeline when I hit play via the spacebar. On attempting to move the cursor by dragging, it will not move. I can click on the timeline to get the cursor to move elsewhere on the timeline, but it immediately defaults to the zero position again on hitting play via the spacebar. The Play button on the bottom taskbar is then highlighted, but the play controls make no difference. The only way to overcome the problem is to close VP16 and re-open the project. If I don't open the Project Media window again, there is no problem on that project.

I have compared as many settings as possible between the two projects that work and the problematic project, but cannot identify any difference - all the projects commenced with the same project template. In terms of creation dates, the problem project was the 2nd commenced out of the three.

Project Properties are identical for all 3 projects other than the 3rd project is stereo rather than 5.1.

Perhaps I have inadvertently hit some Ctrl/Alt/etc + ??? key which has activated this cursor behaviour. It would be most appreciated if anyone has any suggestions about getting the timeline cursor back to normal behaviour.

I guess one way around it is to start a new project and copy/paste all the timeline tracks across, but then all the markers will need to be recreated and track FX re input.

Comments

Former user wrote on 3/25/2019, 7:40 AM

Try to reset in Vegas to go back to the initial settings. It always worked here.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-reset-vegas-pro-to-default-settings--104646/

Dexcon wrote on 3/25/2019, 7:10 PM

@Former user ... many thanks for the suggestion. I did the VP default reset but, unfortunately, it did not resolve the problem.

With my projects, I regularly 'save as' with an updated project name; for example: projname1, projname2, projname3, etc. This morning, I went back to the previous version of the project and, the Project Media/cursor problem does not occur in the earlier version. Fortunately, there is little difference between the 2 versions, so only a little rework was required. So far, the problem hasn't recurred during the last couple of hours. I am therefore guessing that the the veg file may have some how become corrupted.

Grazie wrote on 3/25/2019, 7:54 PM

@Dexcon

On attempting to move the cursor by dragging, it will not move. I can click on the timeline to get the cursor to move elsewhere on the timeline, but it immediately defaults to the zero position again on hitting play via the spacebar.

When I get this I do one or both of the following:

Disconnect and reconnect my External PreSonus AudioBox
Changer my Audio Preferences from Presonus to Windows

This normally “fixes” things.

Dexcon wrote on 3/26/2019, 12:06 AM

@Grazie

Thanks for the suggestion. The cursor thingee hasn't happened again today, so going back to the previous saved veg file has done the trick by the looks of it. However, I was using the Project Media window to replace some audio events when the problem raised its ugly head, so if the prob occurs again, I'll give your fixes a go (the sound card is an internal PCIe card, but its easy enough to remove and re-slot it back in).

Cheers.

Grazie wrote on 3/26/2019, 2:37 AM

I was using the Project Media window to replace some audio events when the problem raised its ugly head, so if the prob occurs again, I'll give your fixes a go (the sound card is an internal PCIe card, but its easy enough to remove and re-slot it back in).

@Dexcon - Sure, something breaks VP when “messing” with Audio files. Frustrating thing is that it isn’t a consistent enough issue to kick it upstairs to the engineers. BTW are you running ASIO Drivers? I am 🤨... Doing my resets appears to kick the rear-end of VP to behave. And, if that doesn’t work, restart VP, and if that fails, reboot PC.

Dexcon wrote on 3/26/2019, 5:48 AM

@Grazie

Yes, ASIO drivers on board.

I managed to finish what I needed to do on the project without any further problems, but when I opened the oldest of the 3 projects to fix some audio there, the cursor problem re-appeared, Drat! Going back to the earlier veg version didn't work this time.

Closing and restarting VP and rebooting the computer had no effect, and changing the Audio driver as well as removing the sound card, rebooting and then closing the computer to install the sound card again (then a reboot) regretfully didn't work either.

I've decided that using the Project Media window is too unreliable, so I've gone back to doing the audio replacement manually. It's a bit more time-consuming, but fortunately I should complete what I need to do in around half a day.

Grazie wrote on 3/26/2019, 6:05 AM

@Grazie

Yes, ASIO drivers on board.

Ugh.....

Closing and restarting VP and rebooting the computer had no effect.......regretfully didn't work either.

Ugh x 4

I've decided that using the Project Media window is too unreliable, so I've gone back to doing the audio replacement manually.

Now THAT should be a Clue to them upstairs.

It's a bit more time-consuming, but fortunately I should complete what I need to do in around half a day.

hmmm.... shouldn’t need to work that way. Switching back and forth, from an external process has given me increase in Pitch. It’s as if VP looses the plot.

ryclark wrote on 3/26/2019, 8:08 AM

It appears that most NLE video apps rely on the audio sample clock to provide the clock for video playback. Hence if some external app (to Vegas) grabs the soundcard and changes it's sample rate then that may mess up the playback rate of Vegas' video. 😟 It is always best to make sure that Windows Sounds are turned off and not to use any other media player whilst your editing software (audio or video) is open IMHO.

Dexcon wrote on 3/27/2019, 5:08 AM

@ryclark

Thank you for the alert re this. I turned off all Windows sounds, including on the Keyboard settings, but alas, the cursor problem persists though intermittently. I also checked the Creative sound card settings along with sound management on Windows, and they are both 48K/24bit which is the same as most of the audio media in the longest 2 projects (from a Sony AX100) - MediaInfo shows GoPro audio at 48k/32 bits and the Samsung Galaxy S7 audio at 48K, but the bit depth isn't given and doesn't show on the camera settings on the phone. Oddly though, the 2nd of the 3 projects, the shortest by far of the 3 (about 8 mins), has not experienced the cursor problem, yet the entire project consists of only GoPro and phone video and audio.

Anyway, I've now finished what I needed to do for the time being. If it happens again, it might then be time to lodge a support ticket on it.