Render To Tape Problem

Sid_Phillips wrote on 10/16/2002, 12:51 PM

I'm running Windows 2000 Pro on an IBM IntelliStation Z-Pro , PIII/933 with 256MB RAM, 18GB 10000 RPM SCSI-LVD drive, Matrox 450 video, capturing from and rendering to a Sony DCR-TRV17 miniDV camcorder.

I can capture great video, edit like crazy (sooooooooo much better than Premiere!) and render AVI files and MPG files with no problem. But I can't preview to monitor (i.e. the miniDV camcorder) and I can't render to tape.

I deleted all my temp files and cache files, then defragged the HD. Launched VV3, previewed to no monitor for a couple of minutes with no problem. Started rendering to tape with no problem.

About six minutes into the render the output began to stutter, every 10 secs or so, then more often, then finally the picture started breaking up in large pixel blocks. At about eight minutes of a twenty-three minute render VV3 just quit recording, there's nothing on the tape at all.

So I reboot the system, launch VV3, do a monitor preview and I immediately get the flickering large-pixel blocks flashing. When I do a render to tape, the color bars & tone look great, and the leading black looks great. But as soon as VV3 begins playing back the content I get the flashing.

At this point, I'm thinking I have a driver problem, so I do a Windows system refreshy. Next, I delete all the temp & cache files, defrag the HD, shut the computer down and do a cold boot, launch VV3 and do a monitor preview, looks great. Start to render, everything looks great for about 5 mins then I get the stutter, then the flashing.

Here's the kicker: install VV3 on another IntelliStation (M-Pro, PIV/1.8 with 512MB RAM, 18GB 10000 RPM SCSI-LVD hard disk, Matrox 450 vide0, W2K Pro) and it works perfectly! I rendered two 20+ minute videos back to tape with no errors. Definitely not the same computers, but as far as I can tell all the drivers are identical (same dates, byte count, etc.)

I'm going to try two things: first, I'm going to delete the pagefile (suggested by IT), defrag and try again; second, I'm going to reformat the drive and install everything from scratch! This isn't a big hardship (other than finding the time) because this machine is dedicated to video editing.

But if anyone has thoughts or suggestions I sure would appreciate them. Thanks!

Comments

Silver & Digital wrote on 10/16/2002, 8:23 PM

Hi Phillip

I know the problem well, there are many threads on the subject and somewhere a link to a handy tool to make this easier. You will need to search for it.

You will probably notice that the sound start to crackle and distort about a minute or two before the picture breaks up.

This is how to fix it…..
When you are ready to print to tape (and not before)
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Select the ‘Task Manager’ Tab
Select the ‘Processes’ Tab
Find Vegas3.exe (I think that’s what it is) and RIGHT mouse click on it
Select – Set Priority and set to ‘High’ or ‘Realtime’ – try high first
Close the Task Manager
Make sure no other programs are running
The do the Print to Tape.
After you have finished to the same this time set the priority back to ‘Normal’
Do not leave it on High or Realtime it will make your system unstable.

Good luck

HPV wrote on 10/16/2002, 9:32 PM

Try setting your Virtual Memory to a fixed amount. Something like 1 gig min. and max. Also make sure you have "auto run" turned off for your CDROM. If those don't do it, checkout the Windows tweaks at www.videoguys.com.
Worst case, do a "render as" from the file menu and use Vidcap to print to tape. This will require more HD space though.

Craig H.

Sid_Phillips wrote on 10/17/2002, 10:34 AM

Thanks much for the responses! Settimg the thread to High didn't seem to help, so I thought I'd try rendering an MPG2 file and seeing if VidCap can print that to tape. I'm not real hopeful, though: playing back from the timeline gives me the same same problem, but it's worth a try. And I'll definitely check out the VideoGuys tweaks.

Sid_Phillips wrote on 10/17/2002, 12:55 PM

YAY!

I finally recorded a complete project to tape! Following HPV's advice I tried rendering an AVI/DV file to disk, then using VV3 VidCap to print to tape. And it worked, flawlessly! Of course, I'm not sure why, but it obviously has something to do with the way VV3 is playing back from the timeline.

I'd much rather do a straight Print to DV Tape without having to render the AVI first, but I can make this work! Thanks for all the advice, and if I ever find out what actually caused the problem I'll be sure to post again.