Software is locking up

AlanT wrote on 4/18/2007, 7:43 AM
This is my first project with Vegas 7 Platinum and the project I am working on is about 55 mins long consisting of approx 265 scenes.

The bulk of the scenes are Mpeg2 files from my JVC camcoder, but I have added a couple of stills here and there with a bit of panning. Nothing too fancy.

I have got to about 35 mins into my movie when the project seems to get corrupted and the software is locking up. I cannot even kill it with task manager.

I have all my project files on a 250Gb HDD, that is all that is on that drive other than the 2Gb system page file.

I ran TaskManager and was watching the Page File Usage just go up and up to about 75% and that's when I started getting problems.

Does anyone know if there are memory leaks or is 1Gb not enough memory for this size project?

I split the project into 4 separate projects to try to get it completed. Do you know if I will be able to stick them back together, or will I need to render them separately and then create another project to put them back together?

Also, I can't seem to find the option to save the project as an Edit Decision List. From what I have read, it should be in the File>>Save As options, but the options in the drop down list is for a .vf file only.

Are there some special configuartion settings I should be using to avoid all these problems?

Although I have only just receved the software it is version 7a and I see on the web site that Sony have already ready up to version 7d. I'm about to up grade, do you think it is a good idea to do it now to see if it fixes things?

I've already sent a request for support, but no answer after 24hrs, so I'm hoping there is someone who can help.

TIA

Alan

Comments

Tim L wrote on 4/18/2007, 9:38 AM
Alan,

I probably don't have all the answers you're looking for, but I can help out on a few things.

First of all, be aware that there are three varieties of Vegas: Vegas Movie Studio, Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, and Vegas (the pro version). You have VMS Platinum, and already have the latest version -- 7.0a. The "7.0d" you see on the downloads page is for the full version of Vegas.

Secondly, the option to save as an Edit Decision List is probably only available in the "pro" version of Vegas, not VMS or VMS/P.

Unfortunately, I don't have any real suggestions to solve your problems. It could be that the fact you are editing MPEG2 files is requiring more resources than a normal DV edit.

If you have still photos in your project, and they are big (i.e. 2 megapixel or bigger) you might try saving copies at reduced resolution, and using those in your project. A lot of times when people have problems or hangups (usually when rendering), it turns out they have a 5-megapixel photo or something on the timeline, and VMS just runs out of memory (I guess). They resize it to something smaller, and their problem vanishes.

If you are working with a Standard Definition project (ie for std def DVD), the editing canvas is basically 655x480 pixels -- only about 0.3MP (in square pixels). Resizing your photos to maybe 800x600 or so -- depending on how much you need to zoom in on them -- can dramatically reduce the amount of memory they require, and can also speed up project load times, improve real-time preview performance, etc.

Hopefully others here will have further suggestions.

Tim L
4eyes wrote on 4/21/2007, 8:12 PM
Alan,
Your working with a highly compressed video file format called mpeg2.
The bottom line is there are 2 types of cams on the market.
DV cams that record in the DV.avi video EDITABLE format.
Dvd cams that record in the Mpeg2 Video Non-Editable format.

The video files created by your cam are mpeg2 which is hard for programs to edit. One small glitch in the mpeg2 file and the software gets lost. Not just VMS, almost all software does this unless the software is written specifically to edit mpeg2 video. These cams were designed to shoot & play. Software to edit mpeg2 video was written because of demand. Playing back mpeg2 video is not the same as editing it.

I suspect most of the problem lies in the method JVC is using to write the mpeg2 video files.
With mpeg2 video the corruption is usually at the beginning or end of the file. That's why when combining 2 mpegs together and then receiving an error it's usually at this joining point.

Using VMS I would export your project to a DV.Avi type-2 file first. See if that works. Then start a new project and insert the dv.avi file into the timeline, then convert render to a mpeg2 dvd format file. 1 hour of dv.avi is about 13gigs, so this gives you an idea of how much compression mpeg2 is using.

If your mpeg2 have corruption then specialized mpeg editors can fix them. Programs such as "Womble" or "VideoRedo" work pretty good. They have 30 day trial versions.
ritsmer wrote on 4/22/2007, 2:57 AM
The ability to stitch (render) together several projects is a feature only available in the "Full Vegas". This is one of the reasons why I have both versions :-)

Sorry to go against the mainstream in this Forum again - but I also make several videos consisting of approx. 50% video clips and 50% 4 Megapixel stills (up to several hundred per project) with all kinds of transitions, pan/crop, croma-keyer, Color correction etc. and I have never one single time had to resize any of them... However I know also that I might just have been lucky - unknowingly chosing cameras that make easily digestable stills...

I have not experienced or heard of memory leak in the Vegas software - but when a Codec or a third-part Plug-in plays funny games (and this happends) it is difficult/impossible to see that the problem is in the plug-in or codec and not in the Vegas - the whole thing just hangs.

If you do not have enough memory - 1 GB ram plus 2 GB pagefile should be enough to have one instance of VMS running - but near limit with 2 instances (i.e. editing one project while the other instance of VMS/Vegas happily renders for hours in the background - with low CPU priority, that is) - then Vegas will give a clear error message so that you know what is wrong. Codecs etc. do not often give this kind of messages - they mostly just hang - but all you see is that "Vegas hangs".

Maybe it would help to change the codec for the mpeg2 decoding that you use - to another one?

It is always a good idea to upgrade to the latest version of VMS - I doubt however that it will solve the problem because it probably is not a problem in the VMS/Vegas software.