Sony Movie Studio not rendering properly

dragonblade wrote on 3/19/2015, 6:34 AM

Ive just encountered a problem with Movie Studio which I haven't experienced before. I'm trying to render a PAL DV video (standard definition) avi and I'm not having any success at all. Ive tried multiple times and each time, it takes an unusually quick time to 'create' the movie (about a fraction of a second.) Then when I try and open the video file, it won't open and a message says "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing this file." According to the specs, the file size is 575kb and the running time is 00:00:00. However, on my timeline, the video runs for 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

After the first few attempts, I noticed that the video and audio streams on the timeline were not highlighted. So then I highlighted them but this made no difference. Though it still looks like they are 'ungrouped' though surely this wouldn't make any difference?

Could anyone think of a solution that could enable me to complete my video? Not that long ago, I rendered another PAL DV avi and there were no problems at all with that one. Any help would be appreciated.

Comments

Jack S wrote on 3/19/2015, 7:26 AM

Is it possible that you've inadvertently checked the 'Render loop region only' checkbox in the 'Render Options' of the 'Render As' dialog box?

dragonblade wrote on 3/19/2015, 9:38 AM

Jack s: "Is it possible that you've inadvertently checked the 'Render loop region only' checkbox in the 'Render Options' of the 'Render As' dialog box?"

Not that I recall. I went to the 'Make movie' option from the File menu.

Anyhow, the problem has been solved. On my last attempt, I decided to keep the original project name for the video file and that worked. Prior to that, I was using different file names and for some strange reason, it didn't like that. This is odd because Ive changed the name on other projects in the past (at the render stage) and never had a problem before.

dragonblade wrote on 3/30/2015, 8:56 AM

It's happening again. And once again with a PAL DV avi (SD) file. This has never happened with HD video files. What worked last time is not working this time. I kept the project name the same but no luck. I also changed the name but still no success. Just like last time, the rendering is super quick - it takes a fraction of a second to reach 100%. The completed video file is unplayable. The file is 575kb and the duration is 00:00:00.

Another thing in common with the other file that had this problem recently is that the video footage was imported via firewire from a MiniDv camcorder. From the same camera. Though Ive also imported other footage from this camera in the past and never had any issues then.

Former user wrote on 3/30/2015, 9:27 AM

By any chance were you trying to render the file to a name that already existed. I did this by accident once. I rendered my file to the same directory that I captured it in and used the same file name.

dragonblade wrote on 3/30/2015, 9:30 AM

Donald: "By any chance were you trying to render the file to a name that already existed. I did this by accident once. I rendered my file to the same directory that I captured it in and used the same file name."

I used a unique name to save the project and retained that name when I rendered. That's what worked last time.

Ive tried several times with no success. Just now, I closed Sony Movie Studio, reopened it and then made another attempt. This time, it worked. I didn't do anything different. This is really strange and buggy.

MSmart wrote on 3/30/2015, 11:27 PM

You don't mention what version of Movie Studio. However it shouldn't matter much as DV-AVI files are very basic and supported long ago so it's pretty hard to have issues with it.

Are the project properties set to match?

Are you using the Vidcap program to capture the video?

Lastly, you don't mention what rendering template you're using to render.

Allegretto wrote on 4/3/2015, 12:14 AM

Some things to try:

1. Instead of Make Movie, use File > Render As, select the output format and render template you want. Newer versions of Movie Studio have a little triangle by the format to expand the render template list, then you select the template from the list. I don't remember which version the Render As dialog changed to the latter but I'm using version 12 which does. Does that work for you?

2. In Options > Preferences > General, uncheck "Close media files when not the active application", then use File > Make Movie. Does that work?

vkmast wrote on 4/3/2015, 12:42 AM

There is not a Project (or File) > Render As any more in Movie Studio Platinum 13. All the rendering options are in the Make Movie menu only. You select your formats > templates there. My Make Movie menus in vs. 10 to 13 have these options in "Save it to my hard drive".

Allegretto wrote on 4/3/2015, 12:00 PM

Make sure that the audio and video tracks are not muted (grayed out). If you shrink the width of the track headers on the left by too much, the mute button will disappear (white circle with a blue diagonal line through it).

Also make sure that the events on the timeline (media clips) are not individually muted, they are gray when muted. Right click on an event, from the context menu use Switches > Mute to see if an event is muted (unchecked=not muted).

Did you try changing the pref setting so media files do not get closed when Movie Studio loses focus? Then use Make Movie as before.

It does sound like you have on occasion gotten it to render successfully, even though it wouldn't play in Windows Media Player. Perhaps the file was still kept open by Windows (did you close the media player?). Trying to render to a file that another application has open will fail, though Movie Studio should have shown an error message.

Try rebooting to clear the open file, then do the render again.