I think VMSPP9B gives an option to find source files if it does not find them where they previously were.

Aside from moving, renaming, or deleting files that are used in the project, another common problem is bringing photos or videos into a project directly from a memory card, cd, or a flash drive (yes, I've done this). The file was there the last time and worked fine, but the next time you start up Vegas and load that project, the memory card or flash-drive isn't there so the file cannot be found. When working with such files, always copy them to a folder on your hard drive and then bring those files (from the hard drive) into Vegas.

Vegas is different from a word processor in that all the videos and photos that you import into the project continue to reference the original file. Otherwise, your project files would be huge if they included a copy of every video in your project. (In a word processor if you import a photo into a document a copy of it is saved in the document itself, and the original photo could be moved or renamed without affecting your document.)

Tim L

I hope this is not to off topic, does the location of the files you use in your project affect the speed in which the file will render? If it does is there ways to store/access the files more efficiently to decrease the render times.

I hope this is not to off topic, does the location of the files you use in your project affect the speed in which the file will render? If it does is there ways to store/access the files more efficiently to decrease the render times.

Yes, a little off topic but then again the subject of this thread doesn't fit the question.

At any rate, render speeds can depend on multiple things; source video format, output video format, added effects, transitions, CPU speed, disk speed, etc... Having multiple hard drives is helpful where the source video is on one drive and the output video is on another, neither of which is the system drive.

All of the above is true, and...

If your render times are very long relative to the length of your video, then the file access speeds are not likely to be a very significant factor, assuming you are rendering to an internal hard drive. Having multiple hard drives is more significant for capturing streaming video, such as from tape-based camcorders, because they transfer data at real-time speed, so the disk must keep up on a sustained basis or data will be lost. However, most or all hard disks made for the past several years have high enough sustained data transfer rates so this is not likely to be an issue on any modern computer. On the other hand, if you render your output to an external drive connected by a USB 1.0 (obsolete for years) port, or some other inherently slow output device then that could possibly significantly affect render time. The same issue holds for the device(s) your source media are recorded on.

You can conduct a simple test to determine the likely significance of the device you render to to your total render time: copy a file of the same length as your output video to the device you render to, and time how long it takes. Most any internal hard disk should and will copy it faster than the real time playback rate of your video, which lets you know it's an insignificant factor in your render time.

The output video format, mentioned above, is something that you may be able to choose or customize to improve rendering times significantly. By format, I don't just mean the resolution or the file extension but the codec and its configuration, such as whether it uses constant or variable bit rate encodings, and so on. This applies to the audio as well as to the video. Depending on the codec, there may be several configurable parameters that significantly affect rendering times.

You can conduct simple tests with a short video rendered with various formats, codecs and configurations, to see which renders fastest and still meets your other requirements.

Another issue that could adversely affect rendering times is whether you are unnecessarily resampling your source video.