Timeline media turns into black screen when painted under loop region.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 5:29 AM

Certain media on my project's timeline turns completely black in preview and render after selecting it under the loop region.

I have a comleted 17 minute video project where one jpg image taken with phone refuses to stay visible along with one clip from a drone. Other images and droneshots with the same settings work fine. When selecting these areas the preview window instantly goes black instead of buffering for the frame which is the case for every other media on the timeline (mostly GoPro).

When first opening the project or replacing the file with it's copy the video and image are visible on the timeline and can be edited. However it can turn black randomly when moving the cursor to other media and back and if it didn't it will turn black when the loop region is painted over the clip and the rest of the project to prepare for render.

If the program is idle, the media can randomly appear visible again when moving the cursor to it again but it will disappear as soon as your hopes come up and you start to check wether every media is indeed visible.

There is absolutely no problem with the file. The project was originally composed in VP18 and copied to VP23. It worked fine until the newest update; build 302.

I can still copy the project to my VP22 and every media is visible as normal. However color correction and the text media do not have their information. Text reverts to default text and color correction is not visible. I couldn't bother to do this work again and ofcourse I would like to use the newest program instead of using the previous one.

I am out of ideas how to fix this. It is amazing how after all these years it is still uncertain if your project can in fact crash on itself in a way that you'd pretty much have to start it all over.

Actions taken:

Remove/apply GPU acceleration
Increase RAM dedicated to VP23
Internal OpenCL memory filter increased
Close media files when not the active application -unchecked
Hardware Decoder off / nvidia
Finally VP23 preferences resetted to default (shift+ctrl open)

VP23 doesn't have "enable legacy avc encoder" -option (why??)

System:

VP 23 build 302
Win10
GTX 970, oct 14 drivers
i5-4690K

Comments

andyrpsmith wrote on 10/20/2025, 6:20 AM

I don't think your system meets the min spec for V23

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/

Dexcon wrote on 10/20/2025, 6:26 AM

Win10
GTX 970, oct 14 drivers
i5-4690K

Windows 10 shouldn't be a problem at the moment because MS support for W10 ended only a week ago (unless extended for 1 year by the W10 user), but your computer is some 11 years old and way below the minimum recommended specifications to run Vegas Pro 23 especially for 4K and AI FX:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/

You may have seen on the forum over recent years that the Vegas Team have progressively been updating the video engine in Vegas Pro with each new upgrade/update, and it is not unreasonable to expect that the video engine updates designed to modernise Vegas Pro will at some indefinite time leave older computer specs not being able to fully work with latest Vegas Pro versions that were experienced in earlier Vegas Pro versions. It is therefore unsurprising that your project works well in Vegas Pro 18.

Notwithstanding, it's hard to believe that a basic .jpg image should be a problem in VP23 even on old computer.

Which GoPro camera are you using as well as the recording format: e.g. HD, 4K or above; and AVC (H.264) or HEVC (H.265)?

VP23 doesn't have "enable legacy avc encoder" -option (why??)

Yes it does - it's under Options/Preferences/File I/O as it has been for some versions.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 7:42 AM

I don't think your system meets the min spec for V23

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/

I re-edited some parts of the project flawlessly until now. Also the program runs the clips taken on the exact same drone at the exact same time with no problem, just one of them decided to kill itself withing the program.

Re-inserting the entire video to the project media and editing it from the ground up would probably fix the issue, which has been the case on previous versions when encountering similar problems but I can't be arsed to do it again. This is why I am looking for a proper solution.

Win10
GTX 970, oct 14 drivers
i5-4690K

Windows 10 shouldn't be a problem at the moment because MS support for W10 ended only a week ago (unless extended for 1 year by the W10 user), but your computer is some 11 years old and way below the minimum recommended specifications to run Vegas Pro 23 especially for 4K and AI FX:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/

You may have seen on the forum over recent years that the Vegas Team have progressively been updating the video engine in Vegas Pro with each new upgrade/update, and it is not unreasonable to expect that the video engine updates designed to modernise Vegas Pro will at some indefinite time leave older computer specs not being able to fully work with latest Vegas Pro versions that were experienced in earlier Vegas Pro versions. It is therefore unsurprising that your project works well in Vegas Pro 18.

Notwithstanding, it's hard to believe that a basic .jpg image should be a problem in VP23 even on old computer.

Which GoPro camera are you using as well as the recording format: e.g. HD, 4K or above; and AVC (H.264) or HEVC (H.265)?

VP23 doesn't have "enable legacy avc encoder" -option (why??)

Yes it does - it's under Options/Preferences/File I/O as it has been for some versions.

This project has been originally made in may on VP18 and exported as XAVC render which was a struggle with VP18 constant crashes. I upgraded to VP22 in October because VP18 couldn't handle rendering a new projectt where the source material was from A7SIII. After completing that new project I went back to the old project (which is now at hand with the issues) and re-furbished the project a little bit, however I did not render it.

I upgraded to VP23 on launch and slapped the project into it refurbishing even more and doing some color grading. I had issues with all of the drone footages starting today but after fondling around, re-encoding with Handbrake and replacing the media back and forth they seem to work now. Those are in the very beginning of the project however the problematic dronevideo is in the end. All of them worked fine in VP18 and VP22 and VP23 until this newest build. The problematic JPG is in the middle of the project. I can re-insert it as a new media on another track but as soon as I apply LUT and place it where it should be, only applying fade in the beginning and mix in the end it goes black and doesn't stay visible for long after program restart.

I also have the extended win10 program so no problem there.

Legacy avc encoder didn't help either. I looked for it from the list above where it now is... (as it used to be there)

VP22 required fixing some internal settings, mainly so4 settings to get it running properly. These particular so4 settings are absent from VP23 internal tab as there is only one audio setting.

My old mount has soldiered through all types of media and videos. Editing ofcourse requires the use of proxies and can be sluggish at times but I don't buy that it couldn't run VP23.

I've made a 7 minute project using exclusively VP23 which has a lot of masking, blurring and some layering and colograding and there has been no problems with media working. Ofcourse there are some occasional crashing which comes with the price and also my computer has problem handing the AI masking and tracking which can result to crash or be really slow. But other than that no problem with the PC/VP23 compatibility in my experience.

The problem seems to lie somewhere withing the project itself since I can take this media into a new project and do what I like with them. Only trying to paste event attributes and the entire project will I run into this problem. So basically I could do the entire project again and it would probably work but we are talking about 17 minutes run time with 84 media files so no thank you.

CURRENT PROJECT:
GoPro11 footage (no problem there):

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: HEVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 10 bit
Frame rate: 29.970 fps
Bit rate: 91386066 bps
Audio stream #1
Audio format: AAC
Sampling rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2 channels
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 192000 bps

Drone:

working clips:

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: HEVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 10 bit
Frame rate: 29.970 fps
Bit rate: 7403085 bps

problematic clip (note: it used to work. it just decided to stop):

Original:

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: AVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 8 bit
Frame rate: 29.970 fps
Scan type: Progressive
Bit rate: 103402948 bps

Handbrake conversion (doesn't work either)

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: HEVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 10 bit
Frame rate: 29.970 fps
Bit rate: 7779341 bps

Still image that just refuses to stay visible:

Type: JPEG
Size: 2.15 MB (2,198,392 bytes)

Media information
Stream format: JPEG

Streams
Still: 4032x3024x24, JPEG

Other metadata
Regions/markers: no
Command markers: no

Media manager
Media tags: no

Plug-In
Name: wicplug.dll
Folder: C:\Program Files\VEGAS\VEGAS Pro 23.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\wicplug
Format: Image Sequence
Version: Version 23.0 (Build 302)
Company: MAGIX Computer Products Intl. Co.

October project:

(edited in VP18. Render crashing so rendered in VP22)

A7S3

Media information
Stream format: XAVC
Video stream #1
Video format: AVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 8 bit
Frame rate: 119.880 fps
Scan type: Progressive
Bit rate mode: Variable
Bit rate: 188192900 bps
Audio stream #1
Audio format: PCM
Sampling rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2 channels
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 1536000 bps

A third project made exclusively on VP23 from the start up (98% ready, not yet rendered) has a mix of these types of video files, again without problems:

Xperia phone

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: AVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 8 bit
Frame rate: 59.940 fps
Scan type: Progressive
Bit rate: 119810740 bps
Audio stream #1
Audio format: AAC
Sampling rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2 channels
Bit rate mode: Constant

GoPro 11

Media information
Stream format: MPEG-4
Video stream #1
Video format: HEVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Color depth: 10 bit
Frame rate: 59.940 fps
Bit rate: 119759126 bps
Audio stream #1
Audio format: AAC
Sampling rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2 channels
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 192000 bps

EDIT:

While at it, where are the XAVC rendering options in the new, mixed up and annoyingly unclear render table? The previous one was so much better and crystal clear. XAVC rendering always worked the best for me.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 7:56 AM

Fondling with it, the media may appear visible and seem normal. This is the case for both the drone video and JPG-image. However as soon as I move the cursor to the beginning of the project to confirm that drone footage in the beginning is also visible the later part goes black. Then it is a whackamole with settings, idle time and media replacement to see if they appear again.

Rendering with the preview black results in black render on those sections.

RogerS wrote on 10/20/2025, 8:17 AM

Does setting dynamic ram preview to 0MB help? Sounds like a preview caching problem.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 8:30 AM

Does setting dynamic ram preview to 0MB help? Sounds like a preview caching problem.

Doesn't seem to have any effect. The JPEG and the video file in question stay inconsistent and seem to appear and dissappear at random. All the other files work flawlessly. Ther are total of 84 files in the project.

One thing that seems to bring them visible is opening "project media" tab and scrolling to the media in question and keeping them visible on the tab. However I am uncertain if this enough to keep them visible for the render.

EDIT: There is also the classic flickering and partial blacking out with the JPG -file. Sometimes it is entirely visible, sometimes entirely black or something a fraction of it is visible while the rest are black.

RogerS wrote on 10/20/2025, 8:36 AM

Well none of that should happen. Is the iGPU disabled? It's older than the ones supported by VEGAS. Your GPU is the oldest supported generation if it's 4GB+ VRAM.

Beyond that I don't have ideas for what you could fix beyond what you tried already. You could report it to official support as it may not have been tested on similar systems.

If you need an earlier build of 23 they are here. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-where-can-i-download-vegas-pro-and-other-vegas-software--104782/

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 8:54 AM

Well none of that should happen. Is the iGPU disabled? It's older than the ones supported by VEGAS. Your GPU is the oldest supported generation if it's 4GB+ VRAM.

Beyond that I don't have ideas for what you could fix beyond what you tried already. You could report it to official support as it may not have been tested on similar systems.

If you need an earlier build of 23 they are here. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-where-can-i-download-vegas-pro-and-other-vegas-software--104782/

Was not disabled. I disabled it now and it doesn't seem to fix the issues.

I uploaded a short GIF where you can see the issue. As I was setting up, the image was completely black and I inteded to show this. As I hit record and moved the cursor the image started showing in preview again maintaining the blacked out parts which you can see me scroll back and forth.

The original image is visible on the left on the pan/crop window and the preview shows the color graded version. The GIF starts with the cursor and preview on 4k GoPro footage.

https://gyazo.com/10ed696ec4029c76453d3c0ffcffab27

For no apparent reason, the problematic drone footage seems to be a bit more consistend now...

EDIT:

The black flicker moved to a different part of the image. As I was setting up the recording this time the image started showing flawlessly... Basically if I rendered now the video might work out. But I can't know if the other footage in the end is visible.

https://gyazo.com/d32c1e66961e47440e02771962aed402
If I move to cursor to check the still image most likely gets messed up again.

as it did:

https://gyazo.com/c3e19b137bbec979aeb670eb4fd887dd

RogerS wrote on 10/20/2025, 9:08 AM

I've seen that in past versions but turning off the GPU in preferences/video or zeroing out dynamic ram preview worked as workarounds.

Actually checking the VP 23 webpage the system requirements for GPUs were raised for the first time since VP 18 and now start at the GTX 10 series: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/

I would not bother with VP 23 with hardware below minimum requirements - can you try to get a refund? At some point you might want a newer system. If you try a benchmark you'll see a massive difference between your system with 22 and one with newer CPUs and GPUs.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 9:21 AM

At some point you might want a newer system.

I know, this one is long due. I'll be showing this to my wife. Wish me luck.

If you need an earlier build of 23 they are here. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-where-can-i-download-vegas-pro-and-other-vegas-software--104782/

I'll try this after I am done with the other project which is actually more pressing. I initially though to relax a bit by doing the last touch on this one that only needs to be rendered... However I don't know what do with my renders now that VP23 doesn't have the XAVC render options which, to me atleast, were perfect. They rendered quick and consistend and my old junk could play 4k XAVC files so I could actually watch my own videos before uplaoding them...

RogerS wrote on 10/20/2025, 9:46 AM

The formats are still there, just a bit hidden!

For easy to play back files I render to MagixAVC using NVENC.

5qd2fr wrote on 10/20/2025, 9:51 AM

Oh wow. I would've never expected that. Really interesting design choise...

Thank you, this was important for me. Unless my other project that is due in a month didn't suffer the same fate as the one in question in this thread I should get it rendered just the way I like.

I have about 3 months time to fight and fix with this one until it is supposed to go out.