Vegas crashing importing any large .avi

skiltrip wrote on 2/25/2008, 7:48 AM
I was importing .avi files captured with NeoHD the other day into Vegas 8 Pro.

I found that if I tried to import too many at the same time Vegas would crash. So I imported them one at a time, fine and dandy as long as the file was around 200mb or less. Any of the 300mb+ files i tried to import would crash Vegas. I restarted just in case, but no luck. I simply cannot get those larger .avi files to import into my project.

It's actually a fresh install of my OS and Vegas, and Cineform, and everything else. Just did it a few days ago.

Specs are below.
Windows XP SP2 and all updates
Asus A8N-Sli motherboard
Athlon 64 3700+ cpu
2GB ram.
Vegas Pro 8.0b
Cineform NeoHD
M-Audio 410
nVidia 7300le videocard

If I left anything out, just let me know. Thanks.

Comments

jabloomf1230 wrote on 2/25/2008, 8:38 AM
A couple of ideas:

1) Check the Windows system logs and see what caused the error.
2) Try importing an uncompressed file >300MB and see if Vegas still crashes. Then try something that large that has been encoded with a different codec other than Cineform.
3) Check the versions of the Cineform codec that are on your computer. The version that is included with Vegas 8P is 2.8 and it is old and it doesn't work all that well. Open a small DV avi test file in Vegas and try to render it as "Intermediate" in the Video tab. If Cineform version 2.8 shows up, that may be the problem.

What encoding settings are you using for your NeoHD files that you are opening in Vegas? I can't be of too much more help, since I am running Vista x64 and NeoHDV (the 1440x1080 version) and Vegas is able to open immense Cineform files, although I try to stay <1 GB/file, because most of my clips tend to be in that size range.
skiltrip wrote on 2/25/2008, 9:25 AM
1) Check the Windows system logs and see what caused the error.
* How do I do this? Never checked Windows logs before.

2) Try importing an uncompressed file >300MB and see if Vegas still crashes. Then try something that large that has been encoded with a different codec other than Cineform.
*Where would I get an uncompressed file over 300MB? Can it be any type of file? If so, I can do this.

3) Check the versions of the Cineform codec that are on your computer. The version that is included with Vegas 8P is 2.8 and it is old and it doesn't work all that well. Open a small DV avi test file in Vegas and try to render it as "Intermediate" in the Video tab. If Cineform version 2.8 shows up, that may be the problem.
* As per instructions from a Cineform tech, I usually rename the Cineform codec that comes with Vegas before I install a Cineform product. He said the same thing about it getting "confused" on which to use. I'll double check to make sure though.

What encoding settings are you using for your NeoHD files that you are opening in Vegas?
*I WAS using NeoHDV trial but now I'm using NeoHD trial to extend my trial period (cineform tech also suggested I do that).

Thanks for your assistance. It's greatly appreciated.
jabloomf1230 wrote on 2/25/2008, 5:06 PM
1) It's a little different in Vista and XP, but go into the Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Event Logs. Within the Event Logs there two important ones, "System" and "Application". See if you can find the error that Vegas generated when it crashed. Most of the time it's a bunch of geekspeak, but if you contact Cineform and/or Sony tech support, it might be helpful to them in troubleshooting.

2) Take any smallish mts or mpg file that you have and render it in Vegas as "Uncompressed" video. That will make an enormous file. Make sure you don't start out with too big a file initially or you will end up with a file that is tens of GBs in size. Close Vegas and restart it. Then try to import that uncompressed file back into Vegas, If the uncompressed file opens okay, then try creating a >300MB mpg file. The easiest way (short of illegally copying a VOB file from a DVD, heh heh) is to open a smallish file in Vegas and then keep making copies of it onto the same track until its about 10-15 minutes long. Render that as NTSC 1080i. Close Vegas, restart it and see if you can import that file. I think you see the pattern. What we're doing here is to see if file size is the culprit or it has something to do with the Cineform codec, specific to your hardware and software mix. If a large uncompressed file works and large mpg files work, then maybe it's just Cineform that's broken.

3) You've already renamed the Cineform CFHD.dll file, but to make sure, search your c:/ drive to make sure there aren't any other copies left over , like for example, from a previous installation of Neo Player.

If none of these items help, you may have some type of hardware/software issue that's messing up the Cineform codec and you should talk to them further.