Hi Nick, thanks for the tip. I had read about that possibility for Activation, but that doesn't seem to be the issue in this case.

Explanation:

This computer is connected to the internet. I just tried to render to an MP3 file, and it created a popup saying "MP3 successfully activated", then It created a MP3 file (obviously, of just the audio from my project).

After this, and even after restarting Vegas Pro, I'm still getting the same error when rendering/encoding to the Intel HEVC.

I am able to open HEVC files on my timeline,view them and trim them
(source: https://x265.com/hevc-video-files/ )

Additional Info:
For what its worth, I just did a test where I rendered to "ProRes 422 1920x1080-23.976p" and it worked fine, also just for kicks I tried "XAVC S Long 3840x2160-59.94p" and that works fine.

This is a laptop computer, and has hybrid graphics (Optimus) with a Nvidia GTX-980M. When I run Vegas, if I right-click the icon I get the menu to "Run with Graphics Processor ->" and I have two options available under that: 1) High-Performance NVIDA Processor or 2) Integrated Graphics (default).  I have tried it both ways and can't tell any performance difference (functionality and performance of Vegas all seems the same), but the HEVC render still fails regardless of which graphics option I choose. When I choose to run with "Nvidia" as the graphics processor and render-out to Intel HEVC, the project preview goes thru the first 3-4 frames of the project then it crashes (with same error message as in my original post). If I close and re-run Vegas with "Integrated Graphics (default)" and then try to render-out to Intel HEVC, it appears that the preview window doesn't advance at all, it just immediately gives me the error message.

Either way the error message occurs within the first < 1 second of rendering, and an output file is created that is zero-length (size shows as 0 bytes long).

Please advise, thank you.

I have also filled-in a support request with the Magix support website. (http://support.magix.com/vegas)

When I run Vegas, if I right-click the icon I get the menu to "Run with Graphics Processor...

I have never heard of this.

Try disabling GPU as described in section 1a of this: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-graphics-cards-gpu-acceleration-for-vegas-pro--104614/

If that doesn't help try working through some of the suggestions in this thread and the one it links to in part 1: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-stop-vegas-pro-hanging-during-rendering--104786/

(this is a long post, skip to the end to see the resolution I found)

Try disabling GPU as described...

Alright, in that option menu I can select None, the Intel HD graphics, or my Nvidia card. Tried all 3 options then (rebooting Vegas Pro between each change) none of them will allow me to render to HEVC.

 

When I run Vegas, if I right-click the icon I get the menu to "Run with Graphics Processor...

I have never heard of this.

Just FYI incase anyone else is reading this:

This option only appears on Laptops that have a separate NVidia GPU on-board, the operating system (Windows in this case) can select to run software with either the Nvidia GPU (for performance) or the integrated Intel HD Graphics (e.g. if trying to save battery). This is the Optimus system and specifies the default GPU that the program will use at Launch. Selecting "Integrated graphics" as the launch parameter will allow me to render using QuickSync with h.264 in a limited set of encoding parameters.

No combination of these could get HEVC encoding to work for me.

However, I was able to get QuickSync to work for AVC (h.264) encoding, here is how:

Following Nicks guide I realized the Options menu has a spot where I can "allow Legacy GPU Rendering" (Options -> Preferences -> General). Once I turn this on, all of a sudden see more options avaialble under the Sony AVC/MVC rendering template (chose "Customize Template"). Customizing the template, I have an additional option for "encode mode".

Encode mode choices are: 1) Automatic, Render using CPU only, 2) Render using GPU if Available, 3) Intel Quick Sync Video (Quality) and 4) Intel Quick Sync Video (Speed). If I go to the System tab there is a new button available "Check GPU" button , pressing this tells me "QSV is available".

By experimentation, I found that choosing Intel Quick Sync Video (Quality) will give me an error when rendering (saying something like Quick Sync is unavailable) but selecting "Intel Quick Sync Video (Speed)" does work for me and allows rendering out a file. And boy, is that faster!

I may not have gotten the HEVC (h.265) was looking for, but I did figure out how to get a hardware-accelerated h.264 AVC encoding, and that kinda gets me what I wanted to go anyways (really just wanted a much faster hardware accelerated Rendering capability). However, with only access to the QuickSync "Speed" setting and not the "Quality" setting the encoded results are slightly compromised in playback quality. Also, by experimentation I determined that I could encode Sony AVC 1920x1080 at 29.97FPS with QuickSync, but attempting to encode at any higher framerate (e.g. double NTSC) would fail.

All this to say:

This confirms that I have _some_ sort of Intel Quick Sync capability that is working on my computer. I must have the option "allow Legacy GPU Rendering" turned on to access it, and then customize the rendering template. I have a limited set of QuickSync parameters that my computer will support, and any attempt to render/encode parameters beyond that range are met with a generic (and unhelpful) error message "reason for the error could not be determined".

Why not HEVC?

Look at this chart and find your Intel CPU on there to see the chart of QuickSync capabilties:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

Since my processor falls under the "Haswell" column, its pretty obvious my version of Intel processor will not support HEVC acceleration for either Encode or Decode.

Glad you at least got QuickSync acceleration of Sony AVC working, and thanks for the detailed report.

This is the first I've heard of Intel HEVC encoding in Vegas being dependent on the generation of processor. I've seen no other reports of this type of failure, and I've not seen this stipulated anywhere in the system requirements etc.. I thought it should do a non-hardware-accelerated render with any VP14-supported CPU.

Can anyone else successfully render HEVC with a Haswell (or earlier) CPU?

HEVC render out of Vegas Pro 14 works (slow but) fine on my netbook with Intel Core i3-2377m Sandy Bridge CPU which is two generations before Haswell.

You are not alone !

I am facing the same problem on all my socket 771 machines. Rendering stop after 20 frames without creating anything.

The problem exists in all versions of Vegas.I opened a trouble ticket in Nov 2016 but did not get any useful answer.

Re:

"The clip has been rendered out with Da Vinci Resolve.

I dont't think that this is the cause.

Further tests showed that not any kind of video format nor any sequence of pictures can be rendered to HEVC.

But Insert>Text Media works fine.

All those problems do not occur when rendered to any other format than HEVC.

All those problems do not occur when rendering on any other non-socket-771 computer. (Intel or AMD)

Please note that I have a Master Degree in Electronics and that I know what I'm talking about."

Please note that I have a Master Degree in Electronics and that I know what I'm talking about."

Now I don't dare to say anything more other than I had the same problem on the desktop from my signature.
I cured the problem by a new Windows installation and first installing Vegas Pro 14. 🔐