I have run renders on a previously fine 'Vanilla' project without Fx and get the same result of crashing in random parts of the project. This is my input media spec is attached.

General
Complete name                            : G:\Vietnam\22 Phu Quoc\2024-04-22 11.13.05.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size                                : 227 MiB
Duration                                 : 12 s 480 ms
Overall bit rate                         : 153 Mb/s
Frame rate                               : 50.000 FPS
Writing application                      : Lavf57.37.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5.2
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=4, N=16
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 12 s 480 ms
Bit rate                                 : 152 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 50.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.367
Stream size                              : 227 MiB (100%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 148 r2694 3b70645
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=30 / lookahead_threads=10 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=28.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=4 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 12 s 480 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 200 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 305 KiB (0%)
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1

Before you ask.... Drive G: is a fast on-motherboard SSD where the project media are processed. Vegas resides on the boot drive.

Since getting this issue I have made the following tweaks to the default settings and regained some stability.

• Close media files when not the active application - unchecked
• Enable legacy AVC coding - yes
• GPU acceleration of video processing - Off
• Enable auto-detection of 360deg media - Off

I need to accept the stability I have regained as this has put me two days behind time on projects. If I lose this stability I will start recording error messages from the crash-host for posting here

Can you say more about the original media- what is this generated by?

While reducing the key interval/GOP length to your framerate (currently at 250) can help performance in VEGAS it shouldn't crash one way or another. It's constant framerate which generally works okay in VEGAS.

HDD vs SSD doesn't matter for stability.

I'd suggest turning the GPU video processing back on and see if you can make it through one of the benchmarks in the signature.

My camera details and workflow are in my signature block. I will return to this issue if Vegas lets me down again

The camera doesn't quite match the mediainfo.

Panasonic HDC-X1500 I use .MOV output of 2160p-50 at 150M

MediaInfo says .MP4 2160p50

Isn't Lavf57.37.100 FFMPEG and not a camera? Were these files converted?

If you read my signature more carefully you will see that "I normally stabilise the footage with Mercalli saving to mp4 AVC for edit"

This is the reason you are seeing Lavf57.37.100. It has been a proven workflow for me for several years so I deduce something in V21 has changed, either in their code or some settings have been changed on installation of the new version.

21.300 is totally different from previous versions of VEGAS. The MXCompound decoder is new. The GPU engine itself has changed.

If you were more upfront with exactly how the media was created we might have a better chance in figuring out what is going on.

If you think the issue is the media please provide a sample using your workflow and details on how you created it. If others can replicate an issue with VEGAS it has a better chance of getting solved. I have a GTX 1050 (mobile) myself.

He clearly stated that the footage was generated by Mercalli. However, the issue is that I don't possess this footage and am unable to test it on my machine. To conduct a test, I would need a sample of the footage.

Thanks @Wolfgang S.  In my own mind there is nothing wrong with the footage generated by Mercalli, I have been using it for several years without issue.

I am now in a position where I must undo the tweaks I have made to make Vegas work..... in order to force a crash to harvest error messages..... that may--or may not lead to an answer?!?! I will see what I can do but this issue has already robbed me of a lot of productive time.

Typically, reproducing the issue requires access to the footage that triggers the problems. Therefore, uploading it would be beneficial for this purpose. But that will not help you with your time constrains.

I have returned Vegas to default settings and tried rendering a 15 minute project to AVC. It started out OK showing 93% CPU load rendering at 20-30fps. After 1 hour it had not crashed but had slowed to 2fps. With the prospect of wasting the rest of the afternoon waiting for a crash I terminated the render.

I reapplied the tweaks mentioned above and tried again. With 96% CPU load it rendered normally at an average of 20fps.

A sample of the input footage is to be found at this link, I would be surprised if you can find anything wrong with it:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9ecrnsg2fsk82cjqe77j3/AI_9ff3mBD-STDZ2aQzSPvA?rlkey=kqe4wymr5x6lxk2iwd851upbb&dl=0

Is this the footage, where the project crashes during the render process? My impression was, that you use the Mercalli footage?

What render templates do you use in some more detail?

Thank you for making available a sample video. I downloaded that video and it rendered in Vegas Pro 21 without a problem.

The river reminds of the Mekong or one of its tributaries from a trip a few years ago.

BTW, I do lots and lots of stabilisation in Mercalli 5 Standalone (SAL) exporting to .mp4 AVC 4K (the recommended medium quality level) and have never experienced rendering problems in Vegas Pro - many versions - from those Mercalli exports.

The footage I posted is from Mercalli used in the edit. Here are the render settings

pretty frustrating when your render time is an hour or more. In the crash the render dialog numbers freeze but the cancel button still works. After cancelling, the program remains totally unresponsive and has to be killed by the Task Manager. The crash dialog appears most of the time and I have submitted numerous reports.

this type of error i have faced so much in almost every Vegas version. but with every version update this error is eliminating.

getting more stabilities now on my side.

there is no fix solution for this.

try this old myths solutions.

try.....

• turn off 'so4' setting from internal settings
• disable mutlicore rendering in internal settings
• enable legacy GPU rendering.
• exclude vegas pro from real time antivirus scan somehow.
• use default settings of File I/O.
• if you are rendering 4k files then first convert them all into 4k AVC MP4 format from VEGAS or any other tool like HandBreak then replace those converted files with original in your project.

try these , if still not solved. then keep patience. and keep guessing, and keep asking for support somebody somehow will help.

@Richard-N,

with your sample footage and your render settings, here the render process works fine. Specs of my laptop in my signiture.

I have returned Vegas to default settings and tried rendering a 15 minute project to AVC. It started out OK showing 93% CPU load rendering at 20-30fps. After 1 hour it had not crashed but had slowed to 2fps. With the prospect of wasting the rest of the afternoon waiting for a crash I terminated the render.

I reapplied the tweaks mentioned above and tried again. With 96% CPU load it rendered normally at an average of 20fps.

A sample of the input footage is to be found at this link, I would be surprised if you can find anything wrong with it:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9ecrnsg2fsk82cjqe77j3/AI_9ff3mBD-STDZ2aQzSPvA?rlkey=kqe4wymr5x6lxk2iwd851upbb&dl=0

i render your media without any error...

@Wolfgang S.  Thanks for looking at the clip - No surprises at all.

@iEmby I totally support your suggestion of only importing AVC footage. My experience shows that importing HEVC is frought with disaster. However there are too many 'Old Myths' as you say that have nothing to do with Vegas today. To disable multi-core rendering when you have a 10 core PC seems like madness.

@Richard-N Hi, all I can show is how it goes for me, I don't have Intel CPU & no integrated graphics

• I rendered your sample clip using Mainconcept - 33secs
• NVENC took 18secs,
• No problem with either setting,
• I created a 15min project duplicating your sample, + a few sample texts & my logo. I selected all the samples & dragged a crossfade on which looped the media because I hadn't trimmed any, didn't think that would matter in fact I thought it would increase the stress level for Vegas,
• That rendered in just over 14mins

My Vegas is pretty much set at the default settings. yours & mine are different PCs but if there's a problem it normally shows regardless.

@iEmby I totally support your suggestion of only importing AVC footage. My experience shows that importing HEVC is frought with disaster. However there are too many 'Old Myths' as you say that have nothing to do with Vegas today.

@Richard-N That must be PC related, I bought a Gopro11 which only creates HEVC files, so I swapped my Samsung S23 Ultra over to HEVC from my usual AVC so I'm not mix n matching formats on the timeline, I've seen significant improvements reg HEVC with this new (300) build, full fps @ 59.94p UHD Good (Full) & have next to no crashes since.

@Wolfgang S.  Thanks for looking at the clip - No surprises at all.

@iEmby I totally support your suggestion of only importing AVC footage. My experience shows that importing HEVC is frought with disaster. However there are too many 'Old Myths' as you say that have nothing to do with Vegas today. To disable multi-core rendering when you have a 10 core PC seems like madness.

Then you should think about possible next steps. Especially, since you seems to have expected this results.

Maybe you test that with an upcoming new build of VP21?

@Wolfgang S. You pose a difficult question. Once you have a stable, working, editing setup, it requires a brave man to make an early upgrade to a new version. Yes, of course the makers will promise you all the new toys and features, but the reality is often a few days of heartache until you are back up and running.

I have observed that the Vegas install will first remove it's predecessor from your machine before removing your licence for that version. You then download and install the new version that has to be authorised from the maker's dashboard. I have never tried to revert back to a previous version, but I am guessing it is not easy.

I have learnt not to be an early adopter. I would prefer they fix all the bugs first.

@iEmby As I understand it, there are various proprietory standards of HEVC with combinations of variable bitrate, framerate and all sorts of other variables designed to keep the filesize at a minimum. Theoretically these files can all be decoded by the same software, it is just the processing overhead that changes. My Panasonic HDC-X1500 will output in 2160-50p (or 60p if you are that side of the Atlantic) HEVC Long GOP at 200mb/s. This requires a lot of the camera encoding, but it requires even more of an editor that has to perform all the tricks later. In my case, even though I have quite a capable PC, poor Vegas grinds to a halt.

One contributor above has suggested that V21 handling of HEVC has much improved. Once I get some free time I will shoot some HEVC footage at the higher quality and see how Vegas copes with it. There again, I find myself asking.... How much quality is enough quality? My present 4k footage is near perfection on an 4k 98" TV screen so why should I bother?

@Richard-N MP4 AVC vs MP4 HEVC isn't totally about quality as such, it's about file size - it's about the technique used to compress the information of the bigger aspect such as 4K upwards, it provides better compression efficiency, it requires less bandwidth to transmit for streaming video over the internet, which in turn does help to keep a better quality vid but both try to keep the best quality possible, you personally prob won't notice the difference in quality.

PS, I'm not & I didn't suggest using HEVC, I was just responding to your comments on the matter.