And also which Vegas version?

I'm sorry guys, some important info I missed out there.

I'm using Sony Vegas Pro 17.0 build 387

Windows 10 Pro build 1907

I recorded with GoPro Hero7 4k60fps

Project Properties are

With GoPro 4k p60, proxies are pretty much the norm.

Your project properties are not 4k, that will need to be corrected to match the source! You can forget smooth preview otherwise.

For further support, the rest of the properties and settings requested will be needed. Thanks.

if that 4k video is hevc you need gpu decode. your vega64 can't do that, but your intel igpu should be able to. in task manager do you see 2x gpu?

if that 4k video is hevc you need gpu decode. your vega64 can't do that, but your intel igpu should be able to. in task manager do you see 2x gpu?

Yes its recorded in HEVC via the GoPro. Vega64 has HEVC support, or at least that's what I can see in the Relive settings, there is an option there to record HEVC even though I don't use AMD Relive to record.

With GoPro 4k p60, proxies are pretty much the norm.

Your project properties are not 4k, that will need to be corrected to match the source! You can forget smooth preview otherwise.

For further support, the rest of the properties and settings requested will be needed. Thanks.

I made the project settings the same size as i'll be rendering as, I thought setting the project settings to 4k would bog the system down even more as that'll be even more intensive to preview 4k.

VP17 does not support AMD gpu video decode, only intel and nvidia. You can choose to use AVC encoding with GoPro for future recording

Gopro uses only HEVC encoding for 2160p60 recording.

Yes you're right, AVC only available for 2160p30

For problem solving, I'd recommend to add a standard Vegas script that collects relevant hardware info, driver version info, plugin info, media info, and the results of some basic system speed tests (with a benchmark project).

Based on that, it could auto-detect system bottle necks and present the final report.

It would save a lot of time, discussion and frustration.

I made the project settings the same size as i'll be rendering as, I thought setting the project settings to 4k would bog the system down even more as that'll be even more intensive to preview 4k.

No, exactly the opposite. By forcing realtime render with filtering, you are adding to the system load rather than reducing it. Project Properties above the line affect the Preview, not the Render.

As stated, that is only one factor. Start with proxies.

The only way you will get smooth preview out of HEVC video is with GPU acceleration, and AMD video decode support is not available on Vegas 17 (and many other NLEs as well, AMD can't seem to get its act together in that regard), Your only option to smoothly preview the video is to use quicksync decode on your intel CPU. Go into preferences, under the file i/o tab, set the video decode to use your intel GPU. Otherwise, it's going to decode slowly no matter what you do. HEVC bogs down even the fastest systems.

The only way you will get smooth preview out of HEVC video is with GPU acceleration, and AMD video decode support is not available on Vegas 17 (and many other NLEs as well, AMD can't seem to get its act together in that regard), Your only option to smoothly preview the video is to use quicksync decode on your intel CPU. Go into preferences, under the file i/o tab, set the video decode to use your intel GPU. Otherwise, it's going to decode slowly no matter what you do. HEVC bogs down even the fastest systems.

It's already set to Intel QSV and it still performs horrendously. In fact, I only have 2 options there, Intel QSV and Nvidia NVDEC. I can't even put together any projects as it's impossible to even edit and match video and audio with a 1fps laggy choppy preview window even at a Quarter Draft. Incredibly frustrating when I've a PC that's surely more than capable, 6 cores 12 threads running at 5GHZ, M.2 SSD, DDR4 RAM @ 3600mhz, getting quite frustrated.

What is meant by "proxies", I've no idea what that means. I've tried to provide some info to fault find, what else do you need?

For problem solving, I'd recommend to add a standard Vegas script that collects relevant hardware info, driver version info, plugin info, media info, and the results of some basic system speed tests (with a benchmark project).

Based on that, it could auto-detect system bottle necks and present the final report.

It would save a lot of time, discussion and frustration.

Care to tell me how to how to "add a standard Vegas Script that collects" all that information? I get you are trying to be helpful, you are telling me what I need to do but not how to do it. You might as well talk in Chinese.

What is meant by "proxies", I've no idea what that means. I've tried to provide some info to fault find, what else do you need?

Your involvement.

Vegas has a learning curve. Individualized instruction is not possible for every feature that every new user must learn. That's why we have resources.

Proxies are referenced in your Help, Interactive Tutorials, User manual, What's This, and other basic guides.

When you find Andrew Devis' Basic tutorials, you will find #21, all about basic proxies. Good luck.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/new-users-consult-the-tutorials-first-please--118014/

@Tony-M78

Proxies are simply substitutes for your source media. They could be pretty much any format or size, but generally are lower compression, smaller versions for easy playback and editing. They don't impact final render quality, because they get swapped out just prior to render.

Vegas has it's own internal (automatic) system for this - you can look up the "how to" in the help guide. IIRC, They are 720p XAVC-intra files, so they don't look super great on preview, but are workable, and Vegas automatically switches back to your original source media on final render or when previewing best/full, etc.

Advanced users will sometimes "roll their own." I like cineform 1080p proxies best. But you need an easy way to create and swap them, and that means investing in an extension like Vegasaur or the (still free ?) Happy Otter Scripts system.

Good luck! IMO, this is the most likely solution to your playback issues.

Vegas' internal proxy format is XDCAM EX (MPEG 2).

Oops. So IIRC = not. :)