The only way to get better preview speed is to pre-render the HD files to their video wall size. Otherwise, Vegas will actually pay back and scale 36 HD videos which even on the bast machine doesn't go over smoothly.

I'm not optimistic that a 4 core / 8 thread CPU will play 36 streams of video smoothly. Kudos for using the NVMe disk. Have you measured CPU usage and I/O with tools such as the Task Manager?

CPU is pretty high, but GPU is almost nothing.

I was under the impression that it would be used.

JJ

The only way to get better preview speed is to pre-render the HD files to their video wall size. Otherwise, Vegas will actually pay back and scale 36 HD videos which even on the bast machine doesn't go over smoothly.

I thought that was what I was doing, with RAM whatever.

Is there something different that I should be doing?

JJ

It's probably worth noting that the OS and Vegas are on the NVMe drive, but the media is on an external USB3 drive.

JJ

The only way to get better preview speed is to pre-render the HD files to their video wall size. Otherwise, Vegas will actually pay back and scale 36 HD videos which even on the bast machine doesn't go over smoothly.

I thought that was what I was doing, with RAM whatever.

Is there something different that I should be doing?

JJ

Render the sections need to an intermediate format and the dimensions the video will have in the wall. This will reduce the work load within Vegas. If I got it right, that would be 36 files with a resolution of 360x180. What remains is the workload in the disk controller/interface. Even at a lower resolution, you are still pulling data from 36 individual video files which is not a small task.

The only way to get better preview speed is to pre-render the HD files to their video wall size. Otherwise, Vegas will actually pay back and scale 36 HD videos which even on the bast machine doesn't go over smoothly.

I thought that was what I was doing, with RAM whatever.

Is there something different that I should be doing?

JJ

Render the sections need to an intermediate format and the dimensions the video will have in the wall. This will reduce the work load within Vegas. If I got it right, that would be 36 files with a resolution of 360x180. What remains is the workload in the disk controller/interface. Even at a lower resolution, you are still pulling data from 36 individual video files which is not a small task.

I guess I'm still not quite understanding...

Are you talking about soloing each track and doing File - Render 36 times?
If that's the case, wouldn't I have to replace each clip with the new ones?

What about Selectively Pre-render Video or Render To New Track and just mute the original track group?
JJ

Can anyone explain why my GPU isn't being utilized?
With Track Motion, keyframed opacity, etc..., I would think that it would be firing on all cylinders.
I don't think GPU goes over 1%, though.
Is it only used for effects and renders?
JJ

CPU does the media decode, so likely bottleneck is at that point, and there is almost nothing for GPU to do (i.e. it can easily keep up).

Do you still need to edit these 36 files? If yes, then you should make low-res versions as @OldSmoke suggested. If no, then just final render now. RAM preview or selective render disappear as soon as you change anything so what would be the point in this situation?

Also, do you have to use the USB attached drive? Maybe OK, maybe not.

FYI...
I did a full RAM preview (took about an hour for 15 seconds of video) and it plays back nicely.
Of course, if I want to make a change (or preview at a better quality), I have to redo the whole thing.
:(
JJ

CPU does the media decode, so likely bottleneck is at that point, and there is almost nothing for GPU to do (i.e. it can easily keep up).

Do you still need to edit these 36 files? If yes, then you should make low-res versions as @OldSmoke suggested. If no, then just final render now. RAM preview or selective render disappear as soon as you change anything so what would be the point in this situation?

Also, do you have to use the USB attached drive? Maybe OK, maybe not.

With regard to low-res versions...
I asked if I was understanding what he was talking about, but I didn't see a response.

My SSD is only 256GB, so the external is required.
JJ

Yes, I think you do understand essentially what needs to happen , but you have detailed a time consuming, somewhat awkward way to do it. I don't know what level your Vegas skills are at, but I would do it by batch rendering lower-res versions of the original files into a separate folder and then forcing Vegas to "find" them by renaming the original file folder (so it can't find the originals.) You will need a batch render script to do this (search the forum) or better still, purchase Vegasaur to a batch render-replace (easier).

Yes, I think you do understand essentially what needs to happen , but you have detailed a time consuming, somewhat awkward way to do it. I don't know what level your Vegas skills are at, but I would do it by batch rendering lower-res versions of the original files into a separate folder and then forcing Vegas to "find" them by renaming the original file folder (so it can't find the originals.) You will need a batch render script to do this (search the forum) or better still, purchase Vegasaur to a batch render-replace (easier).

 

 

Ok, that's good information to have.

I was think about batch rendering, in the shower, before I saw this post. I knew I could batch render marker ranges, but I wasn't sure about tracks.

I didn't think about just making the clips not available and relinking.

I couldn't find a way to make proxy clips. I figured that would be an easy way to do what was being talked about. I thought you could right-click on a clip and create a proxy.

If I was going to spend money, I would have just purchased a video wall system, in the first place. Hehehe...

JJ

Well, at the risk of rubbing salt in the wound, vegasaur has a video wall feature and is great for proxy management so you could of been done three days ago. 😀

Well, at the risk of rubbing salt in the wound, vegasaur has a video wall feature and is great for proxy management so you could of been done three days ago. 😀

Yeah, that's what I was talking about (among other options). Hehehe...

JJ

 

My SSD is only 256GB, so the external is required.
JJ

You might want to give primocache a go. You allot a part of your ssd to primocache, the value dependant on how much room you can spare & the size of media you're using for projects. 32GB prob at minimum, then when you open vegas & media loads from hdd, all the media is cached to ssd. Think you need to save project & immediately open it again to get cached version.

A real benefit is the near instant load times from session to session with high bandwidth media compared to the annoyance of waiting & hearing that annoying hdd plodding along slowly.

 

My SSD is only 256GB, so the external is required.
JJ

You might want to give primocache a go. You allot a part of your ssd to primocache, the value dependant on how much room you can spare & the size of media you're using for projects. 32GB prob at minimum, then when you open vegas & media loads from hdd, all the media is cached to ssd. Think you need to save project & immediately open it again to get cached version.

A real benefit is the near instant load times from session to session with high bandwidth media compared to the annoyance of waiting & hearing that annoying hdd plodding along slowly.

Does that cache the entire project or just what or needs as or needs it? This project has 100GB of media. Hehehe... I don't have that much extra SSD.

JJ

With that many clips, no matter which system you use, unless you have a NVMe drive to store your media on, unless you have an insanely powerful CPU, you aren't going to get smooth playback out of any editing app playing back multiple clips of varying sizes and frame rates. That is a ton of scaling and conversion going on, in addition to the decoding overhead.

That usb drive is giving you 5gbps uder the best conditions, and it rarely will hit that high. You're throwing a tall order at your computer and expecting to get it back quickly.