Would additional RAM improve m2t playback

CAWS wrote on 9/10/2005, 4:05 AM

Hi All,
I know this may be a sore subject and I've read many, many posts and still find myself asking: Is there a system out there that will playback an m2t file in Vegas 6.0b smoothly? (short of "Gearshift" which seems to be very hungry for memory).
I read a post a few months back (can't seem to find it now) where someone said it didn't matter what type system you were using, Vegas would only playback a certain amount of fps (I think it was 7-15) is this a true statement?
I'm resisting spending more money on system upgrades or changing my system out but, was wondering if someone has found anything that seems to work.

Thanks in advance for any help,
CAWS

Comments

Wolfgang S. wrote on 9/10/2005, 4:19 AM

I think that you will need more processor power, to achieve full preview quality for 1080i in Vegas 6b. More RAM will not be enough, to my opinion.

The point is, that Vegas 6b shows full playback capabilities for 1080i, as long as you play the clip from the project media pool. However, in the timelime playback capabilites are much more limited.

For 720p, the situation is different - here I have full playback capabilities also in the timeline, on my 3.2 P4 with 1 GB ram.

CAWS wrote on 9/10/2005, 4:59 AM

Thanks, Wolfgang S.
I'll try 720p files. I really don't want to think about changing out my p4 2.8 its been a great (dependable) machine for the past couple of years.

Thanks again,
CAWS

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/10/2005, 12:45 PM

> (short of "Gearshift" which seems to be very hungry for memory)

I’m not sure what you could possibly mean by this statement. Gearshift is a tool for generating proxy files. It doesn’t use hardly any memory at all. You run it once, it instructs Vegas to create the proxy files and you edit with the proxies at full frame rates after that. There is no memory burden that accompanies Gearshift. It is specifically designed for people like yourself who have processors that cannot handle HD but can handle the DV proxies.

More memory will not help because the bottleneck is in processing the MPEG2 HD files. Using a file format that is easier on your processor (like the DV proxies that Gearshift generates) is the only way to get full frame rates without buying a MUCH more powerful PC.

~jr

Wolfgang S. wrote on 9/10/2005, 2:54 PM

Thats correct - gearshift is not hungry for memory at all.

CAWS wrote on 9/12/2005, 7:23 AM

JonnyRoy,
The reason I said Gearshift seemed hungry for memory is because (using the trial version) the only way I could get Gearshift to work was to generate YUV files. Which, for a 45 sec test clip resulted in 5.56 gb of memory use. As of this morning I purchased Gearshift and am testing more files. I'm not sure if my problems with it, are/were user error (probably so) or some program errors. Meanwhile, I believe Gearshift is a great option (for those of use on p-4 2.8's and am glad you have made it available. I'll continue on the learning curve, Thanks for your response...

CAWS

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/12/2005, 12:51 PM

The lightest weight approach would be to use DV Widescreen proxies. They will give you the same performance as your regular DV files did. YUV files are quite large and therefore stress your hard drives more than DV would.

~jr