Laggy 4k preview with Threadripper and 32GB

[John Norton]

Hi Robin, some discussion here also on Xavc-S 4K file playback …
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/nvidia-gtx-1080ti-11gb-gddr5x-352-bit-will-rendering-speed-up–110106/?page=1

[George Dean]

Robin, are you using the proxy file feature within Vegas?

This doesn’t address directly your concern for your system to run the XAVC-S, but it might shed some light if you took a short test clip, load it into Vegas and render it out using the appropriate Sony XAVC-I format. Bring that test render back in Vegas and see how it runs compared to the XAVC-S. If this previews smoother, then until you figure something out about your system capability, you may want to consider transcoding/converting your XAVC-S files to an intermediate like XAVC-I, Avid DNxHR, or ProRes, of which all should provide for a better/smoother preview.

Best Regards……George

[Robin Walker]

This link was a lifesaver, John. Deep in the discussion, at about the point where I was losing hope of finding anything useful but was too embarrassed to quit reading before getting to the end, I saw a recommendation to uncheck “Adjust size and quality for optimal playback “ in the Preview Preferences. Which I couldn’t find in SVP13. But there was a “Scale Output to Fit Display” box, and when I unchecked that it plays flawlessly at Best-Full setting.

I can’t tell you how painful it was working on my last project when I had to render small bits at a time to evaluate timings and cuts.

Thanks again–

[George Dean]

Robin, glad you got it worked out. I never like to argue with success, I just want to point out the, “Adjust size and quality for optimal playback” in Vegas Pro 13 is a Preview Window option. Place pointer anywhere in the Preview display and press the right mouse button. The pop-up window has the “Adjust size and quality for optimal playback” option. It shouldn’t make any difference now that you are smoothly previewing, just wanted to point it out for a possible future option.

Best Regards……George

[Robin Walker]

Ah… the learning never stops. Damnit. Adjust size and quality for optimal playback” doesn’t really work as I want it to, though. When on, the playback jumps back to Preview quality while playing (actually, it jumps around all of the lower quality settings as the clip plays, based on how much it has to process); it doesn’t play the clip in the higher quality settings. Unchecking the Scale Output function allows it to play in the higher preview qualities. I wonder if this has to do with using a 4K monitor? It’s a bit beyond my depth.

Thanks!

[Roy Gregorio]

Following.

I just came across your post. I wanted to build this identical setup when deals on the 1950x came around on Black Friday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any videos proving I would get smooth 4k video preview on Sony Vegas Pro.

So are you now satisfied having unchecked “scale output to fit display?”

Are you still able to play best/full with multi layered projects with/without video effects?

[Robin Walker]

Hi Roy,

I only discovered this out two days ago and haven’t done a real edit yet (just testing some footage), so I don’t want to give a definitive verdict. Playing with some 4k footage yesterday, I found that in a 4k/30fps timeline, I can play a single clip at Best/Full with no effects. But when I drop two 4k clips into the timeline I get lags and drops until I lower it down to Preview/Full. On my system, the image is still pretty clear, and good enough to work on, even if I had a client looking over my shoulder (which I never do). At Preview/Full, I also added Curves, Color, lens flare, and crossfades to three layers of 4k (100Mbps) clips without problem. What I don’t understand is that I’m not taxing the system at all. My CPU is at 9% and my Memory at 30%. So the issue may have more to do with the file type/compression being difficult to unpack. Overall, I’m a bit disappoint (and confused), and I’m still looking for tweaks.

[Roy Gregorio]

This is very useful information. I’m by no means any expert in any of this (I sound a lot like you actually haha), but do you think maybe it’s your older version of Vegas Pro 13 that’s not optimized for using 16 cores? I know that Vegas Pro 15 hardware recommendation says to use 8 core processors for 4k video.

Whenever you get the chance, I’d also like to know if you’re able to crossfade two 4k clips together in best/full without stutter.

Regardless, it seems like it’s performing pretty well enough as is. Sigh, I’m tired of editing at 1fps. But this gives me hope. Please keep us updated.

[Robin Walker]

I do believe my system is set up for 16 cores (it has 16 threads in the preferences), and I was able to crossfade two 4k clips at Best/Full, though it dropped frames on the first attempt.