Major Rendering Issue – Please Help!

[John Rofrano]

These problems are usually very hard to find. How much memory do you have? What format are you rendering to? Have you tried rendering to a different format? Also what format are the clips on the timeline? I can see both Quicktime and Windows Media in the dump you posted. Make sure you have the latest versions of Quicktime and Windows Media Player if that’s what you are using. You can also try rendering some of your source files to a different format that doesn’t cause the error and replace them in the media pool. There is something about the combination of source types and render type that is causing the problem and you just have to figure out what that combination is and avoid it.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chelsea Volz]

I have 2038 MB of RAM. My operating system in Windows Vista Home Premium – 32 bit. And my processor is an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5250 @ 1.50GHz – Not sure if you need any of that … I was planning on purchasing 1GB more of memory. Would that help?
The majority of the video clips in the timeline are WMV… I wasn’t even aware some of the clips were Quicktime. But I will redownload the latest versions of both Quicktime and Windows Media Player.

And yes, I have attempted to render the video in AVI, WMV and Quicktime formats, but they all crash.
How do I determine which format is causing the problem? What do you mean/How would I render some of the source files to a different format and replace them in the media pool? Do you mean re-download the clips and replace them in the timeline? Or just render the entire video in a different format? Or sections of the video?
I’m sorry for all the questions, I’m pretty much helpless when it comes to all of this technical stuff… But I can learn quick! So please don’t be discouraged to help…

[John Rofrano]

With that processor I assume this is a laptop. That’s not a lot of computing power for a heavily compositied project. Perhaps the CPU is overheating? This could cause memory READ errors.

> What do you mean/How would I render some of the source files to a different format and replace them in the media pool?

What I mean is start a new project and take the video that is the source of the first event and drop it on the timeline and render it to a DV AVI file. Then load the original project back up and go to the Project Media tab and find the video for the first event and right-click and select Replace… and point to the DV AVI file that you just rendered. This will replace the file everywhere that it is used in the project. Then try and render the project and see if it gets past the first event. If it does (and it didn’t before) take more of the WMV source files and render them one at a time to DV AVI files. Then replace them one at a time in the Project Media. If this allows the render to continue then you know it’s something about the WMV files that is causing the problem. Since you couldn’t render even a minute it shouldn’t take too long to tel if this approach is working.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chelsea Volz]

When you say “the video that is the source of the first event and render it to a DV AVI file.”, you mean the the entirety of the WMV video, not just the small clip I manipulated, correct?
Because the very first event that is in my timeline is just text from the Generated Media with my logo, etc.
Anywho… I’ve began rendering the original video clip I used, the first actual piece of media/video in the project. I will follow the rest of the steps as I understand them. I will come right back to let you know if it has worked and if it doesn’t, I will ask you the other questions…
I’m only wondering because I’ve used these same clips in other projects that I’ve been able to render.

P.S. – When I go to Render > Type, I don’t have the option of DV – AVI, I only have a .avi (media for windows) option. I’m not sure if that is the same thing…

[John Rofrano]

Yes, I believe you understood the “intent” of my directions. For DV AVI use the AVI type with the NTSC DV or PAL DV (or their widescreen counterparts) templates depending on the attributes of your project.

It is odd that these clips work in other projects. Perhaps it’s not the clips themselves. It could be a corrupt project file. You could try opening a new project simultaneously and cutting and pasting the events between them.

I’m just trying to thing of things to try to get you around this.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chelsea Volz]

I’m not exactly sure, but I really appreciate all of your ideas. If there is a snag somewhere while doing this process, I will follow your next idea.
I’m not at all sure what NTSC DV or PAL DV are, but it seems to be working without that knowledge…
This approach is definitely working. I’ve been able to get it almost 33% of the way rendered using this process.
Is there something I can do to fix the WMV files because I have ALOT of DIFFERENT clips in this video and rendering all of these one by one would take a MILLION years, not to mention all of the space that it would consume because I would need to have a seperate render for each clip…
If I must do it this way, then of course, I will.
Just let me know, please. 😀

[John Rofrano]

Wow, I’m glad it’s working. You could try a batch converter like Super(c) to convert all of the WMV’s to DV. WMV is really an output format and it’s very good for editing. It works, but DV AVI is much more efficient for editing.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chelsea Volz]

Okay. So I just downloaded Super(C) and it’s asking me for all of this information I have no idea about.
#1. Select the Output Container (there are all sorts of options but I chose WMV, just let me know if that is wrong.)
#2. Select the Output Video Codec (Because I chose WMV, there are these options: MS – mpeg4 – v1, MS-mpeg4 – v2, WMV7, WMV8)
#3. Select the output Audio Codec (For question number 2, i answered WMV8, but I dunno… There are these options since I’ve chosen certain answers, I guess: ADPCM IMA, ADPCM MICROSOFT, mp3, wma)

Then there is a section that says: Internal Encoders are Auto-Selected to Complete This Operation. And “FFmpeg” is chosen out of the following options: FFmpeg, MEncoder, FFmpeg2theora, RealProducer

There is a Video Section with the following options:
Disable Video
Stream Copy
Video Scale Size with ratios ranging from 128:96 to 480:320 or no change.
Aspect Option with ratios ranging from 1:1 to 16:9
Frame/Sec with the options: 23.976, 29.97, 25, 30
Bitrate kbps Section with the options ranging from: 768 to 29,040.
Then there are Quality Options: Hi-Quality, Top Quality, Stretch It, 48K Audio…

Then there is an Audio Section with the following options: Disable Audio & Stream Copy.
Under Sampling Freq there are the following options: 22050, 44100, 32000, 48000
There is a Channels Option with 1 or 2 available.
Bitrate kbps option with: 32, 48, 64, 80, 96, 128, 160, 192.
DVD Language Select AudioStream Track # with options: default, and then 1-24.

Then there is an OutPut section that says:
Encode to File Format: WMV
Use Video Codec: WMV8, 384:288(4:3), 768 kbps, 25fps
Use Audio Codec: wma, Stereo, 64 kbps, 44100 Hz, AudioStream(default) selected

Then there is a final section that tells me to drop a valid multimedia file and it will try to play or encode.

And finally, it gives me the option to: Encode(Active Files)
Play(Active Files / Streams)
Play the last Rendered File
Player Options
and
Cancel All

[John Rofrano]

Actually you don’t want WMV as the output container because you are trying to make AVI files. If your project is NTSC try these settings:

1. Output Container: avi
2. Output Video Codec: M-JPEG
3. Output Audio Codec: WAV-(pcm 16 little-endian)

[x] MEncoder

Video: (no change)
Aspect: 4:3
Frame/Sec: 29.976

Audio: (no checks)
Sample Freq: 48000
Channels: 2

This should give you a file that can be rendered easily in Vegas. You should try and match the properties of the source files as closely as possible. If you project is PAL use 5:4 aspect and 25 fps instead.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chelsea Volz]

How do I check what settings my project is in? o.O

-Sorry if that’s a stupid question…