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Recent experience using SVP11 for the first time
Caution – this is a very long posting, but if you use SVP11, you might be interested in continuing on.
I’ve read many recent forum postings describing various scenarios, bugs, and other serious problems with version 11, some of which came into play during my first real experience with it, while doing a very important paying job. I wanted to share some observations on that experience. I’ve been using Vegas since version 4, and, most recently had been using version 9 almost exclusively, due to its stability and dependability. Even with its growing pains and faults over the years, I still consider Vegas to be the best NLE I’ve ever used, and there were quite a few that I used over the years. So I finally took the leap and upgraded to SVP version 11. It was with considerable trepidation and concern that I entrusted this particular project to version 11, but I jumped in anyhow.
My project was a 13-minute marketing piece, and it really pressed the SVP11 (64bit) software and my system resources very hard – maybe even to their limits, at times. This project employed many camera-original clips I’d shot (using Sony HVR-V1U, in 24 fr mode), some outside-sourced b-roll clips of many varieties, flavors, and varying video qualities, some Apple ProRes 4:2:2 HD stuff, lots of stills, several After Effects animations I’d created, and many New Blue Titler Pro graphics (some created with imported textures, transitions and efx, etc.). I also did a lot of color correction, slo-mo’s, stabilization, and used numerous nested clips in this piece, some with as many as 20 tracks, but never less than four. Many of the nested projects were done (at project settings), using the way powerful VASST ScatterShot 3D plug-in.
Project settings were 720p (23.976fps) at best quality, 8-bit (32-bit caused some problems).
After some intensive work, the project is now completed and was rendered, pretty uneventfully, in just over an hour, using the QuickTime 720p uncompressed setting (64GB rendered file). I also provided a courtesy version in very high quality mp4, using the MainConcept Internet HD 720p template. At just over an hour, the mp4 rendered in almost the exact same time it took for the uncompressed file to render. I WOULD STAY WITH SVP11 JUST FOR THIS REASON!!
My (self-built) system specs are Asus P6-X58E, I-7 980 series 6-core proc, 24GB RAM, E-Sata RAID (0), SSD 120GB boot drive, GeForce GTX560 1GB video card, dual monitors, Win 7 (64-bit), the latest nVidia drivers and SVP11 (build 595). A rock-solid editing system!
Observations:
RAM allocations were absolutely critical – the higher the better during editing – I usually set it to around 16,000. I had the luxury of RAM previewing at Good and Best settings, but generally previewed in either Draft or Preview Full mode. After the project became pretty large, I would often downgrade to draft half mode. Prior to rendering, I eliminated all unused material from the project, and, during rendering I ALWAYS set RAM to bare minimum, usually 128 or 256.
CRASHES – LOTS and LOTS. If you include all the crashes during the composing of the nested projects, as well as the “normal” crashes, I experienced well over 100 crashes during the course of this project! Totally unacceptable – resulted in MUCH lost time, frustration, and untold hours of lost productivity. I experienced MANY different types of crashes, especially when creating or modifying a New Blue title. In New Blue, RAM settings were critical, as it appears to be a very RAM-hungry plug-in. Often, immediately following a crash, upon restart, I would set RAM higher and it seemed to preclude future crash episodes for awhile. I also experienced MANY crashes simply upon scrubbing the timeline (in draft full mode), upon trying to play back a RAM preview, and upon closing the Titler Pro panel, or just trying to get back to the tracksheet to continue editing. Also, for some bizarre reason, I would even experience random crashes upon merely closing the project and exiting the software after an extended editing session. Last, after experiencing a rendering crash in 32-bit mode, that stopped when I set the project properties to 8-bit. Moral of the story – you NEVER know when Vegas will crash, so get used to saving your project after virtually EVERY operation. Restarts (and reloading of auto-saved projects) following crashes most often resulted in LOST WORK.
GPU acceleration was highly unstable – when set to “on,” it did seem to help with RAM previews and clip stabilization rendering – when it worked, which was not very often. My system seemed to be much more stable with GPU set to “off.” I would DEFINITELY turn it off during final project rendering, or you will likely experience more crashes.
Bottom line – I finally have a very nice end-product for a first-time outing in version 11, but there was much, much pain and angst along the way. Thankfully, I was operating on a very flexible deadline. Otherwise, I’d have probably thrown in the towel on it. I do professional video production as a part-time gig, in retirement. I love Sony Professional products and have used them for many years. I’ll be staying with Vegas until they get the kinks out of this version, but, if I had to depend upon Vegas 11 to keep the lights on, I might be looking at other alternatives.
Now – a question for the experts – why is it that Vegas is lightning fast when the software is first started up and the project – even a large one – is first loaded, then systematically slows down after just a few operations or previews? This has bothered me for a good while. Is it because Vegas can’t access all the allocated RAM after other processes fail to release it? Just wondering.
Thanks for reading! Hope your next Vegas project is a good one.
BC
Bill Church
Briarwood Productions LLC -
3 Replies
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Thanks for the nice post. I will be staying firmly with Vegas 10e. Hardly ever crashes for me.
Lee
Director Of Video Production (yes this is made up)
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Thanks for linking me to this bill.. it helps to commiserate. I too and am doing this on the side… however with a 7 month old and a full time job… every deadline is too close… but I work hard and get things done and, IMHO the end products come out great for how long I’ve been doing this (5 months, though I’ve been doing pro audio and photography work for years and am very technically inclined).
Where are you setting your ram levels higher? Also, I love the notion of turning off gpu acceleration unless you’re rendering, i’ll try that.
I have 16 GB’s of Ram and I’ve had the ‘shift-b’ ram preview just stop on or just after a BASIC transition for some reason, and not finish the full selection I made. What are your thoughts on what could be causing that.
I have so many ‘workaround’ with vegas, it’s annoying. What’s funny is that I had SVP10 working on my older audio computer fine (but with longer rendering times), I invested in this new computer and SVP11 to speed everything up… now.. i have LONG editing time (due to crashes) and shorter rendering times. I’ve gained nothing but debt and frustation.
SVP really needs to fix all this as a powerful NLE is only as good as it’s weakest link.. and for SVP11 and NB, there are MANY weak links it seems.
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Thanks for linking me to this bill.. it helps to commiserate. I too and am doing this on the side… however with a 7 month old and a full time job… every deadline is too close… but I work hard and get things done and, IMHO the end products come out great for how long I’ve been doing this (5 months, though I’ve been doing pro audio and photography work for years and am very technically inclined).
Where are you setting your ram levels higher? Also, I love the notion of turning off gpu acceleration unless you’re rendering, i’ll try that.
I have 16 GB’s of Ram and I’ve had the ‘shift-b’ ram preview just stop on or just after a BASIC transition for some reason, and not finish the full selection I made. What are your thoughts on what could be causing that.
I have so many ‘workaround’ with vegas, it’s annoying. What’s funny is that I had SVP10 working on my older audio computer fine, I invested in this new computer and software, etc.. and i’m wasting time left and right with all this. ugh.
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