Rendering stops and freezes Vegas at one hour?

[Marilyn Palacol]

Hi Mike – thank you for your quick reply and assistance. Please see below:

To troubleshoot the problems you’re having, we need as much detail as you can provide us.
CPU type; Genuine Intel CPU T-2060 @ 1.60 GHz 1.60 GHz
Operating system; 32-bit
amount of RAM; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM
number & size of hard drives; 120GB(5400RPM) HDD
Free space; 42GB
what types of files are in the project;
if you’re suing images, what type and size (in pixels) are they;
JPEG still shots; 500KB-2MB size
MPG videos; 2MB-20MB size
Sony Cybershot 5.1 megapixels MPEGMovie VX DSC-W5 Camera
what types of FX you’re using.
Text Overlays
Transitions
Credit Rolls
Music Audio MP3 files 400KB avg 6 songs total
21 minute project

The DVD project is a single movie with a collage of still images, video with audio, and background music. Over the last consecutive 20 days, I have not had one successful render with audio. The best render so far had video and audio perfectly except about 30 seconds of video missing. The next render disabled my playback with error “Microsoft Sound Mapper does not exist”. After searching a number of forums and applying numerous suggestions to regain my audio, I have no idea why my renders either shutdown in Vegas, or when I click “Enable long-GOP rendering” in Preferences, the render freezes.

I would love to get over this hump and get on with my life.

Thanks MIke!! Really appreciate especially on this holiday. . . .

[Mike Kujbida]

Marilyn, I’m Canadian so we’ve already had Thanksgiving but, since I live across the river from Detroit, MI, I know all about the holiday and Black Friday shopping 🙂

I see a few problems right away.
IMO, your computer is underpowered for what your asking of it, especially with MPEG-2 files as source footage as these are much harder on a computer than regular DV-AVI.
The next issue is the fact that you only have one hard drive and, by today’s standards, it’s very small and there’s not a lot of room left on it.
Two is the recommended minimum for any type of video editing.
Your OS and all programs on drive C and all video-related assets on drive D.
The biggest problem with only one drive is that, as the computer is trying to do a task, your asking it to get instructions and do editing at the same time.
This can quite often result in problems like you’re experiencing.
Try to take advantage of the many sales tomorrow and pick up an external drive (USB or firewire, preferably both if available) as it will help a lot.
Convert your MP3 files to WAV files as this is an easier format for Vegas.

I wish I could offer more suggestions but, IMO, adding a new drive will resolve most of your problems.
Best of luck and happy Thanksgiving.

[Marilyn Palacol]

Thank you Mike. I actually purchased 2 external drives last month, Seagate Free Agent Portable Drive 320GB, and My Passport Essential 320GB. I was getting ready to go on vacation with my laptop and dreaded the thought of losing my Vegas project so I bought the drives for backup purposes only.

I will do everything you suggested and see how it goes. Our family is about to eat our turkey in an hour and I cannot tell you how much happier I am this holiday knowing that a better solution may be in sight and I will have more time to go shopping.

Big thanks! =)

Marilyn