Sony AVC render crashes vegas, all other codecs work fine

[Jochen Haink]

Unfortunately I can not help, but have a similar problem using Vegas Movie Studio 9.0b on a fresh Vista 32 install on an i7 Core processor.

Sony Vegas just disappers without any error message (crash). If I deactivate all but one core of my i7 Core CPU (in the BIOS) the rendering works without any problems. With 2 Cores it crashes after 90 sec (total material is only 72 sec with 4 transitions). With all cores active it crashes after 1-3 sec.

I have sent detailed information to Sony Media Software Customer Support on Jan. 22, but no received an answer.

It seems that this problem does not occur on Vista 64, because I have seen a test of Vegas on a multicore system with Vista 64.

[Jochen Haink]

I have decided to give a more detailed description of my findings here. In order to stop the usual suggestions like CPU overheat, memory problems, bic JPG’s and so on. And there are others with multi core CPU’s facing the same sad situation. I personally think there is something wrong with Vegas and it is time that Sony aknowledges the issue and starts working on it. Sorry for this long post:

I try to render (unmodified) AVCHD files from my Sony HDR-TG3 to AVCHD 1920×1080 Pal 5.1 Surround (same format as original files) using Sony AVC. My problem – even tiny arrangements crash the system after 1-3 seconds. Crash means – Vegas closes without an error message. (Not always so, twice I got an error dump – see below.) Vista stays stable and I can restart Sony Vegas immediately after the crash. This is 100% reproducable. When I use the MainConcept-MP2 to format Blu-Ray 1920x1080i, the crash happens after 15-30 sec. The crash does not happen a the same point, but at different locations. (By the way, I tested Sony Vegas on my old dual core AMD / XP SP3 system and never had any problem !!!)

I have done all the motherhood proposals – no help:
reinstalled, all services deaktivated, all task that are not used for Windows or Vegas deleted, rendering threads down to 1, deleted all unused files from project media, no pictures at all. I render from one HD drive to another – no fiddeling on one drive. And I have plenty of space om my NTFS system. Scan for virus, disable anti-virus and so on.

I had several test setups. One simpler and at first, a bit more complicated one:

1. Setup:
5 unmodified files with a total length of 72 sec. Each one has a soft transition of one second to the next one.

I realized that other people using multi core systems seam to have similar problems and found an advice to deaktivate all but one CPU in the BIOS. To test it I have deactivated some CPU’s and Hyperthreading – here the results:

No CPU’s: 4 Hyperthreading: ON crash after 1-3 sec
No CPU’s: 4 Hyperthreading: OFF crash after 62 sec
No CPU’s: 2 Hyperthreading: ON crash after 92 sec
No CPU’s: 1 Hyperthreading: ON no crash !!!

So it may have to do with the management of multicore CPU’s.

I realized that Vegas only ackowledges 2,097 MB of my 3,072 MB installed memory and memory use quickly runs up to this limit.

So I did the second test:
2. Setup
A) I added just one little scene of 13 sec to the timeline and could render it with all CPU’s and Hyperthreading ON. Memory use 1,800 MB.
B) Then I added a second scene 18 sec long. No transition. It rendered perfectly. Memory use 2,000 MB
C) Then I put a soft transition between the two files and it rendered perfectly again.
D) I added a third scene 22 sec long and now my system ran close to 2,097 MB and the system crashed immediately.

So it may have to do with the memory management.

All results are 100% reproducable. As I said before, I could catch two instances, where I got an error dump – just not Vegas disappearing from the desktop: The first lines of these dumps are:
1.
Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0 TEST
Version 9.0b (Build 92)
Exception 0xC0000005 (access violation) WRITE:0x100 IP:0x20B4D80D
In Module ‘sony4vem.dll’ at Address 0x20870000 + 0x2DD80D
Thread: ProgMan ID=0x160 Stack=0x525E000-0x5260000
(and then follow all the register values, stack dump and so on. I have it in RTF so I can forward it to anyone interested.)

2.
Exception 0xC0000005 (access violation) WRITE:0x100 IP:0x208FD80D
In Module ‘sony4vem.dll’ at Address 0x20620000 + 0x2DD80D
Thread: ProgMan ID=0x1040 Stack=0x600E000-0x6010000

It seems to be pretty much the same and has to do with this WRITE exception of Sony4vem.dll

Now there are two main suspects here:
A) Vista 32 Bit multi core and memory management and
B) Vegas rendering enginge.

What makes me think it is Sony Vegas is, that other rendiering programs like Magix Video DeLuxe 15 render at full speed (95% CPU usage) with all Cores and Hyperthreading ON without any crash to MP4 format. Just the quality of the result is pretty lousiy (this may be a tuning issue) and I could not handle the 5.1 Surround sound. Also Edius Neo renders without problems – just only to 1440×1080 format with stereo. And memory and CPU tests and benchmarks perform without crashes on my Vista 32 system.

More arguments against Sony Vegas: If big JPG-files can crash the system (as Sony admits), then they do not control their memory demand – which is bad practice. And Vegas seems to run OK on a Vista 64 Bit system which can handle 6 or 12 GB RAM (Test in a German Magazine). If I prerender the timeline – the crash occurs later. If I use another rendering algorithm (like main concept) the crash also occurs later.

I have given this information to Sony on Jan. 22nd and not received an answer until today. I am runnig the test version, because I do not want to spend my money if Vegas shows these problems.

As I have seen on the net, we are not alone with this problem and nobody seems to have a solution. So it is not a problem of dummy users.

My system:
(the system is not overclocked at all, the Vista System Home Premium SP1 is just installed. I have scanned all drives for viruses. I am using AntiVir as Antivirus program. And I have deactivated AntiVir for the tests.

Sony Vegas Media Studio 9.0b Platinum Build 92
Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1 Windows automatische Updates auf dem neusten Stand.
All drivers for the system have been downloaded from the homepage of the component manufacturer and installed (always the latest Version, no Beta drivers). A driver from supplied CDs was never installed.

Intel Core i7 CPU 920 @ 2,67 GHz
L2 Cache 1,o24 MB
RAM 3,072 MB
Mainboard: ASUSTek P6T-Deluxe
Grafik NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Modus 2560×1600 bei 32 Bit
Laufwerke: LG-Blu-Ray / DVD -Brenner
Disk 1 Samsung HD103UJ 1000GB
Disk 1 Samsung HD103UJ 1000GB

here is what Vegas says under infos:
Computer:
Operating System
Platform: Windows Vista
Version: 6.00.6001 (Service Pack 1)
Language: German
System locale: German
User locale: German

Processor
Class: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Identifier: GenuineIntel
Number of processors: 8
MMX available: Yes
SSE available: Yes
SSE2 available: Yes
SSE3 available: Yes

Display
Primary: 2560x1600x32

Memory
Physical memory: 2.097,1 MB
Paging memory available: 4.194,3 MB
Virtual memory possible: 2.097,0 MB

Components:
Anwendung
Pfad: C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0\VegasMovieStudioPE90.exe

CD/DVD
sfcd.cdd-Version: 2.0.0.3376
sfspti.dll-Version: 2.0.0.3376
sfcdix.cfg-Version: 1.2.0
sfcdix.cfg-Prüfsumme: 185764

MPEG
mcplug.dll-Version: 2.0.0.5631
mcplug.dll-Pfad: C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\mcplug\mcplug.dll

AC3
ac3studioplug.dll Version: 1.0.0.1924
ac3studioplug.dll Pfad: C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\ac3studioplug\ac3studioplug.dll

[Dave Jones]

Thanks for such a detailed response.

I feel a little better knowing I am not alone in this issue, but disappointed the software is failing us, i really did like the look of Vegas but I guess I shall have to move to another program.
Ive played the “waiting for the next revision to fix things” game before and it isnt something I want to do again 🙁

Given that its almost impossible to buy a cpu these days that ISNT multicore, seems like a very big issue for sony.

[Jochen Haink]

I can understand your position very well, especially as I have build my new CPU exactly to work with the new Vegas version 9.0b Platinum. If Sony does not come up with a concrete answer and foreseable plans to cure the problem within this week, I will change also.

I have tested Magix Video de Luxe 15 Pro in more detail and it has turned out, that their MP4 rendering (which is also by Main Concept) does a good job. It renders 1920×1080 AVCHD from original Sony AVCHD files (without conversion) with all processors equally 75% busy (Vegas Sony AVC uses only 40% and is much slower) and Magix has much lower memory usage than Vegas. The quality is good and the speed is good. It should be able to render 5.1 Surround (which I have not tested). Not a single test or arrangement has crashed until now on my new i7 Core system.

Playback of AVCHD files is stuttering often, transitions are hanging a bit – but I can manage with that. I still have to test large projects (60 – 100 minutes of footage).

I have worked with Magix VdL 2007 before and it has some nice features, which are missing in Vegas. Production of discs is straight forward. Product is reasonably stable, I have managed bigger projects in HD 1440×1080 with it. Support is more responsive than Sony. Price is close to Vegas.

Sad – I liked Sony Vegas 9 better – but if I can not make it work, I have to move on.

Jochen

[Asbjorn Grandt]

Are there a difference between using Pixel format “8-bit” or “32-bit floating point” in Project properties ?

At least on my XP, the 32-bit setting is virtually Crash-guaranteed, where as the 8-bit seems to be very solid.

[Jochen Haink]

In my project properties, I do not find anything to adjust pixels?

Where exactly should I look, to find it?

regards
Jochen

[Asbjorn Grandt]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It’s only an option on Vegas Pro 8.

In the Project Properties blow the Frame Rate, you have the option Pixel Format, where you can choose between 8-bit and 32-bit floating point.
The 8-bit is the one used in older versions of Vegas Pro, as well as the Studio versions. The 32-bit is supposed to give better colour resolution (less banding among other things), however it is far slower, more crash prone, and some plug-ins don’t like it very much.

[Jochen Haink]

OK – I do not have version 8 Pro, i was using 9.0b. There is no such switch.

As Sony has not responded to my problems since Jan. 22nd, I have switched to Magix Video de Luxe 15, which does the job.
It’s a sad story how bad support can kill customer demand.

Jochen

[Asbjorn Grandt]

That actually answer my question somewhat, if you are using Vegas Studio, you are using 6-bit pixel format.

Another error scenario I’ve seen is with AVC to AVC encoding. Using an intermediary format tends to add a bit of stability.

Overall, I’m happy with Vegas Pro 8, however the instability and intermittent crashes are an annoyance that I hope Sony are taking seriously for future updates.

[Josh Flentner]

I am having very frequent crashes too with Vegas Pro 8.0c and my new Vista x64 running on Core-i7 12 Gb RAM. I cannot really lay off more than 10-15 seconds of even 1280×720 output. My source is 1920×1080 30p. The crash is happening sooner if I have a transition or multiple video tracks in the loop region. It’s pretty much unusable now…