Unable to playback video

[John Gordon]

when’s the last time you defragged your drive. could be that your hard drive is working overtime to play the files.

John

John Gordon

[Yvonne Fishco]

Hey John thanks for replying,
I did a disk defragmenter which unfortunately didn’t help in the slightest it actually used up 20 GBs of my main hard-drive which isn’t the kind of news I was hoping for but ohwell. I really can’t put my finger on what went wrong, any other suggestions would be great though.
Thanks

[John Gordon]

are your video files on your main system drive (i.e. the drive that contains program files and operating system)? that could be part of your problem if so. You should have your video files on a separate physical drive so that system processes do not interfere with the playback ability of the video files.

John

John Gordon

[Terry Esslinger]

If your rendered files are playing back fine, try setting your playback setting to preview (auto)I think it will solve your problem. Sounds like you are choking the system.

[Yvonne Fishco]

Ahhyes its getting there thanks so much guys. Its playing back better but not quite perfect, the frames DO move and they are sort of in sync but not fully, its still lagging and pausing between clips. Any other short hand fixes? I put all my footage onto my portable hard-drive (USB) to see if that would increase my pc’s functioning but no such luck!
I would imagion this happens to quite a lot of people, but I can’t seem find any cure!
Thanks for replying people.
x

[Terry Esslinger]

Now try it at draft (auto). The picture won’t look so good but it may play at real time. If you do a ram render of a section and it plays back fine I would bet that its just (?) that your CPU cannot keep up and is dropping frames. It should only occur in the preview window and should not effect what you render.

[Yvonne Fishco]

Heya Terry,
I tried playing back with draft auto, but theres no change except for the quality.
It is such a pain to not know how to fix something I really love to use, and to have to waste your time trying to help me. I really appreciate your suggestions guys, I only wish it would work to its full potential as its a top notch editing program. I just fear Vegas and my Windows/pc aren’t a match. Any other tips, I would love to know em.
Thanks

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

I just fear Vegas and my Windows/pc aren’t a match

Then you’d be the first in my many years of experience with Vegas.
Convert your files to a real format, and work from the internal drive, I’d imagine your experience will change. Try a Firewire drive vs USB, it might be that your USB allocation is a problem.
turn off any antivirus.

These are all fairly basic places to start.
Before deciding that it’s your laptop and Vegas, first use ‘normal’ media in a ‘normal’ configuration adn work from there.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor

[Yvonne Fishco]

What format should be functionable or work best with Vegas, avi does work I know but I was thinking as I’m using 26 avi files at 40 minutes long each it may well be slowing Vegas down. Does mpeg or wmv work better?

[Mike Kujbida]

If you’re talking about XVID like you were earlier, that’s a well-known problem format that is best avoided.
I can’t speak for HDV as I don’t use it but I’ve never had any problems with DV-AVI (what you get from a camcorder).
I’m working with a student who’s editing a 5 minute music video and he’s got ALL the raw footage stacked on 50 (yes, 50) muted tracks under the master one to make it easier to fond what he wants quickly.
Not my preferred way to do it but it works for him and the computer isn’t complaining 🙂