Stephen Mann
Forum Replies Created
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Like Angelo, I buy a 1Tb drive for each project (they are only 60-70 dollars and the client pays for it anyway). I use a USB2 dock and do all my editing on the external dock. Next project, another drive. I can plug in a drive and immediately have all my project files exactly where I left them.
I do back up all the work in progress with an overnight mirror (I use SyncBack), but when the project is done, the drive goes on a shelf and the backup drive is reused on the next project. I tell the clients that I save their project files for one year and give them the option to buy an additional year for $119. Only a couple have asked for that.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
Wow! Thanks for the tip – that is a great feature since I often have 20 tracks or more.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
The Vegas Frame Grab (snapshot) captures an 8-bit JPEG and uses a lossy compression mode (according to MediaInfo). You can do a frame grab in VLC that is a 24-bit png file, lossless compression mode.
Here’s the difference. VLC on the left, Vegas on the right.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
I’ve never turned off MS Updates, but I don’t let them run automatically. I select them a few at a time so that it’s easy to back up and troubleshoot the issue. Which rarely happens.
Not updating Windows is a huge mistake. (Note, I can count the number of Vegas crashes over the past several years on one hand, so I must be doing something right.)
Imagine that Microsoft does an update to the.net libraries. Months later you get a driver update that wants to use those new .net features, but you didn’t update ,net, so of course the driver crashes.
I strongly recommend using a separate PC for editing. Here’s a graphic example of why:
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
” Playback is perfect, only rendering is the issue.”
Playback where? Players like VLC use their own codecs optimised for playback. Vegas and other editors rely on codecs, often from third-party sources, for quality encoding.
“set RAM preview to 0”
Vegas requires some preview RAM. I suspect that some very early versions used the preview RAM for scratch space and the programmers today have forgotten about it. If you never use Shift-B to preview a selection, then set it to 1024. I don’t recall who did the tests, but a test render took longer with RAM preview set to zero, and in experiments the sweet spot on his installation was around 1024(1Mb).
“Vegas does the infamous infinite count up of render time but is not actually doing anything.”
This was a common problem in Version 8 or 9 if you had any unused media in the Project Media list. Try the “lightning bolt” icon to remove unused media. It’s a long shot, though, but can’t hurt anything. Also, do you have any nested projects? If a nested project has a problem, it can cause the parent project to wait forever.
Use the Resource Monitor (resmon.exe) to see if Vegas knows what it’s waiting on when you get into the infinite wait. In the Overview tab, look for the Vegas process, right click on it and select “Analyze Wait Chain”. Normally that should be blank, but if not, then it may provide a clue.
Frame 74 is curious. Does it only happen with this media? Can you duplicate it with any other media? Are you doing everything on a single disk drive for the OS, program and project files? When you go into Preferences, hold the Shift key and you will see an “internal tab” on your preferences window. In the Internal Tab where it says “Show only prefs containing:” enter “Path”. DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING in the internal tab. Make sure that you are not running out of disk space in any of the referenced paths.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
“while Sony works the bugs out”
This is why I am extremely reluctant to help anyone to fix their PC. The program works just fine on hundreds of other users’ PC’s, but it doesn’t work in mine, so it must be a bug in the software.
Did you turn off GPU support in “Preferences”?
Look at the Windows Updates – are there any that failed?I have one workstation with the GT450 video card, and its’ overall reliability – not just Vegas – was pathetic. Just a thought.
Did you ever have an ATI video card installed? If yes, then it’s drivers could be still around and interfering with your nVidia drivers.
Use the Windows Reliability viewer (start “Reliability”) to look at any specific incidents for a clue.
Also, download and install Version 12 in the demo mode. See if that fixes your immediate problem.
Last, you didn’t install any Codec Packs, did you?
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
In virtually every case, an “unmanaged exception” is a driver problem. Finding which driver is causing the problem is a tedious and frustrating process.
Did the system ever work properly? Can you do a system restore to that date?
Have you installed any hardware or software lately?
Is your PC overclocked? Overclocking is generally bad for video editing.
Is your GPU overclocked? (I just recently discovered that some Geforce cards are overclocked from the factory. If you have “OC” in the product name, beware).Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
If you’re just starting out, I think that you are getting WAY ahead of yourself by thinking about reference monitors.
I would first work on technique and getting your project committed by whatever distribution path you’re targeting. IF your project is accepted and IF they don’t like the colors in your project, then look into a reference monitor. You would be surprised how lax local or some cable broadcasters care about color calibration. Just as long as your levels are legal.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
The real question is how close and to what spec do you need? If your target market is not broadcast or cable TV, then you’re counting angels on a pinhead. Get a calibration device and don’t worry about what your client TV or monitor does to the video.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com
