Vegas Movie Studio 8 Plat rendering pauses
 

I've just built a new computer, AMD 6400+, Nvidia 8600GTS, 320GB + 320GB + 500 GB + 4GB RAM @ 1066 and am having problems. I am currently using Vista Home 32 after giving up on VH64 and XP64 for same application.

Here are three problems:

1. Everything goes well when editing. I can superimpose three .m2t files and view @ 25 - 30 fps without first rendering. When I go to render @ 8Gbps .wmv, the system screams for 29 frames, then pauses for about 5 - 8 seconds, then screams for 30 frames, freezes for 5 - 8 seconds...repeat... Same issue in XP64 and Vista Home 64.

2. Even though I have 4 GB installed on MoBo, the program only allow 256MB RAM for rendering. I use VMS V7 build 122 and V8 build 136 and they allow more RAM for rendering in XP Pro 32.

3. Vista 32 only recongnizes 3GB of RAM on the MoBo, whereas Vista 64 and XP64 recognized all 4GB. I thought Vista Home could handle 8GB.

More info. I ran same content on another honking computer with same results. Also ran XP32, XP64, Vista32, Vista 64; same results.

What's the deal with rendering to .wmv and the pauses?

You say it freezes, so my thought probably doesn't apply, but are you using intermittent glow effect or magic bullet effects?

Certain fx will dramatically slow down rendereing, and then it will pick back up to full speed after those effected frames are done.

Jeff,

I've noticed rendering slowing down with special effects. In this specific example I just took plain HDV in .m2t, threw it in the timeline, and rendered to file. To keep it simple I used only 1 piece of footage, no transitions, titles, or special effects.

By the way, I messed up on the build numbers above. I think I have build v7 build 52 and v8c. I think my brain paused!

I didn't understand you were rendering HD, sorry. I know nothing about HD, except I dread getting into it. It seems I hear nothing good about working with it. Good luck, sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Roger, the exact same problem happens when rendering to WMV from an SD source. The delay is more like 1 sec. instead of 5 (or more) but it's still there.
I wasn't aware of this problem until a user on another Vegas forum mentioned it recently.
I tried it on my quad core (XP Pro w/2 GB. RAM) with an HDV file and, like you, got a 5-8 sec. pause every 30 sec.
No one has offered an explanation for this strange behaviour so far :-(

I'm wondering if it's calculating an entire GOP sequence (i.e. 30 frames in this case?), then writing it out, then calculating the next one, etc...

I posted on the Sony site and evidently it is the price you pay for efficient encodings from camera to tape results in a little more buffering and work on the back side. I also heard that the .wmv format is a little "long in the tooth" so to speak, so maybe someone will update it or a 3rd party will offer a fix that takes advantages of more modern processors.

As it stands now, I don't think my new AMD 6400+ processor @ 3.2GHz is buying me any time advantage over my older AMD 3800+ system @ 2.0 GHz. They both took approximately the same time to render understanding the 3800+ is running VMSP7 on XP and the 6400+ running VMSP8 on Vista. The new hardware makes a tremendous difference on other formats though. Kind of interesting, isn't it?