Why is my preview video so choppy??
 

I just built a new pc. Win 7 x64, Intel i7 930, ASUS P6X58D-E mobo, 12GB Corsair triple channel RAM, GeForce GTX 470 1.28GB gfx card, 1TB 7200rpm system drive, 2x1TB 7200rpm RAID 0 scratch/render drive, huge Cooler Master case with huge fans, etc.

I figured now when I use Vegas (as opposed to on my old machine) I should be able to watch smooth video in the preview pane. Wishful thinking. I noticed in the system resources panel that I was only using at max about 3.5 of my 12GB of RAM, but the processor was hitting 75% sometimes. I went into preferences and changed my Dynamic RAM Preview max (MB) to 8000 of the 11255MB available. Now the peak I've seen the RAM hit is a little over 4GB, and the processor still seems to be taxed about the same. Also, my preview window constantly defaults to Preview (Half). Every time I click on full it goes right back. Even so, at half resolution it's still choppy anyway. The only way to make it smooth is to watch it in quarter quality. This is frustrating as one of the main reasons I bought this system was to be able to watch full quality preview.

How do I tap into all my processor's cores and/or more of my RAM? Are there any settings and/or tricks I need to configure to better utilize my system's resources to make Vegas run smoother? I configured my system to handle Adobe CS5, should I choose to switch, but seeing as though it's sputtering in Vegas I feel hopeless. Thanks.

What codec is the video you're trying to watch encoded with?

it's hdv/m2t.

Are you using 64-bit Vegas or 32-bit?

Good evening,

you might set low dynamic ram ( I have it set at 64), and set it for render two processors. Run your previerw at good / half. Version 9 seems to be better in this regard than 8c which I still use. I use an i7 with 9 gigs of ram and I had some serious trouble like this in the past. it also did not matter whether I used 64 bit or 32.

Also I have been breaking projects into smaller sections, get them right and then for final draft i nest them together.

For large projects I have started using edius, then compositing and finishing in Vegas, my preferred editor.

Give it a try and see.


dale

I'm using 64 bit.

Thanks Dale, I'll mess with it.

I tried those settings, and it didn't help. I set them back and this time my Memory usage went up to over 11 gigs with no increase in performance/stability. I'm at a loss.

Questions about preview quality and render times aren't going to go away. I hope Sony has CUDA support number one on their list of Vegas Ver. 10 features when it is released. Premiere Pro CS5 has it and it makes a HUGE difference. Now, even the low-end consumer editors are adding CUDA support. I'm sure Sony doesn't want to find itself in the unenviable position of being the only editor without it.

I'm switching to CS5, lol. Thanks.

Patrick, right click on preview window and UNCHECK "Adjust size and quality for optimal playback" if you haven't already.

Your preview should work very well at Preview quality, no way you should have to settle for less.

I have an older i7 processor and my preview works very well even for multicam projects.

Have you the very latest version of Vegas...if you don't download the newest release, it makes a difference.