OK, here we go. My shiny new installation of 8.1 is freezing up. Started to occur after changing preview device.

Runs fine as long as I don't try to preview with secondary display. When I do that, Vegas 8.1 freezes and and must be shut down.

Have tested 32 bit version, external preview device still works. At this point it looks hopeless. Hopefully a workaround will be discovered.

Running all newest drivers. Workstation is workstation class machine and built 64 bit from the ground up by Dell.

More likely a video driver problem than a Vegas problem, IMHO. You might check for the latest drivers.

The preview monitor is a JVC broacast hooked up through a canopus box via firewire, so I'm not sure video drivers would affect it, but nevertheless drivers installed are taken directly from manufacturers website days ago anyway.

Okay. Not a video driver problem. Could be a 1394 driver/hardware problem, but if your drivers are up to date, probably not.

Still, keep an eye out for driver upgrades. Often, people blame apps when it's really a hardware or driver issue.

OK, thanks Jon.

Another possibility: your processor and RAM timings could be on the edge. Normally, everything is fine, but all of a sudden you hit a different address, and blammo.

It's easy to test. Go into your BIOS, make a note of the settings, and slow down the CPU clock and/or slow the RAM timing. (In general, you slow the RAM by adding clock cycles for each transfer - going to a higher number.)

Just make sure that you document your current settings well, so you can get back.

Then again, maybe there's a bug in the application...

Best of luck!

I don't think there is much doubt it's the app. 32 bit works fine, old and new versions. I've uninstalled 8.1 With the black frames issue, I abandoned it. This build is actually behind 8.0c in some ways. thanks for your suggestions.

I don't think there is much doubt it's the app.To me that's always in doubt. ;)

For instance I have a nice quad core machine with a 4 drive RAID that runs Vegas fine, but every week or three, it just locks up when moving the mouse. However, I can always get the machine to die when scrubbing video with Premiere or After Effects. Always.

I'm pretty sure that Premiere and AE can scrub. Fortunately, I rarely use them, and when I do it's usually just for conversions and compatibility. And I avoid scrubbing with them. It's definitely my machine.

Fortunately, Vegas 8.0b has been solid - I can scrub to my heart's content, so I haven't bothered to track it down - yet.

With 64-bits, every driver is different from the 32-bit version, the OS is different, and the hardware is accessed differently. Trust nothing. ;)

That said, the black frames issue sounds like it's the app. (I assume that many users have reported the same problem?) Given that, going back to 32-bits makes sense. I'd do the same.

Best of luck with 8.1a. :)