3 minute video rendered mpeg2, watched it and it's over only
2/3 of the way through? Any ideas? Thanks

So you are saying you have a 3 minute clip, you render to MPEG2, and you only have the first 2 minutes worth? Did you possibly have a loop region around the first 2 minutes and, when rendering, only rendered the loop region?

Edward, no, definitely no loop regions. There are a lot of edits in the piece, to the point that it would barely play in the preview window but I don't see how that would impact this problem.

Edward,

You're unbelievable. I've had that very thing happen to me (several times) but I didn't recall that as a possible solution. How do you remember all this stuff?

Do you have a little 'pre-render checklist' that you use (deselect loop region, select resample if desired, unmute all tracks, etc)?

Michael, what happens if you render to DV-AVI first and then render THAT file to MPEG?

Patrick, no specific checklist. I DO make sure I do not have a loop region selected before I start to render (unless I specifically want to selectively render a small section). Otherwise, just a quick double-check of the "Render - As" checkboxes (mainly have to determine whether or not to include markers!)

Edward, I haven't tried that but I can, what would that be accomplishing?

Just wondering if there was a complex area that the MPEG2 render was getting hung on and, therefore, wasn't finishing. A loop area is still the most logical reason, though. Kind of grasping at straws here.

I'll try some other things and check for consistency.

Thanks very much

This will probably sound silly as well, but check your free disk
space on your temp drive.

Rob, are you referring to a 'temporary file folder'?

Yes, it points to a directory on a harddisk. This disk might be full?
(or your MPEG's final output directory)

My drives are set up as follows

100 gig split 20% C: / 80% E:
100 gig H:
160 gig I: External Firewire drive

My operating system is on C: (space remaining on this partition is low)

Vegas is on E:
Captured Files/Projects are on H: sometimes I:

Also, moderately edited projects max out the CPU when previewing, P4 2.53. Ram is running at 50% of capacity.
I can't believe I have to render everything all the time
just to see if a single edit was what I was looking for.

Can I redirect where it points to? I don't want it pointing to my primary drive. I thought I had all Preferences, Properties, etc set up right, maybe not.

Yes you can, just follow the instructions in the manual/help.

File - Properties - Video tab is the pre-rendered files location.
File - Properties - Audio tab is the recorded files folder (audio).
Options - Preferences - General tab is the temporary files location.

Thank you. See any issues with the way my drives are set up?
Is there any part of Vegas that automatically sets itself up on the
C: drive? I don't want anything there. It was installed on the E: drive but most preferences were initally located on the C: drive (I'm sure by default) until I changed them. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. Thanks again for your help.

Michael,
Just out of curiosity, why don't you want Vegas on the C: drive? That is where MS Windows is looking for programs to be located. Windows will look for files anywhere, but AFAIK, prefers programs to be nested in the C:\Programs folder.

I'm aware of the throughput advantage of not placing avi or mpeg files on the C: drive, put have never heard of any advantage to placing program files on a separate drive. Is there an advantage?

Unfortunately my computers were put together prior to my getting
into video otherwise my set up would be different. It's not a separate drive, it's partitioned. This is how I orignally set it up,
one for the os and programs, the other partition for music files. I put Vegas on the E: partition because the C: partition is getting low on space. The whole thing needs reconfigured really
but in the meantime I'm trying to spot problem areas. I have a lot
of equipment on that computer and want to use it as my primary editing piece. I see no advantage.