What's the most common reason why Vegas can't render and shuts off?
 

Footage is 1920 x 1080 30i, I'm trying to render out to the same quality. I suspect it's my computer that's not up to it. Vegas closes a few seconds after I start the render. My PC: XP, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40 ghz, 3.25 GB RAM, hard drive is 750 GB.

This PC was able to render to 1440 x 1080.

Thanks,

just the one hd?

how much space?

if so try getting an external and render to that....

Oh, I have 2 hard drives. The C drive for the OS and all the program files, E drive is only for my videos. Each is 750 GB.

Your PC sounds underpowered for HD. I don't like working with HD on my i7, if that tells you anything.

Some folks use an intermediate program such as Cineform to make file more usable. That would help, but I personally dislike the process, and Cineform can introduce a whole new set of issues, as any software can do.

You have too little ram, a processor that is not optimized for this work, and if your HD is slow, you have a recipe for poor performance.

This would be a good time to buy the i7 processor, as they are inexpensive right now.

Some get by with the Q6600, but I can't imagine how they do it.

what footage was shot with, what's 30i, is it 60i? any conversion involved before Vegas?

My camcorder is Canon HF-S100. When I imported the video, it shows the resolution as 1920 x 1080 at 29.xx.

Please explain why you don't like working with HD on your i7 PC, yet you're suggesting that I should buy one. Thanks,

Norris, you don't mention your operating system or which version of Vegas. The main reason for render crashes on 32 bit Vegas - if that's what you are running - is a 2GB memory cap. There are fixes which have been discussed in this forum, see http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...y-torment.html

OS is XP. Vegas Pro 8, 32 bit. I didn't know about the 2 GB memory cap. So even though I installed 4 GB, and it shows 3.25 is available for work, only 2 GB are being used?

Heat
 

In my experience insufficient cooling on CPU & system is the main problem.
/m

He's running his cpu at stock speed. Cooling should not be an issue. He is running what is now an nearly outdated CPU (at least for hd video) and he only has 3gb of ram. Upping his ram usage will likely do little to help with his current system.

But who knows.

I'm gonna build a new PC, can you guys suggest some minimum spec for the components? I believe the most important is CPU, motherboard, GPU, hard drives. If you already have a recent setup that works well for you, please list its compnents.

Thanks,

Yes. Do the memory hack and you should be sweet.

I'ver used the guides from these "guys" a couple of times:

Videoguys Blog - Videoguys' System Recommendations for Video Editing

I wrote down some of my experiences with vegas, starting from v4 2003 ...

Magnus Helander - random findings / Optimizing Sony Vegas editing

/m

I assemble my own PCs. On the other hand assembling your own has it's drawbacks. If after assembly, it doesn't boot up, you have to figure out which part is bad, or if it's something you did wrong. That is a major headache. Then when you can't narrow it down, you have to test components, or return them for replacement until you hit on the solution.

In the case of a friend, his first two motherboards were bad. It took a couple of months to get him straightened out.

I personally strongly prefer to have control over each component, and have been fortunate with my builds. My current unit booted up first try and has worked perfectly, even overclocked.

On the other hand, you can purchase an HP workstations for only $899, and it is ready to go.

People will knock pre-built. So be it. The power supplies tend to be puny, but if you don't add much to the unit, it should be fine. But as you add additional drives, external hard drives, etc, your system will become less stable. So if you don't plan to expand much, you should be fine.

The support that comes with a workstation is very nice as well. Here's a sample:

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-580t series | HP Official Store