Thread: Preview Window Problems in Vegas - presumably caused by video formats

I've seen many people complaining about this problem - both here and elsewhere - and none of the responses so far have solved it for me, so that's why I'm posting a new thread. Anyways, I'm using Sony Vegas Pro 8.0c.

I'm quite sure that the whole problem seems to be coming from video formats rather than strength of the system because I'm using Toshiba Satellite A300-1MM, so there shouldn't be problems about that.

Anyway, the smallest edit will cause a lag - for example, I put a clip, split it, and set a transition between the two parts, and the video in the preview window starts lagging and gets immensely slow. I've been said that changing preview quality will help, but none of that worked.

I've tested different video formats and the lagging does vary respectively. Since I'm working with a .mkv format right now (which, I assume, cannot be imported to Vegas), I converted it to AVI (even tried various codecs) and the preview is unbelievably slow. Then, I converted the same file to DVD Video NTSC Movie (.mpg) using mpeg2video codec and it doesn't lag at all.

But that format doesn't allow me to have 640x480 resolution, which is precisely what I need before importing video to Vegas.

So, any ideas how to make AVI become smooth in a preview window?

Ok - common problem - some help to be had but it is important to remember that preview is only and always will be a guide - a poor version of the final render - and it will ALWAYS slow down as you edit in a more complex fashion.

To speed up preview:

1. Set project properties to media properties when editing.
2. Have media on a defragged media drive seperate from system drive.
3. Lower size / quality as needed to speed up frame rate.
4. Never edit with motion blur on - add at end as this really slows down the edit.

But as i said preview will always be slow so...

1. Turn off processor hungry fx until the render - a good editor can intuit the effects.
2. Use ram pre render to check chunks with all fx on.
3. Use a desk top, not a lap top. Portables are not the toold for the job.


And finally - get over it - editing is and always be time consuming and slow.

Aslo - editors are designed to edit video from a camera - shock horror - and whilst most editors can handle weird compressed shit like mkv stuff they take loads more power to edit.

Power needed to edit - easy to hard....

DV - very smooth and fast and a big part of the reason i shoot DV still. Single core no prob.
HDV - About 4 times slower, dual core minimum.
AVCHD - hard drive cameras, four core needed to avoid frustration.
Divx / Xvid / WMV / MP4 type stuff - all likely to be found in the .mkv wrapper, four coress essential and even then expect weird glitches and slow clunky responses.

Very well outlined Mark. What I would like to add, if I may, is that we have Capture Formats, Editing Formats and then Delivery Formats. It would appear that over the past +24 months these boundaries have become blurred to the point of stupidity. What users are doing is NOT being aware that these boundaries HAVE been in place for a very good reason, and now that, it is the pace at which PCs have improved that makes, ostensibly, a delivery format potentially editable. The User is surrounded with much confusion and techno-babble that sometimes, just sometimes, it is really essential to trot out this format mantra: Capture > Edit > Delivery. Even more so when PCs HAVE become more powerful and Video Capture firms appear to be bringing out new products weekly if not monthly, with cuter and more space saving capture formats.

Personally, I really do, do see the value in HD - but I also see the the value in a large chip SD industry standard camera. I need to see and have the deeper pockets stitched in by my tailor to achieve the Preview and edit options I would want when I should ever migrate to HD. And that "when" is still a moot point with me. I know I wont be happy/content with sub-efficient kit.