Rendering 3 hour project with HD content - V10

FlashGordon wrote on 7/22/2015, 9:32 PM
Update @ 6:00 AM (written @ 7). The render went fine as far as my computer goes. The fan kept it cool and it completed in ten hours. But those inconsistencies in the video (where during editing I'd see no picture but then I would - sometimes after viewing the video in preview) reared their ugly heads and I have several black outs in my three hour video. Obviously I'm disappointed that I worked my computer so hard for ten hours and now I have to do it all again. That is if I can figure out how to keep this from happening.
Obviously I'm looking for advice how to avoid "black outs"..
I can't believe it takes ten hours to render 3 hours of video but only took 15 minutes to render the audio though it takes much longer for the audio to load into DVD Architect.




Update as of 10:00 PM Easter 7-23
I'm at 30% rendered on the video after three hours and I've got a fan keeping everything cool and it feels fine. The only thing I'm worried about now is that there are certain clips that are blacked in the video box as it is rendering and I hope that those parts end up on the rendered video and not blacked out. I did notice at times during editing that certain files would be blacked out (but I'd hear the audio) but then I found that if I previewed them and then played the stream they'd be there. Then they wouldn't and then they would. I hope that is just an anomaly of the HD video streams in Vegas and hopefully they'll be there when it becomes a DVD. I hope I awake to a successful render. Goodnight all and thanks again.



I have a 3 hour project that I shot with a no-name (literally) HD camera I bought and am being informed that rendering the HP video (Format H264, Attributes 1280x720x24) along with some still photos, text and added audio files will take ten hours. I am still stuck in Vegas Pro 10 (since my computer is 32 bit I've never upgraded the program) but I think 10 hours of rendering will burn up my processor. I know that my previous Vegas 8 program rendered projects faster but I'm stuck in 10 so I'm hoping I can make this work. I'm not ready to invest in a new computer at this time so I need someone's advice as to how I might render this to MPEG-2 so that I can burn DVDs with Architect. Anyone that can give me guidance please help if you'd be so kind.

Comments

VMP wrote on 7/22/2015, 10:03 PM
Some things that I can recommend, actually for renders of all length:

1. Make sure that there is enough airflow in your PC cabinet.
If your pc doesn't have that or you are unable to modify the pc yourself you can even point a desktop fan into your pc (temporarily).
For best result the air should go in and out. Placing enough small PC fans in the front (blow in) and back (blow out) is what is done normally

This should keep your CPU and HD well.

2. Render all the audio tracks into a single audio file and put it one the timeline track, solo it.
(So that all the other audio tracks are muted)

This way Vegas only need to think about that single audio track while rendering.
You reduce the chance of render error this way due to otherwise Vegas reading and rendering many audio tracks containing FX etc.

You can also master that audio file (with Sound Forge for example) before putting it back on the timeline (like making sure the volume is right etc) This will make sure that the rendered footage will have good audio.

3. Make sure that all the image files are functioning fine on the Vegas timeline, this should also reduce the risk of render errors. sometimes Vegas doesn't like high resolution images.
Then you should reduce the resolution and convert it into something easy to read like bitmaps.

When scrubbing through your timeline, check if Vegas doesn't give you solid colors in the preview window, like red color, that is a sign of problem.

4. You can set your CPU priority to 'less than normal', in the task manager, if you are really worried about it burning up. With enough airflow this shouldn't be a problem. Depending on your room temp.


5. Turning off ram preview seem to solve many Vegas crashes.


Just a note about your query, consider using paragraphs, I find it hard to read it in its current state.

VMP
ushere wrote on 7/22/2015, 11:20 PM
i presume you matched project settings to camera footage?

'hp' format?

and no sys specs so if this is on a older pc...
Grazie wrote on 7/23/2015, 12:05 AM
Leslie, do re-read some of Flash's previous posts over the years.

FG, we need far more information than you've been providing.

We're here to help.

Grazie

ushere wrote on 7/23/2015, 2:48 AM
hi grazie,

i did look at his profile - obviously been around a while... i just don't have time to read old posts and the questions i asked would be the same i'd ask myself - if you understand what i mean ;-)
TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/23/2015, 5:47 AM
Rendering for any length of time shouldn't break any hardware on your computer. For two reasons:

1) motherboards are designed to shut down before things melt

2) CPU heat sinks are designed to get the heat away fast enough as to keep things running at near 100% power for longggggg periods of time.

So, if you're REALLY worried about something happening to your hardware while rendering (it takes no more then 10 minutes, maybe less, for the CPU to get at 100% operating temperature) then check the insides.
EDIT: that max I've rendered out was ~4 days straight. I only changed my CPU affinity to less then 4 cores when I wanted to do something else in that time.
PeterDuke wrote on 7/23/2015, 6:11 AM
If you can add fans to your system, then do so. Give thought to what direction they should blow. Don't have fans opposing one another.

Include hard disks as well as CPU and motherboard in your consideration. (Use a temperature monitor program). Hard disks live longer if kept cool. USB drives can get quite hot because they are enclosed in an insulating case. Stand them on edge rather than lay flat while being used.
Chienworks wrote on 7/23/2015, 7:32 AM
I too have had renders that ran for days with no issues, and happily used the PC for many other things while that was going on.

I've had HD animation renders that have taken months of all cores continuously running 99% and the computer just kept on happily humming away.

Airflow! That's the critical component.
Chienworks wrote on 7/23/2015, 7:43 AM
Although the figures can vary wildly depending on processor speed and the material on the timeline and effects added, 10 hours really just isn't that bad. Let it run and it will be fine.

If you do need to speed things up in the future then there are a few things you can try. Make sure your photos aren't too huge. It takes Vegas a lot longer to crunch through a 22MP photo than a 2MP one, and unless you're cropping and zooming in, 2MP is more resolution than you're using anyway. Some cheaper no-name cameras create really weird files that bog Vegas down. Even my JVC's AVCHD files process very slowly. I often transcode them to MXF first, which is a big time hit up front, but only once. After that Vegas runs them waaaaaay faster than the original .MTS files.

Some effects are very much slower than others. For example i've found that even if all i'm doing is bumping up the saturation a bit, the Sony Color Corrector is more efficient and faster than the Saturation Adjust. If you do need to add some heavy effects to small sections of the timeline sometimes it's beneficial to pre-render those sections to new intermediate files, then replace that section on the timeline with the new file. This way Vegas only has to process it once, instead of every time you preview and render. Also, if you've added the effect at the track level and keyframed it to just that section Vegas still can incur some overhead through the entire project. Putting the effect on just the event or using a pre-render avoids this overhead. In one case i had a 15 second section loaded with effects out of a 12 minute project that slowed the render down to 25 hours. Pre-rendering just that one 15 second section and replacing it dropped the render time to 30 minutes, and the pre-render only took about an hour.

Honestly though, it wasn't that long ago that it often took 10 to 20 times the project length to render even for SD. The 10 hours you're seeing may be inconvenient, but it's not unreasonable.
FlashGordon wrote on 7/23/2015, 7:43 AM
As always I appreciate the tips and suggestions. I don't have time to try any changes this morning as I have to go to work but I did find that the "project properties" differ from the "stream properties".
Project Properties -
Template:NTSC DV (720x480, 29,970fps)
Width: 720
Height: 480
Pixel Format: 8 Bit

Stream Properties -
Formats (vary from stream to stream though they were shot with the same camera with the same settings (I think, at least I didn't change anything on purpose)
Some are: ffd show video codec and some are: H264
There may be other variations as I don't have time to check them all now

Attributes -
1280x720x24 - this is obviously a big difference and is the "24" pixels where the project properties are set at "8"? If so then that is a big difference too.

So do I change the project properties to match the stream properties as close as possible?

Tonight I'll be able to try any suggestions and thanks again for your support everyone.

Chienworks wrote on 7/23/2015, 7:45 AM
Changing project properties to match the source material may make previews go a little faster, but it will have pretty much zero effect on rendering speed. The only project property that matters at all when rendering is the de-interlace method. Everything else is ignored in favor of the rendering template's properties.
Former user wrote on 7/23/2015, 8:46 AM
I have gotten better results and shorter rendering times by first rendering either to an uncompressed or lossless codec using the original file resolution. then rendering that file to the MPEG specifications. Your total render time may not be less, but the rendering time is broken up rather than one long continuous rendering run.
fldave wrote on 7/23/2015, 9:01 AM
I've had 40hr and 80hr renders on an old box. Open up the case, blow all the dust out. Reboot right before you start the render. Then don't do anything else on the machine until it ends.
Warper wrote on 7/23/2015, 9:16 AM
a big difference and is the "24" where the project properties are set at "8"?
That's ok. In mpeg 24 bit per color is impossible, so this 24 has different meaning: 8-bit per color channel * 3 channels. Vegas will have to transform colors anyway due to its internal design.

So do I change the project properties to match the stream properties as close as possible?
In your case it's more useful to keep them as close to rendering properties as possible. That way you'll preview possible aspect ratio change issues if there are any.