VideoPad Won't Load

Taylor

When I open a project in this new version of VideoPad, it won't load my project at all. If I click play, it will be slow or not even play. NCH needs to stop making these new versions of VideoPad that wont work. They just need to stick to one thing that does.

Taylor

I rollbacked and it's still not working. it says it is building the preview, but it's taking FOREVER.

Taylor

This is really troubling me. So, if anybody can give me an answer, please give me one.

[deleted]

If you have created a project (.vpj file) with an earlier version of VP, say 2.41 then it should load into the later version of VP (3,41) The cache files will all be renewed and numbered with the extension .cache although when saved into the cache from the earlier version they would have retained their original file names and have extensions like .fmt .raw .vtd .vti etc.

Even if you emptied the cache before loading the project 3.041 will recreate the the correct cache files.

However if you have created your project with the later version of VP (3.04 or 3.041) then this will NOT load into the previous version of VP (2,41) which will respond with the message that ...This version.. (presumably of the project).. is not supported and to update your version of VP.

That's one point. The other is What version of VP are you using? V3.04 is slow as cache files are continually duplicated when any editing was done to the clips on the sequence which was a bug, as well as saved in a different way to include the alpha channels of the clips. Now necessary, probably as clips are used for the numerous overlay sequence tracks which have transparency settings that need to be saved. There was an issue with "Building Preview" which took forever with this version.

These problems were addressed after some delay and the latest version is better. Unfortunately it was still called version 3.04. (I prefer to call it 3.041) You can tell which version you have as the latest ...3.041...has a camera icon next to the scissors under the right hand preview pane (version 3.04 had a drop down menu here) and the red sequence marker line is topped with a bright blue knob. This should load an earlier project. (It does at my end.)

You can try emptying the cache file totally before trying to load the project (.vpj file) and see what happens.... a new cache should be generated.

Nat

Taylor

Ok. I just downloaded 3.41 and it's bad. It slows down what I'm doing in my browser, and it is still slow and building preview, even after I deleted the cache.

Taylor

I made a video explaining the problems:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SutteR5ytZs

borate

Taylor wrote:

Ok. I just downloaded 3.41 and it's bad. It slows down what I'm doing in my browser, and it is still slow and building preview, even after I deleted the cache.

Video editing is resource intensive. Please list your PC's specs. At least a dual-core processor (quad-core preferred), mid/higher-end video card, 8G RAM, and 30G-100G unused on the C:/ drive is advised.

That's not to say that non-linear editors won't run with lesser resources, but this invites the frustration that you are experiencing.

From where did you download 3.04? The original incarnation had serious slowdown problems. A later version, which they should have given a different #, was much improved.

[deleted]

You seem to be using version 3.041 which is the latest incarnation of VP (That's my number..It's actually labelled 3.04)

As far as my comment re: emptying the cache. I referred to this only in the context of trying to load a project from an earlier version of VP and doing it BEFORE you try loading the .vpj file. A bit like starting with a clean slate. The cache is regenerated.

If you did EMPTY the cache completely (i.e. opened it and deleted the ENTIRE contents) then it takes quite a bit longer to regenerate the files when the .vpj file is loaded. Subsequent loading of the project though will be appreciably faster.

If your project has loaded already as seems to be the case from your video, then the cache will be largely up to date although it will continue to load items as they are generated like thumbnail data etc. This means that the for the section being treated the preview is not available. Note that tthe cache MAY also contain other files relating to older DIFFERENT projects whcih may slow things down.

This is why in 3.04 and later, clearing the cache using the option within the program will only remove the files that are not being used in the current project.

I do notice however that you seem to have a lot of clips in your video judging by the position of the scroll bar to the right of the media list window. It's normal, of course to have many clips in a project but I think this may be the crux of the problem with this version. VP has to generate all the thumbnails for these, save them to the cache, print them in the media list window instead of icons. Generate all the thumbnails required to display regularly in the sequence line instead of the landscape icon, set up all the transitions etc. and etc.

As Borate mentions, this is pretty labour intensive for the PC and can take an appreciable time particularly with the larger format HD videos.

I would suggest you try using the earlier version. (2.41)which is decidely faster. Unfortunately you have probably created your current project with 3.04 and saved the .vpj file. This will not now load in 2.41 as I noted in a previous post.

However. If you WANT to try this, and it will mean starting from scratch..I think you will find it will work OK.

Load version 2.41

Use "Any video converter" to convert all your clips to MPEG2 clips (keep them at the same size) I find these are much faster than the HD MPEG4 clips I get from my camera.

Load these to VP and redo the video.

Things will load and save much faster and you shouldn't get any "Waiting for preview" prompts (or hardly any)

You can see the green bar moving quicker and your video will preview almost straight away and the end result looks OK.

Nat

Taylor

Ok, where do I get a download link to 2.41?

Taylor

But wait, isn't 2.41 vastly different from version 3? I would like to stick with at least the version after 2.41.

borate

Taylor wrote:

But wait, isn't 2.41 vastly different from version 3? I would like to stick with at least the version after 2.41.

VP 3.04 has enhanced features and a different layout. As I recall 2.41 does not run in Windows 8...

http://videopad-video-editor.soft32.com/free-download/

[deleted]

It's not VASTLY different (actually I find it somewhat easier) but I am using Windows Vista and can swap between both versions with no problem. Borate may be right and 2.41 won't work in Windows 8 so if that's the case you will have to stick with the version you are using.

Nat

Taylor

Let's say I stick with version 3.041. If I create a project using this version, then open it still using this version later, will it still be slow to load the clips and thumbnails?

[deleted]

If you go back to an old project and If the cache still contains the original files, i.e. you haven't started another project and cleared out the old unused files, then loading will usually be faster.(That's my experience.) If you have cleared the cache then loading the old project back may take some time as VP has to re-create them all again.

A lot depends on the size of your film, number of clips etc., Either way it doesn't do it instantly. Compared with version 2.41 it is slower.

The first version of 3.04 (beta) did have major problems in this respect which was reflected by the number of posts to this forum. Most of these have been adressed but the sheer complexity of now having multiple sequence lines (2.41 had only one) and all behaving as overlays means VP has much more data to deal with when cuts and inserts are made. It's never going to run like lightening.

Nat