Video with lots of tracks and effects freezes during playing and when exported

VideoStudent

I made a video with 10 video tracks, 8 audio tracks, and "lots" of effects. When playing the sequence the video freezes every few seconds and that's also how it looks when I export it to .mp4 1280 x 720. No problem with the audio when playing the sequence in VideoPad or playing the exported .mp4.

I have tried closing all other programs (but not processes), and setting the priority of VideoPad in Task Manager to High. Neither of those help. I am running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit on a Dell XPS 8900 with desktop PC with 24 GB RAM, Intel Core i-7 3.40 GHz. I'm using VideoPad Pro version 8.97. Task Manager says it's 32-bit, by on the NCH website it says version 8.95 is 64 bit.

I just realized a workaround might be to solo one video track at a time and all the audio tracks, export the project 10 times and then start a new project and import the 10 rendered .mp4 files, but I hope there's a better solution.

I tried soloing video track 1 and playing the sequence and it still freezes on the first effect.

borate

What is the resolution of the bulk of the source files?

Update to the latest. For licensed users upgrades are free for up to six months from purchase date. After that, VP will continue to fully function but a fee will be required in order to register the newest. Retain your old install file and registration info.

Please share your project. It's the best way to track down issues. Just follow these four steps carefully...

Back up --- With your project on the timeline, click on MENU at the top-left. Click FILE|BACK UP PROJECT FILES TO FOLDER. Choose a folder and SELECT FOLDER.
Upload --- Use a free server - Google Drive, MS OneDrive, etc.* - to upload the saved, numbered FOLDER. Do NOT upload the individual VPJ or export file.
Get link --- Get a public link. If using Google Drive click GET SHAREABLE LINK. Change "restricted" to "anyone with the link can view" Click COPY LINK | DONE.
Share --- Paste that link here, or click the folder at the top-right of this forum to message it privately to me. It won't be shared.

* Before uploading, right-click the folder, click PROPERTIES. Look at the File Size to confirm that it's not too big for the free space on the server.

VideoStudent

Thanks, borate.

The whole project is about 1 min 20 sec. The video source .mp4 files are all 1920 x 1080, about 20,000 kbps, 29.97 fps. I'm trying to export to 1280 x 720, 30 fps constant. I have thought that constant fps is easier for software to process than variable, but maybe I'm wrong. I also made it 30 rather than 29.97 because I thought that 30 is for video and 29.97 is for NTSC TV, but maybe I'm wrong about that too.

Maybe the export would be better if I kept it at the source resolution and fps, but that wouldn't solve the freezing on playing the sequence in VideoPad. I did "Save Sequence Audio as New File." I could Save As the project as another name, delete the existing audio tracks which all have effects and replace them with the single Sequence1.wav file. That would save some processing load on both playing and export.

Okay, I see that version 8.99 was released December 2 and version 8.98 was released November 25. Releases appear to be quite frequent. I just bought the Pro version on November 10. I downloaded "the latest," which for Windows is 8.99, closed VP and will install 8.99 and see whether that's any better.

I also signed up for the NCH Newsletter so I will be notified of future updates.

borate

If things are working well there's no mandate to update. New releases can always be evaluated for features and quirks. No licensing required.

Upload your project so others can analyse it.

VideoStudent

I'm really frustrated with VideoPad. After installing the latest version, Fade only allowed 0.002 seconds maximum. After closing the program and opening it again it allows 5 seconds and probably more like it did before.

It now plays fine in VP in the small sequence window with no glitches or freezing. However, I have exported it four times using 29.97 fps, same as all the source videos, first highest quality then default quality, 720p, 1024 x 576, 480p, and finally 1080p thinking maybe it's easier for the software to export using the same resolution as the source videos. They all freeze and have glitches at certain points. I really want to finish this project and move on to a new one. I'm done with the editing and just want to export it and upload it to YouTube and post a link on Facebook.

I did the backup, but I see what it did is copy all my source files and project file. This is a personal video (just music, nothing objectionable). 1.44 GB. Haha, it reminds me of the size of a 3.5" non-floppy floppy disk, 1.44 MB. I do not want to share all that material. I would be okay with sharing the project file.

Features requests:

I would like to be able to save and load the effects on a clip so that can be applied to other clips even in other projects.

I would like a programming language that could be used to specify effects instead of in the UI. I looked at the project file in Notepad and it's kind of like that already. Just need an interpreter to make it a little more user friendly. You could specify effects in the UI like now, and then modify them in the project file if it were a little more readable and vice versa.

borate

You can share your project privately with me. 1.44GB should be no problem. It will not be shared with others. No one else will see it. Use the Private Message mail envelope at the top-right of the forum. The project file won't be of use solving your issue.

Fades can be most any reasonable length, but we cannot say what the issue is without looking at the project. It's possible that there is an unintended snippet of a clip at the fade point. If the clip to be faded is on track 1, go into Storyboard mode where it's easy to see if there are gaps or unwanted clips.

Effects can be saved. Click the envelope on the effects toolbar, and give the effect a name. It will appears as just another icon at the bottom of the effects window.

VideoStudent

The fade problem is solved now. The title slide at the end was after the end of track 1. There was an unintended snippet of a clip. I deleted it. I also moved the end title clip above video track 1, to track 11. The fade is fine now, 5 sec. Thanks also for the tip about Storyboard mode. I will look at that later; I've only used Timeline mode.

Thanks for the info about effects. That's cool. I will experiment with it another time.

I'm uploading the backup folder to Google Drive. It says it will take about half an hour. 21 min left now, uploading file 6 of 15. I will get the link and send it to you in a message when it's done.

borate

Fine. We'll check it out. Be sure to change "restricted" to "anyone with link can view." That does not mean that it's public to anyone but those to whom you have given the link.

Check back here from time to time for new developments and suggestions.

VideoStudent

Okay, thanks.

I saved the sequence audio to a wav file, muted audio tracks 1 through 8, and added the sequence audio file as audio track 9 to save VP from having to process all the audio effects, but that didn't help the video glitches and freezing on export no matter what resolution I used.

VideoStudent

Borate, I send you the link to my backup folder in a message.

I read and skimmed some of the information in the links about virtual choir that you provided. One suggestion was to export one or a few tracks and then re-import the rendered file to replace those tracks. I might tray that with my project. I already did that with all the audio tracks.

borate

There is freezing on the timeline which hints at edit/effect conflicts. But the overriding issue is that memory is maxed out. That's a lot of work being asked of this 32-bit program, which one day will be 64-bit (no target date).

In revising the project, an extraneous audio clip after the video fade and an extra video clip of your face at the very end were deleted. The first two tracks (titled 9 and 10) seem to serve no purpose, but they were left as is. If intended as supers they need to be moved to the highest tracks.

All mp4 files were down-converted to 854x480. For a short while you can download the revised project. See my PM. Export succeeded at up to 1920x1080 in mp4, using the MPEG4 compressor.

Using the tips in the Virtual Choir FAQ can lessen processing load, as can breaking a project into exported segments, to be combined later into a final export. Each should be checked for integrity before moving on.

In general, the fewer the effects and tracks the fewer the issues. Import only those clips that will be used. Consider pre-producing compound or speed-changed effects, then exporting them for later assembly.

VideoStudent

Borate, thanks again very much for all your excellent help. I learned a lot from you.

I exported the video to 1024x576. I had saved an earlier version of the project and exported the video at 1280x720 before adding additional video effects. I looked at the .mp4 again and saw it also had some freezing. So I re-exported it to 1024x576 and there was no freezing. In a new project I combined the two sequences end-to-end with the older one first and then exported that, also to 1024x576. I posted it as "Bohm-ba-dup-ba-da-ba Music Video" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZjfrv8l4M&feature=youtu.be and mentioned you in the comments:

David Savage singing multiple tracks and playing cornet and harmonicas. The second time through has extra special video effects. Video editing was done with NCH Software's VideoPad. I learned a lot, and had excellent help from "borate," one of the "Einstein level" users in their forum. Dedicated to: "David Joseph Bohm FRS was an American scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century and who contributed unorthodox ideas to quantum theory, neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind. Wikipedia"

I live in Vienna, Virginia, US. I'm curious about you. Are you paid staff of NCH Software or volunteer here? Where do you live? Do you have videos online that I could watch and learn from?

borate

Glad it worked out. The downloadable project exported at 1920x1080 as well, using mp4 with the MPEG4 compressor.

LIve on the US west coast and work with, but not for NCH, as do other volunteer contributors to the forum. No demos, just troubleshooting.😐

When the 64-bit version is released projects like yours should have fewer issues. But, as you have learned, layout can be key to success.

VideoStudent

I've been using the H264 compressor to export to .mp4 because of what I read about them. For example:

https://www.velleman.eu/downloads/3/h264_vs_mpeg4_en.pdf

"H.264 is a new standard for video compression which has more advanced
compression methods than the basic MPEG-4 compression. One of the
advantages of H.264 is the high compression rate. It is about 1.5 to 2 times
more efficient than MPEG-4 encoding. This high compression rate makes it
possible to record more information on the same hard disk.
The image quality is also better and playback is more fluent than with basic
MPEG-4 compression."

But maybe H264 takes more processing power than MPEG4 and MPEG4 would be a better choice if lots of processing is required due to lots of effects.