VideoStudio 2020 became much less responsive

[cybernick]

Ok. Vs 2020 always had issues. But is it only me or nowadays it started to became less responsive in the editing interface and crashes more frequently. Actually to increase performance I replace my Sata ssd with nvme. I believe after the latest nvidia and windows 10 updates I started to face more issues. Anybody else having same observations ?
Came on Corel... make a patch so we will not have any more crashes or we may be able to you cuda cores in both editing and rendering.

[tletter]

But is it only me or nowadays it started to became less responsive in the editing interface and crashes more frequently.

Are you now editing 4K vice FHD projects? VS has more stability issues with 4K projects. As well, are you using different filters as some VS filters cause stability issues?

Came on Corel... make a patch so we will not have any more crashes or we may be able to you cuda cores in both editing and rendering.

Based on past history, Corel is now putting all resources on VS2021 so it's unlikely that you'll get your ambitious patch. However, undoubtedly VS2021 will address all your issues

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[Pepi]

Cybernick,

Can you describe few issues as an examples, so that we could try to follow. I have not noticed any unexpected crashes. Those which I have had more often there has been some clear reason for them.

So if you could re-produce the issue every time, then please share the steps and let see if others could get the same crash.

And you haven't had any other changes than new disk?

It is always good to see, if you are facing crashing with your videos, then use the sample clips and try to generate the same problem.

[cybernick]

Thank you for the replies. I am working with 1080p 30 FPS footage. I always use smart proxy and hardware acceleration enabled. I was always having abnormal shutdowns while modifying transitions or previewing a clips but the frequency was less. Nowadays I believe those increased. The only change besides the disk is the updates of windows and gpu.
Also the interface became less responsive. For example when I click a tap (share or color etc) I wait about 1-2 secs to have it on screen. To fix this I restart the pc. During the loss of responsiveness the cpu, memory and disk utilization is normal. Not overused. So I have no explanation.
Just to test it I disabled hw acceleration. Now the crashes are less frequent and the responsiveness increased. I really do not understand how hw acceleration works. Since enabling and disabling does not effect the performance too much.

Besides all of those. I have some other issues coming from early versions. Like the pops and clicks in audio MP4 files and renders. To avoid this I started using vmw files.

[Pepi]

Hi Cybernick,
Ok, so disable the HW acceleration helps you? I'm having AMD GPU, so I have no smart proxy nor HW acceleration in used. And still having no issues. Someone else than me could explain the expected benefits of Smart Proxy in case you have lot of memory and clips are on SSD or NvME. As Corel state:
"With Smart Proxy editing, you can edit HD content as easily as SD — even on older, slower computers."
Above quote was from version Video Studio X4. I believe our hardware has been improved since those days.

Do you still have an issue which you could isolate and share on here? Especially if you disable both of those "improvements"?

[mangurian]

After many years of religiously upgrading every year, I decided VS2020 would be my last. It's sad, but I have no choice. I shoot 4K with my drone and VS frquently closes unexpectedly. . VS also does not handle my GPU processing properly and gives me noisy results. I get nice clean output when I don't enable GPU processing. I hope whatever I turn to next does not give me annoying pop-up adverts ala VS.

[Pepi]

I believe Mangurian, that your troubles could also be solved, but I believe it would be super helpful if different issues are not mixed on the same thread. I have shoot 4k videos on my camera and handled them on VS, so far no issues. Unfortunately Sony does not give more than 25fps for 4k so I'm not using that so much as I prefer 60 fps or higher when recording sports. So my experience is not so wide.

So if you open a separate thread for your issues, perhaps we could play with those a bit and see if there are any easy solutions. And you remember that GPU and products using it, is always a game of combinations (e.g. GPU drivers). Disable smart proxy and HW acceleration to see if you have any changes/improvements.

[cybernick]

Really there is something wrong. The interface is no responsive. I am working with 1080p footrage but when I have the smartproxy off the payback during FX and transitions is very slow. My pc has i5 16Gb ram and I am editing from 2GB nvme ssd. I have no issue in any other software expect Corel VS Ultimate 2020. I have tried also resetting the library . Not helped. And still have crashes while editing.
During preview playback the CPU reaches to 40-70%. On the other hand GPU is doing nothing despite I have enabled the Cuda HW accel.

Really Corel do something and use those Cude cores.

[cybernick]

Even moving the Corel Video studio interface is an issue. Check out the lag in the video and the CPU utilization generated only for interface movement. This happens only in Corel VideoStudio in my PC. No other sw has an issue like this.

[Pepi]

Even moving the Corel Video studio interface is an issue. Check out the lag....

Fully agree, that issue I do have as well!

When doing some tracing it looks that they do have some strange issues on their code:

VS-Forum-MoveWindow.png (6.99 KiB) Viewed 583 times

That is MS's functions: GetPhysicalCursorPos function (winuser.h), but looks that they are using that a bit incorrectly.

Perhaps they should review the code and improve the logic a bit. So, that they do not need to follow the cursor all the time. But how to make them aware of this problem would be challenge, as at first I need to do several re-installation for VS and upgraded random drivers. Also the risk that they are starting to complains MS from this is big. Even no other products behaves the same.

I'm using AMD's GPU, so it would be interesting to know if this problem locate only on AMD systems.

[cybernick]

Even moving the Corel Video studio interface is an issue. Check out the lag....

Fully agree, that issue I do have as well!

When doing some tracing it looks that they do have some strange issues on their code:
VS-Forum-MoveWindow.png
That is MS's functions: GetPhysicalCursorPos function (winuser.h), but looks that they are using that a bit incorrectly.

Perhaps they should review the code and improve the logic a bit. So, that they do not need to follow the cursor all the time. But how to make them aware of this problem would be challenge, as at first I need to do several re-installation for VS and upgraded random drivers. Also the risk that they are starting to complains MS from this is big. Even no other products behaves the same.

I'm using AMD's GPU, so it would be interesting to know if this problem locate only on AMD systems.

Great analysis. I strongly suggest to open a support ticket in communicate this with Corel. It is very valuable. And will help all users.

[Davidk]

Cybernick,
Commentary on a number of the issues you raise . .
1. Hardware acceleration - you mentioned not understanding it. Basically, it's means of using the powerful cpu's on graphics cards to speed up processing: they become assistants to the main cpu in doing a task. Many hands make light work etc. The CUDA interface is relevant here- search wikipedia for more information. But it all assumes you have compatible (with your driver) hardware, and that the main program code uses it correctly. That was - for years - a touchy point with VS, as it seemed that mostly Corel didn't support CUDA well, and as a result the hardware acceleration options in the VS program were very hit and miss in their effect. Mostly, miss. If you had a problem, turn this feature off (or on) and try again seemed to be common advice. Corel made an effort in recent VS releases to address this problem, and the alternative Intel and nvidia options in the preferences/performance tab are the (not very successful) result, as the same problem and remedies keep cropping up - turn h/w accel on, or off, and try again.
2. Corel support. I won't labour on this, but search this forum for relevant comments, and Corel's responsiveness to issues. You won't be happy.
3. Stability of VS.
-This has degraded for several years, since 2018 when a major user interface makeover was done, as Corel added functionality to the program, and also removed some. Some of that was well received, such as the upgraded colour correction features used by a few, whilst others more widely used have been universally panned, like removing dolby support. VS used to be well known for supporting prior version formats (like save a project in one of the most recent 3 versions), but that capability disappeared in 2020. Users here and beta testers have pleaded for Corel to spend effort in fixing outstanding bugs and stabilising the software but that seems to gone unheeded. Certainly there isn't any obvious result.
- windows updates have had - for years - effects on programs it runs. VS is affected in various degrees. About 5 years ago, a security change in windows made all versions of VS unusable as of the date of update: it was pretty obvious that MS and vendors like Corel had not been consulting on issues and effects of that change. Corel's crash program to find/fix/distribute took a while (several weeks) but meanwhile anyone using VS was dead in the water. So when you say VS has become more unstable, some care about timing and what may have happened to windows at the same time is definitely a basic datum to have when reporting this sort of issue.

[lata]

Hi
Just tested this anomaly and yes like Pepi I am experiencing the same strange delays / floating panels.
Earlier versions seem to react much better to being dragged, no problem with 2019

The UI uses 3 panels the Library, Timelines and Preview screen
If we drag each panel to separate from the main UI, dragging each panel looks ok, it is only when these are connected that I have trouble. Press F7 to set to default layout
I do not know what dragging the panels actually proves, a little disturbing to see I suppose

I doubt I has anything to do with Hardware Acceleration, that just points to my graphics being a problem when clearly it appears to be the program itself.

[cybernick]

Cybernick,
Commentary on a number of the issues you raise . .
1. Hardware acceleration - you mentioned not understanding it. Basically, it's means of using the powerful cpu's on graphics cards to speed up processing: they become assistants to the main cpu in doing a task. Many hands make light work etc. The CUDA interface is relevant here- search wikipedia for more information. But it all assumes you have compatible (with your driver) hardware, and that the main program code uses it correctly. That was - for years - a touchy point with VS, as it seemed that mostly Corel didn't support CUDA well, and as a result the hardware acceleration options in the VS program were very hit and miss in their effect. Mostly, miss. If you had a problem, turn this feature off (or on) and try again seemed to be common advice. Corel made an effort in recent VS releases to address this problem, and the alternative Intel and nvidia options in the preferences/performance tab are the (not very successful) result, as the same problem and remedies keep cropping up - turn h/w accel on, or off, and try again.
2. Corel support. I won't labour on this, but search this forum for relevant comments, and Corel's responsiveness to issues. You won't be happy.
3. Stability of VS.
-This has degraded for several years, since 2018 when a major user interface makeover was done, as Corel added functionality to the program, and also removed some. Some of that was well received, such as the upgraded colour correction features used by a few, whilst others more widely used have been universally panned, like removing dolby support. VS used to be well known for supporting prior version formats (like save a project in one of the most recent 3 versions), but that capability disappeared in 2020. Users here and beta testers have pleaded for Corel to spend effort in fixing outstanding bugs and stabilising the software but that seems to gone unheeded. Certainly there isn't any obvious result.
- windows updates have had - for years - effects on programs it runs. VS is affected in various degrees. About 5 years ago, a security change in windows made all versions of VS unusable as of the date of update: it was pretty obvious that MS and vendors like Corel had not been consulting on issues and effects of that change. Corel's crash program to find/fix/distribute took a while (several weeks) but meanwhile anyone using VS was dead in the water. So when you say VS has become more unstable, some care about timing and what may have happened to windows at the same time is definitely a basic datum to have when reporting this sort of issue.

Thank you for detailed explanation. Since I am a computer eng. I am really very well aware about those. But at the same time I am a paying customer and I have the right to have peace of mind with a working product. The product vendor should take all necessary precautions to avoid any bad experience I might have.

Iata,
actually the lag during the movement of the window does not creating me an issue. It is just an indication that the SW has not been optimized well. Also recently, every now and then I need to restart the app since the interface inside the app starts to have an increasing lag.

[Pepi]

....Also recently, every now and then I need to restart the app since the interface inside the app starts to have an increasing lag.

For the the comments like your, I always have my common questions: Are you able to reproduce the issue every time? Does it start happening in a same way? Are you able to re-produce the issues using the sample picture/videos coming with VS? And would you like to share the steps you are taking when you start facing the issues?

I'm not seeing the issues so often at the moment with VS. Only these two:
- The mask editor, that have a memory leak issue.
- NewBlue's Title Editor is crashing if I have not granted access to one file on it. (this is something what regular user should not do).

About the lagging on moving window, let see how support response to that, I open the case for them.