File reading error [20379:1:107] - what on earth's happened?

[momnot]

Last night I completed my editing - and created an .avi file. No problems at all. Everything went well with 22 minutes of footage, with such a large project I saved .dvp file as a few different files just in case.

After watching the finished video this morning I thought I could make one or two editorial changes.

So I opened up my trial v.8 Pro, only to be confronted by the message:
File reading error.
What on earth could have possibly happened to the file whilst I was sleeping?
None of my saved .dvp versions will open up.
What am I going to do now? I really can't face re-doing the whole thing - suggestions for a solution please.
I have plenty of hard disk space so that is not an issue.

This has made me really cross - and this combined with the failure of the audio mixer to effectively allow me to alter the volumes of multiple sound tracks - is really putting me off purchasing the product.

[marysia]

Exactly the same thing just happened to me. I've lost my entire project so far and will have to compeltely start again as the backup files are gone and the main dvp file will not open, it just says "file reading error". If I can't trust the software not to lose all my work even when I religiously save every couple of minutes then I can't use it no matter how user friendly it is.

I am furious.

[momnot]

I too was bl00dy furious.
I lost everything.
When I sat down to redo it, I was then held up further by trying to make lots of different back up copies, to ensure it didn't happen again.
Which it did!
And then it would not open lots of the different back up copies.
In the end I resorted to saving every couple of minutes in the hope that at least if I managed to open one of the back ups, I would not have too much to redo again, and again...
No one gave me any answer to the problem, and to date this has prevented me from purchasing the product.
All the best,
Jennifer.

[tv_news_guy]

Marysia & Jennifer

I too feel your pain in the corrupt dvp file department. I know none of the wiser heads has checked in with a definitave answer..but I might be able to help some.

I has the same problem. While I never figured out a limit, in the times that it occured it was when the file was so big that memory swapping was involved. Most often the corrupt dvp file happened on a save... or when moving large sections of tracks that contained multiple video formats and/or many many transitions, effects etc.

I could always go to the previous saved copy and work from there. If the file folder for my project had 15 copies of the dvp file, and number 0015 stopped working....then I would open number 0014 and start from there.

That said, this appears to be a hardware issue.. at least sort of. Why do I say that? Cus the same things happen on the huge avid systems I use at work.. and the same fixes apply. Here in my personal suite I just recently upgraded to an newer machine. AMD dual coreon a sweet ASUS motherboard using the southbridge chip set, 2 gig ram, huge SATA hard drives and a radeon 1900 video card. Major improvement in workability. Scrubbing audio, dragging through looooong vide files, working in SD and HD... now not a single problem so far.

I still save manually (old habits die hard) every couple of edits. Many of my edits are broadcast quality 30 minute programs that really work the machine. Even with all the keying, moving paths, multiple tracks and such the difference is incredible.

My humble reccomendation is to look at this from a hardware standpoint. A little more memory or faster proc speed might be just what the doctor ordered.

Bill tv_news_guy
Non-linear editing is half art/half brain damage

[PJH]

I'm a bit curious. In the latest MSP service pack for version 8 they "apparently" fixed the corrupt file problem.

It's something I've had to live with in version 7.3. I was even contacted by Ulead to email the corrupt file to them and they actually managed to fix it so it was possible to open the file and carry on working. As I said though, that was version 7.3. The person that I dealt with was Rong Chen.

This was what he found

"After I checked your project file, we found there are three bytes of it have error value. We already fixed the problem and updated your project file as the attachment, could you pleas give it a try on undo / redo the steps of using mask in Overlay and inform us if there is any problem again?"

I was really hoping that this was one of the first problems that would be addressed in version 8.

Marysia & Jennifer, have you installed the service pack?

Cheers,

Peter.

[Devil]

My humble reccomendation is to look at this from a hardware standpoint.

I would tend to agree, but I add that it is my belief that there may be some bad software conflicts, even with Windows, as well.

This is based on the fact that many, many users have no problems. That being so, it is difficult to blame the software. There MUST be something different with the computers of those who do have problems. So, let's start a little analysis of the computers that have no problems.

1. Generally speaking, they are often stand-alone with no Internet connection and no security software or they may be dual-boot with the video boot without Internet or security software. They also have no scheduler working.
2. The RAM has been soak-tested for faulty bits developing as they heat up.
3. There is a separate video drive which is kept defragged and is frequently tested and is re-formatted between projects and tested.
4. The swap partition is of fixed length of at least twice the RAM size
5. The installed applications are kept to an absolute minimum, consistent with the video work that needs to be done (it is not unknown for a mix of makes of video software to ##### things up)
6. The number of codecs are kept to a reasonable minimum. Avoid conflicting codecs and, above all, avoid the codec packages or bundles that can be downloaded from the Internet (they are often loaded with malware and may not have the latest versions, even)
7. It is not unknown for complex software of all makes to have memory leaks. It is good practice to exit the application and restart it again every hour or two and to reboot at least twice a day, to keep the machine in the best working condition.
8. The CPU, RAM etc. have to work hard for their living from time to time. The reliable machine is always kept dust-free round the CPU fans etc.
9. The chipset on the motherboard is selected for reliability. It is a known fact that some chipsets cause grief. Others may slow down operations.
10. Above all, the serious user knows his system and how it behaves with each of his applications and he knows the limitations of Windows.

I don't claim that these are Ten Commandments but ignore them at your peril. The fact that someone tells you that he has never rebooted his computer over the last 6 months and that he downloads his e-mail while it is rendering is not material. He may be lucky (or a purveyor of pork pies), but it is no guarantee that you will be lucky, because it is doubtful that there are two users of video software who have absolutely identical systems and what is sauce for the goose is certainly not sauce for the gander.

My two CYP 0.02 worth.

[maurice2029]

Sorry to bring this up. I'm a newbie on this forum, and I just started working with Media Studio Pro 8. I was working on a very important video, and when I try to load the project file, I got the error "file reading error 20379:1:107". And now I can't open the project, even not the older backup saves from that project folder, which the program automatically creates. Is there some fix/patch that I can use so that I can open the my corrupt project files again?

[Devil]

There is no sure-fire method. The first thing to do is a repair install of MSP. Then open a new project and put in a short colour clip (to be deleted later). Then try Insert|Project File. This may work, no guarantee.