VS10+ persistent problem - application self destructs!

[StewartTurner]

I've posted this problem before, but had limited but incomplete success in overcoming it.

Basically my copy of VS10+ shuts itself with no warning. I can boot up my pc and open a project VS, work on it for a minute or two and then - pop - no VS anymore and I'm looking at the desktop. No error message, no entry in event viewer, nothing. If I open it again, sure enough afetr a couple of minutes it has gone again. Sometimes it won't happen and will run perfectly well.

Sometimes it improves after a reboot. I think it helps if I save a project as soon as I have opened it but I can't be sure.

Last time I reported this to this group I was advised to try creating a hardware profile and user account in XP to minimise processes, which I have done. It's hard to say if it has improved things but it certainly hasn't cured it.

I reinstall VS10+ and the service pack update every few months, which seems to introduce some stability for a while but again, it is no cure.

Any ideas?

Stewart.

P.S. My system is an Acer Ferrari laptop, 2500+ AMD Athlon, 512MB RAM, 60GB, Windows XP. I am editing mostly mpg files either imported from my Sony HDD camcorder or a DVD recorder.

[Ken Veal]

Check out the following to optimise your PC and Video Studio to hopefully avoid most of the problems that sometimes happen when working on your projects.:-
Read this before posting …
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=8959
Always follow the recommended procedures Go
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=18318

Delete unwanted and temporary files to help avoid possible conflicts,crashes
and free up space
It makes things a lot easier if your clips ,files and projects are stored in the Library Manager then they can be deleted in one swoop.To access the L.M either Go Tools –Lib Man or select it from the list via the drop down arrow next to where you change the library type.Choose the media type then new-name it,select edit to amend name/description if required.You can then delete the named folders and their contents in one go when you want to.
If you did not use the L.M. a project file will have a .vsp extention.
To delete non consequtive files - Select the 1st file then hold down control as you highlight each file then click delete +shift to delete them all.
To del consequtive files – Select 1st file, +select the last clip which will highlight all inbetween then press del. + shift which will remove all those clips from the library.In V.S. 9 + later confirm that you want the files deleted from the hard drive too.In V>S> 8 + earlier deleting and icon will also delete the original file whether image,audio or a video file. For a tutorial on the L.M. see
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 4554#64554
Delete the contents of the Windows Prefetch folder (NOT the folder) Go
C:windows-prefetch
If you did not shift+click to del. in Windows –empty the recycle bin.
After making a DVD Go my documents-ulead folders + delete folders
named convert(only those in my docs)
In preferences-create disc select clear cache to del. converted temp files on
leaving Video Studio
Go
C:documents and settings-user name-local settings-temp to del. those temp files if you can see them, if not you may need to show hidden files.in XP Go
Tools-folder options-view-show hidden files and folders
You can also Go
Tools-preview files manager to del. temp preview used project files
Delete all unwanted files on your hard drive, it can slow down as it fills up.
In XP Go to My Computer-right click C: (or your hard drive) –Properties-Disc Clean up, this can sometimes catch files you may have missed and will delete them for you. Often the ones that you cannot delete
are those that keep a internet connection alive for updates etc.
You can leave the ones in that cannot be deleted by ordinary means but
if you would like to delete these s well you will need to shut down and
restart in safe mode (press f8 when windows is starting and select safe
mode) You can then open up windows explorer and now delete those files.

Also you can do a search for *.tmp files and delete those as well
Whenever you visit a website parts of it are saved on your PC, the parts depend on what your viewing. They could be pictures, animation, text etc. To save Internet Explorer from loading these everytime you visit a site they are saved and placed in the internet Temp folder. This way if you go back to any of the web sites it can pull the files back out from the Temp folder to save it reloading all the web page again.

The other files ( called cookies ) are information about you. They can be your login name, passwords or page viewed information. Cookies let you go straight in to a regular site without having to retype your name and password each time. They can also be used by hackers but these are usually cought by the likes of norton so dont worry.


Double clicking them will bring up an error as they are unique to internet browsers and kept in check by them. IE they are not allowed to enter your PC by running them. This makes them fairly safe.


Anyway yes you can delete everything in the Temp folder . but make sure you know your passwords to sites you have to log in to.

Cookies keep a record of your visit to a website so it remembers you
next time you use that site and saves you logging in etc.

Temp Internet files are web pages downloaded and cached (saved) so when
you visit that site again it looks in the cache first to save
downloading all the images etc again and so it works quicker.

Recommend that you leave in.

Use a dedicated hard drive for your capture or failing that partition your H.D.Use Ultra/66 7200 rpm drives or faster with as much capacity as you canWhen you capture to your C: drive and the system your PC has to read files from +to it at the same time and large avi files could cause problems
Defragment your hard drive often for more efficient operation,( there are many programmes that will do this better than windows can )
This tidies up fragmented files on your hard drive. Go
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... =rendering
So, defrag after you have deleted all unwanted and temp files



Enable DMA (direct memory access.) for IDE discs capturing video.This moves info from system memory bypassing the CPU and helps to avoid dropped frames.In XP Go start-control panel-system-in system properties dialogue box-hardware-device manager,double click ata atapi controllers-
Choose ide channel-advanced settings-dma .
Disable write behind caching.In XP go
Control panel-system-hardware-device manager-double click disk drive-choose hard drive-double click policies.Set paging (swap File) size.Set min+max to twice your RAM (random access memory)
With write behind caching video is stored in your ram in the Ist instance and written to disc later.
-------------------------------------
Sometimes incorrect VS operation can be solved by Go add or remove programmes via control panel-select VideoStudio-change remove-repair.
------------------------------------
Titles:- if you don not keep them in the safe area ( a box in the preview window) you will not see all of them on your TV screen ) Go file- pref-gen tab-display title safe area.
Apply anti flicker filter in pref create disc to improve viewing menu pages on a TV .
-----------------------------
For best use of DV quick scan in DV to DVD Wizard (which scans a dv cam for scenes to import) and device control with a correct dv tape timecode:-
Record all of a blank tape without stopping with the lens cover on first. Recorded.scenes will be detected by date and time (as they will be under edit-split by scene).If you rewind to view a recorded scene on your cam, make sure you start recording exactly where you left off or the time code may zero again and may confuse VS or cause capture problems.
---------------------------
For inspiration view a sample project and practice on it.Go
C;\programmefiles\ulead systems\ulead video studio 9\samples\sample-pal vsp/sample-ntsc.vsp
-------------------------
Instant playback will let you view your project without a temp preview file being created but it will not be100% smooth depending on your PC spec as well.
------------------------
Select non square pixel rendering to reduce distortion and maintain DV resolution when viewing on a TV.From the project properties dialogue box via project options and preferences select non sq pixel rendering .
------------------------------------
Don’t forget those FAQs(frequently asked questions) Go
www.ulead.com/tech/faq.htm
------------------------------------
Before you capture from your cam (powered by an AC adapter) close other progs that may be running like a screen saver or anti virus software that will take up processor resource.
Forum Search to a known number post.Select the address at the top-press left arrow key-get flashing cursor on the right of the previous number then backspace out the old number and enter the one you want to get to.
Make sure that you have the latest version of video card drivers.
If you need to reinstall Video Studio have a look at
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 5773#55773
………
Also view
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=17953
re selective start up
and
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=18782
re Date Execution Prevention and VS not loading properly.
And
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13950
re Creating a Video Editing Profile to avoid programmes running in the background and speed up rendering.
and
From Camcorder to dvd with video studio
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... ht=setting and
video Studio 10 preferences & project settings
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... ht=setting
and
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 7433#97433
re Trouble shooting your PC

[MrA]

Any ideas?

Stewart.

P.S. My system is an Acer Ferrari laptop, 2500+ AMD Athlon, 512MB RAM, 60GB, Windows XP. I am editing mostly mpg files either imported from my Sony HDD camcorder or a DVD recorder.

A few ideas pop up.. Lose the laptop, get something that is faster has more ram and a lot more hard drive space, preferably more than one hard drive, and a 3d video card, min 256meg memory. I think you pretty much peaked the performance for video editing with what you have.

Basically you have a hardware issue..

[Clevo]

Also in Windows XP check the "Event Viewer" (administrators tools) it gives clues as to what whas happening when the program shut down.

[cameater]

I think it is card / driver related, because the same happened to me.

I had a x850, tried lot of drivers, but the card itself was damaged, and I tried some others:

Some Nvidia drivers seems to have also a bad influence to VS stability (a brand new Geforce 7900 PCI-X) - tried lot of drivers and found at least one...

Then I bought a new X1900 graphic card and now these crashes are gone.

My driver is the Catalyst 6.7

[StewartTurner]

Wow, lots of ideas, thanks all.

Kenneth:
Yes, I have read the "Read before posting" - I'm not sure why you are referring me to it, have I committed a faux pas? I've followed the "recommended procedures" too, but as I mentioned the software can crash without having actually done anything other than opening a project and waiting a few seconds. Your post is very long and looks like it is copied from elsewhere so I suspect it doesn't all apply to my situation, e.g. why did you tell me all about how to use the library manager?

The windows prefetch folder is a new one on me, so I'll have a look at that. All the other suggestions are part of my routine anyway.

MrAmigo:
It's very easy for somebody to suggest that I should upgrade my system to the state-of-the-art - I expect you and most other frequent posters here have a system such as you describe but there are several reasons why I won't be following your advice for the moment:

1 - I can't afford a new laptop and don't want to buy all the extras. A desktop machine doesn't suit my needs either.
2 - While I am sure that my machine is probably near the bottom of the expected spec for a machine it is still within the system requirements and I shouldn't experience problems.
3 - When I bought the laptop 4 years ago and was running VS7 on it, it was pretty high spec and I used to get this problem from time to time back then. VS10+ isn't vastly more advanced than 7 was, so the requirements haven't increased that much.
4 - A software application shouldn't shut itself with no warning when sitting idle, whether or not it meets your suggested specification.
5 - Suggesting upgrading the pc software without understanding the problem is no better than the PC support standard fix-all "try rebooting".

I'm very sorry if the above sounded rude at all - it isn't meant to. Thanks for trying.

Clevo:
Thanks for this. It was a good thought, but as I mentioned in my original post there is nothing in Event Viewer.

Cameater:
I guess it is promising that I'm not the only one to experience this. Did you have the program shut itself with no messages though? I'd be surprised if the graphics card could cause that. The card in the laptop was an 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9200, if that means anything to you. It was a pretty good one 4 years ago, but I guess not up there now.

It would help to understand if that was the problem, but it if the only fix is buying a new machine it's not much of a solution.


So, unfortunately I think I'm still in the dark about this one, and if I don't get it sorted before the time comes for me to upgrade my laptop (probably early next year), I'm unlikely to choose Ulead the next time for the software.

Is VS11 more stable than 10? The few extra bells and whistles don't tempt me.

Thanks for your help so far,
Stewart.

[Ken Veal]

Hi Stewart,
I was the author of my reply which I have tried to update with links to new relevant posts as thy crop up.I am not a very experienced user but my post was was genuine effort to help as I am not aware of your skills.I tired to cover a lot of things that could help.The library manager was covered because it is easier to delete unwanted files in one go if you use it to delete unwanted stuff and free up hard drive space.
regards Ken

[Black Lab]

When I bought the laptop 4 years ago and was running VS7 on it, it was pretty high spec and I used to get this problem from time to time back then.

I think you've answered your own question. You have a hardware problem. Whether it is under resourced or you have a device conflict, you have a hardware problem.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Benjamin Franklin

[StewartTurner]

Kenneth - I appreciate your help, I hope I didn't give the impression that I don't. I just got a bit confused by the general nature of it when I have a specific problem.

Black Lab - Thanks, you could be right there. The trouble is what on earth can I do about it short of buying a new laptop? It seems to have been behaving itself quite well the last few days but at times it has been a real pain.

Thanks,
Stewart

[StewartTurner]

It looks like I'll have to live with it until I can afford an upgrade.

I'm not sure I'll go for Ulead next time though.

[StewartTurner]

In case it triggers any thoughts in anyone's mind or even if anyone is generally interested, I can update a little of the detail.

I did some experimenting today and found a definite improvement when I disabled Smart Proxy.

I am editing mpeg files and was using smart proxy to generate low bitrate, low resolution mpegs. I've changed Smart Proxy to use low quality avi's to see if that helps. It looks like this topic has dried up, so I won't bother updating here unless anyone is specifically interested.

[Ken Berry]

Sorry if I seem confused. But why are you using Smart Proxy? I don't see anywhere that you are using HD (as in High Definition) video, and I thought SmartProxy was for processing that (to get around the high processing power required for it especially if your computer is not well resourced...) I see you have a HDD camera, as in Hard Disk Drive, but that is not the same thing as HD...

So as far as I am concerned, you should not have been using Smart Proxy anyway...

[Black Lab]

Not sure why you were using Smart Proxy, as that is mainly for HDV. Maybe using that was just too resource intensive for your pc.

[StewartTurner]

The reason I used Smart Proxy was that while my machine was fine for editing avi's, my new camera creates mpeg files and the pc was struggling a bit so I thought lower bitrate smart proxy files would help.