Preview Keeps Crashing

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:39 pm

Hi Guys
I'm working on an MSP8 project with a main timeline and a second one.

Project settings:
PAL (25 fps)
Microsoft AVI files
24 bits, 720 x 576, 4:3, 25 fps
Lower Field First
DV Video Encoder -- type 1
DV Audio -- PAL, 48.000 kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

Hardware Profile:
OS XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2399 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2400 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2400 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2400 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0804, 20/10/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 2.17 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 4.78 GB

Everytime I play the preview, MSP crashes when I hit stop, which is getting rediculous. I found there were a lot of back up files accumulating (because I follow the advice to keep backing up) and I deleted them all apart from the last 5 or 6. There were also a lot of Preview files as well I dumped and it worked smoothly again for a while but now it's crashing again all the time. Has anyone any ideas?

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 4:16 pm

I take it you mean the ordinary preview and not the Instant Preview?

If so, I suggest you delete ALL the preview files (not the backup files, although you can delete these as well if you are sure that everything's OK). Preview files are known to occasionally get muddled up, after a number of full and partial previews. They are reconstituted at the next preview.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:30 am

Because of the description of your problem, you do not give us any detail on your HDD's, I suspect that the disk where your swapfile and temp files reside is getting filled up. When did you you do a defrag on this disk last? How much free space do you have on it now?

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:10 pm

Hi my HDD is NTFS and has 207GB free (from 279 max). I defragged about 7/8 days ago but I run an analysis almost daily and it's saying no need to defrag. Should I defrag regardless?

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:06 am

From this, I assume you have only a single partition for the OS, the drivers, the virtual memory, the applications, the preview files, the backup files and the video files? This is not a clever set-up for video work and can cause all sorts of problems. At the very least, I recommend a dedicated disc for video, which you can reformat at the start of each project. If on an IDE ATA set-up, it should be the master and make sure DMA is working. Also, have you soak-tested your RAM? A faulty bit (which happens more often than you think) can cause such problems.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:48 pm

Thanks for your advice Devil.

I'll speak with the place that put this conifguration together for me (which was built for rendering speed and stability) in case it is something like a faulty RAM. TBH, when we ran through the options at the start of the build they said they could partition it easily enough if it proved necessary but thought the components used would be more than able to cope. Overall this PC is very good.

I have an external LaCie 500GB HDD and I wonder if I should use that solely to keep my MSP video projects and back-ups on (and maybeC3D) and work from there. In your experience, would that be better than keeping all on the same drive as at present?

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:55 pm

Frying pan>fire!

You can use an external drive for storing video data, but I do not recommend using it for editing. Your best bet is to put a second dedicated high-performance drive for video into the 'puter (SATA ot IDE-ATA master). This will not be very expensive.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:07 pm

Thanks - It's not so much expense but reliability. I'll look into your advice.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:53 am

I use external HDD to edit from and have not had any problems. They are connected to my computer with firewire 800, and are pretty fast. If you do go with external drives, get at least firewire400 speed, or eSATA is best. eSATA is as fast as an external drive, but with the added convenience of being portable!
I had a similar problem to yours when I was editing an MPEG2 file. I think the file was slightly corrupt, and I was getting lots of preview related crashes.