VS11+ Excessive rendering and burn time

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:17 am

Using VS11+, my one hour home movie required 1 hr. and 40 min. to render after I finished my editing, added a title for the main menu with Motion Menu, >Insert Scenes as Chapters for my 6 chapters and then >Share, >Create Video File, >Same as Project Settings. It then required another 2 hr. and 9 min. for the Disc burn process after I had inserted the six scenes as chapters and added my main menu title. This is my third test on this 1 hr. home movie with identical results. This is significantly longer render and burn time than I experienced using VS8.
1. Is this normal or am I missing or doing something wrong?
2. I also couldn't locate an option to reduce the burn speed to your recommended 4x or 6x. Where should I find this option, and is this the potential cause of the longer rendering and burn time?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:31 am

The first part sounds about right
one hour home movie required 1 hr. and 40 min. to render

Hopefully you then cleared the time line and in the create disc stage you imported that newly rendered video which hopefully you created as an MPEG2 - otherwise it will be rendered again.

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:45 pm

Thanks sjj1805. Yes, I do have "Do not convert MPEG compliant files" ticked. Just to be safe, I always check the little cog wheel.
!. Therefore, does this mean that the create disc stage is taking over 2 hours because of my use of Motion Menus for my main menu?
2. Secondly, where can I select a lower "Recoding speed" like 4x or 6x, as has been suggested here on the Forum?

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:20 pm

virg2673 wrote:Thanks sjj1805. Yes, I do have "Do not convert MPEG compliant files" ticked. Just to be safe, I always check the little cog wheel.
!. Therefore, does this mean that the create disc stage is taking over 2 hours because of my use of Motion Menus for my main menu?

Probably not! Sometimes you almost have to bludgeon VS into Smart Rendering. Check all your settings to make sure that the output matches the source video. the motion menus might take a few minutes on your system, but not two hours.

virg2673 wrote:2. Secondly, where can I select a lower "Recoding speed" like 4x or 6x, as has been suggested here on the Forum?

In the Create disc step, after you've done all your menus, you will arrive at a "burning" window, although it's just helpfully entitled "Ulead VideoStudio".

Click on the disc with an "i" icon in the lower left corner, and this will bring up the "Burning Options" window, in which you can set your burn speed. By default, it will probably be set to "Maximum".

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:33 pm

Thanks 2dogs. You're suggestions are very helpful and I'll run through it again and try each of them including trying to find the "helpfully entitled 'Ulead VideoStudio' " indicator to reduce my record speed. No wonder that I couldn't find it. Perhaps we'll make it this time even if I, "have to bludgeon VS into Smart Rendering" as you say.
And thanks for the humor. As a novis, it can be incredibly frustrating at times when one is trying so hard to revise a documented workflow to accomadate an upgrade, like I am from VS8 to VS11+.
Thanks again 2dogs. I really do appreciate your patience.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:53 pm

Regarding setting the burn speed:

Regarding how long it takes to create a motion menu:
Why do Menus take so long to create

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:29 pm

Thanks to both 2 Dogs and sjj1805. Found the "disc with the i" icon and reduced my burn speed from the default "Maximum," down to "4.0x." The create disc phase still took over 2 hrs and 5 min. for a 1 hr. home movie with motion menu.
1. But after reading and rereading sjj1805's tutorial on, "Why Smartscene Menus take so long to create," perhaps my 2 hour create disc phase should be considered about normal. Am I correct in coming to that conclusion?
2. On my main menu, how can I eliminate the dark lined grid (4 squares high by 5 squares wide) that overlays my selected background?
3. Is it possible when using motion menus, to have a Chapter Menu that doesn't display the opening thumbnail of my home movie, but instead, displays the thumbnails for the opening scenes of my six chapters?
Thanks so much for your collective help.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:39 pm

virg2673 wrote:Thanks to both 2 Dogs and sjj1805. Found the "disc with the i" icon and reduced my burn speed from the default "Maximum," down to "4.0x." The create disc phase still took over 2 hrs and 5 min. for a 1 hr. home movie with motion menu.
1. But after reading and rereading sjj1805's tutorial on, "Why Smartscene Menus take so long to create," perhaps my 2 hour create disc phase should be considered about normal. Am I correct in coming to that conclusion?
Could be. As a test, why don't your remove the Smartscene menu and see how long it takes?
2. On my main menu, how can I eliminate the dark lined grid (4 squares high by 5 squares wide) that overlays my selected background?
What menu are you using?
3. Is it possible when using motion menus, to have a Chapter Menu that doesn't display the opening thumbnail of my home movie, but instead, displays the thumbnails for the opening scenes of my six chapters?
On the menu creation Edit tab, click on Advanced Settings and uncheck Add Title Menu.
Thanks so much for your collective help.

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:36 am

Took your advice and used the same 1 hour home movie to test the time required for the "Create disc" and "burn" process, but with "Motion menus" unticked. Couldn't find an option to "remove Smartscene menu."
This change reduced the time required from 2 hr and 10 min down to 1 hr and 52 min, for a reduction of only 18 min. I'm pretty sure that the only change made was to untick Motion menus. Upon completion, I ran the resulting DVD on my player and can confirm that it contains my 6 chapters and their corresponding thumbnails do appear when that chapter is selected, but without motion menu.
1. Is that the test that you were suggesting that I try?
If so, I'm at a loss to determine what I'm doing wrong because after reading and rereading sjj1805's tutorial on, "Why Smartscene Menus take so long to create," I really thought that removing Motion menus was going to reduce my Create disc and burn time back down to less than 30 or 45 min. like it was when I was using VS8.
2. Are "Smartscene Menus" different than "Motion menus?"
The workflow that I'm using after I complete my edit phase is >Share, Create Video File, >Same as Project Settings, >Save to get my rendered mpeg-2 file, then clear the time line. Then >Share, >Creat Disc, insure that "Do not convert compliant mpeg files" is ticked and then on the Add media pop up screen, I select the second icon from the left, which is "Add Video Studio project files," >Add/Edit Chapters, >Auto Add Chapters, to activate >Insert Scenes as Chapters, >OK, and >Delete Music Track for all menus.
3. Isn't this the recommened workflow?

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:05 am

Hi Virg,
instead of adding your project file in the Create Disc step, you should add the single large DVD compliant mpeg-2 file that you created from the project file.

In order to simplify things and to make sure that you are getting Smart Render to happen in the Create Disc step, try outputting the project to DVD folders to save on blank media, with no menu.

Then, after you've confirmed that your DVD folders can be created very quickly with no menu, try again with your preferred menu and chapter points, backgrounds etc.

Good luck!

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:41 am

Thanks 2dogs, but please forgive me for not understanding. I thought that I was doing exactly that when I select >Share, >Create Disc and then select the second icon from the upper left on the Add media screen which is, >Add Video Studio project files, and then open/add the saved DVD-compatible mpeg-2 video file by it's new name, which is now followed by .mpg.
1. Isn't that correct, or am I still missing the boat?
Secondly, you suggested "In order to simplify things and to make sure that you are getting Smart Render to happen in the Create Disc step, try outputting the project to DVD folders to save on blank media, with no menu." I'm saving my newly rendered mpeg project to a separate file or folder, and then I retrive it when for my Share/Create DVD workflow.
2. Am I not already following your steps?
Perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean when you say "blank media." I'm sorry for not catching on here, but believe me, it's not because of lack of effort or willingness to do what you experts advise.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:58 am

Hi Virg,

now I'm a bit confused.

You said that you clicked on the second icon - that is the one labelled "VSP", which you use to add VideoStudio project files, i.e. .vsp files. It can be problematical.

You then said that you had added the mpeg-2 file.

You can only do that by clicking on the first icon, which when you mouse onto it, will show a pop-up "Add video files". That's the one you should be using.

Anyway, try adding your single large mpeg-2 file that you previously created, using that first icon.

Then try creating DVD folders as I suggested previously with no menu. Once you've got that working as it should, with Smart render working, it should be very quick - just a matter of a few minutes.

Then go on to try creating your menu, secure in the knowledge that the Smart Render part is sorted.

virg2673 · Post by **virg2673** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:10 am

Thanks 2dogs. I'll certainly use the first icon and then follow your suggestion of burning a DVD without menus for a comparison test. BTW, I was using the second icon from the left because I thought that someone had advised me earlier that I wouldn't have access to "Insert Scenes as Chapters" if I didn't.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:31 am

Hi Virg,

I can't find any difference in the way you can insert chapters when you insert a video file or a project file in the Create Disc step.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:06 am

One little thing you might want to look at in the menu creation stage in the burning module, is this. Down in the bottom left corner of the Edit page is an innovation in VS11, and I have found that it slows down my burning stage enormously, and even brought it to a complete halt. Now I never use it.

There are two icons, one above the other, labelled Menu In and Menu Out. Using them is supposed to animate the transition from the menu to a selected video clip. You will see that the Menu In icon is disabled by default (circle with diagonal line through it). But the Menu Out button is enabled. And this was the culprit. Click on the icon and it brings up a choice of animations. Choose the disabling one identical to the default for Menu In. Then proceed to burn. I think you should notice a considerable improvement in the speed.