Err msg "Total duration greater than max proj duration"

[Jerry Monson]

Hi, All,

I searched for "total duration" and "duration" in User Guide and in this forum before asking for this help.
I've ordered the only "How To" book about VSP X3, but it won't be published until April and I've lost my job
so now's an ideal time to finally tackle the huge backlog of family videos needing to be edited then put
onto DVDs.

So, I've just bought VSP X3, and am now importing a LOT of video from family holidays, trips, etc over the years,
all tapes having been used interchangeably thus having a nearly random mix of capture-dates and occasions.
My hope is to create one lightly-edited and arranged-by-date and/or person-featured set of DVDs, and to create
a different, Very Heavily-Edited, single-DVD version to extended family.

After importing about 40 DV Tapes (50-ish hours of video) on the "Capture" tab,
-I began to get the following err msg after importing each additional tape:
"The total duration is greater than the maximum possible project duration.
Some clips will not be added into the project.
[15159:0:0]"
-The just-finished-importing tape's displayed thumbs would disappear,
then one-by-one be repainted in the main screen after I selected "OK" button on each err msg (above).

Using Windows Explorer, it seems all imported files are in the file system.

Does anyone know:
1. Is this a false err msg and all clips are being retained and new ones added to project?
-OR-
Is valid err msg and all clips are being retained in file system but not added to the project?

2. How do you recommend I continue to import the remaining 10-20 hours of videos into the project?
(Is obvious answer the correct one: "Break your videos into 2 (or more) smaller projects"?)

Thanks for lending me your experience!

[Ken Berry]

(Is obvious answer the correct one: "Break your videos into 2 (or more) smaller projects"?)

The obvious answer to me is to break your "project" into 50 or more smaller projects. If I read you correctly, you already have a project with more than 40 hours of video and want to add more...???!!! If they are DV tapes, that means you have over 520 GB in the one project...???!!!

If so, that is just impossible to even begin to contemplate editing... Most of us here deal with projects which are one hour or less; though occasionally we may have longer projects (up to, say, 2 - 3 hours). Even they are very difficult to edit in any minute way. And what do you want to do with this project in the end? You say 'set of DVDs'... Well, to produce a set, you have to produce one disc per X hours of video. 3 or more hours of video on a single layer DVD is going to be pretty abysmal quality (or at best, relatively low).

So divide up your mass of video into more sensible chunks e.g. max two hours, and edit those individually and burn them to disc.

[Ron P.]

Now that would be a test for an i7 machine, to render a 40 hr video file in less than a week..

Jerry, one of the first things you need to do is get a little understanding on what video editing is, the various video file types, and the file sizes produced, workflows, ect.

Here's some links to some good information to get you started..

• A Recommended Workflow has been developed to help guide you through the mine-field of video editing, as it pertains to Corel VideoStudio Programs. They can be viewed here:Recommened WorkFlow for VideoStudio
• You might want to read through From Camcorder to DVD tutorial.
• Summary of AVI & MPEG-2 Formats
• Explanation of Field Orders
• We have several Video Tutorials for VS X3 in our Video Products Tutorials section.

[BrianCee]

Apart from the need for actual hard drive disc space I cannot see why there should be a problem with just importing/capturing 50+ hours of video using VS - it just puts a thumbnail in the library for each video clip captured - BUT - I can see the problem of having that length of video in the timeline - delete all of the videos in the timeline then you should be able to continue capturing until you have it all then only put it back in small pieces as you edit each individual DVD one by one with around 2 hours video per disc.