Lag / Delay when previewing project

[raspyni]

My project is 11-minutes long. There is a lag of around 10-seconds when I am on the timeline and hit <space> or press [>] on the preview control. It wasn't like this when I started the project earlier today.

What can I do to get rid of this lag?

Thanks,
Barry Friedman

[Ken Berry]

I am not sure there is anything you can do. You have to remember that when you want to preview a project, you are asking the program in effect to do an instant though temporary render of the project. The more complicated a project gets, the more edits or complicated transitions, voiceovers, titles you add, the longer it will take the program to throw the preview together on the fly.

[raspyni]

Thanks, Ken.

One thing I just thought of and wonder if it is a potential slow down - I have the video files and the project saved on an external 1TB hard drive that connects through a USB hub. Would there be some benefit in putting these files onto an internal drive?

Barry

[Ken Berry]

Possibly, though I wouldn't have thought having it on an external drive would slow it down much at all (particularly if its USB 3!!) unless you have lots of other USB devices connected. Then you would be limited to the speed of the slowest device. I think quite a few of our users have a similar set-up to you.

If you do transfer it to an internal drive, it could be an idea not to have it on the same drive as you have VS loaded on. That way you minimise the disk having to drive itself really hard going backwards and forwards between program and video...

[MikeA]

Just a thought. I found that I got a delay when using SmartSound. The program is probably computing the music afresh. Just a guess.

[Black Lab]

Yes, Smartsound always took a while (don't use it anymore, that being one of the reasons). My fix was, when I got the Smartsound the way I wanted it I went to Share > Create Audio File and made a wav file and replaced the Smartsound track with that.

[raspyni]

Oh - good tip! Is SmartSound the program that enables Auto Music? This video surely has a lot of that! Perhaps do the video wtihout the music and get it just right, and then add the music?

Barry

[MikeA]

If you want to use SmartSound, then getting the video spot on and then adding the sound seems a plan. One could also use the suggestion earlier in this stream of saving the audio as one or more files and inserting those. I find that I am rarely done when I think I am, and go back in and edit some more. So using fixed files would speed things up for the bits one isn't editing and make the overall preview faster. It's all a question of what is the most bother - waiting or fussing with files.

[raspyni]

The 10 or so second delay every single time I hit PLAY is getting really, really old. I think, for me, I can do the editing to where I am really happy and feel complete and then add the music. Love that tip - Thanks.

Barry

[Black Lab]

Oh - good tip! Is SmartSound the program that enables Auto Music? This video surely has a lot of that! Perhaps do the video wtihout the music and get it just right, and then add the music?

Barry

If that works for you. Sometimes the video editing is dependent on the music, hence the reason I created the wav file first.

[raspyni]

This was such a game-changer I had to come back in the midst of my work - yes - do this. Get rid of SmartSound while you are doing the editing. It's a whole different game!

Thanks.

Barry