Mediastudio SP3 Screws Up DVDWS

CaliDogg · Post by **CaliDogg** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:06 am

DVDWS 2.231 Works fine while Mediastudio 7 with SP2 is installed.

Install Mediastudio SP3 and DVDWS crashes and doesn't play vidoes well at all.

Verified Mediastudio SP3 as the culprit by trying several fresh installations of both programs in various orders / SP's

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:09 am

Guess it must be something in your system, as they work fine for me. What OS are you using and what version DirectX? What are you doing when it crashes? With just vague sentences saying it crashes, we cannot help. We need full details.

There are probably hundreds of subsscribers to these forums who are working fine with this combination.

CaliDogg · Post by **CaliDogg** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:56 am

MUCH THX for your offer of help Devil

Currently, I don't have the time to work on this problem. However, in case anyone else also reports this problem, and wishes to solve it, here is some additional info.

I am running Windows XP Home Edition with all "Windows Updates" installed and, the latest version of Direct X.

Hardware drivers are up to date. Windows installation is fairly fresh. System is fairly fast and very stable.

DVD Workshop 2.231 crashes when going thru it's finalizing stages; during multiplexing or maybe finalizing VOB, I can't remember. I don't have it doing any encoding.

It also does not play mpegs well at all. DVD Workshop accesses the hard drive for minutes at a time even when you are not actually playing the video, but simply putting the focus on it.

It seems to me that the installation of Mediastudio SP3 can have a negative effect on DVD Workshop's ability to decode MPEGS. And, since Mediastudio decodes them fine, I would guess the problem is that the after the installation of Mediastudio SP3, the ULEAD MPEG Codec and DVD Workshop no longer are as friendly.

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:37 am

I must say I'm puzzled.

Does it do this systematically or randomly? With just one project or all projects? The several minutes churning you mention is symptomatic of a corrupted file. I assume you have all resident utilities, like anti-virus and other normal start-up apps, disabled?

CaliDogg · Post by **CaliDogg** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:53 am

The crashing will happen the on the first attempt. A second attempt is always successful.

The bad playback in the preview window (both on the edit tab and the finish tab) is always present.

MPEGS from various sources gave the same results.

An MPEG file that DVD Workshop works fine with, is a problem for DVD Workshop with Mediastudio SP3 installed.

As far as startup apps go, there are none that should be causing a problem; ie, I don't even use a resident antivirus program. However, I did not acutally try disabling various startups and services that I allow. Although it's certainly possible, I don't believe that is where the problem lies.

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:35 am

I'm still puzzled. I've used MSP 7.03 and WS2.23 since the early beta versions of both and have never had the slightest problem, such as you mention. Can you please give a detailed rundown on all your hardware, operating system and other apps installed on the same 'puter?

CaliDogg · Post by **CaliDogg** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:18 pm

I'll email you a report on my system

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:50 am

OK, Eric, I've had a look through your system. I'm not saying that any of the following are causal to your problem but may be worth looking at further:

1. your graphics card is 5% overclocked; there is no advantage to this for video work
2. your graphics card is rastered at 1280 x 960, which is non-standard
3. you have resident utilities working, such as your firewall; it is recommended that you disable everything to do with the Internet when working with video, as well as all other resident software.
4. your memory usage at rest is abnormally high (Sandra does not pinch that much) with 445 Mb used out of 1028 Mb (this is because of 3.)
5. your virtual memory is being used to the tune of 825 Mb. This is decidedly abnormal. With 1 Gb of physical memory, I'd expect almost zero use of virtual memory. What this means is that you must, at times be peaking at 1.8 Gb of total memory use, which is enormous.
6. the use of Bluetooth input devices, as opposed to conventional ones, may load your system abnormally (I suppose, in ignorance)
7. You have a large number of shared IRQs (and some unused ones). If your BIOS allows manual IRQ allocation, then I advise you to do so; if not, try swapping PCI devices in different slots to force different combinations of sharing)

It would appear that your system is really overloaded, which is why the memory usage is abnormal. I presume you have already run all the Sandra integrity tests.

You won't like what I'm about to say, but it is the best thing to do, IMHO. It will take a lot of time.
a) reformat HDDs
b) remove all non-essential hardware to a bare-bones system
c) check your BIOS is in default mode
d) install WXP/SP2
e) install MSP7/SP3 and WS2
f) check that they work OK
g) install hardware/drivers one-by-one
h) repeat f) after each one is installed
i) install other software
j) repeat f) after each one is installed
k) minimise startup applications.

If a problem occurs at any stage, then you know, by your systematic installations, what is causing it.

Sorry, can't do more than that to help you: I'd give a 95% chance your problem lies in memory usage.

CaliDogg · Post by **CaliDogg** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:52 am

Thx Devil

I've also thought your suggestions might work. Especially since I'm the only one experiencing this problem.

I don't have the time to find out tho. And I think the next update / version of DVD Workshop also might solve the problem.

Thanks again for spending your time on this. You're a good guy