VS6 Pro is rendered useless!

[rkstudio]

I bought VS6 pro a couple of weeks ago and it was working just fine especially after I installed more ram to 8gb. But then when I tried to use it today, it keeps crashing. I insert a video then move the scrubber in the timeline and the program freezes. It did that 3 times in a row already making it useless. I can't work on a video. This is very frustrating. Please help!

[Ken Berry]

I'm afraid we need a bit more information. First off, was the type of video any different from what you had been using successfully before? What were the properties of the video you inserted? (Right click on one of the clips in either the Video Studio timeline or the VS library window, and copy ALL its Properties here please -- or upload a screen grab of the Properties box.)

Have you added any new programs to your computer recently? Has there just been a Windows update?

You need also to be aware that your computer is at the lower end of the power spectrum, and if you are editing the very demanding AVCHD format, you might need more grunt, or at least be using the VS SmartProxy feature.

[rkstudio]

Ok, I'll bring in the properties in a few minutes. I don't know what you mean about my computer being on the low end of the power spectrum. Would you please elaborate about what is so weak about it?
Also, there have been no windows updates that I know of. But is VS6 so unstable that every little thing can stop it from working?

ANyway, in the mean time, I'll see if I can load VS and check out the properties of the video....that is if doing that doesn't make it freeze again.

[rkstudio]

Can you tell me how to insert the screen grab that I have? I clicked on Img and all it put in here was an image tag. So I can't insert the properties snippet.

[rkstudio]

Ok, I read the instructions on uploading an image and I guess I'm too new to use that feature so it's disabled. Anyway I uploaded it to photobucket and I'm going to insert it with an image tag and hope it works. So here it goes.

[img][IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/bobkimball/Videoproperties.png[/img][/img]

[Ken Berry]

There is no reason why uploading an image should not have worked -- you have certainly been a member long enough!

Anyway, from your photobucket image, I see that you are using Quicktime .mov high def 1280 x 720 clips. So next question: do you have Quicktime installed on your computer, and if so, which version? (Some users, for some unknown reason, have trouble with the latest version of Quicktime and have to revert to an earlier version, viz. 7.5.5 -- though this then stuffs up iTunes if you have an iPod...)

As for the question of computer power, AVCHD is a very demanding format and requires a fairly powerful computer to both edit and play the video. Since your video is not AVCHD, your computer should be able to edit it.

[rkstudio]

It says in the FAQ's that the admin. has to enable attachments to post an image. Maybe I just don't know how to do it. When I click the Img button it gives me the . But I'm not sure how to use that. Oops! I just noticed the 'Upload Attachment tab at the bottom of the page. I figured it would be at the top where all the other things are.

Anyway, I downloaded the latest version of quicktime (quicktime7) when I got VP6. Maybe I'll get the older version and try that. I don't have an ipod so that's not a problem. As far as AVCHD goes, I don't think I actually ever used that. Also, I only use the .MOV format because it's the format that comes with the camera. Do I have to use that format or can I use something else?

Thanks for your help!
Bob

[Ken Berry]

I only use the .MOV format because it's the format that comes with the camera. Do I have to use that format or can I use something else?

It really depends on what you intend to do with the edited video. If, for instance, you wanted to make a DVD, it would need to be converted to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 (Share > Create Video File > DVD). Or if you wanted to make a Blu-Ray disc (if you have a Blu-Ray burner), you would need to convert it to Blu-Ray compatible transport stream mpeg-2 or, ironically, AVCHD!!

But if you wanted to just play it back on your computer, or even put it on a a USB stick drive or external hard drive, and connect that to your HDTV for playback, you could leave it in .mov format. The choice of output formats, in other words, is wide and varied.

[rkstudio]

Actually the only thing I'm doing now is making videos to upload to youtube. I usually use MPEG-4 (4:3), although I'm not really sure which option to use. I'll start another post on that question. Eventually though, I'm going to make art instruction videos on DVD, so I'll use the mpeg2 like you suggested.

Thanks!