VS not working after Windows 8.1 upgrade

[inyour4head]

I recently purchased a new pc running Windows 8.1 and upgraded to VSx8.5 but after installation VS will not respond. I tried installing VSx7 to see if I had the same results and it doesn't respond either. Sometimes it will import the .vsp project and freeze up a minute or two after I begin editing the file, and other times it just freezes while in the process of importing. I always end up having to close it out via task manager. I have already tried running windows in various compatibility modes to no avail. I have also been unable to find the information I'm looking for in the forums so any help would be much appreciated. It seems to me that there is an issue with VS itself because all of my other programs (including Adobe CS5.5) installed and work without any issues. The only program I have issues with is VS and I really need to finish this project on my new PC.

Here are my new computer specs;

Asus ROG G751JL 17.3" Full HD Gaming Notebook Computer;
Intel Core i7 4720HQ 2.60GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Windows 8.1

[Ken Berry]

It's certainly not some clash between either X7 or X8/8.5 and Win 8.1. Quite a few other users have been running them together without problem, and that includes me for over a year now. I even recently upgraded those two particular computers to Win 10, and the programs continue to work just fine. In both cases they were computers with virgin installs of Win 8.1.

Have you tried uninstalling the programs and reinstalling them?

[inyour4head]

This is a brand new machine as well...

The problem seems to have been directly related to Quick Time- most of my projects have mov files. For some reason when I originally installed the software I received an error relating to QT that I disregarded- apparently it didn't install correctly. After deleting VS I installed the latest QT version from their website first then VSx8.5 and the problem seems to have been resolved thus far. I am now able to edit my projects once again so all is well here.

Looking forward to seeing how well the audio ducking works out...

Thanks for your time.

[inyour4head]

Well I thought all was well...

When I first opened up VS all of my compositions re-linked allowing me to edit the project. However, I closed VS and installed the bonus material included with the ultimate package and now I get a 'file format mismatch' error when attempting to re-link my mov files. Any ideas?

[Ken Berry]

Did the .mov files come from a Smartphone or a camcorder? If so which one? If they came from a smartphone, then more than likely they are actually AVCHD/mpeg-4 high definition videos using the .mov extension. The problem is that an increasing number of smartphones filming in .mov format are using variable framerates instead of more standard ones like 25/50 fps (PAL) and 29.97/59.94 (or 30/60) fps (NTSC), and VS can't deal with them properly.

The only workaround I can suggest for the moment would be to use a video converter to convert the .mov files to 'standard' AVCHD (or mp4). Handbrake is one free converter which has a good reputation. A number of us here also use Format Factory. Just be careful, when installing it, to read each dialogue box because, like a lot of free programs these days it offers to install unwanted bloatware as well...

[inyour4head]

Thanks again for the reply.

The .mov files are direct downloads from Digital Juice. I suppose I can change the output format for the downloads but I have several GB's of .mov files already in my library. The thought of converting them all is not a pleasant one. I've had the mismatch error before but I don't remember exactly how it was resolved. It seems that when I updated QT it went away but I can't be certain. And I just installed the latest versions so that's a moot point anyways.

Attached is a screen shot of one of the file properties;

[inyour4head]

After closing out VS and restarting the program all of my mov files automatically re-linked.

I then proceeded to use the audio ducking feature and upon giving the 'ok' to the changes VS crashed as soon as it started processing. This happens every time I try to use audio ducking- the main reason I upgraded from VSx7.

[Ken Berry]

Hmmm... Coincidentally, I too have a Digital Juice subscription but confess I have not used any of my downloaded clips from them in any recent projects in X8/8.5. So I just made up a quick project consisting of DJ animations, movie backgrounds and lower thirds. All of them use the .mov extension, but have quite different internal properties with the backgrounds being Photo JPEGs at 1920 x 1080, and the animations, plus the lower third I used, being ... well... animations, again at 1920 x 1080.

But the main point is they all inserted OK into my X8.5, and more to the point, they all played together in both Clip and Project view. And I rendered the project out to a new AVCHD -- slowly, but with no apparent problems.

I too have the latest version of QT on this computer... though in my case I upgraded to the Pro version. But that does not alter the basic codec it uses...

EDIT: I see you were writing while I was sending this post. Seems even stranger. I can't really comment on audio ducking as I don't use it, preferring to do it all manually to get exactly the effect I am after. Hopefully someone who does use it will jump in here...

[inyour4head]

All of my animations etc are re-linked (at least for now) but every time I try to use the audio ducking feature VS crashes.

A quick search on here didn't turn anything up so I may have to start another thread to address the issue.

[Ken Berry]

Yes, that's probably a good idea. Off hand, I don't recall anyone else reporting that audio ducking doesn't work or causes a crash; just questions about how it is supposed to work. But another thread might draw out further comments...