VideoStudio Ultimate 2018 Crashes on 'New Project'

[Ken Berry]

Sorry about that. It has been some time since I had VS 2028 on my computer, so I couldn't check. I seemed to recall, however, the earlier discussion which occurred here over several versions about CUDA and NVidia cards, and the fact that the VS version of CUDA was very old and needed updating. I am pretty sure the AMD option only appeared with VS 2021 as that corresponded with my getting a new computer with only an AMD graphics card and no on-board Intel chip..

[John William]

More on the mp4 problem. I thought all was well but then I was working on a project started on the desktop and transfered to the laptop. When VS got to mp4's in the timeline it crashed the program on the laptop. I disabled both graphics devices on the laptop, one at a time, no difference. I checked for new drivers & I'm up to date. In Windows Settings I turned off hardware acceleration for the GPU and turned off variable refresh rate without success. The only thing that worked was runnning Handbrake on the trouble mp4's. That is rather cumbersome and negates the advantage of having the laptop to continue working on my videos. The only thing I noticed after converting the mp4's with Handbrake was the data rate and total bit rate changed. It was much higher in the original mp4. See my attached. The conversion to mp4 and m4v both worked in VS. But, like I said, rather cumbersome solution if working with lots of mp4's and not a solution if the project starts on the desktop which handles any mp4's satisfactorily.

I would pay the $50 to upgrade to VS 2022 just to get on with my life if I could be sure I wouldn't have the same problem on the laptop. I've used Corel products since 1990 and know first hand an upgrade is not always a solution or a pleasant experience (CorelDRAW versions 4 and 11 come to mind).

Anyway, it's Christmas Eve and I sitting here still working on a video. It will now have to wait.

Thanks for all the suggestions and hope everyone enjoys the holidays.

John

[lata]

Can you give a little more details regarding the properties of your original video file.
If you right click the video from Video Studio timeline or library for properties, they will indicate the codec used, whereas the windows explorer view is a little lacking.

When you transfer the videos to the second PC are you creating a Smart Package which would be the better option.

I assume that both VS programs, the desktop and laptop are both using the same version.
My 2018 program shows using version 21.4.0.165

[tletter]

I was working on a project started on the desktop and transfered to the laptop. When VS got to mp4's in the timeline it crashed the program on the laptop.

I've run VS2018 (21.4.0.165 64bit Ultimate) on desktops (AMD w/NVIDIA) and laptops (Intel w/built-in graphic & with NVIDIA) without the issue that you've encountered when sharing VSPs. Perhaps the issue that you're experiencing is due to the filters that you've applied to the video files. What filters have you applied?

The only thing I noticed after converting the mp4's with Handbrake was the data rate and total bit rate changed ... It was much higher in the original mp4.

HandBrake is user configurable, i.e. you set the RF for the encoding. Set the RF to a lower value to up the bitrate so that it matches the original bitrate. As well, you can configure the audio settings.

The only thing that worked was runnning Handbrake on the trouble mp4's. That is rather cumbersome

You can batch encode.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[John William]

Trevor & tletter, Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the delay as I am on a deadline with this video and have not had time for much else.

My version of VS is 21.4.0.165 64bit Ultimate on both platforms.

Trevor, here is a comparrison of Windows & VideoStudio properties of the file that crashes VideoStudio on the laptop vs. the converted file that works on the laptop. Quite a difference in file size and bit rate. I was not aware of Smart Packaging. I'll definitely look into this once I meet my deadline with this video.

tletter, the only filter I know of is color in preferences and no filter was applied in either the original file that crashed on the laptop or the converted file that worked. The files never made it far enough in the program to add filters (like effects) other than what was in preferences. Is there another filter I might be missing? I just used the default setting in Handbrake and ran out of time to try different configurations. I did use batch encoding but that is still combersome for my needs at this time.

Thanks again for your help.

John

[tletter]

no filter was applied in either the original file that crashed on the laptop or the converted file that worked

Occasionally some video files can't be ingested by VS, and these must be run through a video transcoder like Handbrake.

I just used the default setting in Handbrake and ran out of time to try different configurations.

Try setting RF = 18 or 17 and see if the bitrate is closer to that of the original. Decrease the RF value if the output bitrate is too low, and increase if too high.

I did use batch encoding but that is still combersome for my needs at this time.

Handbrake can batch transcode all files in a folder without much effort on the user's part.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[John William]

Trevor & tletter, thanks for all your help. I bit the bullet & bought the upgrade VS 2022 Ultimate Pro and it solved all the problems on the laptop. I'm hesitant to install it on the Windows 10 desktop because 2018 is working without a hitch LOL!
I noticed that the crash reports pointed to H264VDec.dll on the laptop. It was a version dated 2018. VS 2022's version is dated 4-22-22 so maybe that was the fix. Don't know but wish I had done the upgrade weeks ago and saved a lot of grief. I even have all the harware accelleration checked and set the hardware encoder acceleration to CUDA for my NVIDIA GPU (it was defaulted to the on-board Intel GPU which seemed to work also in my tests of the troublesome mp4's).

One thing that might make the upgrade worth it to me is being able to create subfolders for the library. Not sure if the new bells and whistles will mean anything to me but who knows, I once had a 9 year old dog that was still able to learn new tricks. But, in dog years that still made her younger than me now LOL.

John

For anyone else running Windows 11 on a laptop configured like mine, hope this post can help and save you some grief.
Dell Alienware m15 R7
Windows 11 Pro
Intel i9-12900H Processor
64GB DDR5 4800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GDDR6
4TB PCle M.2 Gen 4 Class 40 SSDNew Laptop Specs
Dell Alienware m15 R7
Windows 11 Pro
Intel i9-12900H Processor
64GB DDR5 4800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GDDR6
4TB PCle M.2 Gen 4 Class 40 SSD

[burners]

I downloaded the trial and swapped out the .dll
Fixed