VS Pro 21 crashes on HEVC export.

[PropDad]

Wife is using VideoStudio Pro 21 to create a family vacation video. The video is approximately 45 minutes long and includes video, pictures, music, and transitions. She is wanting to export the video using HEVC, but no matter which one (HEVC) she chooses, it crashes. Sometimes it will do it after the "creating file" box, other times it gets to 0% and then crashes. Other formats can render, but does not play nicely with our in house media player (3rd Gen Firecube/Plex).

I've seen suggestions of trying it with hardware acceleration turned off, but then it says I can't do HEVC. I AM STUMPED.

[Ken Berry]

Welcome to the forum!

I assume you have installed the Microsoft HEVC Extension -- available in the MS Store for approx. USD$1.00.

The other thing is that HEVC/H.265, while being an excellent codec which gives high quality in a smaller size, is very demanding of computer resources. I would think that the message you get when you turn of Hardware Acceleration is indicative of that...

I am not convinced that your computer is powerful enough to handle HEVC on its own resources.First off, you need to tell us the format of the video in your wife's project. Is it already HEVC e.g. from a smartphone? Or 4K H.264 mp4? If you haven't set VideoStudio to use SmartProxy, one of its inbuilt tools, then do so and look it up in user help or Manual. Essentially, it creates lower definition copies ("proxies") of your original video which are easier and quicker to edit. When you are satisfied with the edits, they are then applied back to the original. This significantly eases the demand on your computer resources. And this might also help in producing your wife's HEVC video.

[PropDad]

Thanks for responding. Yes, we have purchased the HEVC extension from Microsoft. Videos imported into project are both HEVC and h.264, both 1080 60fps. The reason we want to render at 4K (which I had not mentioned) is because of resolution of the photographs. SmartProxy is set up and pointing to an SSD that is used SOLELY for that purpose. As far as hardware acceleration, I have it set to CUDA and have a GTX 1650 SUPER.

We even tried HEVC at 1080 and get the same results.

[Vdanny]

Hi,
Just wondering since h.264 is capable of rendering at 4K resolution if it is worth trying?

[Ken Berry]

The main difference between H.264 and H.265 is that the latter produces clips which are at least 1/4 or 1/3 smaller that H.264 clips. In other words if the H.264 codec produces a 100 MB 4K clip, then H.265 will produce one which is anywhere between 60 and 75 MB. So quite a space saving with no reduction in quality. But as I said above, just requiring a relatively powerful computer to handle it correctly.

[Vdanny]

Just thought to mention than h.264 is capable of producing a high quality 4K or UHD video (albeit with a larger file size) and may be a viable option if HEVC encoding is not completing successfully.

[PropDad]

Hi,
Just wondering since h.264 is capable of rendering at 4K resolution if it is worth trying?

That works, however Plex on my 3rd gen Firecube refuses to play it properly.

[Vdanny]

Hi,
Could the playback issue be due to exceeding a bitrate limitation with that setup? You could try lowering the bitrate render in Videostudio incrementally until you achieve a quality level that assures smooth playback.

[PropDad]

Hi,
Could the playback issue be due to exceeding a bitrate limitation with that setup? You could try lowering the bitrate render in Videostudio incrementally until you achieve a quality level that assures smooth playback.

Good question. I am trying to research that now but having a difficult time finding an answer. As far as the PC not having enough power to encode HEVC, I have other apps that can no problem. The more I search and read stuff of VideoStudio in general, I'm stating to realize that this is not a great piece of software.

[Vdanny]

Hi PropDad,
Most media streamers have limitations on the maximum bitrate that they can smoothly play files including the Firecube/Plex combo. As for Videostudio it is certainly not perfect but I find it will most often get the job done with aplomb.