Problems with vegas 8 at DVinfo.net

Lalo Alvidrez · March 23rd, 2009, 09:32 PM

I am working on a project that has background music with video. When I do a playback the sound is choppy on the timeline. If I move the video to where the audio and the video don't overlap then it plays fine. It's almost as if my machine can't handle it and these are the specs on my machine. Phenom 9850 quad processor, 4 gigs of ddr mem, a 10,000rpm hard drive, nvidia 9800gtx+ video card. I had done another piece and rendered to avi and even the avi came out choppy on the audio and video, but when I rendered to mpeg2 it came out fine. any ideas as to how I can rectify this? I'm really on a borrowed time and it's making my work flow go real slow.

Jeff Harper · March 23rd, 2009, 10:00 PM

If the music you're using are .wma files I have not found a solution other than to convert them to .wav or mp3, and that will take care of it.

Even if your music is not wma format, try converting it to mp3 if it is not already, and see what happens. I don't like mp3 (crappy bottom end, IMO) but it works well in Vegas.

Just open a new project with only the song your using on the timeline, render as mp3 and you should be good to go.

Seth Bloombaum · March 24th, 2009, 10:22 AM

Jeff's suggestions may help. Converting to MP3 does take you down in quality, but if it works for today, that is sometimes enough.

This sort of playback problem may be caused by older audio card drivers - make sure you have the latest drivers for your card.

Then there are the buffer settings. The idea here is to give a few more milliseconds for decoding and digital to analog conversion. Buffer settings may be found in an audio control panel, which is where you'd want to adjust if you're having such performance problems across all programs. You can also adjust right in Vegas. But you don't want too much buffering either - that adds uneccessary delay.

1) Look for "buffers" in the index of the Vegas Help and familiarize yourself with the controls.
2) Open Options | Preferences | Audio Device.
3) Under Audio Device Type, there are likely 2 or 3 entries if you are using onboard audio. Before going into buffer adjustments, you might just confirm that all these types have the playback problem. If you are using some sort of pro sound card, be sure to try the ASIO mode.
4) Make note of the current positions (which you may need to go back to), and adjust Playback buffering and Track buffering upwards in tiny increments, checking playback frequently. Stop when the problem goes away - add no more than one more increment.

You may be done. If those adjustments don't seem to solve the problem, reset to the starting positions and click the Advanced button. Here you'll see lower-level adjustments.

5a) Does the Phenom support MME? If not, you'll need to start by switching from MME to perhaps 384 samples in the Buffer size (samples) pulldown. Then check playback, same as above, only this time you're adjusting the buffer size and number of Audio Buffers.

5b) If you do have MME support, add more audio buffers, one at a time, checking playback.

All this is painstaking work, but you should only have to do it once. Also note that some of the audio plugins can increase buffering requirements. I use Izotope Ozone for example, it has additional internal buffers that are adjustable.

March 23rd, 2009, 09:32 PM	#1
Lalo Alvidrez Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Longview, Tx. Posts: 227	Problems with vegas 8 I am working on a project that has background music with video. When I do a playback the sound is choppy on the timeline. If I move the video to where the audio and the video don't overlap then it plays fine. It's almost as if my machine can't handle it and these are the specs on my machine. Phenom 9850 quad processor, 4 gigs of ddr mem, a 10,000rpm hard drive, nvidia 9800gtx+ video card. I had done another piece and rendered to avi and even the avi came out choppy on the audio and video, but when I rendered to mpeg2 it came out fine. any ideas as to how I can rectify this? I'm really on a borrowed time and it's making my work flow go real slow.

March 23rd, 2009, 10:00 PM	#2
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	If the music you're using are .wma files I have not found a solution other than to convert them to .wav or mp3, and that will take care of it. Even if your music is not wma format, try converting it to mp3 if it is not already, and see what happens. I don't like mp3 (crappy bottom end, IMO) but it works well in Vegas. Just open a new project with only the song your using on the timeline, render as mp3 and you should be good to go.

March 24th, 2009, 10:22 AM	#3
Seth Bloombaum Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,420	Jeff's suggestions may help. Converting to MP3 does take you down in quality, but if it works for today, that is sometimes enough. This sort of playback problem may be caused by older audio card drivers - make sure you have the latest drivers for your card. Then there are the buffer settings. The idea here is to give a few more milliseconds for decoding and digital to analog conversion. Buffer settings may be found in an audio control panel, which is where you'd want to adjust if you're having such performance problems across all programs. You can also adjust right in Vegas. But you don't want too much buffering either - that adds uneccessary delay. 1) Look for "buffers" in the index of the Vegas Help and familiarize yourself with the controls. 2) Open Options \| Preferences \| Audio Device. 3) Under Audio Device Type, there are likely 2 or 3 entries if you are using onboard audio. Before going into buffer adjustments, you might just confirm that all these types have the playback problem. If you are using some sort of pro sound card, be sure to try the ASIO mode. 4) Make note of the current positions (which you may need to go back to), and adjust Playback buffering and Track buffering upwards in tiny increments, checking playback frequently. Stop when the problem goes away - add no more than one more increment. You may be done. If those adjustments don't seem to solve the problem, reset to the starting positions and click the Advanced button. Here you'll see lower-level adjustments. 5a) Does the Phenom support MME? If not, you'll need to start by switching from MME to perhaps 384 samples in the Buffer size (samples) pulldown. Then check playback, same as above, only this time you're adjusting the buffer size and number of Audio Buffers. 5b) If you do have MME support, add more audio buffers, one at a time, checking playback. All this is painstaking work, but you should only have to do it once. Also note that some of the audio plugins can increase buffering requirements. I use Izotope Ozone for example, it has additional internal buffers that are adjustable.