Solved Black frames in edit preview screen - Movie Studio Platinum 17

Hi all, I've had this issue for ages and it drives me crazy.
Movie Studio Platinum 17.
Please watch the video in the zip file to understand what is happening.
Random black frames when scrubbing though timeline and when watching preview, clips will play with black screen as well. Computer specs also attached if that helps anyone who may know what causes this problem.
Thanks in advance. Cheers, Paul 

 

 

 

Hi Paul

Sorry with the delay in responding to your message.
My own computer had some technical problems which I have now fixed.

My guess is that your problem is being caused by the graphics card and/or graphics driver and/or the type of video you are editing with.
I don't think it is being caused by the actual Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 17 program.

1. Make sure you have the latest build version for Vegas installed.
The latest build version for v17 is Build #204.
Go to Help/About in Vegas to find this info.
If you don't have #204 installed, download from here and then install:
www.moviestudiozen.com/doctor-zen-faq/636-vegas-movie-studio-17-update-history

2. Before you do anything, it might be a good idea to do a full program reset.
A reset will delete the temporary files cache and restore all settings back to factory defaults.
This can sometimes fix weird problems.
Please note this will not delete any of your saved projects, but you will have to reconfigure a few settings afterwards.
Reset instructions here:
www.moviestudiozen.com/doctor-zen-faq/573-how-to-reset-sony-software-to-default-settings#a1

3. Intel HD graphics is responsible for a lot of problems in video editing programs.
Make sure that you are only using your Nvidia GTX 1050ti.
After doing the reset (above), go to Options/Preferences/Video
Make sure your Nvidia graphics card is selected and then re-boot program.
If you had the Intel graphics selected, that may very well have been the cause of your problem.

4. Make sure you have the latest Nvidia drivers installed.
Some older Nvidia drivers had bugs that caused playback in Vegas to do weird shit.
To find which driver version you have installed, right-click your Windows desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel.
Then go to Help/System information.
Here is latest driver for your card.
www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/172062/en-us

5. Where did your videos come from ?
From a phone, camera, GoPro, etc....
Please use MediaInfo app and upload a report for one of your videos that is going black.
I have an FAQ that will show you how to use MediaInfo here:
www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/miscellaneous-help-tutorials/640-how-to-use-mediainfo-app

Upload report to forum so I can inspect.

Regards
Derek


 

Thanks for your reply Doctor! 

I will check over your points and perform the tricks you have prescribed and see how I go.
I edit primarily GoPro footage in the H.264 codec, mixed in with .mp4 Samsung Phone video footage plus .wav & .mp3 audio tracks here and there.
It is the GoPro footage that plays up though. 
I don't bother with the GoPro H.265 codec as the preview is super laggy.
I'll run MediaInfo and report back regardless.

Thanks for your time Derek.

Cheers Paul

Hi Derek, Here is the MediaInfo for the file(s) out of the GoPro Hero 7

General
Complete name                            : \Moana w Steve\GH023624.MP4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID                                 : mp41 (mp41)
File size                                : 3.73 GiB
Duration                                 : 17 min 38 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 30.3 Mb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
xyz                                      : -35.2416+138.4718/

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.2
Format settings                          : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=25
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 17 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 30.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 50.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.289
Stream size                              : 3.69 GiB (99%)
Title                                    : GoPro AVC  
Language                                 : English
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
Color range                              : Limited
colour_range_Original                    : Full
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 17 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 192 kb/s
Nominal bit rate                         : 48.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 23.9 MiB (1%)
Title                                    : GoPro AAC  
Language                                 : English
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27

Other #1
ID                                       : 3
Type                                     : Time code
Format                                   : QuickTime TC
Duration                                 : 17 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Frame rate                               : 50.000 FPS
Time code of first frame                 : 11:15:25:48
Time code, striped                       : Yes
Title                                    : GoPro TCD  
Language                                 : English
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-11 11:15:27

Other #2
Type                                     : meta
Duration                                 : 17 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable

Other #3
Type                                     : meta
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
mdhd_Duration                            : 1058000

 

Well Derek......I have tried everything you recommended, but unfortunately within the 1st edit run, the black screen preview is still occurring.
I have a feeling the GoPro codec just doesn't play well with the software.
See attached.

Thanks again for your help, but this may be a lost cause.

Cheers, Paul
 

Woah! I hope I don't jinx it, but I may have solved the issue. See attached. In Hardware decoder options, Auto > Intel was selected, so I switched to Nvidia and so far so good. Fingers crossed.

Woah! I hope I don't jinx it, but I may have solved the issue. See attached. In Hardware decoder options, Auto > Intel was selected, so I switched to Nvidia and so far so good. Fingers crossed.

I totally forgot about that setting in v17.
This is a new setting that only exists in v17 - personally I am not a fan of this setting, because I now believe it is causing problems for a lot of people with Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPUs.

If you keep Intel graphics disabled and your problem does not come back, that confirms my original suspicion that the Intel graphics was cause of problem.
The other part of the problem is GoPro video.
For some people, GoPro video causes lots of problems in Vegas.
I normally recommend people convert all GoPro video using Handbrake, before importing into Vegas.
If you ever consider doing this, I have posted instructions here:
www.moviestudiozen.com/forum/movie-studio-platinum/2852-movie-studio-17-crashing-when-rendering#14332

Thanks Derek. Yes I have heard about the GoPro footage issue. I was contemplating converting, but as I will have around 1 to 3 hours worth to convert for any project, that bottleneck kind of made me hesitant. 
I finished off my edit and render last night and was well happy to find no issues with the black preview frames.
I'm not going to count all my chickens just yet though, until the next video edit. Fingers crossed it's all fixed now though.

Thanks again for your time.

Cheers Paul

Woah! I hope I don't jinx it, but I may have solved the issue. See attached. In Hardware decoder options, Auto > Intel was selected, so I switched to Nvidia and so far so good

I too have experienced this problem using Vegas Pro 19 whilst editing some old Sony camcorder 720x576 footage. I could not figure out what was happening. Your fix solved the problem for me too. I was not aware of that setting in File I/O. Thank you to you and Derek.
Regards Malcolm