There are no real notes on the error message. Just says unexpected error or words to that effect. It will be processing the video and all of a sudden the frame counter will slow and stop moving. Sometimes if I catch it soon enough I can click pause and after several seconds the word continue will show up. If I wait until the light on my hard drives go from solid to blinking (which can take a minute or more) and click continue, it will often start rendering again. On the last 15 minute video I made I had to do that 3 times.

If I wait until the light on my hard drives go from solid to blinking (which can take a minute or more) and click continue, it will often start rendering again. On the last 15 minute video I made I had to do that 3 times.

@Fred-Hoeser That sounds like a hardware issue not software, exporting to a mobile drive is not a good thing to do & is slow.,

Can you click your icon at the top of this page - My Profile & fill in your Signature with the full name of your CPU, GPU & amount of RAM, also inc the Windows & Magix version, this will then show at the bottom of your comments,

The different types of media placed on the timeline & effects added will affect export speed, so there's an App called MediaInfo, download it, it's free & a fast download with no added adverts or any of that rubbish. https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo
After downloading, right click on the media file in your Windows folder, open MediaInfo, choose Text from the options at the top, Copy & paste the information in a new comment on here 👍

Like this ...

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PS. Try rendering to your main (C) Local Drive to see if the problem persists..?

@Fred-Hoeser

HI

. . . . If I wait until the light on my hard drives go from solid to blinking  . . . .

Are you, as @Former user, suspects, exporting to external USB drive(s) and is the computer a laptop.

If so in addition to Gid's comment, try changing the Windows Power Managament settings for the USB ports to disabled when plugged in:

John EB
Forum Moderator

Thanks for the info. I’ll do some experiments and comment on my results.

My media is stored on an external drive, but my projects are being saved to an internal separate D: hard disc drive. The Movie Maker program is on my C: drive which is an SSD but it is pretty full. I suppose I could save the program to a file on my desktop and then cut and paste it to the D: drive. The external storage drive for my raw video files is an 8 TB HHD.

@Fred-Hoeser

Hi

. . . . C: drive which is an SSD but it is pretty full . . . .

How full?

If there is less than 20% free space for a drive 1TB or under, or 15 - 20% for a 2 TB or greater drive, then this is insufficient.

. . . . I suppose I could save the program to a file on my desktop and then cut and paste it to the D: drive . . . .

The 'desktop' is a protected folder location which can be reset when Windows either detects an issue with it, a crash, or an update (rare) does a desktop reset. Files, which are not shortcuts to programs and/or folders, should not be saved there, if a reset does occur all files may be lost.

Files whether documents, video images project file etc, should be inside the Documents folder which is also a 'protected folder' location which prevents the contents from being lost due to crashes, and updates.

. . . . The external storage drive for my raw video files is an 8 TB HHD . . . .

Is this is a USB 3 device connected to a USB 3 port, or a NAS drive connected by ethernet through your network router/switch and your computer is a laptop, or PC connected by wifi?

Depending on the resolution and bitrate of these files, and how many are being read simultaneously, eg multiple videos in a collage, the data transfer rate may be low giving rise to pauses in rendering.

John EB

I was out of town so couldn’t check the info until now. Here are the specs of my current system. CPU Intel i-7-4770 3.4ghz 4 cores. GPU Nvidia GeForce GT635 (dedicated memory 1.0 gb and shared memory of 6.0 gb). 12 gb ram. Windows 10 Home 64. C: PNY CS900 960 GB. 95.3 GB free of 873 GB. D: ST2000VX0082E3164 1.16 TB used of 1.81 TB. Media stored on usb 3 WD Elements 25A3 8 TB drive with 4.98 TB free of 7.27 TB. C: is a ssd and the others are hdd. C: and D: are internal dives. Movie Studio is on C: and finished projects are saved to the D: Drive.

One other thought on my part. Could the issue be related to the media being accessed while rendering is on the external drive? Both the desktop and external drive usage lights are solid when the program slows and stops.

I am planning to purchase a new computer. What would be your recommendations for specs to run Movie Studio? Also, assuming I do purchase a new computer, would it be wise to do a fresh install? If so, will I be able to access my current settings, projects, and text templates?

Thanks for all your help.

Fred

The external hard drive is connected via a USB 3 cable directly to my PC. Not sure on the other question, but it slows and stops in the middle of a longish clip. No other things like tltles, extra audio tracks, or transitions are present on the clips. Also it does not have issues in the same place each time.

By the way, I was able to do the render pausing occasionally when it slowed down and the finished video is now on YouTube and plays fine.

Fred

@Fred-Hoeser

Hi

In reverse order:

. . . . external hard drive is connected via a USB 3 cable directly to my PC . . . .

Is the port it is connected to a USB 3 port? If you look into the socket the 'key' should be blue.

As you surmise, this could be slowing the render down. The CPU in your PC does not help either, as it is quite old now, and slower than modern processors.

. . . . I am planning to purchase a new computer. What would be your recommendations for specs to run Movie Studio? . . . .

See my signature for the minimum specifications I would recommend for PC or Laptop.

Both work fine with video up to 4K UHD 3840 x 2160 50fps.

I would avoid AMD processor/graphics systems.

Movie Studio can use both the Intel integrated graphics chip and the Nvidia GPU in my systems.

. . . would it be wise to do a fresh install? . . .

Whether you are buying a pre-built system, or building your own, I would recommend using Windows 11 and a fresh installation of the programs.

HTH

John EB

Hi John, I verified the external hard disc drive is plugged into a usb 3 (blue) socket.

Would an Intel Core i5 14500 2.6 GHz 14 core processor be decent for Movie Studio or should I opt for an i7? The plan is to include an RTX 3050 6gb gpu and 32 gb ram.

Thanks,

Fred