@Scott-Rindenow

Welcome to the Magix user to user forums.

It is unlikely, I think, that your software is corrupted. From your description, this would seem to be rather more a problem that your computer is not fast enough to handle the data throughput of your video files, sorry!

In order to help us to help you, please read this post and give us ALL the information requested there about your computer, including the actual name and number of your CPU and any GPU. You can add this to your signature (via your profile page) and then it will always be appended to your posts and we will not have to ask for it again!

Then, please follow this tutorial and post here the MediaInfo data of one of your video files that does not play properly.

With all this additional information we may well be able to help you to resolve this problem.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

I am using an HP i7 Laptop with 64 gigs of ram and 2 TB of storage. It has an Intel iRISxe graphics card. I do not have problems with any other software on the computer. The software is dropping elements from the timeline when the program is loaded. It is flashing strangely when the software fires up. During playback from the timeline, the video is freezing up. None of this has happened until a few days ago. Nothing has been added to the computer. It is also dropping orange markers above the timeline as seen in the attached picture. Thank you.

@Scott-Rindenow

Hi Scott and welcome to the user to user forums.

Is your CPU an i7-10510U? If so the inboard top spec Iris XE GPU is about on par with either a GT 1030, or GTX 650. Results will vary dramatically depending on power limit, and memory bandwidth as the GPU needs to share both with the CPU. Does the program settings in the device section show the program using the Intel GPU for all three processes of Import, Processing, and Export? if so, good. Leave alone for now.

The repeated orange triangle and lines you see are where the timeline cursor has been dragged from one end of the timeline to its present position and at such a speed the computers CPU has not been able to keep up. They should have disappeared upon trying to play the project or reloading the project.

You have mixed MP4 with mov files. Do they have the same resolutions and frame rates? Switching from one clip to another can create the need for the laptop to do much more processing suddenly especially with a sudden large frame rate change. Are they both 4K from a DJI drone?

If you have recorded the videos at 29.97 0r 59.94 fps try changing the project to 30 or 60 fps instead. For some reason I think the DJI drones give the wrong frame reading. At least playback and exports seem to be smoother when 30 or 60 fps are selected in the project settings. If you have mixed frame rate clips that could cause the problems you are seeing.

If you have added any filter effects turn them off for playback by right clicking on the lightning icon in the bottom right hand corner of the preview monitor and selecting Deactivate effects. Then activate that by left clicking on the icon. The lightening icon should then turn blue. That will only deactivate the effects during playback. They will still be used during exporting but it will release processing power while you edit.

Within that lightning icon is also the ability to reduce the frame rate of playback or the video resolution shown in the monitor or to activate proxy files. All of which may help the project to play again and take some of the load off of the CPU and GPU.

Again those settings will only effect playback and not the rendered export.

If by other programs you are referring to video playback programs, they use very little memory or processing power compared to video editors.

As you load more video and audio into a video project, the processing load gets heavier.

While you are within the specs for the video editor although some effects, especially third party ones that are sometimes offered as a part of a deal, may tip the processing needs beyond what your current laptop is capable of dealing with easily.

Ray.

@Scott-Rindenow

I would fully agree with what @CubeAce (Ray) has written. I think this is essentially a problem that your computer's graphics simply cannot "keep up with" the data throughput.

However, it really would be very helpful to we fellow-users if you were to give us ALL the details of your actual video files, as @johnebaker and I previously asked you!

Jeff
Forum Moderator

@Scott-Rindenow

Hi

Thanks for the laptop spec information, however it is incomplete, as requested we need the following:

• Processor full model number
• If there is an AMD or Nvidia graphics card also installed, the model number
• Windows version.
• A MediaInfo analysis of the one of the DJI, drone(?), clips.
• A screen shot of the Program settings, Device options tab with one of the Import, Processing, Export drop-downs open showing available GPU's

In addition are you using an external USB hard drive for the project files and media?

From the 'unusual' naming convention and mix of file formats in the image posted - is there more than one DJI device being used for recording and/or have some of the files been through a converter, or had some pre-processing done to them?

As @CubeAce has commented what you are seeing is the display refresh is not keeping up with movement of the timeline cursor.

Depending on the CPU model, and if the DJI video is 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) then, the behaviour you are seeing is due to overloading of the cpu/gpu.

To improve performance, I would suggest:

• Turn on and use Proxy files - the setting is in the Project settings.
  
  Do note this will increase the amount of disc space used, and may take some time to generate. Once the project is complete and finished with the proxy files can be deleted, they will be in the same folder as the source video. However if you do go back to the project at a later time to re-edit they will be generated again.
   
• Turn on the lightning symbol bottom right of the preview monitor.

John EB

@Scott-Rindenow

Hi.

Is this your laptop?

I notice that the image from the PNG at the end of the project is showing at the current location of the playback cursor. That to me suggests that the project may have corrupted or frozen if the cursor was pulled rapidly from it's start point towards the end of the project to towards the beginning. If you want to place the playback cursor to a new location it is safer on a lower end machine to just click the top bar to the location you need it and then the laptop will not try to read all of the frames between positions. You have probably suffered a memory dump of some sort.

The flashing you are experiencing as the project loads is various parts of the project being loaded into ram sequentially ready for playback. As the laptop does not have a separate GPU the flashing could be caused by the screen refreshing the timeline view as the little frames visible in the timeline are being generated as the GPU and CPU are sharing duties. Again this action will increase as you add clips to the timeline but after re-opening a project and it reloads.

When we talk about lower end we are not referring to ability of a single component like the CPU but the accumulative effects of all the components working together. While an Intel integrated graphics chip can cope with basic video requirements like playback of a video file in a video player it will start to struggle in use on its own within a video editing package once the instruction sets grow with the project. Notice with a video player you can't increase playback speed normally beyond x 2. You can't drag the playback cursor but only at best generate a thumbnail images along the timeline by hovering the mouse.

We are not trying to say you don't have a powerful processor, you do, but the graphics side of the system for video editing without an additional GPU is much weaker as required resources for various actions can't be supplied as quickly. That can lead to freezing of the project while the system tries to catch up with the actions of the user or demands placed upon it by the demands of the video rendering processes being made within the program.

File types can also affect the smooth running of an editor. MP4 is best used on Windows machines and mov on apple machines. Apple machines do not like processing MP4 files. HEVC would work on both operating systems but can make processing even more demanding.

Ray.

I have tried using the project file on another computer with the software loaded (desktop computer) and I am experiencing the same issues. I now believe that the project file may be corrupted in some way.

@Scott-Rindenow

Hi

. . . . I now believe that the project file may be corrupted in some way. . . . .

If you start a new project and add video, images and some audio does it export OK?

If so, then I would suspect that all the auto backup saves are also corrupted, however it may be possible to recover the project using the procedure in this comment - it also applies to Video Pro X.

HTH

John EB

@Scott-Rindenow @johnebaker @emmrecs

Hi Scott.

I missed a clue earlier.

You are running an earlier version of VPX.

It was meant for DirectX 9.1 or earlier and Windows 7 or earlier.

It could be experiencing problems running on newer versions of Windows Direct X if you are running Windows 10 or 11.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

I missed a clue earlier.

As, I suspect, did all of us! Well spotted!

Jeff

@Scott-Rindenow

Hi Scott

Can you confirm the version of Video Pro X you are using and the rest of your PC specification please.

@CubeAce, Ray

. . . . I missed a clue earlier. . . . It was meant for DirectX 9.1 or earlier and Windows 7 or earlier. . . . .

To be specced for DX 9 and Windows 7 this must be a very old, ie from 2010 or earlier version eg Video Pro X2.5.

However the image Scott posted of the interface would suggest this is a later version of VPX, the clue is in the track header which is the more modern style, IIRC this was introduced in VPX 8 which requires DirectX 11.

This is a comparison on Scotts image and VPX 6 track header - I do not have screen grabs of exact version where this changed.

John EB