Adding the photo in question to the beginning of a new project caused a crash immediately. I started another new project and added a different photo at the beginning and it crashed again (this time I had changed the program setting to Compatibility Mode). I changed the setting back to the standard mode, added the second photo and again it crashed immediately.

I'm not sure I've interpreted correctly. Is the following an accurate summary: when you reboot, start MEP 2016 and open a fresh project, then add an image to the timeline (one of certain specific images?), it consistently crashes?

If so, that sounds radically different to the earlier behaviour.

Do any of your other graphics or video applications crash with those images loaded?

Yes, that is what is happening now. What other graphics or video applications would you be referring to? I can open and/or play them just fine using Windows Media Viewer, VLC, Microsoft Office Picture Manager, etc...

The issue seems to be with several (or all, I haven't tried them ALL yet) images and videos from a certain event, all taken on the same day.

Eureka moment! The photos and videos I am using for this current project are all copies of the originals that I collected into a folder and renamed in chronological order (my family year in review). Almost all of this media is causing the program to crash.

I decided to try adding the original photos and videos (converted to mp4 because they are mov files) to a new project (not the copies in the new folder I created) and so far I have had no issues.

As of this moment, I'm 99% convinced that the issue is in the copied files.

I have 396 files copied, all in chronological order. I REALLY don't want to have to cherry pick these all again from their original locations to add to my project. Any suggestions?

Hi Daneane71

. . . . all copies of the originals that I collected into a folder and renamed in chronological order (my family year in review). Almost all of this media is causing the program to crash. . . . .

Did you use a renaming program to rename them in chronological order and copy them to another folder or did you do this one by one using Windows Explorer?

Either way this suggests the folder containing the copied images, in increasing order of probability, is either:

1. corrupt
    
2. the total length of the file path as shown in the example below
   
   C:\Users\john\Documents\MAGIX\DVD_BD_Projects\Australia 2016\Images\XR520EV\DSC05322.JPG
   
   exceeds the allowed number of characters (251)
    
3. the folder or image names contain illegal characters. Allowed characters are a to z (upper and lowercase) 0 to 9 - (hypen) and _ (underscore).

HTH

John EB

Like John, my guess would also be on a renaming issue. (I think you'd have noticed file names around three times the length of that example!)

Maybe you'll be lucky and it's the folder name itself that's invalid!

John, I did not use a renaming program. If memory serves me correctly I just used the "Save As" or "Copy" buttons and added them to the new folder that way. I named them numbers (1, 2, 3) so that they would land in order in the folder. That said, some are the same numbers with a () afterward (see screenshot). As of this morning I had placed about 15 random images and 2 converted videos from their original location and had no issues. I decided to go to the newly created folder to add one of the copied images just to confirm my suspicion and once the folder opened in Magix, the project crashed. I am going to go through and rename them in such a manner that there are no (). I can't remember how that even happened in the first place

Hi Daneane71

. . . . some are the same numbers with a () afterward . . . .

The () indicate that you have copied the file with the same name when using the Copy button - the Save as would have asked you if you want to overwrite the file and not used the ().

I suspect, from what you have said, that the image files are in different folders and you have renamed them in sequence in each folder eg

in folder1 - 0, 1, 2, 3 etc

in folder2 - 0, 1, 2, 3 etc

etc

and then copied them from the original folders to a new folder for the project. This is OK, however you may find the files are no longer in chronological order.

For this sort of task I use a renaming program to rename and copy the files to another folder. The ones I have are Advanced Renamer - my preferred program and Bulk Rename.

If I want the file in true date taken order I rename the files to the date modified - this is normally the date the images or video were taken - they can then be arranged in name order which will then be the chronological.

I also use the Copy option to place the renamed files into another folder, this way I keep the originals intact.

Note: if you do decide to use one of these programs read the instructions/manual carefully

HTH

John EB

Hi Terry

. . . . I think you'd have noticed file names around three times the length of that example! . . . .

Not necessarily - it all depends on how many folder levels down and the length of the folder names and if, like me, you use short-cuts to folders or put files in the Documents folder which already has a predetermined length, depending on its location and the computers username.

I have often seen people use long descriptive names for folder names eg Photos taken in Cairns Australia 2016 or longer.

Also some programs, mainly word processing, suggest a file name which can be very long - Microsoft Word is a prime culprit for doing this, it will suggest the entire first paragraph of a document as the file name if the document started with a paragraph with one long rambling sentence and no punctuation. This you can see even in the latest version.

Cheers

John EB

Although I can't see any invalid names in the 65 that you've shown, I'd suggest you either check all 386 carefully for validity based on John's earlier post. Or change the folder to List or Detail view (the thumbnails are not needed) and show us a full screenshot.

It would also be helpful to show the file extensions, as there are images and videos with the same name. To do that for a folder: View > Options > Change folder and search options > View and then uncheck 'Hide extensions for known file types'.

Although not technically invalid, I'd recommend you use file (and path) names without spaces, brackets and periods. At least until we get this crash sorted.

Also, did you confirm the full filename and path was within the 251 character limit John specified?

Hi

The file path length in the image looks good to me - it is on and Western Digital Elements external hard drive so no hidden sub path.

Like Terry I would like to see the details view of that folder.

John EB

I changed the view settings so the extensions are visible as Terrypin suggested. This is the list view. I did not screengrab the details view, as it would've taken numerous pictures. If you feel it's important I will.

I can't see any invalid filenames. (Although I'd personally be happier with more conventional names as I said earlier).

Could this simply be down to your having all your resources on an external USB drive? Try copying the lot to an internal HD (and editing the project appropriately) and see if that restores stability.

No, I did copy the folder and all of its contents to my internal hard drive with the same results.

Hi Daneane71

What I do see in the folder images is only one mp4 file and many MOV files.

Where are the mp4 files that were converted from the the MOV files?

When you renamed the converted video files did you change the file extension from .MP4 to .MOV?

If so then that may be causing the crashing.

HTH

John EB

No, those are mov files I haven't converted yet. I haven't tried to add any of them to my project. Should I convert them all regardless if I'm adding them to my project?

Hi Daneane71

. . . . I haven't tried to add any of them to my project. Should I convert them all regardless if I'm adding them to my project? . . . . .

I would convert them, MovAvi does allow you convert them all in a batch process - make sure the Join option is not checked otherwise you will end up with one big video file.

HTH

John EB

Can you make a non-confidential project, as small as possible, that consistently crashes on your PC. Now you need to get it to us so that we  we can try to reproduce it. To do this, use File > Backup > Copy project and media into a folder, zip up that folder and upload it to Dropbox.

Hello gentlemen, me again. I successfully finished my project! However I ran into a new issue while burning it to a DVD. My movie contains imported music from iTunes as well as video clips with audio. When I started burning my movie, I was getting an error message regarding every video clip that there was a "Read Error". I closed the error messages. Once completed, the music was fine but there is no audio on the video clips.

I used MovAvi converter to switch them from mov. files to mp4 files. Could something have gone wrong during the conversion? Is there a setting I missed? Your help (again) would be appreciated (again)!

Daneane71,

Several thoughts come to mind when reading your latest post, so:

1. Do the clips whose audio was missing play properly (i.e. with audible audio) on the timeline? If not, have you accidentally muted the audio (the speaker icon at the beginning of the track will have a line through it if muted)?
2. I don't think this will cause the problem of no audio in the exported video clips but I'm not sure whether using music imported from iTunes is legal?
3. I don't know any setting in MovAvi Convertor that would prevent audio being transferred to your converted files.
4. Can you post what MediaInfo says about any one of the files which loses its audio on export and the same info on the exported file? Is the sample rate and bit depth the same on all your files? (Ideally it should be 48kHz and must be 16 bit).

Jeff

Hello Jeff,

1) Yes they play fine in the timeline.

2) I'm unsure if it's legal but I paid for the downloads and am only using them in personal movies, not to be shared or published so I think I'm ok.

3) Here is the MediaInfo for one of the converted files I used. I haven't exported the movie, only burned it to a DVD.

General
Complete name                            : F:\Daneane's Pictures\2012\2-5-2012\P1010952.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size                                : 14.7 MiB
Duration                                 : 28 s 0 ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Constant
Overall bit rate                         : 4 419 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49
Writing application                      : Lavf57.56.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=25
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 28 s 0 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 4 240 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.153
Stream size                              : 14.1 MiB (95%)
Language                                 : English
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 27 s 934 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 192 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel(s)_Original                      : 1 channel
Channel positions                        : Front: C
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 665 KiB (4%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-01-29 18:31:49

Hi Daneane71

Jeff pipped me to the post with the same questions!

The one thing that sticks out in the MediaInfo data is the audio samplerate at 44.1 kHz

Try converting a video file again with MovAvi and change the export setting audio samplerate to 48kHz.

Import this into MEP and try exporting as MPG and check the audio.

Tip: If you are not doing so, use DVD-RW discs for your initial burns once they are good and the movie is as you want it you can burn to DVD-RW either by copying the DVD-RW or using MEP built in burn program to burn the project again without recompiling - see under File, Burn CD/DVD. . .

HTH

John EB