Ever since I have purchased Studio Ultimate about a month ago, I have always had "jerky" video. I have read the knowledge base and tried the various solutions, but nothing has helped. I have had numerous live chats and realize now that the staff only uses  the knowledge base for their answers so they have not been helpful. I have read the comments in this forum, but I have noticed an odd occurence in looking for a solution that does not seem to have been addressed in this forum, so maybe someone can offer help. While I used the Studio program, which I had to purchase, I also downloaded  a free trial of the Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition. I have had no problems with the Sony program and in fact made a short movie, which I can view on Windows Media Player and also in Pinnacle Studio, both with no "jerky" video. So in some way the Sony program is different than the Pinnacle program. Do any of you have any ideas of what this might be and if so how I might configure my Pinnacle system to mimic the Sony editing program. Of course, I might have to buy the Sony program, but I would rather not give up on the Pinnacle program since it seems more intuitive than the Sony program and since I already paid $100 for the program.

Hi Jim and welcome to the forum

Although Vegas Movie Studio has lower hardware requirements than Studio, your computer Is more than powerful enough for you to get smooth Standard definition playback with Studio.

What source of video are you using? If you put the Ourbackyard circus video on the timeline, do you get smooth playback?

If not, go to the setup/video and project preferences dialogue and UNcheck enable background rendering.

Smooth playback now?

No - then check your project settings by hovering your mouse over the title of the project top left of the timeline and waiting for a tooltip to pop up. What are they?

If you don't get jerky playback with OBC, what do you add to the timeline to start it happening?

Thanks for your quick response.

The Ourbackyard circus plays smoothly no matter which preferences are set. What I add to the timeline are imported video clips through a USB connection from my Sony HDR-SR11, which is a high definiition camcorder with a hard disk memory. It is capable of shooting 1920x1080 resolution but I have set the camera at 1440X1080 to stay within  the system requirements for Studio. The project preferences are set at  1440x1080/60i. But in any case, I have changed the resolution for the timeline to as low as 720x480 and I still always have "jerky" video. As far as I know I have made every change in the preferences to see if there is a difference, but there never is.

Jim,

The AVCHD from the camcorder is difficult to edit.You barely meet the minimum for 1440x1080 AVCHD editing.

Try setting:

a) high res preview off

b) enabling background rendering. Allow for it to complete before adding in or editing further.

Another try:If you set the project settings to 720x480 and then select New project. Then add you clip in.  Does that help, or is the video still jerky?

Jim - as its an AVCHD issue, I'll leave you in Mark's capable hands. My only thought is that Vegas may well use proxies for editing AVCHD - a lower res copy of the file for editing purposes. How long does it take to import the media in Vegas? Studio normally works with the actual files.

The high res is off and the background rendering is enabled but the video is still jerky. I have also set the project settings at 720x480 and added a clip but still the video is jerky.

 Thanks for your ideas-any other thoughts?

To import for Studio, I connect the camcorder to the computer through a USB cable and then select "Import media from device" and select the files to be imported from the camcorder and then download  them-it is pretty quick and easy. For the Sony program, I had to connect the camcorder to the computer via a USB cable and then download the video files from the camcorder to the C drive and then drag them into Public Videos, where I could then access them for editing in the Sony program. The Sony Vegas download doesn't seem to be any longer than the direct download to the Studio program.

Jeff is correct regarding the proxy editing in Vegas for AVCHD.  The downloaded files should be the same regardless of software package. They are copies of the files on your HDD (or flash media) from your camcorder. The difference is how the applications go about editing.  In Studio, the actual high def file is used. Whereas in Vegas, a copy of the file albeit at much lower resolution is made and you edit that particular file.  When you make your movie, Vegas then makes all the appropriate edits on the original high def footage.  That is why it doesn;t take as much computer processing to deal with Vegas AVCHD as it does in Studio.

Jim Gerlach:

The high res is off and the background rendering is enabled but the video is still jerky. I have also set the project settings at 720x480 and added a clip but still the video is jerky.

 Thanks for your ideas-any other thoughts?

Did you actually try making a new standard def project, dragging your clip to the timeline and then seeing how the video played (In that order)? Check that your project isat the correct resolution by mousing over the top left of the timeline where the project name is located. Does the video play equally jerky when background renderingis off?

I just reread your initial post, can you confirm that the jerky playback in question is in the preview window in Studio?

The system specs are certainly adequate to edit AVCHD at 1440x1080 60i.  The export specifications of a Studio project will not affect the preview parameters, since Studio works from the native files, not proxies.  Thus, it does not make preview easier to set the project specs to 720x480.

Is the "jerky video" you refer to mean in preview or in the exported file or disc?   Once you burn a Studio project, is the playback in WMP smooth?

 The preview will not be as "smooth" as the Vegas one, since the later uses low resolution proxies.  But your PC has enough power to preview small projects fairly smoothy, even in HD.  Larger projects can be tougher to preview, unless you wait for all the rendering to finish, and still be a bit slow.  You can turn off the high def preview feature to ease the preview of medium sized projects.  However, progressively larger AVCHD projects does push your system to the limit.

How big is you project (how many clips, how many effects, and what length) when you start to notice the jerkiness?

My custom is to work in small sub-projects, then assemble them as chapters or sub-chapters into the primary projects.  Preview is reasonably smooth so long as the sub-project sequences is under 10 minutes and / or does not use heaps of effects and transitions.  When I export the finished to a AVCHD disc image, I then import the m2ts stream file into the primary project.  Since this finished piece has all its effects and things in finished form, the preview on the timeline of the primary project becomes much easier.

 System: 2.4 ghz core 2 duo, 3GB RAM, NVIDIA GF 8400m GT

When I set the project preferences to 720x480 29.97 16.9 progressive in Studio and add four short clips to the time line, I notice no jerkiness in the preview window. But when I set the project preference to 1440x1080 29.97 interlaced MPEG2, and I add the same four clips to the time line, I notice jerky video in the preview window. I have not done any extensive projects, only a few video clips and then noticing the jerky video, I go no further. I have tried a very short Smart Movie with disasterous results. The movie starts all right, but by the third frame, it goes black. I have not tried to burn a disc because I know I must play it on a Blue-ray player, which I do not have-perhaps wisely so since I already have spent almost $3000 for the video camcorder and the new Dell computer.

 Is it likely that the final product from the Studio program will be smooth and in high definition (1440x1080) even if the preview is jerky and is there a way to see a final film without burning a disc (since I am not anxious to spend $400 now on a new Blue-ray player)? Conversely is it likley that the Sony Vegas program will  produce a final smooth high definition video even though the preview is low resolution?

I truly appreciate all the help I am receiving on this forum. Any further ideas and help will be appreciated.

JKoch:

The export specifications of a Studio project will not affect the preview parameters, since Studio works from the native files, not proxies.  Thus, it does not make preview easier to set the project specs to 720x480.

Actually it does, because Studio will render to the appropriate resolution for preview playback. That is why background rendering takes longer for an HD project.

JKoch:

Is the "jerky video" you refer to mean in preview or in the exported file or disc?   Once you burn a Studio project, is the playback in WMP smooth?

Still the question that needs to be answered.

Jim Gerlach:

When I set the project preferences to 720x480 29.97 16.9 progressive in Studio and add four short clips to the time line, I notice no jerkiness in the preview window. But when I set the project preference to 1440x1080 29.97 interlaced MPEG2, and I add the same four clips to the time line, I notice jerky video in the preview window.

1. Have you done a test with 720x480 16:9 interlaced?
2. Just to confirn your earlier post that you see the jerkiness even after background rendering has completed? 

Jim Gerlach:

 

Is it likely that the final product from the Studio program will be smooth and in high definition (1440x1080) even if the preview is jerky and is there a way to see a final film without burning a disc (since I am not anxious to spend $400 now on a new Blue-ray player)? Conversely is it likley that the Sony Vegas program will  produce a final smooth high definition video even though the preview is low resolution?

It is quite possible. All you need to do is render to a file (or disc) on your computer (eg. render but don't burn option) in make movie. Then you can play it back using your favourite high def playback application. No disc or BluRay player required.

Vegas only uses the low res copy to edit. The final version, just like Studio, will be in high def.

Thanks to your  thoughts, I ignored the jerky preview and completed a very short film (13 clips, 4 transitions-about 3 minutes) with the project set at 1440x1080 and the file at HDV2 MPEG-2 (1440x1080) and then watched it on Windows Media Player. It was smooth and very clear. When I ran the film in Studio and watched in the preview, it was again jerky. I tested my luck further and made another movie (again about 3 minutes) with the project set at 1920x1080 and the file at HD 1080i (1920x1080). Again the film was smooth and clear on Windows Media Player but jerky in the Studio preview window. Of the 13 clips I used for the film, 6 were shot at 1440x1080 and the others were recorded at 1920x1080. Was I lucky or can I start making longer and somewhat more complex movies? By the way, when Windows Media Player plays a video set at 1920x1080, is the final output  as I see it high definition? It certainly was impressive on my computer (I have a high resolution Dell 17" laptop set at 1920x1200) but when I checked the preferences in Media Player, nothing was noted about resolution. And finally should I again set the camcorder to record at the1920x1080 resolution although this exceeds the  requirements of my computer?

Again thanks for your help. I now feel like I am making progress and may not have to buy a different editing program and perhaps even have some real fun.

Yes, you should be fine with longer projects.  Studio requires much more cpu power during edit because there is so much to do in addition to playback. All WMP needs to do is play it. The final output in WMP is in high def. You should be able to see the resolution if you click FILE>Properties in WMP. Glad to hera that you are about to embark on a fun journey!