When a disc burn operation fails, a Studio user now gets only a message that references some obscure temp file or code.  It would be a great help if the message indicated the precise point in the timeline (by time XX:XX.0 or frame X / XX, so that the user can quicky investigate potential flaws at that point.  Presently, one can only guess. If a long project is set to create a disc image, that can take hours, and the user cannot possibly sit by the PC and watch until the fail occurs.  Unfortunately, although insane, this is precisely what one might have to do, multiple times, until one happens to be looking at the screen the instant the fail occurs.  Projects with multiple effects might have several flaws at various points.  Sometimes one can anticipate the problems if certain segments stay green a long time in the background render, but not always, and a background render of a long AVCHD project takes plenty of time too.

The "export render:real time" is a very common problem for anyone who burns complex projects to disc, particularly if HD.  The Studio knowledge base presently prescribes only three solutions:

1. Install the latest patch.
2. Let background rendering complete.
3. Click the "always re-render entire movie" option.
4. 4 delete existing rendering files.

Sometimes one or another of these solutions works, but often not.  It is not even clear why #2 would help if one also obeys #3.  #4 does not even erradicate all the rendering files.  However, not even manual deletion cures all problems.

It appears that the problems can arise, in a semi-random manner, from the array of transitions or effects one has in a project.  The risk aggravates if there are mixed file types, multiple effects, or 1920x1080i AVCHD video.  Anything that puts stress on the rendering can be blamed.  Some forum threads present some rather poignant cases where users went nearly insane as they tried to figure out the "curse" in the timelines:  238638, 319233, 286930 / 290994, 269126,

Most fixes involve removal of clips or transitions or, less often, to copy a timeline into a timeline of a virgin project.  Sometimes it helps to pre-render difficult components of a project and then to import that file into the master.  However, the source of the problems, and the solutions, seem to involve an awful lot of random actions.  Some months ago, a very diligent fellow, who posted nothing since, producted a short test example of how to replicate an export "error:real time" with a project involving multiple cropped and zoomed or rotated still shots.  He even posted the two-time replication of the problem to a YouTube video.  Why the very helpful post disappeared from the forum, the only knows. 

The developers of Studio 13 would not need to try very hard to stumble onto the "export error:real time" by building a few HD projects (perhaps using the most challenging AVHCD 60p format), with 65 minute timelines including multiple melt transitions, zooms, rotated stills, overlayed videos and titles, stabilizations, and other plug-in effects.  Create a complex menu and multiple chapter structure and, you can bet your booties, voilá: there is a high risk of an "export error:real time."  If, by some miracle, you don't, modify the project and menu structure, ad or adjust a few things here or there (as any serious editor is apt to do), and then try to render.

At the very least, it would help if Studio 13 included a more reliable time and frame stamp to identify the first clip or frame where a stumbling point exists.   Some renders get no further than the "transitions, titles, and effects" rendering sequence before collapsing, and the error message does not pinpoint precisely where the fail occurred.

Better yet, the developers should either:

1) Improve the resliency of the render process to handle such effects in a project, whether in the background render or Make Move re-ender,

or

2) Resolve the apparent contraditions in the existing Knowledge Base remedial advice and ammend it to cover the optimum means to avoid or resolve the error.

Unless the avoidance or fix of this problem can be improved, there can be no advantage to any upgrade to Studio 13, since it takes huge amounts of time for the user to grope with, often with great frustration, making it pointless to attempt anything but very short or vanilla projects, for which any simple, cheap NLE would suffice.

Thanks.