John, I've been doing a lot of testing, without any positive conclusions. One question, if it does not pop-up as an error, where do I find the log file? Some of the things I've tested:

• Export to MP4 (fullHD 1920x1080 29.97p) -- completes and plays well
• Burn to Blu-Ray (default settings) -- completed without errors, but the movie did not play well and froze in places
• Blu-Ray (default settings) Image Recorder failed during the process
• Export to MP4 (AVCHD, 1920x1080 29.97i) -- this went about 99% through then gave the error below. interestingly, the video plays well up to this point in the movie. I can't send the log file because I don't know where it is stored.

FYI I have the Windows graphics settings option selected to allow Windows to decide between which GPU to use. During this troubleshooting, I got a pop-up "error during export with an external video codec". "update Intel CPU graphic driver or deactivate hardware encoding". I did update the drivers for both the Nvidia and Intel GPUs, and repeated the last bullet point above with the same resulting error. I have not yet done the obvious test of having Magix use only the Nvidia card. Let me know if you have any other thoughts. I appreciate your time!

@Ralph_S

Hi Ralph.

Do you actually have a Blu-ray recorder or player? You can't play Blu-ray files back on a DVD player. I don't even think you can record Blu-ray data successfully onto a DVD and expect it to play back. The pit pitches are all wrong. The data may successfully get recorded onto a disc but unless it is the correct disc burnt with the correct equipment and played back on the correct equipment it isn't going to work.

Or I would be very surprised if it did.

Ray.

Sure, I have both a Blu-ray recorder and player. In many other projects, I have successfully edited, burned, and played Blu-ray discs using VPX.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

Nice little diagram.

I don't even think you can record Blu-ray data successfully onto a DVD and expect it to play back.

You can record successfully record a DVD with a DVD burner that plays as a Bluray by using the AVCHD disc option in MEP / VPX - Max 30mins.

@Ralph_S

What average and max bitrates are set in the advanced encoder settings for your burns? There was a problem back in VPX6 days where encodes using over 30Mbps were crashing even though this was using the default bluray template's settings. Reducing or even just changing the the max and average BR's allowed a successful burn.

Peter

@Scenestealer, @CubeAce

. . . . You can record successfully record a DVD with a DVD burner that plays as a Bluray by using the AVCHD disc option in MEP / VPX - Max 30mins. . . . .

This is not restricted to the AVCHD option - the standard Blu-Ray disc option will also work max runtime though is usually about 20 - 25 mins.

. . . . The pit pitches are all wrong. . . . .

Not to mention that the disc layout format, the order of video files for menu and chapters and movies and the support files which contain the commands, video and chapter entry point times, are different. A DVD player expects and will only recognise the DVD layout commands and entry points.

John EB

@johnebaker

This just keeps getting weirder. As I said before when I export to MP4 (AVCHD, 1920x1080 29.97i) -- this goes about 99% through then gives an "error during export with an external video codec. Update Intel CPU graphic driver or deactivate hardware encoding". Two things: 1) I've checked and to the best of my knowledge I have the current stable drivers for both of my GPUs; and 2) in my Windows graphic setting, I have selected to only use the Nvidia GPU, so presumable the Intel GPU is not used. Also as I said, the exported movie plays well up to the last ~2 min then stops.

Now here is the weird part. Thinking that it might be caused by some effect I put on the last bit of the movie, I then selected the last ~5 min of the project, which was before the place it stopped previously, and exported only the selected part with the same settings. That exported without errors and the video played well.(?)

@Ralph_S

I would not like to assume...only a check of Task Manager to see if there is significant activity on GPU0 during encode would confirm that.

What average and max bitrates are set in the advanced encoder settings for your burns? There was a problem back in VPX6 days where encodes using over 30Mbps were crashing even though this was using the default bluray template's settings. Reducing or even just changing the the max and average BR's allowed a successful burn.

Can you answer the above please? Further - I think that earlier post by @SevCardy mentioned the problem only showed up on clips that were not trimmed on the timeline....??

I then selected the last ~5 min of the project, which was before the place it stopped previously,

I am not certain but I think if you select and play the failed encoded file it should show you up to the frame it failed on.

Peter

@Scenestealer

Just to be clear, the most recent efforts and failures is with export to MP4 using AVCHD transport stream 1920x1080 29.97i,

Task Manager indicates that VPX is using "GPU 1" at about 8%. Another point is that even though I've enabled Hardware encoding, the encoding status indicates "no hardware encoding",

I did not notice when it crashes at the end of export whether or not it stopped at a specific frame. I just got an error message, but the exported file plays well until it comes to an abrupt stop, and it is very obvious where it crashed.

OK, I'm getting burned out on this issue. The export with the settings above, completed fine and the video plays all the way through. The crashing seems to be variable, and I so far have not been able to associate it with any specific setting.

I'll leave this topic with one last question. With the settings I had above, why did the export indicate "no hardware encoding" but the Task Manager indicated that GPU-1 was active from ~8% to as much as 30%? It went back to zero when the exporting stopped.

@Ralph_S

Hi Ralph.

Because it does other tasks other than rendering the file itself such as the 3D rendering of added effects and next to nothing on the actual rendering of the video itself. That is not to say it doesn't help take the strain off of the CPU that is doing the video rendering and possibly allowing for more of the appropriate calculations per cycle and that it's vram isn't used to help speed things up a little.

I'm sure there are a lot of differences between how different systems work right down to how the motherboards work as some have better configurations of their PCIe slots than others and variations in ram speeds as well as CPU clock cycles, what type of chipset controls all of that as well as the read and write speeds of the C: drive and the type of Intel GPU being used and how many cores the CPU has as well as type of nvidia GPU being used.

It's also I think these variations are the possible cause of differences in the variations of the types of problems people have with various programs, that others find difficult to sometimes replicate and confirm or help out with suggestions for rectifying the problem.

Ray.

@Ralph_S

Hi

. . . . why did the export indicate "no hardware encoding" but the Task Manager indicated that GPU-1 was active from ~8% to as much as 30%? . . . .

It looks like neither GPU were doing any encoding - if you look at the activity of GPU1 you should find that most of the activity is in the Video Decode pane and possibly a small amount of activity in the 3D pane as shown in the 3rd image below, the CPU and GPU0 should look something images 1 & 2

CPU Activity

GPU0 (Intel)

GPU1 (Nvidia)

The activity in the Video Decode pane is where the GPU is decoding the video, but not images, before applying any effects etc that you have added, which may be processed on the GPU1's 3D Shader module, the video is then being handed back to, in your case, the CPU for encoding - it should going to GPU0 and being encoded there even though you have Nvidia selected in VPX - check your Program Settings, Import/Export tab that both Hardware acceleration options are selected.

John EB

@Ralph_S

I think the reason you have no hardware encoding occurring on the Intel GPU (GPU0) is because you have the Windows Graphic settings for VPX set on "Let Windows decide". I find I can only set this to Power Saving GPU (Intel HD630) to get proper HW encoding occurring.

Can you see GPU0 in Task manager and Device manager? Your processor looks like it is a mobile CPU and if your machine is a laptop the Intel graphics is often disabled in Bios (or permanantly) in favour of the Nvidia GPU.

If you can not enable the Intel HD630 then you should disable Hardware encoding for export in VPX program settings and in the export window - your second SS, as this could be causing a conflict. I would also turn "Hardware accelerated GPU scheduling" in Windows graphic settings to "Off".

Also the reason there is a fair amount of activity on GPU1 could be because a) the Intel is disabled and all tasks are being carried out on GPU1, and / or b) you have the "Calculate Video effects on the GPU" ticked which is forcing the calculation of the video effects, etc onto the shader (CUDA) cores of the Nvidia card.

The other reason your encodes fail near the end may be because you laptop is overheating (which they are apt to do) during a long encode especially as that processor has quite a high Turbo Boost speed of 4.5Ghz compared to its base clock speed of only 2.6Ghz.

Your advanced encoding bit rate settings look OK and should not be creating the problems I mentioned earlier.

Peter

@Scenestealer

Peter, thanks for the detailed comments. Boy does this change what little I thought I knew about video processing. I thought that the reason for getting a higher-end video card was to be able to process videos faster and with better capabilities. If I understand you correctly, you're saying to not only "disable" the Nvidia card, but if the Intel HD630 cannot be enabled, then to turn-off hardware acceleration altogether. Wow, then I wonder why I paid the several 100s $$ for the Nvidia card. :-) Is this only an issue with VPX?

Thanks for the suggestion on the heating. I'll watch for that.

@johnebaker, @Scenestealer

Hi John,

Thanks for the screenshots and explanation. I'll look for that in the future.

I've got to confess that I am having some difficulty reconciling your advice versus Peter's on hardware acceleration. They seem to be diametrically opposed. I must be missing something.(?)

Hi Ralph.

It is not just an issue with Magix products, there are several other editing packages that behave roughly the same.

There are also one or two that rely heavily on a separate GPU and the more CPU cores the better but those really do rely on very top end cards with the more vram the better (think over 12GB) and a top end Ryzen along with 64GB of ram. Even then, looking at the user forums I see different complaints of the programs freezing or crashing with odd file types. If you even look at the Adobe Premium requirements they are quite stringent on the processing needs and again quote an Intel GPU along with an nvidia card.

I really think desktop models are more capable at video editing than laptops for all sorts of reasons. Getting rid of heat is one of the main ones.

It's also a good idea to visit the user forums and see the amount of complaints by date and what they complain about and their relative systems.

Ray.

@Ralph_S, @Scenestealer

Hi

. . . . They seem to be diametrically opposed. I must be missing something. . . . .

We are singing from the same song sheet, however looking at the notes in a different way so it appears we are out of 'tune' so to speak.

The difference in the 'notes' is the result of me not recognising the H designation of the processor ( i7-9750H) as being for a mobile device - they are (were) normally designated U, so I have been under the assumption this was a PC.

The bottom line is that we both are of the opinion that the Intel GPU is not doing any or very little work with respect to Hardware Acceleration - this may be any combination of: GPU being disabled, the Windows Graphics setting, the Calculate effects on GPU, no monitor connected to the external monitor output - this last one see the final paragraph below. Peter - please correct me if I am wrong.

I would also agree with Peter, on the crashing near the end of the render, particularly if the laptop is one of a couple of brands that have been known for overheating when given hard work to do.

As this is a laptop and if the Intel GPU is enabled in the BIOS, and you are seeing no encoding activity on it, then you may need a second monitor plugging into the external monitor socket - if you do not have a second monitor and assuming your laptop has a HDMI or DisplayPort connector, then you can use a 'Headless Ghost' monitor emulator - these cost a few dollars - to test with, they fool the computer into thinking a monitor is attached and 'activate' the Intel GPU.

John EB

@johnebaker @Ralph_S

Hi John

Thanks for summarising the situation - we are on the same page. We need Ralph to somehow confirm to us that the Intel HD630 is not permanently disabled by the laptop manufacturer and then see if, with the suggestions already made, he can enable it so that VPX can use it.

Ralph - please read the previous comments carefully, try the suggestions, answer all our questions, and see if you can detect some activity in Task manager for the Intel UHD630 GPU which should show up as GPU0.

If I understand you correctly, you're saying to not only "disable" the Nvidia card, but if the Intel HD630 cannot be enabled, then to turn-off hardware acceleration altogether.

No a misunderstanding there - you do not need to disable the Nvidia, and changing the Windows Graphic settings to Power saving for VPX will not disable it either - it will just allow VPX to favour the Intel GPU for its' hardware accelerated encoding tasks which is what it likes. Turning off HWA in the program settings is just a last resort if the Intel GPU can not be activated because the Nvidia will not be able to do HWA for export encoding on H.264 video either and this may just cause some errors.

Johns headless ghost idea or another monitor attached to HDMI port is a good idea to see if that will kickstart the Intel UHD630 use by VPX.

Peter

Thanks to both of you for your time. I hope the below provides answers to your questions.

There is no setting in my BIOS relevant to the Intel or Nvidia GPU. I have changed the option in Windows Graphics settings to "Let Windows decide."

One other hardware tidbit. There is no typical monitor/graphics output on this laptop. I connect the 2nd monitor via a USB-C port to a docking station which has a variety of monitor outputs. For this next test, I turned off the output to the 2nd monitor. Because I was having good success exporting to an MP4 file, I used the following settings to burn a Blu-ray:

Below is the performance data for the GPUs soon after the start of the mixing. It's clear that the Nvidia is working.

The Intel GPU is obviously working because its activity of taking this screenshot goes up after the screenshot is taken. The performance below is soon before the mixing fails due to an error.

This is the error I got.

If helpful, I can send the log file from today. FYI, the entire program crashed at least once earlier today during saving, and when I restarted the MPX, I sent the automatically requested log file to Magix tech support. I hope this information is helpful.

I tried to export to MP4 with hardware acceleration turned off, and smart processing to reduce the load on the graphics. The export crashed at ~45% finished, and it was not due to heating of the GPUs. The interesting thing to me is that with HWA turned off the Intel GPU was essentially silent but the Nvidia was about 11 %.

The program crashed again and the log file was sent to MAGIX.

After some more testing, the MP4 export crashing has nothing to do with HWA. It always crashes at exactly the same place. I've discovered that it has to do with a title I put on a picture at that place. I'm not certain what is wrong with the title yet. It also crashes during preview.

@Ralph_S

Hi Ralph

. . . .  I've discovered that it has to do with a title I put on a picture at that place. . . . .

Which title or tile template did you use?

John EB

I used the default "Title Editing", and put the title at the bottom of a couple of static pictures. I realized that it was this title by exporting a short segment that bracketed the point where the export failed. I then deleted one part (pictures and title) at a time to see what was causing the problem. Once the title was deleted, the short export completed without error. BTW, I sent in the failure reports to Magix if that is helpful. Also, the entire project would produce ~60 min video, and it failed close to halfway through.

But this is not the whole story. Thinking that I had solved the problem, I did the same MP4 export of the entire project without the offending title. To my surprise, the export failed at very close to the same place! I needed to finish the project so without making any additional edits, I exported the first half project (just before the place it crashes). This export completed and plays OK. Then I exported the 2nd half starting just a few seconds before the end of the first half. My plan was to "patch" the two videos together. The 2nd export proceeded until 1-2 minutes before the end of the project then failed. Using the same approach as above I could not find any "offending" element! In the end, I had to export the project in three segments and patch these together to get a completed video. Frustrating!