How to Free up "System Resources"

[Jordanmphoto]

While editing my video (which I've already broken down into two pieces) I am having lots of problems with slow performance, even while running nothing else on a fairly powerful computer. Things get "stuck" and the little blue circle spends a lot of time circling. I have to wait and wait. Then I decide to try to click it off of dead center and I hit ESC or something. Then the screen turns light gray and things are even worse. Then I just have to tell Windows to shut down the program. Today I was editing text and a notice came up saying I should save my file and proceed cautiously because the program is very low on system resources. I am running no other programs. How can you free up the resources other than having to reboot the whole thing every hour or so?

[Peru]

What are your system specs (operating system, processor, hard drives and their available space, RAM, graphics)?

Do you regularly do a disk clean or use CCleaner or defrag?

[Steve Grisetti]

Can you give us more specifics on your video and system, Jordan? Often performance can be greatly improved just by rendering your timeline!

How fast is your processor and how much RAM do you have? Are you on a laptop or a desktop computer? What operating system are you using?

What type of camcorder is your video coming from? Are you rendering your timeline whenever you see a red line above the clips on your timeline?

Which settings did you select when you started your Premiere Elements project?

[Jordanmphoto]

What's puzzling is that I wasn't having this much problem with it running slow yesterday.

The system is:
Desktop
Intel Core i3 550 @ 3.20 ghz
8 GB RAM
64 bit Win 7 OS
1 TB hard drive
NVDIA graphics card

I have System Mechanic 10 running defrags and other cleanup maintenance when the system is idle. It runs pretty well with every program but this one and, as I said, today has been worse than ever before.

No camcorder. It's a Canon 60D DSLR. I continually have the settings on "DSLR 1080p24" Hasn't been a problem before.

I render the file periodically, usually when I'm going to be doing something else for awhile. At this point most of the file has been rendered and it is only the new stuff that isn't. I often make the workspace fit the latest edit and render it, but it seems to go very slow considering it is only a few clips.

I seem to be having particular problems with Black Video titles. I am making a series of about 8-10 of them and making them by duplicating an earlier title. If I click the text in some way it doesn't like or try to to an "undo" it gets hung up with the blue circle. Just now Windows shut the whole program down and said it would let me know if it found a solution to this problem.

[Steve Grisetti]

You may just need a tune-up/clean-up.

I use this free program on my Windows 7 64-bit as well as my five year old XP machine -- and both are running better than when they were new! See if it helps. (Make sure, when you're installing it, to skip the screen where you agree to install the toolbar.)
http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html

[sidd finch]

Steve you are the man. Downloaded this and it works great thank you.

Sidd

[Steve Grisetti]

Glad to hear that, Sidd. I've sworn by this program for years, and just love how easily it cleans and tunes my systems.

[Jordanmphoto]

Well I'm willing to try anything so I installed it. I'm amazed that it found so much wrong that System Mechanic 10 never fixed. Thanks! I wonder what the heck that program has been doing anyway?

The new software made my photo editing software load and run faster, but does not seem to have had that effect on PE. An indication is the time it takes to load the project. It went on and on for at least 5 minutes. I finally closed the box that said it was loading and that seemed to have gotten things off dead center. But I still have that blue circle going around everytime I do anything in the program.

I'm wondering if the program doesn't like to build videos of any length. Is that a problem with PE? This video is about 12 minutes long and that length does not seem unreasonable to me, but I'm noticing that if I work with a project that has less media in it, (like 4 or 5 slides) the program runs at normal speed and there are no hangups.

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm concerned by the fact that you say things used to work but seem to be failing now and getting worse. If cleaning up with Advanced System Care and updating your Quicktime and operating system doesn't help, then something is going on that's beyond what we can do for you on this forum.

Sorry, Jordan. If I'm understanding what you're saying, then there are indications of spyware, malware or even a virus. And that's beyond what we can help you with, unfortunately.

[momoffduty]

I seem to be having particular problems with Black Video titles. I am making a series of about 8-10 of them and making them by duplicating an earlier title. If I click the text in some way it doesn't like or try to to an "undo" it gets hung up with the blue circle. Just now Windows shut the whole program down and said it would let me know if it found a solution to this problem.

I had a problem with the titler once on a style that I saved and wondering if there is some problem since you have duplicated the title. Are the titles on for the 12 minute project? Can you start a new project with just the 12 minutes of video and see if the problems persist? Sometimes if I twirl close the audio wave forms and video tracks and have no video in the source panel then that will help with the running out of memory errors. And clean the media cache. Found this thread awhile back and the tips do work. It is for Pro, but should be helpful for PrEl.

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/900362

[Jordanmphoto]

I guess I should have asked my question more simply: Is there a limit to the size of project PE9 can handle without slowing down? Specifically, is 12 minutes too long? I noticed somewhere a recommendation that projects be created in small chunks. This would make things go faster and then the files could be assembled into a final version. However, there were no specifics as to how long these files ought to be. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[Steve Grisetti]

There are far too many variables to give a simple answer to that question, Jordan. Are you working in standard def or high-def? Are you editing AVIs, MPEGs or AVCHD? How many tracks are you editing on? How many effects and transitions have you added? And, of course, how powerful is your computer and what operating system are you using?

12 minutes shouldn't be too long for a decent computer to handle. However, there've been times when, working in standard definition video, I've worked on an especially effects-heavy sequence in 15-second segments. So there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

[Jordanmphoto]

There are far too many variables to give a simple answer to that question, Jordan. Are you working in standard def or high-def? Are you editing AVIs, MPEGs or AVCHD? How many tracks are you editing on? How many effects and transitions have you added? And, of course, how powerful is your computer and what operating system are you using?

12 minutes shouldn't be too long for a decent computer to handle. However, there've been times when, working in standard definition video, I've worked on an especially effects-heavy sequence in 15-second segments. So there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

The system is:
Desktop (Custom built early this year - not the best there is, but it was sold as a super fast machine)
Intel Core i3 550 @ 3.20 ghz
8 GB RAM
64 bit Win 7 OS
1 TB hard drive
NVDIA graphics card GeForce GT 220

I am editing MOV files from my Canon DSLR. I once tried converting them to AVI, but it seemed to me that was a waste of time because every time I edited them they had to be rendered again anyway. Now I am just bringing them in and rendering the work space each time I'm away from the computer. This is because I understood that rendering changed them to AVI format (I hope I understood that correctly!)

BTW, I don't think viruses or malware are the problem. I protect this graphics dedicated computer from outside intrustion (no email on it) and it is constantly monitored for attacks. I scanned for problems with the IOBit Malware software which came free with the Advanced System Care (thanks for the tip -- it's better than the one I had, which cost me money). It said I have absolutely no problems.

But the transitions might be problem. I don't really have a good sense of what's normal for video editing and that's what I hope to find out here. I have most of the content on video 1 track and placed an overlay video on Video 2 in a couple of places. I am working in HI DEF, but I "dumbed down" the resolution of the still photos to what was recommended in your book. In this 12 min. segment I have around 250 still shots, mostly with cross dissolve transitions. There are about a dozen titles also with cross dissolve or dip to black transitions. I have four audio soundtracks of about 3 mins. each. I have five short video tracks here and there. I don't use many effects unless you count keyframes for fading in and out. I believe I used the stabilizer and color correction on one of the videos.

Here are the things that happen, which do not occur when I work with my small learning files of only a few stills or videos: 1) Slow loading. This 12 min. file takes slightly over 3 minutes to load. After it loads, the blue circle runs around for about 30 seconds. 2) I can't scrub through the whole file in Sceneline. It goes out only about two minutes. If I toggle back to Timeline and back again I can view another two minutes of Sceneline and if I keep toggling I can finally, slowly, reach the clips at the end. 3) The Blue Circle runs for about a minute each time I click back in the program window after it has been idle awhile. 4) The program often seems to be overwhelmed with processing data while I'm trying to work on it. Sometimes I click on something (especially title text) and the screen goes gray while the blue circle goes around. Sometimes it recovers from this, but usually I have to reboot when it doesn't come back in five minutes.

I am no computer expert, but it feels like I'm overloading the program. I've used a particular CAD (architectural design) program for many years and in the early versions of it there was a similar slow-down in performance if one built a 3D model for a project that was bigger than a one room shack. It seems that the original programmers had no idea how much data the program would be required to handle if used on a real multi-story project in a real architectural office. To the company's credit, they listened to their customers' complaints and had the program completely recoded. It now handles a normal sized building file without slowing down. So, I can't help but wonder if the problem here is that I'm using Elements and it was designed for short amateur videos. Should I be using Adobe's professional level editing program considering the load I'm putting on it?

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks for the details, Jordan.

That's a very nice computer you've got. But, for editing this type of video, believe it or not it's a bit underpowered. Editing of AVCHD footage is usually best done on a quad core or i7 processor.

Still, it depends on which resolution you're shooting video at. As I'm sure you've found, the program includes a number of project settings for DSLR video, and selecting the right one can make all the difference in the world!

If your DSLR is D series Canon and you're shooting at 640x480, you should have no problems editing in Premiere Elements in a project set up for this resolution of DSLR footage. However, if you're shooting full HD 1920x1080, you'll likely find your system overwhelmed rather quickly.

This may change, of course, if the next generation of Premiere Elements turns out to be built to take better advantage of your 64-bit operating system. And, with Windows 7 64-bit operating systems becoming the norm, it would be a wise move if Adobe did include this feature.

[Jordanmphoto]

Thanks, Steve. That information is very useful and it goes along with what I'm observing. You seem to be suggesting that my upgrade money would be better spent on hardware than on Premiere Pro, which is good because, now that I'm higher on the learning curve, I'm finding myself happy with PE's functionality. I'm going to ask the co. that built the computer if they can put an i7 or Quad Core on this mother board. It probably won't be compatible, but It never hurts to ask!

I may be able to muddle through for awhile with standard resolution, but I think it's a no brainer that HD is the norm of the very near future in videography. Besides which, I hate seeing my work on a standard resolution DVD. I am a high res freak and get spoiled when I see the gorgeous HD version on my computer. For that reason, I am now getting ready to buy a Blue Ray burner.

You may be right about the desirability of redesigning the program to take advantage of 64 bit WIN 7. I didn't say, but part of the effort to recode the CAD program apparently involved taking advantage of 64 bit. The result is that the program now runs quite fast on this i3 computer. Perspective renderings in photo-realistic mode can a bit slow, but that's okay because you can run it in other modes that allow you to work fast. I'd love to see that in Premiere Elements. Let's keep our fingers crossed!