"The avid video engine was unable to stop" error

[hbadger30]

Hi there,

I'm working with a 640 × 360, 23.98 FPS Quicktime .mov file, viewing natively in ProTools 12.4 on an HDX / HD Omni system. System spec is a Macbook Pro running OSX 10.8.5, 16Gb RAM, 2.6 i7 processor.

I don't work with video a lot but I'm running into a re-occuring crash/problem and I wondered if anyone had a solution?

All I seem to be doing is starting and stopping audio and opening and closing the video window, just working, until evenutally I get the error message "The avid video engine was unable to stop". The video then hangs on a frame and the session becomes unresponsive and I can't seem to get the video going again. At the moment I'm quitting Tools and then opening it again and that seems to sort it out. Anyone had the same issue?

Thanks in advance!

[Meads]

What codec has the video? PT doesn't like h264 very much.
You should try using ProRes, DNxHD or Photo-JPEG. Those are proven to work pretty well.
The "new" video engine is still buggy, though.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

I think it's the video satellite link connecting the AVE to PT.
It is often related to drives. People who put the video on an SSD seem to have less issues. Is your video on your MBP internal drive?
I get this occasionally even with my super reliable AJA IOXT with PT 12.4 HDX.
Sometimes, disabling the video track blue button (or shift apple J) can help. Let the AVE gets its knickers out of a twist, then carry on.

ps Photojpeg is actively discouraged by Avid (read the docs)
H264 actually works well but can lag the processor, depends on how many frames are key frames and how fast your processor is etc.

[TVPostSound]

Originally Posted by MIKEROPHONICS

I think it's the video satellite link connecting the AVE to PT.
It is often related to drives. People who put the video on an SSD seem to have

I run 2 systems that are mirrored, literally.
I cloned the hard drive.

One Mac drives a Media Composer PC machine.
That one has the video engine warnings all the time.

The other MAC just plays DNXHD36 mxf video from a separate internal drive, and get no issues.

Hmmm!!!!

[hbadger30]

Thanks for replying to this thread!

The Codec is H264 and is being read from an internal rotational HD (7200rpm) on the MBP. I'll try putting it on my system drive as that's a SSD to see if it makes a difference. The video file is quite short - is there anyway to put it in RAM……….kind of like audio in the disk playback cache in PT's playback engine?

Mike, I tried toggling the blue button, but once I've had the error message once PT doesn't want to know. It just waits a while and then flags the same error message.

So judging by the other responses I'm not the only one out there experiencing issues? I just wanted to check it wasn't user error really!

Thanks all for sheading a bit of light on the subject for me.

[TVPostSound]

Originally Posted by hbadger30

Thanks for replying to this thread!

The Codec is H264 .

Thats an issue right there.

Takes too much resources to decompress H264.

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...r-Pro-Tools-11

[Jazzbass56]

+1 this happens to me as well, usually when I select a small region and it gets looped

[yop22]

The only workaround I've found so far is to enable a post-roll so that it prevents from accidentally playing a very small selection.
I know it isn't very elegant but it saves time...
Also, be sure to convert to DnxHD.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

If I am going to loop, I just deactivate the video track

[gwhatley]

Originally Posted by MIKEROPHONICS

If I am going to loop, I just deactivate the video track

A very quick command+shift+J whenever I'm looping short sections of dialog toggles video on- / off-line and keeps the AVE happy.