Seriously guys, figure out the Video Engine problem.

[minister]

Things have been fine for me for a while and the AVE until today. Simple task. Open a session from 2013 that was on PT with a video that was no longer on the system. That wasn't a problem, but we just needed the VO for reference for timing of the new VO for the company name change. Session started to open, then the Video Engine failed to initialize. Restart. Again, failed to initialize. Had to do the session, so got it to launch with the VE off. Session recorded fine.

Then client wanted to show a recent job to his client that we did 6 weeks ago in PT11 with a DNxHD video. Session would not open. Restart. Disable Video Engine in the Setup->Playback Engine. Would not launch for 10 minutes! Force Quit, restart computer, Zapped P-RAM. Started PT11. AVE is off. Tried to launch it. Waited 15 minutes. They ran out of time. Waiting for the AVE to relaunch for 30 minutes. It's still not fixed.

Adding my voice to the chorus: This thing needs fixing.

Mac Pro 32 GB RAM, OSX 10.8.5, PT 11.3.1 HDX.

[made]

Maybe this helps you too. It helps on my System.
I also have trouble when opening sessions that somehow have PT10 elements in it (even after creating a new session in 11 and importing all tracks)
My problem was that the Video Engine would report an error when I want to play the session after loading.

On my system it happens on sessions with high track count and (I think) tracks with offline clips.
So deactivating tracks helps.
Once the session plays it plays fine the whole day or until I close it and reload it. weird.

The workaround for me is to get ProTools starting after the Video Engine Error without a computer restart is:

Open ProTools
Change buffer size and disable video engine
Close ProTools

Open ProTools
Load Session
If it plays everything is good. If not, deactivate tracks

close session
quit protools (it will hang and you have to force quit)

Start from top until the session plays

[minister]

Thanks made. I appreciate the attempt and the work around suggestions!

But the PT 10 session was only 6 tracks!

Now, after leaving the studio for 2 hours and letting the video engine "launch", it still doesn't. I tossed all the Prefs using the new Pref utility. No luck. I changed the HW Buffer, Quit and Relaunched PT no luck. I tried switching to another buffer setting, restarting PT. No luck. Now I can't get the AVE to launch even with NO session open. I let it sit there for more than 5 minutes.

Guess I have to uninstall and re-install Pro Tools.

[cananball]

I love how Avid Support pops up out of nowhere to troubleshoot the smallest issues, but a major problem like this that everyone is having and they are nowhere to be found…

Staying on 10.3.9 for a while longer, let me know when it's safe guys!

[seanmccoy]

I will report that I had my first post sessions using 11.3.1 (HD) and BM 10.3.7 this week, and so far I've had no problems. Not a single instance of runaway video, which hasn't been the case for awhile. These were somewhat lightweight mixes, I was monitoring desktop video, and no recording to picture yet. This is on Windows, of course.

[Postman]

Mac-specific trouble, perhaps. We have regularly moved completed mix sessions from 10.3.8 (HDX, Mac) onto 11.2/11.3 (HDX, Win), and have had zero problems with AVE.

edit: Ah, wait, there is another possible difference. Our mixed 10.3.8 sessions never have video tracks in them (video is satellite-linked during mix). We add a video track after opening on PT11.

[mgoorevich]

Originally Posted by Postman

Our mixed 10.3.8 sessions never have video tracks in them (video is satellite-linked during mix). We add a video track after opening on PT11.

The PT 11.3.1 without video out of PCIe (Desktop only) is flawless.
The problem is only when using Aja, BM cards genlocked or without it.
Even though Aja performs much better than BM, there is still glitches in some heavy edit density sessions, where "Activating / Deactivating Video Engine" is getting slightly mad over and over again.

[8dB.co.uk]

I've found that the digital out only cards (HDMI & SDI) like the MiniMonitor by BM, provide very good stable performance, whereas the ones that also live convert to SD or component seem to be less reliable. Yes, the MM doesn't have a genlock input, but other users and myself remain to be convinced that it's necessary.

[8dB.co.uk]

I've also found that having videos of differing codecs in your session, even if they're only in the clip list, causes major headaches for the AVE. That was the same for PT10 though.

[minister]

The only thing that got me back up and running was uninstalling and re-installing PT 11.3.1.