Error Compiling Movie, Unknown Error

[v8toilet]

I've got a large project consisting of mostly MTS files and some DNxHD files. 

On two different PC's this project fails export of the porject with the Error Compiling Movie, Unkown Error.

The project has been tested on CS5 5.0.0 and CS5 5.0.3.

Machine 1

i7 2600k

SSD with apps installed

RAID 0 with content

Other large storage drives with 1tb+ free space for the export

16GB RAM

MPE Enabled GeForce Series

Machine 2

i7 720

18GB RAM

SSD with apps

Couple 1TB drives non-raid

Non-supported Geforce card MPE is in software mode.

I've tried a few items I've found by searching this forum.

1.  Disable MPE

2.  Reset security and permissions on my files for an entire drive

3.  Disable multi-monitor

4.  Disable effects at the point of the crash

5.  Replaced the files at the point of the crash with a black video slug.

6.  Tried using different codecs for the output (Quicktime:Animation, DNxHD, Mpeg-2 SD for DVD)

7.  Imported the sequence into a new project.

The project does not contain any large or stills other than some frame holds.  Project is 84 minutes in length and was exported approx 10 times prior to this situation.  No new plugins or other support libraries have been added.  Two different machines fail to render the project.  Neither machine ever runs out of memory or CPU availability (during export utilization varies from 35% to 75%, even at the moment of the crash) , the renders are going to seperate HDD's so disks are not timing out.   

The other oddity is that the crash occurs at close to the same point but if I select that section of footage with the work area bar it will export fine.  The two machines do not crash in the same place but each machine seems to have a part of the project it does not like to render.  Both play back the sequence fine inside Premiere.

[John T Smith]

Some past links I've saved... may help (or, of course, may not... but free to read)

Error Compiling Movie http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/906/cpsid_90670.html

-and http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Error:Error_compiling_movie

-and http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/error-compiling-movie-rendering-or.html

[Jim_Simon]

if I select that section of footage with the work area bar it will export fine.

So do that, then bring it in and place that export in the timeline.

[v8toilet]

Jim Simon wrote:

if I select that section of footage with the work area bar it will export fine.

So do that, then bring it in and place that export in the timeline.

I've already done this as a work around.  Unfortunately since Premeire crashes in a different place each time I'd have to export the project in fourteen segments of five minutes each and stitch them together, and I'd prefer to not have 12 extra steps each time the project is revised. 

[Jim_Simon]

I get that.

But the biggest problem with Unknown Error is that there's no way to know what's causing the error, hence there is no one universal fix.  So unless you're lucky enough to stumble upon whatever is causing the error, you may not have a choice.

[the_wine_snob]

Some things to look into, for locating the problem:

Uncovered gaps in your Video

Corrupt Assets

MP3 Audio (in some cases)

Good luck,

Hunt

[v8toilet]

Bill Hunt wrote:

Some things to look into, for locating the problem:

Uncovered gaps in your Video

Corrupt Assets

MP3 Audio (in some cases)

Good luck,

Hunt

There may not be an answer to this but do these items matter if they are not near the point of the crash?  i.e.  If I had an MP3 or gaps that seem to encode fine could they still cause the error 5 minutes later in the project? 

[ExactImage]

I just had the same problem.  Nothing fixed it - except a reboot!   Then everything was fine.

[the_wine_snob]

There may not be an answer to this but do these items matter if they are not near the point of the crash?  i.e.  If I had an MP3 or gaps that seem to encode fine could they still cause the error 5 minutes later in the project?

From observations only, they should cause any issue, every time, and at the spot that they exist.

If one is getting crashes at totally random points, then I would look for other possible causes. That said, if one had a problem at 00;00;30;00, and fixed that, then got another crash at 00;00;40;00, that could be caused by the same issue (but with/between other Assets).

Other than "corrupt Assets," I have seen Timelines, that Render/Export just fine with many gaps, and seen others, where a single 1-Frame gap would crash it. Same for MP3's. Many never have issues with them, but others have constant problems. My guess would be that it is "Asset-specific," where some never cause an issue, and some just never work correctly.

Just throwing out some possibilities.

I think that up-thread, John T. linked to the Adobe KB Article on "Error Compiling Movie," and I would have hoped that it would be useful, but obviously not.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Nik2rion]

I encountered a similar problem. And also I think about this the way out ... but what next? Do not be the same every time I make such manipulation of the projects of 40 minutes .... It's just awful. How you decide to deal with future projects? Now I am afraid to work again for the P.P. СС and more thoughts return FCPX.

[uncle_marty]

Just had this happen to me, as well. Neither restarting or exporting with a different codec helped.

I had the Warp Stabilizer on a bunch of clips in a 3 minute 1080p24 video (at default settings), but for some reason the effect on one clip near the end was causing the crash (it always crashed near the same point, at the end of the offending clip). When I disabled Warp Stabilizer on that clip only, it exported fine.

[tuschhcm]

I just came accross this issue as well, thought i'd update this with my findings to help some poor sap who runs into this vague error in the future.

My solution was to use the project manager and copy all of the assets to a new location.

[omaudio]

I had same error- I turned off gpu rendering for playback engine and it fixed it.

[Rowby]

Thanks, omaudio

I had one clip that was causing the issue, and temporarily turning of the Mercury playback engine during export resolved the problem.  Thanks for offering that as one of the solutions.

Rowby

[Noel P.]

Disabling the GPU rendering for the playback engine and rendering with software only worked for me too, thanks!

[Schiek202]

TIFF file caused the error for me. Nothing seemed wrong with the file. Replaced with a jpg and no error on export.

[amateurapple]

Hi, I had the same problem. A corner logo (on video layer 3) I was using seemed to be the issue, as when deleted the image, the video rendered fine. The file was a transparent PNG, I did try swapping this with a TIFF but it made no difference. The trick was all in the moving of the logo, it needed to be shifted a few frames slightly forward so that it didn't appear from the exact starting point of the footage, as soon as I did that, the video rendered perfectly. The same method also needs to be applied to the end of the footage i.e. logo needs to drop out a few frames before the end of the footage. Hope this helps. Cheers

[Guest]

I know I'm quite late to this thread, but I spent a few hours yesterday trying to figure out the cause of the error message 'Error Compiling Movie, Unknown Error', which I was getting every time I hit 'Render In to Out', and I found out what was causing it in my case. Since I didn't come across this cause anywhere on the internet in my research, I thought I'd post it here:

My directory tree was too long/deep. In other words, my project file was saved in a folder inside another folder inside another folder, etc., and by the end of it Premiere Pro simply wasn't able to save the preview files because Windows has a limited folder depth. It's extremely easy to test if this is what is causing the problem for you:

If (a) the error message occurs when you select 'Render In to Out', then copy the project file to the desktop, close any open projects in Premiere Pro, and open the version saved on the desktop. Then, click 'Render In to Out'. If it works, then you've found the source of your problem; you'll need to use fewer nested folders or save your projects somewhere else.

If (b) the error message occurs when you choose to render the output and save it somewhere, then choose to save it to the desktop. If it renders successfully, then you've found the source of your problem, and you'll need to save the rendered outputs somewhere else. You could always render to the desktop and just move them later.

I hope this helps at least one person. Best of luck to everybody with their troubleshooting and (hopefully) editing!

[kellin0101]

thankfully your post was archived, as it has helped me 6 yrs later. That fixed my issue! Thank you

[MC2YA]

error compiling movie on every clip in project

started off space bar wouldn't work to play in particular sequence within project.

scratch disk prefs kept reverting to documents on system drive although set to project folder on

project drive (connected via firewire 800 - imac)

solution after 2 1/2 down troubleshooting -

with project open, copied all files in project tab "command c"

closed project, then copied and open new project, actually barebones template we created and keep on desktop,

pasted files into this project and after some spinny wheel activity, we were back and rendering - scratch dick prefs keeping and all.

I will say that in the 4 months we have been using pp 2014cc, we have been on forums trying to solve mysteries way more than we ever did

in ten years on FCP1-7

[Leopard Gecko Productions]

I had a nightmare with this issue on a pop video I was working on, sometimes the video would playback fine in PP CC, other times it would say the source media was offline, even though it clearly wasn't, when I managed to get it to locate the media, it still wouldn't not export, crashing at different points each time, with the less than useless 'Unknown error'. Scoured forums for ideas, as an agitated client kept asking when they would have their video. Tried everything from changing the memory priority in the preferences menu, to using really low bitrates. 

Fortunately, I had kept identical versions of the original clips in a separate folder, using exactly the same naming convention for them. I deleted all the original clips out of the source folder and replaced them with the identical back-up versions. PP thought they were the original versions, although in doing so, I managed to alleviate whatever pesky bug was causing the problems.Moral of the story - always keep multiple copies of your source footage, named identically. That way, if the footage you're using is corrupted, you can replace it with a fresh version. This is particularly useful for something like a pop video where you've got hundreds of edits.

WDRx