If you encounter an "Export Failure" when rendering your movie, you probably won't understand the content of the message shown by Studio. In the absence of this help from Studio, follow this tutorial created by an experienced user. You will find:

• an explanation of the message and the location of the error;
• possible causes and ways to fix them.

Step 1 : Location of the Export Failure

Occasionally Studio gives you the "Export Failure" message after stopping or freezing during rendering.

Most often this export failure is due to the fact that Studio has detected that some segment of the timeline was incorrect.   The error message begins with a number that indicates exactly where Studio has encountered the problem.

This number is the number of frames created from the beginning of the video. On this screen shot you see 164/496 which means that the project includes 496 frames and the error occurred at the 164th frame.
This number can be converted into hours / minutes / seconds / frames.

Consider an example with an error at the 26,384th frame:

• For a video created at 25 frames per second, divide 26384 by 25 to get 1055.36: this means there are 1055 seconds, (25 X 1055 = 26375 frames, then take 26,384 minus 26,375 to get 9 frames;
• Then divide 1055 by 60 to get 17.58 which gives you 17 minutes or 1020 seconds and 35 seconds (1055 minus 1020)

Finally 26,384 frames = 17 minutes, 35 seconds, and 9 frames.

Step 2 : Possible causes and how to fix them

Next you need to position the cursor at the point of the failure, using the preview window, to identify exactly what is the problem sequence:

• If it's a scene change, zoom in on the timeline to look for a missing frame that could create a blank space, if you find one, delete the space by extending the scene before or after the blank space;
• Another possibility that I have run in to is the case of two transitions, one right after the other;
• Pay special attention to scenes that only last a single frame, Studio doesn't like that;
• We can't rule out having a transition that doesn't work for the two scenes, try changing the transition;
• Sometimes it can be due to using Studio for a long time without re-booting the PC. Remedy: reboot the PC, and restart Studio;
• It can also be due to an issue with the auxiliary files where Studio can not find the right file. The remedy is to go to the File menu and delete the auxiliary files, Studio will recreate them as needed.

In the absence of information on the precise point of the failure, one can proceed by dichotomy: make a copy of the last half of the project (use Save as with a different name) and then render that half. If that half does not cause the failure then render the other half to look for the failure there. Continue in this way, each time splitting the video in half and rendering one section to narrow down the area causing the error to a very specific location.

Other known causes :

• Studio still does not like mixing segments that use different frame rates per second;
• Mp3 audio is a standard that has led to many different codecs, some of which do not correspond exactly to the Mp3 standard (music found on the web for example). Studio may not understand them. Wav PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is much more easily accepted because the audio file is not compressed;
• There are also video codecs and extensions that Studio doesn't like and those can cause a crash or other failure.
• It's possible that a new codec may have been created after the creation of Studio so it will not be able to recognize them. Transcoding with appropriate software can solve the problem;
• Another type of crash can be caused by damage to Studio itself. The fix is to do a repair install of the software. Insert the installation CD or DVD and start the installation process. Select the Repair option for Studio to check that the files are not corrupt. If the problem persists, try uninstalling Studio, then run the RegDelete file (available in our download page) 2 times. Run registry cleaner and repair software if you have it and then reinstall Studio. Normally the current projects are not removed, but a backup project in a separate folder is still a good idea;
• A complete PC crash may be caused by overheating of the CPU and Windows has stopped to protect the PC; keep the inside of the case clean and make sure there's good air flow.
• The render stopping without a message with the progress bar looking black and blue, or Studio crashing without an error message, can be caused by a bad sector on the hard drive itself: Studio needs to store all the changes and calculations for the project and then stores all the video edit info used in the rendering and also needs some other Windows files to work. So do not be stingy with the space available on the HDD system, tens of GB of more space may be needed for a video over an hour long.
• Auxiliary files are located on C drive by default. Move them on another drive, for this please read step 2 in our tutorial "Auxiliary files management with Pinnacle Studio" as well as tutorial "Optimize your computer before you start editing".

If you have other examples with their remedies, please let us know in the comments section to further enhance this tutorial.

{Thanks to Loosecannon for the fine tuning}