There are as many reasons as there are computers for it to crash. Give us your Dxdiag and attach it please..... then we can go from there..... what does your project consist of? __________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

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**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

OK... My project consists of a single source file - a 54:51 long TS video file, from a video capture card, trimmed down to 54:34 in PD. It's 1280x720, 59 frame/sec (so says the properties detail in Win Explorer anyways). I'm trying to get this burned to a blu ray disk. I'm doing the rendering & burning separately using the "create a folder" option.

When I render the file to standard def DVD format (options: widescreen 16x9, HQ, 2 channel dolby digital), it goes jut fine. When I switch the disc format to 25GB blu ray, (H.264, HD 1280x720p, 2 channel dolby digital), it gets to 21% or 22% progress every time - and crashes. (PD crashes, not the whole system). I have 'burn to disc' un-checked, 'create a folder' checked, and 'enable hardware video encoder' checked.

The hardware video encoder seems to be the fatal blow - when unchecked, the rendering proceeds normally, however the CPU is pushed REAL hard with all 4 cores ruuning around 92-97%, just for the PDR process. Have played around with the 2 H/W acceleration options in the PD preferences, but they don't affect the outcome.

Also tried "producing" a video: AVCHD 1280x720p profile, United States NTSC, and it's the same exact result: it renders about the first 23sec of the video then crashes. And again, with the hardware video encoder turned off, it works but with the same heavy load on the CPU.

System is an AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor, 8GB RAM, win 7 64 bit, PD Ultra 64 build 2930. DxDiag attached.

Any help appreciated!!

Hi kvon -

First glance at your DxDiag points to updating GPU driver... http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

That may not be the issue, but it's worth eliminating the possibility.

Cheers - Tony
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I'm nearly speechless.

Tony, it almost looked as if the GPU driver was the ticket. (Thought I had the latest drivers anyways - just built up the system earlier this week, may have gotten the drivers from the ASUS website rather than AMD? I dunno...) Anyways, installed the new drivers and the project built to completion.

THEN... opened another project: Same source file but had edited out the commercials with the multi-trim tool. Tried the same process, and this time it got to around 66% and just hung. Had to manually shut down PD.

I will now completely uninstall the video drivers as well as PD9, and re-install everything fresh. This will take a while - but I'll post back.

Thanks for taking a look!

BTW - I'm reinstalling the display drivers because the system started an odd behavior right after they were installed -- if the computer is re-started when the CPU is at all warm, it starts back up with the CPU fan spinning double time - really going nuts. This continues for about a minute, then calms back down.

Still no workie:

Uninstalled & reinstalled the GPU drivers, and Powerdirector, the behavior hasn't changed from the previous post -- when rendering a disk to a file, it'll get to 66% progress, then hang. At that point the load on the CPU drops way down, and the time elapsed & time remaining counters are still active and counting, but no progress is being made. When I hit cancel to stop the rendering, it responds to that, but the PD freezes and I have to force it down.

Any further troubleshooting ideas would be most welcome...

Thanks.