Kdenlive is a pretty nice editing tool, but I can't get reliable results trying to render in nearly any format. I'm at the point of trying every available format just to see if I can get anything to work.

I have a video with a total length somewhere around 46 minutes, and I am trying to render a 4-minute zone just to see if I can get a usable result. What I get in most formats is a freeze-frame 48 minutes long with no audio, and it takes of course over an hour to render. On the same computer, I can render from OpenShot and PiTiVi with no problem, by the way, and it takes far less time. I would like to use Kdenlive because it has some editing features not available in the other tools.

I am not getting crashes, and the Job Queue happily goes along putting checkmarks next to all my files and telling me rendering is finished for each one.

The only format that seems to work is File Rendering > MPEG2, which is annoying because I would like to get a lossless format to work so that I can share this video with another editor who is helping me work on it.

I am running the following:

Kdenlive Version 0.8.2.1
Using KDE Development Platform 4.4.5 (KDE 4.4.5
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

I have also tried the older version that came from the default repository from the Ubuntu install (7 point something) with the same results. I uninstalled and reinstalled. I'm running it on a ThinkPad laptop that I bought last year, should be no strange hardware issues. When I run the Kdenlive config wizard, I get checkboxes next to everything.

The only think that might be a clue is that it's worse if I try to render after suspend (no, not suspend during rendering). In other words, if I come home from work, open my laptop, start kdenlive, and render something, I am unlikely to get a good result.

But it's hard to say, because once in a while I get the video output I was expecting.

Has anyone else run into this? I'm almost ready to give up on kdenlive completely.

I have no problems rendering videos at that sort of length,(well not up until day before yesterday), but that's the risk I take by using a unstable git build from sunabs svn PPA :-)

Have you tried using sunabs stable PPA and possibly more importantly moving from Ubuntu 10.04 to current version?

Is there a known incompatibility between the rendering engine and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS? Aren't "LTS" releases supposed to be supported for five years? I tried first with the version that comes with the Ubuntu default repository and then with the one from http://ppa.launchpad.net/sunab/kdenlive-release/ubuntu. Is that the one you mean?

I would prefer not to have to upgrade my whole operating system if possible--but I would also prefer not to abandon kdenlive, since overall I like it. In general, it works--I just can't render. I hope that is a sign that it is compatible with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and I hope I can fix the rendering problem.

Anyone know what I should try next?

I will restart just to eliminate suspend as a cause. I will try rendering again.

--Edit--
I tried restarting and rendering overnight. No difference. Suspend doesn't seem like a culprit.

Well this is the problem I think, you mention changing from default reposotories to get kdenlive 8.2.1 therefore you are no longer maintaining a strict LTS and undermining the very purpose. You will get incompatibility.

When or if 8.2.1 and all associated aditional libraries like ffmpeg, MLT etc are all deemed compatible and stable with all other software in LTS that uses them then LTS will get them, if. Meantime kdenlive, ffmpeg etc development continues and more features added fixing bugs and moving forward.

The libraties that are getting pulled in with moving from LTS kdenlive such as ffmpeg are moving targets and ffmpeg particularly tricky. Also do you really think kdenlive 8.2.1 is being built and tested against an 'old' version of Linux like 10.04 and not only that but the LTS version rather than vanilla stable.

Jumping back and forth between reposotories is dodgy too, I've found in the past having to manually eradicate a version of the ffmpeg libraries to remove incompatibility.

I've being using Linux for 20 yrs and never found the need for LTS I'm not in a mission critical situation needing utmost stability and in the Linux world by the very nature of the software features or lack of, it usually results in the need to be closer to the cutting edge for needed features which I assume is why you've moved to 8.2.1

Its diffucult to with Linux to have long term stability and software features. :-)

The answer I think is to either stick with LTS repos or move to 11.10, really not sure of the reason you have for not doing so.

I understand. Let me clarify, if I can.

1. I started with the version of kdenlive that came with the Ubuntu repository. It should resolve its dependencies correctly, and it should be stable. Ubuntu 10.04 is not a beta, kdenlive 7.x is not a beta, ffmpeg has been around a while, and so on. From the start, I tried the most basic, default installation. I had a problem with rendering at that point. If there had been no problem, I would not have changed anything. Ubuntu 10.04 was released in April, 2010, and I assume the reason kdenlive was added to the repository is because the version available at that time was deemed to work. In fact, I assume there's some problem on my system, but I don't know what it is--and I haven't done anything unusual--I don't compile my own kernel, or do anything to make my system different from a normal Linux system. Installing a normal version of kdenlive on a normal instance of Ubuntu should just work. Something is wrong, and I don't think upgrading the OS will fix the problem.

2. I hope that kdenlive is in fact being tested against an "old" version like Ubuntu 10.04. "LTS" is not a special version of Ubuntu. It stands for "Long Term Support." Canonical usually releases twice a year--in April and October--and every other April (that is, 10.04, 8.04, and so on) are deemed "LTS" releases that are supported for 3 years (desktop) or 5 years (server). If you go to http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download you will see that there are two versions available--11.10 (the latest) and 10.04 (long-term support). So any software that is tested against Ubuntu is being tested against these two versions, at least, I hope. 10.04 will be officially supported until April, 2013.

3. So, do you know if there are any incompatibilities between any version of kdenlive and Ubuntu 10.04? I think I should have been able to get usable video rendered from kdenlive 7.x on Ubuntu 10.04, and I think I should be able to get usable video rendered from kdenlive 8.x on Ubuntu 10.04. The program runs; I have used ffmpeg separately with success. I can get video rendered just fine by PiTiVi, OpenShot, and other programs. There's something else going on. It should work. Are you telling me that if I upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10 it will definitely work? Because if it is just a guess, then what is the next thing to try? Shouldn't kdenlive from the Ubuntu repository work with Ubuntu? What things can I check?

I am hoping there is a less wholesale solution. Is there anything I should try before upgrading the system?

Very interesting. Seems like there's a bug, which is fixed in 8.3. I'll have to try that version.

i am currently using kdenlive in my 10.04.3 LTS Ubuntu just fine using Sunab's PPA of kdenlive unstable. It's been wanting to update for a while now but I love it right now so I currently running

kdenlive = 0.8.3+git20120103.84cc45b7-0ubuntu0~sunab~lucid1
ffmpeg = 4:0.5.1-1ubuntu1.3

I will say that at some point aac audio encoding broke but mp3 is fine for me. Any question feel free to ask away