Problem with Preview of clips in Pro 8
 

I'm just starting to use this program having come from Vegas 8 Platinum. Last night I was playing around with it and discovered a very serious problem. I like/need to preview clips in my Project Media window before I put them on the timeline. I can do this without problem in Platinum. I just select the clip and click on the Play arrow at the top of the Project Media window. I have my Preview window detached from Vegas (both versions) and on my secondary monitor. I have always edited this way.

For some unknown reason when I do this in Vegas 8 Pro there is nothing in the Preview window. I can hear the clip's audio and the frame counter is counting, but there is no video. It works fine in Platinum, so it can't be an overlay or monitor issue. I can see video in the Preview window if it is from the timeline without problem. Even if I redock the Preview window to Vegas on the main monitor it does not work. I'm baffled. Any ideas?

Hopefully someone will come along with a solution for you, it sounds like an unusual problem to be sure.

In the meantime try contacting Sony support, see what they have on this issue.

OK, I think I found the problem. Apparently, the program defaults to thinking you only want to preview clips in the Trimmer window, so that's where the output is routed. Unfortunately, unless you double-click on the clip (which opens it in the Trimmer window) you would never know this and would be left as we were wondering where your clip is being displayed. If you click on the Trimmer tab and look for the icon in the upper right that says "Show Video Monitor" when you hover over it, then click it so it is off, the preview will play on your Preview window as it should.

Thanks go to Ed Troxel's great video site, JetDV.

It's in the 8.0 Readme.

When the Show Video Monitor button in the Trimmer window is selected, video that you preview from the Vegas Explorer and Media Manager windows is played back in the Trimmer. Because the Trimmer is placed in the same window dock as the Explorer and Media Manager, you will not see your video preview. To preview Explorer and Media Manager video, you can drag the Trimmer to a new dock group, or you can turn off the Show Video Monitor button to preview in the Video Preview window.

If you're like me and never use the Trimmer (it's turned off), it won't be an iissue.

I am, which is why I never thought to look in there for my preview. ;) Apparently, the default is for it to do this (or was changed with 8.0c), which is opposite of how Platinum was setup. Since I never used 8.0a or 8.0b I was unaware of it.

Rick, turning off the Trimmer is one of the first things I do when I install a new version so I wasn't aware of this "issue" until people started having problems.
As I said, turn it off and it's no longer a problem :-)

Great catch thanks you saved me hours of frsutration!

Mike,
How do you go about "turning off the trimmer"?

Terry, all I do is close it (X it off) so that's no longer one of the tabs.

Once again I offer my thanks up to all on this forum.

I have been pulling my stinking hair out wondering why this was no longer working...

Oh, and like I'm going to read the manual or the "readme" file...

To be honest, when I install a new version (or even BEFORE I install a new version) the "readme" file is the FIRST place I go. I want to know what bugs they've fixed. I want to know if they've added some special new feature I've been asking for. As a side benefit, you find out about other things like changes that affect your workflow.