5.0b and Excalibur?
 

Does Excalibur work ok under 5.0b? Anything I should look out for?

I have yet to experience any problems with the new update.

Excalibur runs fine on 5.0b. Neon needed a fix that is now available. As a workaround to the problem in Neon, you can open Vegas, add anything to the timeline, choose File - Render As, pick the MPEG 2 format, and press Cancel. Then your existing version of Neon will run correctly (until you shut down and restart Vegas).

That's certainly a bizzare work-around...how did you stumble across that?!

Glen,
There appears to be further problems with 5b and MPEG-2...specifically the 2 pass encode...appears there is a glitch with the bit rates changing if you use the default template....Sony has yet to chime in yet....

I just finished burning multiple copies of a huge project last night and now just hearing about this problem this morning....but I should have known to not upgrade while in the midst of an ongoing project...my bad.....:-)

Is that really a glitch though- just something changed in the default template. Granted it's an unwelcomed change especially if you weren't expecting it and didn't have a chance to go back and change it but far from a "glitch". I see a lot of complaints about the 5.0b update over at the Sony boards...are any of them legit or are they blowing this template thing out of proportune?

Personally I always use the DVDA template which defaults to a bit-rate of 6mb/s which I always change to 8mb/s- and a setting of 31 (max) for video quality.

Has anything other than the default MPG2 template been changed....why is everyone complaining? What exactly is wrong with 5.0b? Am I missing something?

Glen, I stumbled across it by accident.

The problem lies in the Vegas changing the bit rate (without you knowing it)of some of the templates. I was surprised this morning to find some concern on the Sony board with 2 pass as I burned several copies of a project for a client last night and is there a quality issue.

sony has replied in a thread over on the Vegas5 forum. Their contention is that the default values are general guidlines and that everyone needs to go in and make adjustments for their specific needs. That is to say, the defaults are really not the best choices.

I just saw that also...and am glad the problem isn't as bad as I once thought. I had to admit, fell heart about stopped when I first stumbled onto the thread as I has just finished a big project.....

Well, I feel that this is true for almost anything. Use em to get
started fast and then learn how to tweak them for best results.
Complicated things like MPEG encoding just aren't some magical
solutions. They need work and testing for optimal quality.

I just created my own preset and only change the Average Bitrate now.

I just think if Sony changed the defaults in some of the templates with 5.0b they should have warned us just in case we were, indeed, succeptable to using a template often without tweaking. I can understand how it scared a bunch of people.

I use nothing but the DVDA MPG2 template- nothing has changed on that correct? I ask because I have yet to install the update yet...now that the uncertainty of it screwing up Excalibur is cleared up I might go ahead and update it now. Is there any good reason not to?

<<<-- Originally posted by Glen Elliott : Is there any good reason not to? -->>>

I can think of none. Plus, read the fix list - there are tons of fixes in there. One of my favorites, the arrow keys move the Pan/Crop and Track Motion windows again!

Alright!!! YESSS I wasn't sure about that one- I was hoping they'd do that- seems like such a small detail but I use it all the time! I'm upgrading.