Vegas Video discussions from 2005 (Q1Q2)

Curtis Rhoads · February 6th, 2005, 09:32 PM

.wmv is a video file, whereas .wma is an audio file.

EDIT : and thus the problems of posting at the same time, are discovered! ;-D

Michael Wisniewski · February 6th, 2005, 09:37 PM

thanks for your reply anyway

Peter Jefferson · February 7th, 2005, 05:17 AM

yes its identical as it uses the same codec.
Its the codec that gives it that quality..

the canopus codec IS a little softer, but it does offer a nicer rounded contour.. hard to describe, but colour accuracy is a lil more pronounced.

Canopus have a hardware device which connects through USB and encodes mpg1 and mpg2 in realtime. Saves alot of time and does a nice job
http://www.canopus-aust.com/AU/products/MPEGPRO_EMR/pm_MPEGPRO_EMR.asp

The main concept codec is also a very good one (standard with vegas) i also find that its alot faster than procoder. the results arent all that noticable until you get to the lower end of the bandwidth, which by that time Procoder beats it quite easily.
I wouldnt encode anyhin less than 4200CBR anyway..

Peter Jefferson · February 7th, 2005, 05:34 AM

im still curious as to why people use boris..

i mean i bought boris red for 3grand hre in aus as a standalone, and i cant see what it can do that Vegas and a myriad of other apps can do...

I mean Bluff Titler, is easier and faster to use as a titler.. as is titlemotin pro... Vegas does excellent keying as does Edius Pro3, Particle Illusion does awsome particle effects, Xara 3d, also does some really nice static titles, Spicemaster does some really awesome displacements and filters, After effects.. well its after effects, what more needs to be said?

Combined, theyre alot easier to use, faster to render, and its a hellofalot cheaper..

one reason i didnt like Boris was the interface.. i couldnt flow with it for some reason.. could be me.. but for everything i do, Boris was just a waste of money.. :( Lucky that i found a buyer for it, but Im still to see something boris can do that any of the mentioned apps ive listed cant.. could be me.. i might be blind..

Philippe Gosselin · February 7th, 2005, 05:44 AM

Hi Peter.

Yeah the interface is a bit clunky but so far just by doing the tutorials I found the program to surpass Vegas when it comes to create dazzling titles.

Mind you I had it cheap.... well free. One of my buddy switched career and was doing computer designs and happen to have a copy. He just gave it to me so my expectations weren't as high as yours.

Reading threads and reviews I quickly realise that there are a lot of programs out there who do exactly the same things ,you just pick one blindly and chances are you will end up being able to accomplish the same things with the same results. It boils down to personnal choices and preferences I guess.

Phil

Adi Head · February 7th, 2005, 05:48 AM

thanks for the replies.

my first attempt was to create an mpeg. i managed to get it down to the desired size, but then my client replied emailing me a wmv file of about the same duration (2:40 minutes). he was saying that he doesn't understand why the wmv file he sent me, being about the same length and size, looks and sounds better. i took a look and told him that he's absolutely right and that i'll make him a new and better compressed file.

so is wmv the way to go? and Tony, if i understand what you're saying, i shouldn't be creating the compressed file in vegas. right? i just take the .avi PAL DV file (575MB) made in vegas and then use other software (procoder, quicktime?) to bring it down to 7-8 MB?

(i might need a little help later with the settings and parameters)

adi

Tony Rockliff · February 7th, 2005, 08:11 AM

It's not necessarily the case that you can't get equally good results in Vegas. I was in a hurry and just found that the default settings in Vegas didn't produce as good a result as those in Procoder so I used the Procoder settings as my base to juggle its parameters until I got what I wanted.

Given a bit more time it's entirely possible that similar results could be produced in the Vegas .wmv implementation. You might try that first since it would save you an extra rendering step or a frameserving step and the purchase of additional software.

Tony

Robert Mann Z. · February 7th, 2005, 10:20 AM

there are a lot of major (to me) diff between the two...

the major difference is pce (procoder express) does not have master quality encoding option, which to me is the only reason to use procoder

pce also has no way of saving settings for future encodes, like changing frame rates, combining avi and mpeg encodes n so forth

pro coder also has a lot of little things that add to its value, best place to get a clear concise list is call canopus or visit their forum...

Tim Kay · February 7th, 2005, 03:55 PM

So i'm going to make a tape dub and wanted to know if Vegas is the best way to do that ? I have 2 Dv cameras and wondered if that was the easiest?

If i use 2 Dv's, what are the steps neccesary to make it record?

Thanks for the input

Gary Kleiner · February 7th, 2005, 04:30 PM

>Connect the cams via firewire.

>Put both into VTR mode.

>Press play on the source.

>Press record on the other.

Gary

Edward Troxel · February 7th, 2005, 04:33 PM

As Gary said, bypass the computer altogether. You don't NEED to go through the computer when the cameras can talk to each other just fine.

Tim Kay · February 7th, 2005, 04:37 PM

thanks;

its nice when technology is easy and simple to use.

Hopefully DVD architect will be there soon!

Gary Kleiner · February 7th, 2005, 04:40 PM

>Hopefully DVD architect will be there soon!<

Be where?

Gary

Ian Stark · February 7th, 2005, 05:07 PM

Vol 2 Issue 9 (Oct 04) for anyone else that's interested.

Thanks Edward. It's not exactly what I'm after but I can think of a few other uses for that technique.

Actually, what I'm doing is more like using "digital puppets" for a kind of hybrid stop motion/cut out animation. Each character is sliced up (in Photoshop) into limbs, torso, head etc then the various parts are moved around and keyframed in Vegas to give the appearance of fluid motion.

As I mentioned before, I know there are more appropriate packages for animation (After Effects, even Flash is now widely used) but Vegas is all I got! I'm having some good success with my trials but at the moment the majority of the pre-production effort is going into the artwork.

Thanks again for your great newsletters.

Dan Euritt · February 7th, 2005, 06:39 PM

adi, microsoft offers free downloads of their wmv encoder, if you want to take a look at some other alternatives... i think that they should all be pretty similar, tho, if you use the same encoder settings... one thing to look for is two-pass encoding, it makes a big difference, also use vbr to save a bit on the file size.

February 7th, 2005, 05:44 AM	#470
Philippe Gosselin Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Montreal , Canada Posts: 197	Hi Peter. Yeah the interface is a bit clunky but so far just by doing the tutorials I found the program to surpass Vegas when it comes to create dazzling titles. Mind you I had it cheap.... well free. One of my buddy switched career and was doing computer designs and happen to have a copy. He just gave it to me so my expectations weren't as high as yours. Reading threads and reviews I quickly realise that there are a lot of programs out there who do exactly the same things ,you just pick one blindly and chances are you will end up being able to accomplish the same things with the same results. It boils down to personnal choices and preferences I guess. Phil __________________ Still lost in Vice city My website: www.production24fps.com/english.php

February 7th, 2005, 03:55 PM	#474
Tim Kay Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: SF & LA Posts: 195	Is Vegas the best way to go Tape 2 tape? So i'm going to make a tape dub and wanted to know if Vegas is the best way to do that ? I have 2 Dv cameras and wondered if that was the easiest? If i use 2 Dv's, what are the steps neccesary to make it record? Thanks for the input __________________ Event Production Services \| Video Production San Francisco

February 7th, 2005, 04:33 PM	#476
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	As Gary said, bypass the computer altogether. You don't NEED to go through the computer when the cameras can talk to each other just fine. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

February 7th, 2005, 04:37 PM	#477
Tim Kay Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: SF & LA Posts: 195	thanks; its nice when technology is easy and simple to use. Hopefully DVD architect will be there soon! __________________ Event Production Services \| Video Production San Francisco

February 7th, 2005, 05:07 PM	#479
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Vol 2 Issue 9 (Oct 04) for anyone else that's interested. Thanks Edward. It's not exactly what I'm after but I can think of a few other uses for that technique. Actually, what I'm doing is more like using "digital puppets" for a kind of hybrid stop motion/cut out animation. Each character is sliced up (in Photoshop) into limbs, torso, head etc then the various parts are moved around and keyframed in Vegas to give the appearance of fluid motion. As I mentioned before, I know there are more appropriate packages for animation (After Effects, even Flash is now widely used) but Vegas is all I got! I'm having some good success with my trials but at the moment the majority of the pre-production effort is going into the artwork. Thanks again for your great newsletters. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

February 6th, 2005, 09:32 PM	#466
Curtis Rhoads Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Orem, UT Posts: 76	.wmv is a video file, whereas .wma is an audio file. EDIT : and thus the problems of posting at the same time, are discovered! ;-D

February 6th, 2005, 09:37 PM	#467
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	thanks for your reply anyway

February 7th, 2005, 05:17 AM	#468
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	yes its identical as it uses the same codec. Its the codec that gives it that quality.. the canopus codec IS a little softer, but it does offer a nicer rounded contour.. hard to describe, but colour accuracy is a lil more pronounced. Canopus have a hardware device which connects through USB and encodes mpg1 and mpg2 in realtime. Saves alot of time and does a nice job http://www.canopus-aust.com/AU/products/MPEGPRO_EMR/pm_MPEGPRO_EMR.asp The main concept codec is also a very good one (standard with vegas) i also find that its alot faster than procoder. the results arent all that noticable until you get to the lower end of the bandwidth, which by that time Procoder beats it quite easily. I wouldnt encode anyhin less than 4200CBR anyway..

February 7th, 2005, 05:34 AM	#469
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	im still curious as to why people use boris.. i mean i bought boris red for 3grand hre in aus as a standalone, and i cant see what it can do that Vegas and a myriad of other apps can do... I mean Bluff Titler, is easier and faster to use as a titler.. as is titlemotin pro... Vegas does excellent keying as does Edius Pro3, Particle Illusion does awsome particle effects, Xara 3d, also does some really nice static titles, Spicemaster does some really awesome displacements and filters, After effects.. well its after effects, what more needs to be said? Combined, theyre alot easier to use, faster to render, and its a hellofalot cheaper.. one reason i didnt like Boris was the interface.. i couldnt flow with it for some reason.. could be me.. but for everything i do, Boris was just a waste of money.. :( Lucky that i found a buyer for it, but Im still to see something boris can do that any of the mentioned apps ive listed cant.. could be me.. i might be blind..

February 7th, 2005, 05:48 AM	#471
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	thanks for the replies. my first attempt was to create an mpeg. i managed to get it down to the desired size, but then my client replied emailing me a wmv file of about the same duration (2:40 minutes). he was saying that he doesn't understand why the wmv file he sent me, being about the same length and size, looks and sounds better. i took a look and told him that he's absolutely right and that i'll make him a new and better compressed file. so is wmv the way to go? and Tony, if i understand what you're saying, i shouldn't be creating the compressed file in vegas. right? i just take the .avi PAL DV file (575MB) made in vegas and then use other software (procoder, quicktime?) to bring it down to 7-8 MB? (i might need a little help later with the settings and parameters) adi

February 7th, 2005, 08:11 AM	#472
Tony Rockliff Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dunedin, Florida Posts: 70	It's not necessarily the case that you can't get equally good results in Vegas. I was in a hurry and just found that the default settings in Vegas didn't produce as good a result as those in Procoder so I used the Procoder settings as my base to juggle its parameters until I got what I wanted. Given a bit more time it's entirely possible that similar results could be produced in the Vegas .wmv implementation. You might try that first since it would save you an extra rendering step or a frameserving step and the purchase of additional software. Tony

February 7th, 2005, 10:20 AM	#473
Robert Mann Z. Skyonic New York Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NYC Posts: 614	there are a lot of major (to me) diff between the two... the major difference is pce (procoder express) does not have master quality encoding option, which to me is the only reason to use procoder pce also has no way of saving settings for future encodes, like changing frame rates, combining avi and mpeg encodes n so forth pro coder also has a lot of little things that add to its value, best place to get a clear concise list is call canopus or visit their forum...

February 7th, 2005, 04:30 PM	#475
Gary Kleiner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Posts: 166	>Connect the cams via firewire. >Put both into VTR mode. >Press play on the source. >Press record on the other. Gary

February 7th, 2005, 04:40 PM	#478
Gary Kleiner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Posts: 166	>Hopefully DVD architect will be there soon!< Be where? Gary

February 7th, 2005, 06:39 PM	#480
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	adi, microsoft offers free downloads of their wmv encoder, if you want to take a look at some other alternatives... i think that they should all be pretty similar, tho, if you use the same encoder settings... one thing to look for is two-pass encoding, it makes a big difference, also use vbr to save a bit on the file size.