Vegas Video discussions from 2006 (Q3Q4)

David Ennis · August 29th, 2006, 06:00 PM

I haven't changed any of the prefs and I think I've combined larger video and AC3 files before. But size seem like the only thing left, so I'll try rendering the vid at 5000 to create some more room. It's not a big deal, the whole process still only takes a half hour, but it just worries me when I seem to have random behavior I can't control. What's worse is the video glitches I'm getting, but I think I'll make that separate thread.

David Ennis · August 29th, 2006, 06:11 PM

In my current project I'm getting too many of those short "freezes" you often see once or twice even in commercial DVDs. The accompanying audio is unaffected. I've got six of these freezes in a 90 minute video, which I'd guess are about 5 to 10 frames long. The video has some wonderful closeups of guitar, drum, bass, sax and keyboard movements. for a young jazz band, so the freezes are real spoilers.

The AVI and the MPG2 are free of the glitches, so they occur in DVD Architect's VOB builing routine. I've tried remaking the DVD and the glitches just move around randomly. I have to watch the full 90 minutes of video each time to see where they occur, hoping for a take with minimal impact so I that I can make some copies for people. Grrrr!

Anyone familiar with this problem and know how to minimize it?

Douglas Spotted Eagle · August 29th, 2006, 06:41 PM

What bitrate? What media brand?
Usually, the "freeze" you see is due to the layer break point, I don't see them anywhere else in commercial DVDs (or our burned DVDs either) except at break points.

Chad Solo · August 29th, 2006, 06:49 PM

I did a search and couldn't find anything about automation in Vegas. I just started using Vegas and getting the hang of it but what I can't find anywhere is automation button like premiere has. I have 1 hour of scenes and I want to automate them with the crossfades can this be done like Premire? I tried doing it manually and it was not fun. Thank's for any info you all can give.

Chad

Douglas Spotted Eagle · August 29th, 2006, 06:57 PM

Automation of what? Xfades? that can be managed via the Editing tab in the Preferences, for when you drag multiple bits of media. There are lots of scripts to auto-transition butt cuts/jump cuts as well.
Audio may be automated, as well as certain parameters of various plugins/filters.

Chad Solo · August 29th, 2006, 07:21 PM

Thank's for the info. Thats just what I was looking for. Very much appreciated

David Ennis · August 29th, 2006, 10:06 PM

Spot,
For media I'm just using single layer 16x Sony DVD+R. But the freezes aren't due to writing errors. As viewed with WinDVD, the problem is absent in the MPEG-2 file going into DVA, but present in the VOB file set coming out of it.

The bit rate is 5500 kbps. 2.4 GHz machine with 7200 RPM drives running in Mode 4. The source files are on the E drive and output is to the C drive.

Glenn Chan · August 29th, 2006, 10:17 PM

The quality of the DVD media itself makes a big difference. The DVD player you are using also makes a difference- if it isn't playing commercially pressed DVDs correctly, it may not be very good (or just need cleaning).

That's my guess anyways. You can solve this by trying better media like Taiyo Yuden.

David Ennis · August 30th, 2006, 04:54 AM

It's not the media or the DVD player in this case. The glitches are in the VOB files in the DVD folder on my hard drive. I can see them when I play the files on my computer before burning any DVDs.

Peter Jefferson · August 30th, 2006, 08:18 AM

its not size, unless DVD A bar goes red.. yours is yellow...

are u rendering ur video with embeded audio?

more than likely this is whats happening and DVDA is trying to make it compliant. Make sure that the actual AC3 file is with the correct video file in the media track area... its an easy thing to miss...

Jon Fairhurst · August 30th, 2006, 12:08 PM

Hello Vegas experts.

I'm looking for the simplest way to create a "scrambled checkerboard" effect. Here's the idea: Divide the video screen into a bunch of squares. Grab the video from one square, possibly rotate it and place it in another square.

I figure that I need a track for each square. Do also I need to generate a square mask externally for each square?

I've always found Vegas' Track Motion and Pan and Crop windows to be a bit limited. I would like to be able to switch between the "source" and "target" domains, and manipulate them somewhat independently.

Also, does Vegas offer a simple box mask generator?

Any suggestions are very welcome. I'd like to do this efficiently, rather than with a cascade of hacks.

Thanks!

Edward Troxel · August 30th, 2006, 03:18 PM

Anything black and white can be a mask. However, Pan/Crop and Track Motion may very well be all you need. You'll need multiple tracks and copies of the clip. Now use Pan/Crop to isolate one section (Bezier Masking should work for this). Then use Track Motion to move and rotate that section.

Jon Fairhurst · August 30th, 2006, 03:58 PM

Thanks Edward,

I wanted to avoid clip events, so I can easily replace clips and render out different versions. Here's what I ended up doing:

1) I created multiple tracks.
2) I applied the Cookie Cutter effect to the track, set it as a square and positioned it differently on each track.
3) I used the Track Motion effect to move the squares about.

The biggest problem has been reverse engineering the math, so the squares line up properly.

This works great with nested projects. I can point all of the clips in the project to a single project. That lets me drop the new source video into one track of the first project and have the second "scrambler" project automatically put the new video on every track.

I knew that nested projects would be very cool. I finally get to use it in practice.

Darrin McMillan · August 31st, 2006, 04:11 AM

I keep getting a strange error using Vegas. I'm capturing using Connect HD. Converting to AVI. I've used Vegas for over a year with the exact same devices with no problems till now. My individual clips(AVI's) play fine and import into Adobe Premiere without a problem. However when I import into Vegas 5 or 6, I get some clips that are fine then a block of clips that are blacked out and when I try to preview the blacked out clips I get an error. Video player already in use. Sometimes it even kicks me out of the program. Has anyone seen this happen before. I've tried re-installing both Vegas and ConnectHd...Any suggestions would be great. I can use Adobe for now but I really prefer Vegas.

Guy Bruner · August 31st, 2006, 05:39 AM

Darrin,
Have you installed any new software recently? Like going from Windows Media Player 9 to 10?

August 29th, 2006, 06:00 PM	#601
David Ennis Fred Retread Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hartford, CT Posts: 1,227	I haven't changed any of the prefs and I think I've combined larger video and AC3 files before. But size seem like the only thing left, so I'll try rendering the vid at 5000 to create some more room. It's not a big deal, the whole process still only takes a half hour, but it just worries me when I seem to have random behavior I can't control. What's worse is the video glitches I'm getting, but I think I'll make that separate thread. __________________ "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence..." - Calvin Coolidge "My brain is wired to want to know how other things are wired." - Me

August 29th, 2006, 06:11 PM	#602
David Ennis Fred Retread Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hartford, CT Posts: 1,227	Video Glitches In my current project I'm getting too many of those short "freezes" you often see once or twice even in commercial DVDs. The accompanying audio is unaffected. I've got six of these freezes in a 90 minute video, which I'd guess are about 5 to 10 frames long. The video has some wonderful closeups of guitar, drum, bass, sax and keyboard movements. for a young jazz band, so the freezes are real spoilers. The AVI and the MPG2 are free of the glitches, so they occur in DVD Architect's VOB builing routine. I've tried remaking the DVD and the glitches just move around randomly. I have to watch the full 90 minutes of video each time to see where they occur, hoping for a take with minimal impact so I that I can make some copies for people. Grrrr! Anyone familiar with this problem and know how to minimize it? __________________ "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence..." - Calvin Coolidge "My brain is wired to want to know how other things are wired." - Me

August 29th, 2006, 06:41 PM	#603
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	What bitrate? What media brand? Usually, the "freeze" you see is due to the layer break point, I don't see them anywhere else in commercial DVDs (or our burned DVDs either) except at break points. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

August 29th, 2006, 06:49 PM	#604
Chad Solo Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: St.Petersburg,Fla Posts: 162	Automation in Vegas I did a search and couldn't find anything about automation in Vegas. I just started using Vegas and getting the hang of it but what I can't find anywhere is automation button like premiere has. I have 1 hour of scenes and I want to automate them with the crossfades can this be done like Premire? I tried doing it manually and it was not fun. Thank's for any info you all can give. Chad

August 29th, 2006, 06:57 PM	#605
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	Automation of what? Xfades? that can be managed via the Editing tab in the Preferences, for when you drag multiple bits of media. There are lots of scripts to auto-transition butt cuts/jump cuts as well. Audio may be automated, as well as certain parameters of various plugins/filters. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

August 29th, 2006, 07:21 PM	#606
Chad Solo Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: St.Petersburg,Fla Posts: 162	Thank's for the info. Thats just what I was looking for. Very much appreciated

August 29th, 2006, 10:06 PM	#607
David Ennis Fred Retread Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hartford, CT Posts: 1,227	Spot, For media I'm just using single layer 16x Sony DVD+R. But the freezes aren't due to writing errors. As viewed with WinDVD, the problem is absent in the MPEG-2 file going into DVA, but present in the VOB file set coming out of it. The bit rate is 5500 kbps. 2.4 GHz machine with 7200 RPM drives running in Mode 4. The source files are on the E drive and output is to the C drive. __________________ "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence..." - Calvin Coolidge "My brain is wired to want to know how other things are wired." - Me

August 29th, 2006, 10:17 PM	#608
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The quality of the DVD media itself makes a big difference. The DVD player you are using also makes a difference- if it isn't playing commercially pressed DVDs correctly, it may not be very good (or just need cleaning). That's my guess anyways. You can solve this by trying better media like Taiyo Yuden.

August 30th, 2006, 04:54 AM	#609
David Ennis Fred Retread Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hartford, CT Posts: 1,227	It's not the media or the DVD player in this case. The glitches are in the VOB files in the DVD folder on my hard drive. I can see them when I play the files on my computer before burning any DVDs. __________________ "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence..." - Calvin Coolidge "My brain is wired to want to know how other things are wired." - Me

August 30th, 2006, 08:18 AM	#610
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	its not size, unless DVD A bar goes red.. yours is yellow... are u rendering ur video with embeded audio? more than likely this is whats happening and DVDA is trying to make it compliant. Make sure that the actual AC3 file is with the correct video file in the media track area... its an easy thing to miss...

August 30th, 2006, 12:08 PM	#611
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	How to create a scrambled checkerboard effect Hello Vegas experts. I'm looking for the simplest way to create a "scrambled checkerboard" effect. Here's the idea: Divide the video screen into a bunch of squares. Grab the video from one square, possibly rotate it and place it in another square. I figure that I need a track for each square. Do also I need to generate a square mask externally for each square? I've always found Vegas' Track Motion and Pan and Crop windows to be a bit limited. I would like to be able to switch between the "source" and "target" domains, and manipulate them somewhat independently. Also, does Vegas offer a simple box mask generator? Any suggestions are very welcome. I'd like to do this efficiently, rather than with a cascade of hacks. Thanks! __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 30th, 2006, 03:18 PM	#612
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Anything black and white can be a mask. However, Pan/Crop and Track Motion may very well be all you need. You'll need multiple tracks and copies of the clip. Now use Pan/Crop to isolate one section (Bezier Masking should work for this). Then use Track Motion to move and rotate that section. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

August 30th, 2006, 03:58 PM	#613
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Thanks Edward, I wanted to avoid clip events, so I can easily replace clips and render out different versions. Here's what I ended up doing: 1) I created multiple tracks. 2) I applied the Cookie Cutter effect to the track, set it as a square and positioned it differently on each track. 3) I used the Track Motion effect to move the squares about. The biggest problem has been reverse engineering the math, so the squares line up properly. This works great with nested projects. I can point all of the clips in the project to a single project. That lets me drop the new source video into one track of the first project and have the second "scrambler" project automatically put the new video on every track. I knew that nested projects would be very cool. I finally get to use it in practice. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 31st, 2006, 04:11 AM	#614
Darrin McMillan Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kingston, Ontario Posts: 96	Video Player already in use I keep getting a strange error using Vegas. I'm capturing using Connect HD. Converting to AVI. I've used Vegas for over a year with the exact same devices with no problems till now. My individual clips(AVI's) play fine and import into Adobe Premiere without a problem. However when I import into Vegas 5 or 6, I get some clips that are fine then a block of clips that are blacked out and when I try to preview the blacked out clips I get an error. Video player already in use. Sometimes it even kicks me out of the program. Has anyone seen this happen before. I've tried re-installing both Vegas and ConnectHd...Any suggestions would be great. I can use Adobe for now but I really prefer Vegas. Last edited by Darrin McMillan; August 31st, 2006 at 04:12 AM. Reason: spelling

August 31st, 2006, 05:39 AM	#615
Guy Bruner Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ashford, AL Posts: 937	Darrin, Have you installed any new software recently? Like going from Windows Media Player 9 to 10?