Thanks guys,
Even the W2k tools in the disk management section wouldn't touch this. I thought that the "repair system files" option would at least let me see the files...nope.
I made a list of important files on the drive prior to the problem.
Fortunately, I was paranoid enough to make a copy of the master
.avi of the show on another drive, which I discovered last night.
I can take it back into Vegas and make the DVD stuff again.

First time I've ever had a drive (Maxtor 16oGB 7200rpm) go down.
I re-formatted it and it came up as 140+GB instead of the 153GB it used to be, so there were apparently a bunch of bad sectors.
I'm sending it back to Maxtor on Monday for a replacement...it's one of their last drives with a 3 year warranty; now they're only giving a year.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Ken

so what is it that i have to change or do differently so that the animation, rendered to pal dv, will look best as possible?

Just to make things clear , the kind of stuff i am looking for is like the intro for the LadyX project.

thanks

ps: if you read this Rob could you tell me which program did you use to make the intro for the project , it really is a great one

So; is there any news on development for adding HDV native support to Vegas?

I'm surprised that this question hasn't been asked before, given that the FX-1 has been out for long enough now that Vegas' lack of native support could be seen as embarrassing; to say the least.

I know there's been some movement towards this end.... I just wondered whether it would be forthcoming before Ulead, Avid, FCP, Adobe and well.....just about everyone else have managed to do so!!

Is there a way to open up clips directly (first) into the Trimmer Bin, instead of opening them up on the time line first? Thanks.

double click on item in media pool or explorer.

1/- If from Media Pool, just Right Click on event and slect Open in Trimmer.

OR:

2/- If you want to Open IN trimmer from Vegas Explorer you need to SET this option within Preferences. It is the 10th option within the Tools>Preferences>General

Good luck . .happy editing

Grazie

it's not just a vegas issue... all software-only editors are incapable of real-time previewing of native hdv footage, because the present-day computer cpu's aren't powerful enuf to do the decoding for playback... there is no software fix for that, and it doesn't have anything to do with hard drive speed... so you can't fix the problem with things like hard drive raid arrays.

the only way we'll get native hdv with vegas at this point in time is if they add some kind of hardware support... which doesn't appear to be happening.

I have Transitions in other editing apps not in vegas. Are there add on transition packs availible?

<<<-- Originally posted by Dan Euritt : it's not just a vegas issue... all software-only editors are incapable of real-time previewing of native hdv footage, because the present-day computer cpu's aren't powerful enuf to do the decoding for playback... there is no software fix for that, and it doesn't have anything to do with hard drive speed... so you can't fix the problem with things like hard drive raid arrays.

the only way we'll get native hdv with vegas at this point in time is if they add some kind of hardware support... which doesn't appear to be happening. -->>>

Hmm.... I take it you don't have a FX-1 then Dan? If you do, you mustn't have attempted to capture from the cam in HDV mode into Vegas, because that's the only way you could have misinterpretted what I am saying....

Come to think of it, I don't even recall thinking of 'real-time' in any form when I wrote my original post.... probably because I've got ConnectHD, which apart from CapDVHS (a most inelegant capture tool) is the only effective capture software I've found for the FX-1.

You'd also be aware if you had the FX-1 that once you've got your CFHD avi or m2t files captured that getting them into Vegas isn't something that's easy enough for a relative 'computer newbie' to accomplish: i.e. the CFHD files are the native 1440x1080, and require a custom template to display and edit correctly, while the m2t files don't show as 'media files' and must be imported under the 'all files' option. While this may not be an excessive hassle from my perspective, it's annoying enough that these extra steps have to be taken when Sony's own NLE could be updated to a point where they're unnecessary.

Also, WinXP service pack 2 must be installed for your system to even recognise the cam, although Vegas will only recognise it in DV mode....which is fine if I wanted crappy DV mode captures, rather than the HDV material I bought the camera for.

So; yes, it is a Vegas issue....not anything to do with real-time preview or any exotic hardware support. Just a plain and simple need for Sony to support it's own hardware within it's own NLE.....

...

This is the only thing I know that is happening relating to Vegas and HDV:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/news/ShowRelease.asp?ReleaseID=588

Dennis

<<<-- Originally posted by Dennis Liu : ...

This is the only thing I know that is happening relating to Vegas and HDV:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/news/ShowRelease.asp?ReleaseID=588

Dennis -->>>

Which despite being an older article (which I read at the time - thanks anywayz), has the horrible implication that Sony is off-loading it's responsibility to support it's own hardware to 3rd party providers.

That'd be fine if the 'between the lines' allusion to Vegas 'integration' with ConnectHD was realised, but they are two seperate entities.

Perhaps Douglas Spotted Eagle has some insights on what I'm asking as he has been (if I've been following the threads correctly) working with Sony on this very aspect... Any tit-bits you can let slip Doug without breaching any NDAs you have?

Check out Spice Master from Pixelan.

Gary

And WAX, and Boris, and there's a few free ones written by individuals such as here: http://mikecrash.wz.cz/

and here: http://www.endor.demon.co.uk/

I'm looking to add some equipment to my pc.
I have a Sony Viao rx550.
1.5gh
60 HD
256 Ram.

I want to add more HD. An external one to store my videos on ect.. around 200HD or so.

I would like to add more ram, my computer max's at 512.

I also need a dependable dvd burner. External as well.

I have 4 usb ports and 2 firewire ports.

My videos will be 15 minutes at most. Also after I burn to dvd I can delete my projects from the Hard Drive to clear space as well. Will also have very little effects, transitions or any complex things that will slow down rendering.

Any input on brand from personal use or experience will be a big help. Looking to puchase this week.

Thank you,
Matt

External hard drive:
It might be cheapest to buy a (P)ATA / normal IDE hard drive (not SATA) and stick it in a firewire enclosure. Some assembly required, but no big deal.

Example enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-342&depa=0
I have that and have yet to really test it.

Should be around $30 cheaper the DIY route. Hard drive you can get anything, although I'd stay away from Maxtor (most but not all people consider them not that reliable).

Burner:

Ars Technica's buyer's guide recommends the NEC 3500a. I go there to quickly research what particular brand of stuff to get.

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-09-21-2004.ars/3

The NEC 3500a and Pioneer 108 are a coin flip according to the forum at cdfreaks.com (this is a pretty good place with info on burners). Get whichever's cheaper.

You might also want to pickup some DVD media. Taiyo Yuden DVDs are the best but more expensive than other DVDs like Riteks. meritline.com is one place to get DVDs... I don't know too much about this stuff so you could check out cdfreaks.com for help. The people over at the official Sony Vegas forum recommend riteks from meritline.

RAM:
Go to crucial.com and figure out what kind your computer needs. You can get practically any RAM for your computer... they will all work, and at the same speed (for video!). If your computer's chipset supports dual channel, get pairs of RAM all the same model for optimal performance. (I don't think it does, but you can double check.)

Generic/cheap RAM may be more likely to be dead on arrival (this is rare). You can test your RAM with memtest86. Without getting too complicated, memtest86 will catch like 95% of bad RAM.

memtest86.org is the website. You need to create a boot CD or boot floppy, and set your computer to boot from it. Memtest86 starts automatically... wait for it to finish one pass.

As Edward explained, the output template is 25 fps. So it will
interpolate your 12 fps footage to 25 fps which is not what you
want.

Thank you for responding to my questions. My 2nd question was
perhaps a bit unclear, I meant under the Media tab when you
go to properties, please list:

- Attributes
- Format
- Frame rate
- Field order
- Aspect ratio

What you should change (at least) is the following:

1. project properties: File -> Properties: set Field order to "None (progressive scan)"

2. when exporting: File -> Render As: choose your PAL DV template, go to Custom: Video tab: set Field order to "None (progressive scan)"

Also MAKE SURE that when you right-click on your footage, go to
properties (per my question #2) and then Media tab the Field order
there is set to "None (progressive scan)" as well (it probably is if
you loaded a still sequence).

Tell us how it looks after this. If it still looks bad then the 12 -> 25
fps conversion is creating some problem. It might be a good idea
to get use a 2 second (24 frames) JPEG export to see how it looks
for ourselves.

I get the following error message when I click on the camcorder icon on Vegas 5.
The camcorder has been turned on and in VTR mode.
<i>The specified video capture application can not be opened.
C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas 5.0\VidCap5.0.EXE</i>

I've also went into the folders and opened the vidcap50.exe software in the Vegas directory.
But then, I get the Please Enter Your Serial Number for <i>Sony Video Capture XPress 5.0!</i> message.


The video capture use to work fine several weeks ago, even on the trial version.

Thanks for trying to help me out Ed.

I have not figured out why my audio goes randomly out of sync, but I am editing around it by deleting the off synced audio and video tracks, then adding new ones hoping it will be ok. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Thanks again.

In Excalibur you can set the length of transitions, but I don't see how this can be done in Vegas directly. Am I missing something?

And a separate question: In the Sony Credit Roll there seems to be no capability to insert an item, such as the name of a cast member I found I had overlooked. I had to re-enter all the items from the insertion on down. Again, am I missing something?

Transitions: Just slide the clips however long you want the transition to be - If it MUST be a precise size, you can create a selection of the proper size to help in the adjustments. Vegas has no built-in methods for just typing in the exact size of a transition - one of the reasons for tools like Excalibur and Neon - both of which can do this.


Credit Roll: Click on the square to the left of the line where you would like the new entry added. Press the "Insert" key.

You'll probably have to contact Customer Service to resolve this. I guess the big question is: What changed from several weeks ago?

Have you tried rendering then playing the rendered file in a player? Maybe the Vegas preview is causing this and it won't be apparent in the finished/rendered file.

I thought the trial was for 30 days.

Yup, the trial is 30 days long.
I will contact Sony Pictures once the website returns.
Since my previous use of the Video Capture program, I did not touch any settings or delete Sony related files.

Thanks, Ed. I thought I had tried the insert key, but maybe not in proper sequence with the text type key at the beggining of the line.

But for the transition deal I don't see any clip to extend. For a transition I make a split then drag a transition type icon up the split and drop it there. There appears to be only an arrow that can't be stretched.

Am I supposed to create a clip (two splits) and then mark that as a transition? (I'm at work and don't have Vegas in front of me to try).

You have to OVERLAP the clips by the size you want the transition. If you want the default ovelap amount (which you can set in the preferences) then put the cursor on the split and press the "/" key on the number pad.

If I just drag the video track I'll lose synch, so the audio has to be involved in the transition also?

When I overlap clips, I generally overlap both the audio and video. This lets both the video and audio crossfade from one clip to the next. If you don't want that, you can always make either the video or audio longer or shorter to compensate and keep things in sync (i.e. like J and L cuts).

Bottom line - the amount of overlap controls the length of the transition. The GOOD thing about this is that you don't have to worry about HEADS or TAILS on the clips (which I HATED in my previous NLE). Just trim as needed and overlap - DONE.

Hey All,

so i have this .avi that will play and open in windows media player just fine but when i go to open and edit it in Vegas only the audio portion opens.

When i capture video i don't have this problem.

Is there 'one button' that i'm missing? I tried read only and it didn't make a difference. Any other thoughts to why this is happening?

Yes. You don't have the proper codec installed for Vegas to use to read this file. Did this file happen to come from a camera? If yes, you need to download an MJPEG codec. I have full information about this in the Vegas FAQ at the link below my name.

yes it came from a camera but it isn't a still photo (thus being .avi like your page said).

i think i found the link on your page

http://thetroxels.com/vegas/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38&highlight=mjpeg+codec

is this the one i need to download? It is a movie file and this makes reference to a still. The computer is not at my house so i want to have as much info before i leave and try to trouble shoot but this sounds like the problem. I'll keep you posted when i get back.

thanks

That's the correct link. You can either download the one referenced there or look at the other references for other options.

Hi - While it's not critical, it would be very convenient if I could split (s key) more than one track at one. I'm editing a project where I've put 4 tracks above each other synced together. One is a video and one is a video of a person watching that video ( a reaction shot) Now I'm editing out large portions of it because I just want a few minutes.

So when I get to an edit point, I split the first track, select the next track, move the cursor to the same point, split the second track etc etc. Is there some easier way. Could I create a region that I could remove? Or does Vegas have a way to move to a different track without moving the cursor?

Thanks!
Milt Lee

<<<-- Originally posted by Edward Troxel : That's the correct link. You can either download the one referenced there or look at the other references for other options. -->>>

Ok so that worked, AWESOME! Couldn't believe how easy it was. Just when i was happy that it all worked, a new problem emerged.

I want to use the "print to tape" option but it kept telling me file type wasn't recoginzed, yet i could play it in vegas (tried .wmv, .avi & .mpeg). Why would i get the error message? The tape was new, camera was in tape mode, yet i couldn't print or preview.


My explanation is kind of vauge so if you need more info let me know

thanks

You can download 3D LE plugin from the original page, but they don't offer support for it. http://www.debugmode.com/bin/download.php?pluginpac.zip

If you want ALL tracks split, either CTRL-A to select all events or CTRL-SHIFT-A to deselect all events. If you only want specific tracks split, CTRL-Click each event you want split before pressing "S".

Splitting is very logical:
Nothing selected - everything is split
Something selected - only selected events are split

Camera should be in VTR mode.

Hello everyone!!!

Can someone please help me - I recently bought Vegas 5 (I was working with Vegas 4.0 till then) and was unpleasantly surprised when it started crashing down during the rendering process of a 6 min long video clip. I have never had such problems with Vegas 4 and I don't think the problem is in my compi (I'm sure of that) - I do suspect that the new plugins (Adorage and Pixelan) might be the case, but I'm not sure for when I render just a small part of the project it works fine - but when I want to save all the video the program usually crashes around 90%. I even installed the updates - but in vain.

Please help!!!!!

Ineta

Welcome aboard DVInfo.net Ineta!

What operating system version would you be on? Are those
plugins certified to be used with Vegas 5 (and not only 4)?
(I don't know those myself)

Both of those plugins should work fine in Vegas 5. There's a lot of unanswered questions, though. How about starting with:

1) What is the source format?
2) What format are you rendering?
3) Are there any large pictures in this project?
4) If yes, do they happen around the 90% mark?
5) Any other info that might be useful?

Hey Folks,

Here's a problem you may not have heard before. I am rendering out my movie, it has three plug ins on it, brightness/contrast, levals, and black and white. I watch the movie in "preview" when I edit, and it looks grainy and dirty... just the way I want it. When I render it out, it looks TOO GOOD, glossy and very clean.... Is there a way to render it out to look bad? like it does in "preview"? I know there is an option to render quality to Preview, good or best, I am trying that now... but I am doubtful... any help would be appriciated...

Michael Estepp

I know it's something simple. I just can't find a reference to it, or figure it out.

I think what you are looking for is what I explain in Vol 2 #5 of the newsletter. Vol 2 #3 has a similar article but is geared toward Vegas 4 instead.

Definitely first render with preview quality which should help degrade the image. You might also want to look at the Film Effects effect which can add grain and other things.

I have played with the film grain, the image still looks too pollished

Thanks Ed!

Hello,

I've just edited a project in vegas and have started colour correction, however when i add any effects the video quality drops seriously. Giving a kind of pixelation look to it like its been heavily compressed.

If i render out to tape and play it from the dv camera it still looks awful. If i remove the effects in vegas the video looks fine again.

Has anyone experienced these issues? If so, can you tell me what im doing wrong.

Cheers

Tony

<<<-- Originally posted by Edward Troxel : Camera should be in VTR mode. -->>>

yes, it was in VTR mode and i had controls of the camera. I kept getting an error message that said format not recognized yet they were the basic ones that Vegas compressed.
\

Any other ideas why it didn't record?

Are the project settings set to either DV or DV widescreen?

If you are sending it to a DV camera it'll have to send it DV, not any other codec.