and select the "C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas 6.0\VidCap60.EXE" capturing app in Options/Preferences/Video - worked for me.

Cheers
-- Andre

This has nothing to do with Vegas, but with Windows and the driver for the
camera. See the following thread and thread @ Sony they link to:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45315

can anyone help me with this?

I thought people HAD helped you with this. You have two basic options:

1) Install the proper codec so that Vegas can properly decode the video
2) Use some other program to translate the video into a standard format that Vegas can see.

I'm sorry but where do I download the codec from.

Someone has still "clever" ideas?
Îê, Dan, go in the Windows Control Panel (Start - > Control Panel), and click the Contour Shuttle Device (or clik on the Shuttle icon on system tray, and choose "Open Control Panel "). It will open Contour Shuttle Device Configuraion.
On tab "ShuttlePro v2" (I use v2, but I think in v1 that is same windows) under Application settings window finde the button Options
Go To
Options -> Import Settings -> and programm prompt you select a specify configuration file.
The necessary file is in... (if Vegas installed by default)
C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas 6.0
Specify the file, and enjoy - now you can use you device in Vegas 6. ;-)

SonicFoundry, Sony and many other manufacturers always add a configuration file for Shuttle with him Software, becouse driver-Updating leave not often, and add a lot of unnecessary job for Contour Design

Sorry 4 my English

Happy Editing

Hi I have done this before and whats been said is correct.Your decreasing the video down from 100% speed to 80%.To match audio your calculating an opposite by increasing the length in Sound Forge so if you look at it like to go from the 80% up tp the 100% you would need to increase the 80% by 125% to get 100% then apply the 125% to the audio length maintaining pitch in Sound Forge.I mention this in case you experiment as I did with various speeds.eg.85% actually looked cool in some situations.

Personally, I don't use DivX files so I've never tried to locate it. If you do a search for DivX, though, I know it's been discussed MANY times.

This has nothing to do with Vegas, but with Windows and the driver for the
camera. See the following thread and thread @ Sony they link to:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45315

I suspect this sort of event is going to be happening more and more frequently...

Unfortunately there may be no way to inform Sony FX-1/Z1 camera owners that they will still need to load the correct driver (not easy for a PC novice, which many will no doubt be) or install WinXP Service Pack 2 to be able to capture HDV in any program - let alone Vegas.

Mike may be the first... but he won't be the last to post their frustration at what is perceived by many who encounter it (rightly or wrongly) as a most exasperating situation.

The JVC HD10 came with a driver disk that meant even 'puter newbies could only blame themselves if they cocked it up. As the FX-1/Z1 don't come with any driver disk, the assumption is... "this thing must be recognised automatically", and when the re-assuring 'boing' sounds to notify 'IEEE-1394 device found', most users assume they must be good to go. Imagine how they feel when all that excitement turns to bewilderment when it ain't so... No HDV device showing - how to get that video outta da cam?

I can relate to Mike's frustration, and I'm no PC newbie. Capturing from the FX-1 proved difficult for me too when I first got my cam, and it would be nice to think that their circumstance engendered sympathy and a brief outline of the solution, rather than a cold shoulder.

After all, the Vegas user base is going to be swelled by FX1/Z1 owners. It might be worthwhile to help them rather than alienate them...

Hello!
My idea was to capture a footage directly to dvd .VOB file /not via Vegas,of course/. Ok,there was not any problem, playing back of this new captured vob file with some media players was ok - there are both audio and video. But when I tried to put the .VOB file on Vegas,only the video track exists. No any audio track! So,is there any way to let Vegas recognize the audio track from a .VOB file??????

Vegas doesn't "read" AC3 audio. You'll need to use some other program to convert the audio back to WAV.

Gottcha!

It was my PCI IDE Controller, that is probably dying on me right now...

It's the Silicon Image 6080... I am looking into buying a Promise Controller now...

Cu, Matthias

You're welcome!

Good luck.

Dennis

In drop frame video, Every frame :00 & :01 are dropped for each minute change except for minutes with 0’s (00:, 10:, 20:, 30:, 40: & 50:)

My understanding of drop frame is that it is frame numbers that are dropped to stay in sync NOT actual frames. Here's one reference: http://teched.vt.edu/gcc/HTML/VirtualTextbook/PDFs/AdobeTutorialsPDFs/Premiere/PremiereTimecode.pdf.

Good luck.

Dennis

Are you saying this cam does not use the standard Firewire drivers built into Windows? Virtually every other cam on the market uses these drivers. What is it about the FX1 that requires special Firewire drivers?

Good luck.

Dennis

The firewire part is not the problem. The interface to the application seems
to be the issue. The driver needing to be installed is the DVCR driver.

My guess would be that the DVCR drivers understands MPEG-2 (ie HDV!!),
whereas the normal DV driver (from Microsoft and others) only understands
plain DV (DCT based compression, other than MPEG-2).

Such incompatabilities are to be expected with such "new" equipment. What
really is going on is probably only answerable by the folk at Sony & Microsoft.

The nested projects and DVI previewing are amazing features that led me to upgrade to 6, but I am having a little problem with regular freezing while using the DVI preview window. I wrote the Sony (Sonic Foundry) engineers about the problem, but (so far) they're still working on it. You guys have been extremely helpful in the past, and I though someone might know what's causing this.

System:
P4 2.8 GHz 800 FSB
1 Gb RAM
4 RAID Array Drives (1 RAID 0 & 1 RAID 1)
Matrox P750 Dual DVI 8X Video Card
2 DVI Monitors
other incidental stuff...

Thanks,
Brad

I noticed slight jerkiness (but not freezes) during 2nd monitor full screen preview. I guess that is because all frames are recompressed, and CPU is getting overloaded.
Your system specs are aprox. as mine except I overclocked 2.8GHz to 3.07GHz.
Check processes that are running for CPU usage during preview process, might give you a hint.

I have a dream!

I dream of connecting my SVHS PC output to my TV watching the Vegas Preview fly by...

If I read it correctly in the manual and online help, there should be a way to select the "Windows secondary monitor" as preview device. Actually I have selected it as preview device, it just does not preview.

Now as I searched the forum I was only able to find fellow believers working with firewire decks/cameras and converters. My question: What is it with the secondary monitor option in Vegas?

Thank you very much!

Matthias

PS: My TV shows up in the Windows graphics tab as secondary monitor, it is also recognized on pushing "identify displays", only the "details" area shows a "Device unavailable" message..

When I open Vegas 6, I get an error message that says MSSQL$SONY_MEDIAMGR service does not exist. The media manager then does not work. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this?

The same happened to me. I can tell you that it happened after I installed the trial of Adobe After Effects and went away after I uninstalled it. I feel that there is a conflict issue.

I also had a similar problem with media manager that had other weird symptoms. An uninstall/reinstall was needed.

It happens with V6.

Do not worry.

Try the tips listed here:
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=389571

I had been using the "levels" to crush the blacks, but I recently realized that it kills SO much detail and leaves everything muddy. The effect (minus loss of detail) was really good, though. It was really approaching a filmic level composition.

So what is the best way to do this in vegas?

Thanks,

DJ

use the colour curves :)

The problem is because of impossibility of uninstalling or reinstalling Vegas trial. I had the same problem and deleted it manualy, now I use Vegas 5.0d and I see that there are many options remained from v6.0b...

The problem is because of impossibility of uninstalling or reinstalling Vegas trial. I had the same problem and deleted it manualy, now I use Vegas 5.0d and I see that there are many options remained from v6.0b...

Uninstalling Vegas does not remove the media manager prefs, delete the "Media Manager" folder in Documents and Settings \ User \Application Data \ Sony \ Media Manager.

My media mgr was tring to locate a DB which was offline when reinstalling, and refused to install/start...

/magnus

Can you give me some specific numbers or settings for the colour curves? That'd be brilliant. I wish there was a bank of presets I could download from for just these occasions. Is there?

Just discovered that trying to register the MPEG-2 encoder online with the network render client running in background on same machine will nuke Vegas 6 terribly. A reboot and exit of the autostarting render client is the solution, in case someone has the same problem.
/magnus

Just drag the bottom curve/tangent and play around with it. There's two squares on the bottom control point. The one to the upper right controls the tangent control- drag that one around. You probably want to move it to the bottom right a little.

Honestly, just play around with it. It may help to understand that the x-axis is the input and the y-axis is the output.

you can also look at the picture at the bottom. It shows the resulting gradient if the input were a gradient from black to white.

2- If you are outputting to television, then blacks are supposed to be at 16 16 16 in RGB values. Computer black is 0 0 0 (RGB), but that's not what you want.

Also... there's this whole issue with DV equipment not corresponding to 7.5IRE and old versions of Vegas handling it wrong. On the Vegas side, Vegas 5 or better will have documentation on how to setup the video scopes.

On the monitoring side, check out http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

Explanation of 7.5IRE setup (AKA pedestal):
*applies to NTSC, not PAL.
With the DV format, 16 16 16 (RGB) is black in the digital domain. The problem occurs when these digital values are translated into analog signals/voltages.
16 16 16 (RGB) is supposed to be translated to 7.5IRE. 7.5IRE is a measure of voltage and only applies to analog signals. Consumer and lots of prosumer equipment (DSR1, PD150?, VX2000, XL1) will translate 16 16 16 (RGB) to 0IRE, which is wrong. This means some dark colors will get crushed and your overall image will be a little too dark.

If your monitor takes only one source, then the solution is simple: Calibrate it to the PLUGE bars in the color bars... and your blacks will be right. If you need to dub to analog then you should be especially careful about 7.5IRE setup.

*Japan NTSC defines black at 0IRE.
**Assinine technical note: DV doesn't actually store things in RGB values, but we can ignore that because in Vegas you manipulate the video in RGB values. You will rarely see things in YCrCb (which is also called YUV sometimes, but that may be wrong).

2- By default, Vegas likes to put blacks at 16 16 16. There are some workarounds...

For dissolves, add a solid color generator in a lower layer of 16 16 16. This way things dissolve to 16 16 16 and not 0 0 0.

For color correction, it gets a little trickier. One approach is to color correct everything and put blacks at 0. In the video preview window, click on the FX button and add the color corrector. Use the computer RGB to studio RGB setting, and double-click the saturation slider.
This is probably easiest, although you might cause a little bit of banding.
The other option is to make a color curve preset with the bottom point at 16 16 16. This is kind of a PITA to make, but with the color gradient generator and the *legacy* broadcast safe plug-in (invert the colors) you should be able to figure it out. In color curves, to move the bottom point, you have to de-select everything and then click the bottom point. Then use the arrow keys.

I tried the suggestions. I uninstalled and cleaned out all the files as suggested, re-installed Vegas 6. Same problem, same error message. Any other suggestions?

After a bit of research and exploration, I did a repair of my Microsoft Office application. Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the Vegas and related software. That appears to have done the trick. Apparently there was a SQL file that was hosed!

The hum is no doubt 60 Hz or 120 Hz. ... I have found the one in Cool Edit to be 100% effective. If you have to set up your own filters, set them for removal 59-61 Hz and 119-121 Hz.

Thanks for this excellent suggesion. I use the Studio Denoiser from Acon
http://www.acondigital.com/StudioClean.htm
which is really really good, they have a Studio Clean package for $69 with a de-noiser, a de-clipper, a de-clicker and a "Rebirth" module whatever that is. IMO better quality than sony's - and more user friendly.

/magnus

Anyone know how to create a 'fairy dust' effect or 'shooting star' effect in Vegas? I've seen it done in AE using Delirium Plug-in but I am a Vegas user so just curious whether this can be done.

I'm not a novice by any means when it comes to Vegas and compositing and I've done a lot of complex multi layer composites. But I've been scratching my head over how to accomplish this.

One thought was to use PS or Illustrator to create a small bright star like image and use some motion blur but it's not quite the same. The 'fairy dust' effect that I've seen in AE is very nice and it contains many independent 'objects' trailing dusts that moves on its own.

Any suggestions??

what you want is Particle Illusion (www.wondertouch.com)

AWESOME absolutely INCREDIBLE piece of software (and i say that not as a disributor, but as a user)

thousands of tweakbale effects, and free downloads each month;

there is the SE version which is a single emitter no blocking program which is dirt cheap, and there is the Full bodied version which absolutely ROCKS

its probably one of the best independantly created pieces of software ever created, so my hat off to Alan

AlamDV has been rebuilt now, which is also good, huge user base and very flexible.
I havent used much of AlamDV, but i like the idea of if :)

Thank you very much for your response. I didn't realize there was such app that can do this. It's just what I need. I'll take the demo for a spin.

Hi

I looking to get a new NLE and have read much about Vegas, so downloaded the eval copy to give it a go. I am choosing between AVID XPRESS DV (because I like the workflow & look) and Vegas (packed with features, including good sound support). As far as editing goes, I have been struggling on with MediaStudio Pro for a couple of years.

Anyway, I have tried a number of clips (straight from the camera), had a play and like the results. However, I have a number of clips that I have composited in Combustion, which are night scenes, and put these into Vegas. The output from vegas seems VERY dark and most of the detail seems to be lost. If I render & output through DV monitor in Mediastudio I get the right (as seen on monitor) balance of contrast / brightness), but through vegas, even when rendered to hard disk and played through media player or back through MediaStudio, the result is poor.

Is this something in Vegas ? Can it be corrected ? Or do you think the original clip could be at fault and needs lifting ?

If it was the original clip I would expect that it would look just as bad playing through any nle. Note that I encode DV clips using the Alparysoft lossless codec until I render for final output, so the combustion clip is using that codec when importing into vegas (other clips were straight DV codecs).

Before I purchase this software I would like to know whether there is something I am doing wrong, something in Vegas, and whether it can be fixed easily.


Thanks
Declan

Just to go more in depth on Peter's response. AlamDV was rebuilt like he said but it now goes by the name EffectsLab.

I believe it's a bit cheaper then Particle Illusion and you will be able to to create other effects with it's engine. It runs at 49 pounds, or close to 100$ USD.

You can check it out below.

www.fxhome.com

Good luck with your effect.

I'm experiencing a strange problem in Vegas: normally whenever I move a video event, its corresponding audio event moves as well. With ignore event grouping it moves independently. But then after turning off ignore event grouping it still moves independently as opposed to the audio and video moving together again. What am I doing wrong/ not understanding?

J.

forgot to mention this one..
Main Concept have tehir editing program (it used to be called main actor) which actually has a particle generator within the NLE...

pretty nifty, but nowhere near as powerful as particle illusion or AlamDV/EffectLab

Declan,

You have quite a different workflow than I am used to, so my comments may be off the mark. What format are finally rendering to? I notice that my mpeg2 renders look very dark and dirty in media player, whereas they look fine when played with powerDVD. You might try another player just to see if it makes any difference.

Once you ungroup the audio and video, I believe that you must "regroup" them before they will stay together again.

WHERE are you seeing this? The computer screen? or the external monitor? The two WILL look different. Use External Preview and see how it looks.

If you simply turn on Ignore Event Grouping, move an event, then turn off Ignore Event Grouping, then the two events will continue to move together. If you do some other things while Ignore Event Grouping is on, they can become separate. For example, splitting the event can cause that to happen.

Hi

I am seeing this on the external preview monitor, set to output through firewire->CAM->JVC Monitor (TV Monitor). What I always do is use a frame buffer so I can see what the final output would look like. i.e. I will be outputting back to a DV Tape. I think it may be something to do with blacks. If I apply the Blacks filter (can't remember the name) and raise them (7.5IRE), it looks more or less like the original (when viewed from combustions firewire framebuffer).

Also I notice (again through the preview monitor arrangement above), that when paused, the clip stutters when on a frame with movement (classic interlace stutter). This doesn't happen with other software I have for the same clips (i.e. combustion). Is there a way to configure Vegas not to do this ? Source material I am using is all DV PAL Lower Field First.

Thanks

Allright, I understand. Thanks guys!

If that's the case then it could be a matter of HOW the clips were captured vs how the Sony Codec is decoding them. Capture with Vegas and see if you see the same thing. Otherwise, you *could* try setting the preferences to use the Microsoft Codec. I don't recommend using the Microsoft Codec as the Sony codec is superior. Test using files captured with Vegas instead.

I have not had a lot of time to test for background problems related to the freezing issue, but we have successfully rendered of a 45-minute video production using Vegas 6. The results were honestly amazing. Several of our production members are Full Sail film students and graduates, and even they were impressed. It is reassuring that people with tons of professional gear at their disposal would see Vegas 6 as an excellent product.

A side note: Magic Bullet adds an excellent look, but what's up with the crazy render times? It took 12 hours to render a 45-minute video.

Dear Brad,

Some stuttering is normal with the preview.

If you render your timeline, and then preview it, there should be less stuttering. I just ignore the stuttering while I am editing as my experience is that it does not affect the final product.

I have a Sony Vaio, with 3.4 ghz cpu with hyperthreading, and the stutterning is still present, but minimal. I believe it depends on what processing has to be done to show your timeline.

The stuttering on my system is not too distracting. It would be an issue if I didn't know that the final render is going to be ok.

As a test, if you have a lot of processing going on, you could mute some of the audio tracks, or bypass the FX, or eliminate the cropping, or audio envelopes, just to see the differences in the stuttering. Just save your project first and do not save the project after you run the test.

The amount of processing that has to take place in order to meet our needs is immense. It is reasonable for the current levels of computing power to fall short at times.

Try this:

1/ Undock th Preview Wndow

2/ Double click an empty sapce on the Preview Tool bar - this does what I call "relaxing" the Preview window. It will attain its natural Preview ratio - now try it with a video playing. I often get to 25fps - PAL-land here - this way!

3/- Now Double click again and the Preview Window will go to its smaller "relaxed" ratio

Any good?

I showed this to an HD colleaue, and he couldn't believe the improvement it afforded his previewing of his HD footage.

I kinda giggled!

Grazie

A side note: Magic Bullet adds an excellent look, but what's up with the crazy render times? It took 12 hours to render a 45-minute video.

Magic Bullet is notoriously slow when it comes to rendering. That's why many people duplicate the looks using standard Vegas effects or other tools such as Zenote.