Beyond that, I believe the Pixelan tool is only available in the Platinum version. Looking at costs, that alone is worth the price difference.

The Acid XMC package is nice if you want to upgrade later. But I think you nailed it, aside from the Pixelan F/X, the color correction is the main difference. Between the two, I think it's worth the $50.

Dan,

Well, "H.264 Encoder" shows up under the list of QuickTime codecs in the Adobe Media Encoder. I kind of doubt the Nero H.264 codec (yes, I have Nero 6.6 installed) would show up, as I would think the system would have to know it is a QuickTime codec before it would appear on the list (and it's not really a QuickTime codec, just a QuickTime compatible codec). Not every codec can appear in the Adobe Media Encoder. Only MPEG, QuickTime, RealMedia, and Windows Media codecs can be accessed.

It's been awhile since I first learned about the Nero H.264 codec, so I don't remember, but I think I would have checked at the time if I could access it in Premiere Pro. I don't think you can. But someone with Premiere Pro and Nero 6.6 installed, without QuickTime 7, would have to confirm.

Peter,

If you do export to the QuickTime H.264 codec from Premiere Pro, make sure you use the deinterlace filter (if you have interlaced footage) for the best quality. Otherwise my videos looked terrible.

One thing I have found is that for some reason the bitrate slider in Adobe Media Encoder is totally inaccurate when encoding to QuickTime files. If my memory servers me correctly I believe it has to be set to around 25 Kb/s to get an approximately 350 Kb/s file.

I've done this before and it worked fine (I had to process some live band footage to send to an American producer) but I've only got time for one shot at this, so I don't want to mess it up, as I need to get a DVD of it to some American guys tomorrow.

I've got some footage of them playing taped in PAL DV on a PAL Cam (I'm UK), and obviously they'd want it in a usable format for back home.

Whats the best way of getting vegas to do all this for me? Its only a short set, so rather than export to a different encoder like I usually would, I might just encode straight in vegas to DVD at a very high CBR.

Would I start the project in PAL or NTSC?
What deinterlace settings should i set (bearing in mind I've heard very good things about vegas' 24p encode.. should I use this?)

Its been a while since messing around with NTSC standards, so a quick rundown on what to setup with regards to the project, then the encode would be most appreciated. i presume the 50i > 24p conversion would slow down the audio by 1%, which isn't a problem.. and it'd do this automatically without me having to export audio then reimport it etc?

Cheers!

I'll repeat my reply to Mel in the "PAL to NTSC conversion" thread about 10 posts down. He never replied that it worked for him so hopefully it did.


Bob Grant from Australia (I know him & trust his responses) posted the following on the Sony forum a while ago.

***********************
Sure do it all the time.
Just ask Vegas to encode to mpeg-2 using the DVDA NTSC template, maybe adjust the bitrate as you would if doing a PAL DVD.

Render at Best and select Reduce Interlace Flicker for all the media.

Alternatively render to a new PAL AVI and encode from that to NTSC as it'll save you having to add the Reduce Interlace Flicker thing to lots of clips.

You should be able to play the resulting DVD in your existing DVD player if you've got a recent or el cheapo one.
***********************

Hope this helps.

Mike

See these URL's on how you can do 25 -> 24 fps:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50279
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=39265
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=2108

Otherwise you can just set Vegas to an NTSC 29.97 (30 fps drop frame) project
and plunk in the PAL footage. Render out to DVD or whatever (in NTSC format)
and it should be okay.

Cheers guys, so leaving my project settings as PAL DV then Blend Frames for the interlace, then just telling it to use an NTSC template will convert it all fine then? The 24p thing isn't so important, just thoght if its easy enough and it'll look better then hey.. why not :)

One thing you should be aware of is that the latest version of Vegas, version 6, does a much better job of frame rate conversion than versions 5 and before did. I would go so far as to say that Vegas 6 even does a better job of PAL/NTSC conversions than do dedicated programs like DVFilm Atlantis.

I've just completed a project shot in 16:9 HDV with my FX-1. During the editing, I used pan/scan to zoom in on certain parts of a clip. However, when I rendered to DVD, everything correctly displays in letterbox (on a 4:3 set) except the clip that I pan/scaned. It was stretched to 4:3.

How do I make sure that the material I pan/scan remains in 16:9 format when rendered and transferred to DVD. I am using DVD Archtect to burn the DVD.

Thanks,

-- Keith

I know there must be a way to do this, but I must be missing something. Let's say I basically wanted to create a pan/scan version of some widescreen footage (not really, but this illustrates my problem perfectly). This would require me to crop the widescreen footage to the size of the output resolution using cropping, then using keyframes to "move" my pan-scan around the widescreen image. I have no problems doing this for a single event, but is it possible to do this using cropping and keyframes for the entire timeline instead of event-by-event?

Any ideas? (Maybe I should be using a "bus" to do this?)

In Vegas 4 you can just use track motion which acts like a pan and crop
on the whole track.
In Vegas 6 movie studio track motion works differently.
Hope this helps

I may be misunderstanding your question, but I assume you used the pan/crop tool in Vegas? If you import 16:9 into a 4:3 project and pan and zoom into it, you need to keep the "source aspect ratio" box checked (right click in the crop window) to keep it at 16:9 and letterboxed. If you instead have the "output aspect ratio" box checked, it will fill the frame when you zoom in.

if you want the same effect thru out all of the events (clips) then does the 1st one the way you want it-right click on it copy it and then go down the line and right click to PASTE EVENT ATTRIBUTES to all the other clips.

HTHs
Don

Yep, I've heard high praise for that... I need to do a few test encodes of various pieces of footage just to do direct comparisons between things like CCE SP, Procoder, and Vegas' MainConcept render to see if I can spot the difference in quality, difference in speed etc.

Typically I prepared all my footage, then ran out of time to render the entire lot... would've taken about a day, and I didn't have that.. so had to chop it down considerably. A shame, but thats what happens when working with next to no time until the deadline :) Its a gift anyway, so its not too awful, just slightly annoying I can't get a decent enough live set of a popular band into good hands with my website stamped on it.. never a bad thing that!

Has anyone figured out anything about the
customizable settings and how they affect
the finished results?
Or, what settings are giving you good results?
Any settings to avoid?
I compared some frame grabs from Mike's
deinterlacer up against Vegas 5 blend and
interpolate fields and they were not as sharp
as Mike's, which appears to use interpolation,
but am not sure of this.

if you want the same effect thru out all of the events (clips) then does the 1st one the way you want it-right click on it copy it and then go down the line and right click to PASTE EVENT ATTRIBUTES to all the other clips.

HTHs
Don

Thanks, but my goal is to do this pan/crop ACROSS EVENTS throughout the entire timeline. The pans/crops are not identical for every event, and they need to span across events in the timeline. Is there an easy way to do a pan/crop like this? Should I use "Track Motion" or "buses" for this? Or can I only do it one event at at time (paste attributes doesn't solve what I've trying to do).

Pan/Crop is event by event. What if you add another track to the top of your project and place a mask there? You could use a white generated media then then place the Pan/Crop on that generated media. Change the compositing mode of the track to Multiply (Mask) and you're done.

Does anyone know how to do the cribs intro? Im doing a little fun project and i need a way to make that intro but change it to "Rigs" instead of "Cribs"

thanks for anyones help!

Any ideas how I could blur a background but keep
the subject in focus? I'm trying to create
the illusion of a shallow depth of field, similar
to a film camera.

Take a look at vol 1 #12 of my newsletter where I talk about blurring faces. Same technique should be applied, only in reverse.

As for the mask, you may want tighter masking than the cookie cutter allows. Instead, you can use the Bezier masking tools to create a better mask.

What's a "Cribs Intro"? (assuming it's probably some television show I haven't seen?)

sorry its an MTV show that show cases celeberties homes.. At the begining they have this shot of blue prints forming to make a drawing of a house. I was looking for that same look, i wish i could show you a screen shot.

Here is a link

http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/cribs/series.jhtml

Could you have an image with and without the blueprint and then do a luminence change between the two? There's a free luminence transition available.

Or maybe just transition between the two but use a more organic transition so different areas appear at different times in different ways.

Not sure what you are specifically doing but sounds like a tv sports intro I did.Say you want a pan that last 20 sec. Movement left to right from offscreen to offscreen , a box with video content in it.
Lay down the first video,make it 20 sec. add the pan and crop for the full 20 sec clip. Add the next clip above it again 20 sec long but set the start point to wqhere you want it to come in( maybe 3 sec after the first) and drag the left edge adding more video. Drag the right edge to match the 1st.
Copy the pan and crop from the first clip,apply it to the second.
Do this for as many clips you have to span that pan and crop.
Than go to 2nd clip find the in point and if you wants cuts ,split the clip ,if you want to fade move back the number of frames you want faded and split it.Apply the fade.Move up to the next clip and repeat.Each will hold their relative position in the pan.
Make sense?

Thanks Brian:

Yes, I use Vegas 6.0. I tried this and it fixed my problem.

-- Keith

http://www.dvfilm.com/hvx200/

Is it possible to import multiple picture files and program the length, the overlap, and the transition to be applied to all the picture files upon the import?

Sort of. Go to Options - Preferences to the Editing tab. There you can adjust the new still image length, specify you want them overlapped (cut to conversion overlap) and the amount of the overlap.

Now when you drag a series of images to the timeline, they will all be set to the length you specified and be overlapped by the amount you specified. By default, they will all have a crossfade.

If you want a different transition for ALL of them, simply select all of the events, drag the desired transition to one of the transitions, and all will be changed to that new transition.

To do more than the above, it's really best to resort to scripting. Scripting can set event lengths, crossfade amounts, and apply any transiton to any crossfade. There are many free scripts available for Vegas and a handful of scripts that cost.

Thank you. That is powerful and quick.

I have a client that I am mastering a dvd for whom also wants to try & sell his product in Europe and has requested a PAL version mastered in addition to the NTSC version.
I have yet to run into this situation and am wondering that if in DVDA2 I can just change the project properties of my NTSC project to PAL & be done with it?
And, at which resolution, 720 x 576?
Or do I have to re-render a PAL mpeg or AVI in Vegas first?

Thanks in advance

I just did a search on PAL conversion and I am still confused. Will Vegas 5 do an adeqate job of the conversion?
Do PAL dvd players play NTSC dvd's as one person stated in a similar thread?

Thanks again.

Hello everybody!
I have a video track 2, and track 1 above is in multiply /mask/ compositing mode so that to get custom letterbox on my footage. Ok, but how to put a track with text or titles on my video now? I know that it must be a track above, but there is something wrong because of multiply masked track 1 /letterboxed/. So,what have I got to do? Maybe the problem is by proper setting of compositing modes? Any help???

In Europe, virtually every decent setup (and many non decent setups!) will have zero problem with coping with an NTSC coded disc.. its very much a reverse of the situation in North America where PAL playback can be an absolute nightmare.

Multisync displays outnumber those that cannot display a 60hz picture by at least 100:1 (at a guess!), I've not owned any TVs in the last 10+ years that cannot do this. Some DVD players will even do an "on the fly" conversion to PAL50 (most do PAL60/NTSC output switch) at worst.

You'd have to encode the project again if they are unable to cope with this mind. Personally, I'd supply it in NTSC (unless it was shot on PAL, which is common to get the resolution advantage, but in this case unlikely) , but would check to make sure that is ok first.

Hi,

Is there a tutorial or newsletter that shows the steps necessary to use the bezier mask to be able to increase the brightness of a background while keeping the subject the same?

Thanks,

Tony

Try the article "Are You Exposed?" at
http://www.dvformat.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28848&afterinter=true

Mike

I have no idea what the problem is you are having. Add your credits to your
video 2 track. If you want them cropped to letterbox like the rest of the
footage you should be done at this point. If not. Just make sure the letterbox
mask either stops at the points the credits begin, or if that leaves you with
no credits start a new mask there that has white (I assume you are using
white where video must show) in the FULL picture (not just in the middle).

Another option would be to render your movie to DV AVI. Start a new project
and load your just rendered movie. Now put some credits after it and render
that to your final format.

Thanks James, I think this is the route I'll go then.

I'm at a loss at how to get started using Bezier masking.
Any tips? Anything in your newsletters on this?

Vol 3 #3 (the last issue to date).

I can't figure something out in the Credit Roll. On my opening credits I have the "Credit Roll--Scrolling on Transparent--Timed Sequence" selected. When the credits enter from top to bottom or vice-versa they go from one edge of the screen to the other (on both my timeline preview window AND my render), which is great. But when the credits enter from left to right or vice-versa, only on the timeline preview do they enter from and go to the edge of the screen, NOT on my rendered version. They appear and disappear quite a bit from the edge of the screen. What should I do? Thank you.

Thanks Mike, but I will need to find out how to use the bezier tool as my cut-out needs to be more precise than can be accomplished with the cookie cutter. I was hoping there might be a simple step-by-step description somewhere such as in Edward's newsletters.

Tony

Vol 3, #3 - look in the Beginner's Corner section.

Thanks, Edward!

I got my vegas 6 co-exhisiting with vegas 4. for some reason i cannot have vegas 6 recognize the fx1 as being my hd deck..it keeps thinking its a dv deck. How am I suppose to upload my hd footages? My comp won't let me the comp is thinking its just a dv cam. I been capturing with my fx1 onto vegas 4 but now i have 6. I am using windows XP.

Thanks

Are you sure that the FX1 has the firewire port set to HDV and not DV downconvert? Check the in/out menu while in VCR mode.

Are you sure that the FX1 has the firewire port set to HDV and not DV downconvert? Check the in/out menu while in VCR mode.


i.link convertion must be off on the fx1 ?? let me try that.

thanks!!

Ok, I'm stumped. After a couple of dozen authoring projects I have ran into my 1st snag with DVDA2.
I have a menu with a looping animated background video that has a "Play Movie" and a "Scenes" object. After preparing & burning the dvd, both buttons are missing but the underlines are is still there and the objects still function (though you cannot see them).
Now I checked the object placement & it's on top as it should be. I have also tried replacing the text with an alpha image and the same result happens.
It appears that the background video is covering it even though I have both objects sent to the "top" position.
So far I have burned 5 coasters trying to figure out just why this is happening.

Thanks in advance.

Shane

I'm assuming you want to edit HDV and not DV. In that case, the blue HDV LED next to the i.Link port should be glowing. If the DV LED is glowing instead then you need to go to the IN/OUT REC menu, scroll down to i.LINK CONV and turn it OFF.

i.link convertion must be off on the fx1 ?? let me try that.

thanks!!


still not recognizing my fx1

Sorry, then it may be a PC or a Vegas issue and I can't help you there....