Thanks Edward!

I hit create project after putting in my markers, and nothing happened.........?

You hit "Sync" instead unless you're talking about the camera switches - in that case you use the Multi-Cam button.

Create Project is used if you have nothing on the timeline and want the clips you select to be automatically added and the tracks automatically named in preparation for the rest.

After closer scrutiny it looks like both audio and video are affected. I had 3 cameras rolling continuosly but my capture was set to scene detection so I ended up with lots of clips, even from stationary cameras. It seems that I cannot seamlessly connect those events (from one camera/one tape on a single track- I haven't attempted to sinchronize all three yet). With audio I get either a compression when it slightly overlaps or a "click" when there is a space between the events. Actually click perhaps is not an acurate description - it is an audio artifact similar to one when someone is plugging in audio cable or something like that. I tried different settings with "quantize to frames" and snapping tool off and on but to no avail. I've tried to manually connect the events on the timeline or drag a selection of clips from the media pool to the timeline hoping that Vegas would put them together seamlessly. Perhaps I expect to much from the program and need to recapture each tape as a single clip. Thanks for your help.

Mike - great to find a local expert!

Perhaps I expect to much from the program and need to recapture each tape as a single clip.While that would be the best bet, since there's no way to join video files together without editing them together and rendering them, I still don't understand why an empty area of audio track between clips would give you anything audible at all. And I still don't know what you mean by "compression" when audio events overlap. Do you mean there's a crossfade or fade ins/outs at the edges of events? If that's the case, you can turn off these auto fades in the preferences somewhere (or at least adjust the length of the fades down to zero).

I will give your advice a try... hopefully it is not too time consuming...

I have a sword that I need a specialized light effect on. I would like the light to bounce off the tip in a starburst type effect. I know there is a lens flare but I need to be able to control the "starburst" effect and place it where I need it.

The same effect would be used for creating a sparkle in an eye or on a tooth if you get the idea.

I need ideas - I know they're there but can't yet figure this out. tks.

DVD Architect will no longer make a DVD folder for me. When it gets to writing the main VOB file I get the error message:

Warning: An error occurred while writing a file
Invalid data encountered when processing an MPEG file

This is driving me crazy. The program used to be so reliable. I've reinstalled XP, Vegas and DVD Architect.

Does anyone have a clue about this?

Render as>select: windows media video V9>template, select: 512 kbps>custom button>video tab>mode:

What the difference between

CBR
CBR (two-pass)
Bit Rate VBR (Peak)
Quality
Bit Rate VBR

Driving me nuts – I’ve looked in the manual, did a search here and on the web in general -- and no luck!!

I understand the difference between CBR and VBR – but how about the variations ie, ‘Quality’ ‘VBR peak’, ‘Bit Rate VBR’ ??

Thanks!

then you installed xp, then sp2, then any current upgrades and slipstreams.

then vegas, any updates and bugfixes, then the burner software (dvarchitect) and any updates.

then you DID NOT copy any OLD data (that might be corrupted or virus infected).

you captured NEW FILES from your camera and ran them thru vegas and tried to burn them and got the same error?

it happens every time on every file you try to burn?

if you restore old date, you could be restoring viruses or malware at the same time.

you could get a sector editor and page thru that file and see if a sector can't be read

before you reload again, I would download spybot search and destroy and ad-aware (NOT adware) and run them (BOTH, TWICE) then something like AVG, these are all free and you can get them at tucows.com, get the latest malware file definition updates

sacrafice goat/chicken......nothing smaller than a chicken tho.

if you know what kind of MB you have you could check for bios updates. unplug and replug the cables on your dvd burner, esp the ribbon connector at the burner, and the mb.

get some canned air and blow out the dvd burner........I'm running out of ideas.......

remember, nothing smaller than a chicken.

I thought I knew the WMV format really well, but I really don't use VBR much. Here are some hints for you:

CBR - constant bit rate. Good for most clips with consistent content. Quality is mostly determined by your choices in the bitrate tab and the quality slider (see below). It's good for web, because if you are on a WM server you can do multibitrate files under this option (windows media server only!) where there will be a handshake between the WM player and server where the player tells the server what bitrate to send, and it will autoadjust in changing conditions.

CBR (two-pass) - like above, but the first pass analyzes your clip so the encoder can do a better job on the second pass. Worth testing - see more on testing below. Takes twice as long.

Bit Rate VBR (Peak) - ummm when you choose this flavor of Variable Bit Rate, you get to choose the peak bitrate it wouldn't exceed. But, don't forget to add your audio bitrate to this number to get the overall bitrate. (***edit***)Good if your playback device has limited throughput, such as a CDROM drive (***end edit***). VBR is good if your clip is not of consistent complexity, it gives more bits to the complex parts and fewer to the simple parts.

Quality - this would be the slider between good motion follow at the possible expense of some blockiness to the left, and sharper to the right. Usually, somewhere between 75 and 90, but... see more on testing below.

Bit Rate VBR - Like VBR peak but you only specify an average bitrate, and let it peak as high as it wants. (***edit***) Good for hard-drive playback. (***end edit***)

*********edit*************
Note that VBR isn't for web distro - it doesn't do progressive download/play, nor will it work on a WM server. OK for download and then play, but who wants that?
*************************

You might find more information by downloading the freeware windows media encoder from microsoft and checking out the help files.

Bitrate is extremely important for internet distribution. Not so much for hard drive or Data-DVD or CD playback.

Your mileage ALWAYS varies. Encoding is an art as well as a craft - testing short excerpts is pretty dang important if encoding for web, and still desireable while you're figuring it out no matter how you're distributing or playing the content.

Complexity - How many pixels of the frame change on every frame? A pan, a dissolve, a jerky cam, noise due to gain or a single chip camera shooting black... all these things lead to every pixel changing on every frame. Takes more bits. For web distro, it's all about reducing bits.

So much of this is dependant upon your content - gotta' test.

Yeah, I'm agreeing with Jon mostly (not too sure about animal sacrifice... but then I've never tried it. Always thought barbeque had its own rewards, didn't notice any effects on the computers).

If you've done the obvious in the reinstalls, it sure seems like the next thing would be a reinstall/update of your burner drivers. Then BIOS flash (not for the faint of heart).

I want to produce video clip from pictures with black background(moving stars, balloons, lens flares……) which I want to use as overlay video for my main video clip(video mask) but I have problem with making visible when I put the clip on the Vegas timeline.I use sequence of for example 50 JPG or BMB pictures with black background, putting them on the timeline and then render as AVI video clip with uncompressed RGB 32 AVI file wit 32 bit color depth. In Vegas I change the Alpha channel of the video clip from “None” to “Premultiplied(dirty)” but I still can’t get one overlay effect.
So, my main question is how I can get overlay effect from this video clip, how I should render this AVI file from pictures to make it visible with an overlay effect.
Regards.

heaps of different ways..
first once u have ur slideshow thingy all set u can
1) Mess with teh clips opacityu
2) Mess with teh clip Parent child relationship in the Vegas compositing modes
3) use cokie cutter to create a frame
4) Use Mask generator to create a mask
5) use bezier masking to draw out your own cookie

thats jsut a couple of the simpler ones..

" but I need to be able to control the "starburst" effect and place it where I need it."

keyframing is your friend.. ;) (note the twinkle in my eye)

Here are links to 3 different threads on the Sony Vegas forum where folks were looking to do something similar. HTH.

Tooth sparkle effect
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=207224

Sparkle in the eye
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=233653

Sparkling Tooth - "ching"
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=227605

Seth --

Thanks for the great in depth info -- wow. Much appreciated.

Is there such a thing a 2 pass VBR? If so, Vegas seems to not have that option... or am I wrong?

Note the edit to my post above - vbr not for web!

To see all of what a windows media encode can do, I highly recommend downloading the WM encoder, it's free at microsoft. WME exposes *all* the encoding choices, Vegas & other tools are built upon it, but don't expose some of the less-common controls & choices.

If memory serves, (I don't use VBR much!), VBR is alway two-pass.

Your replies are always greatly appriciated, Carl.

I have done this in 3 different ways, sometimes one after another as appropriate on the same blobby clip:

1. Cut a hole through the footage over the dirt using a bezier mask with blended edges. It will just look like a black hole. Then place the same footage on a track below and move it a few pixels. Then it shows through the hole in the track above. This works well for areas of flat colour or cloudy skies etc.. It's useless when detailed action passes across the dirty area.

2. Use the Delogo plugin for VirtualDub. Both free tools. This works nicely and like other VirtualDub plugins can be used directly in Vegas using the free Wax plugin from debugmode.

3. Render the video to a image sequence under the Vegas scripting menu. I used PNG and kept it interlaced throughout. Paint out the dirt frame by frame in your image editor. I used Photoshop CS2 and monitored on a TV over IEEE1394 while I did it. After repairing the frames, save them as interlaced and reimport the image sequence by choosing "import media" in the project media window, choose the first frame of the sequence only, and tick the "image sequence" checkbox at the bottom left. This last method is time consuming but gives the best control for busy/moving scenes. It's quite an art getting consecutive frames to look similar when you paint them. Otherwise the repaired footage "shimmers" over the repair. I thought I would lose some quality during the export/reimport but it looks just like the original DV footage.

I hope this helps. Let us know which method works best.

You can also export a JPEG of the offending footage from the timeline, paint out the problem on a separate layer in Photoshop, delete all of the image except for the painted area, export as a PNG with transparency, and then drop this PNG on top of the original footage. The same issue that Nick describes in his first idea arises in these situations, however--if anything in the frame moves over the corrected area, the painted-in matte will be layered in on top of it.

This is what I typically do to remove boom mics, unwanted reflections, lighting cables, etc. from my footage. It works well and is pretty easy to deal with as long as the movement in the footage doesn't get in the way of the matte.

Again, after a long period of complete reliabilty, DVD Architect started to halt at the DVD folder preparation stage of writing the main VOB file.

The burner is not involved--I'm just trying to write the DVD folder to the hard drive.

In trying to fix this nothing works. Exactly the same symptom occurs after reseating of cable connectors and memory cards, a complete wipe and reformat of the C drive, fresh installation of XP Pro, fresh installation of Vegas and DVDA. Viruses are out of the question, this occurs before even plugging in the CAT5 cable.

Occurs with small files, large files, when using just the C drive for source and destination, when using the D drive for source and destination, and using either for source and the other for destination. Occurs with PCM audio whether I recompress to AC3 or not, and also if I bring in an accompanying AC3 rendered from Vegas.

Baffling, infuriating.

Thanks for your input - I tried the light rays but just didn't think about using one single character. Duh. I'll play around with this....

...The burner is not involved--I'm just trying to write the DVD folder to the hard drive... when using just the C drive for source and destination, when using the D drive for source and destination...

Oh. I'd missed that info the first time around. I take it you're running other apps with no problems? Sounds like one for Sony Tech Support, though I don't really feel authoritative about this.

This sounds like a software problem but it seems like you've done everything you could with reinstalls. Maybe that leaves hardware?

Is it possible that DVDA is using RAM that other apps don't? Meaning, it's using more RAM... and finding bad RAM?

We captured the video with a Sony VX2100. Set the exposure to f6.8, had plenty of lighting (softbox, couple of lowel tungstun lights, couple of 250watt photofloods, ect). What I am getting however is what appear to be like artifacts itneh background. Solid grey backdrop was used. Can I minimize this somehow?

Are you sure you had plenty of light? Perhaps you did not; can you post a screen shot? Instead of lighting for the result you want, I would recommend lighting for the contrast you want (i.e., relative level), but make it plenty bright, then darken it in post. This will give you clean shadows.

yes, you can minimize background artifacts (if you want the backfgroind to be black) with the Sony Black restore plugin

Mike Crash's Dynamic Noise Reduction plugin (http://mikecrash.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=13) can work wonders. It works extremely well with the kind of chroma noise I assume you're talking about.

Sorry I can't post up a shot. It's for a client I can't disclose unfortunately.

But basically I have this video and I figured out that what I need to do is actually blur out the background a little bit. To take care of the noise/artifacts that are apparent on this backdrop. I have never used masking in Vegas 5 before, or really at all. Is there a way I can cut the guy out and just apply effects to the background? How do I do that?

Thanks so much.

Jarrod, I must have been posting when you were. Thanks for the link. That plugin works out great.

I have a Mini DV tape with recorded SD DV footage on it, but I can't seem to capture the video. The tape is a Sony Excellence tape, but I'm not sure if the footage was shot in DVCAM or DV. I am trying to capture through my Sony HVR-A1U camera. I've tried both using HDV Split 0.75, but that doesn't seem to work for DVCAM/DV footage, and also the Sony Vegas DV capture program. The Sony program says, "The device 'Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit Device' could not be opened. Please make sure that it is turned on and is not being used by another application or user."

What does this mean? I am not connected to any network and my camera is on and put onto the Edit/Play mode. How can I capture my footage? Thanks.

Specs for the camera claim HDV/DVCAM/DV record and playback so my (never used one before) guess is that there's a playback menu option setting somewhere that you're missing.

Playing back is fine. The problem is capturing it into my computer (digitizing it).

Are you trying to capture using the Internal (HDV) capture app instead of the External (DV)? This is another guess as I don't have an HDV camcorder yet.

No, like I said in my first post, I was using the DV capture program.

Thanks again Seth -- great info in your post. I downloaded WM encoder -- yes many more options. Off to test, test, test, now!

Is it possible to make shapes for Cookie Cutter except those shapes in Vegas 6, for example to make "Heart shape" or some different shapes.
Regards.

Is this the first time you've tried using the camera?
I'm assuming it is because you got the "The device 'Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit Device' ..." notice.

My other thought is that, even though you've only shot DV and not HDV, this is still an HDV camcorder and therefore you have to use the internal capture app.

Here are two responses from Sony folks on their Vegas forum. HTH.

The camera should be listed as Sony D-VHS Device or something simliar. Bring up Device Manager, right click on the Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit, choose Update Driver. Choose to the Advanced option, to manually pick the driver. On the next screen uncheck the option "Show only compatible hardware". Scroll down the manufacturer list to Sony, then on the right you should see the Sony D-VHS option. Choose that and then try it again. Those instructions are from memory so they may not be exact.

The new capture window is the one that supports HDV capture and you must first enable it in the Video tab of Vegas' application preferences... Uncheck the box that reads "Use external capture application". Then, when you launch video capture from within Vegas, the new capture window will appear. You can then select the HDV camera from its preferences dialog or device menu.

If none of this helps, go to the Sony Knowledgebase at http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php and do a search using Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit Device as the search criteria. Several suggestions came up.

No. But you can do things like that via other methods - just takes more work.

I just found this script. When I try to use it more than once on a clip I get this error "Class already exists". Anyone know how to fix this?

what is your favorite cbr setting for sports type wvms?
say a bitrate of 1mbps.

Restart Vegas. This was a problem that began in Vegas 6 - the script DLL would have to be modified to eliminate that issue.

The Preferences > General tab has a check box for "Use Microsoft DV codec". Should I have this checked or not? Any reason it should be? or not be?

I'm new to this NLE program so you will probably see more questions from me :)

Thanks,
Duane

Thanks, you were on the money!

Update:

Well, good call, Seth. It was couple of bad bits in my RAM. The behavior was so constant through all combinations of reinstalls and alternative work flows that I figured it must be hardware too.

I went to download.com looking for a memory tester and found Tufftest Pro for $29, which I recommend. It quickly diagnosed the RAM problem. The addressing was good, which is probably why it wasn't being picked up the the computer's POST routine, but it failed all data read and write tests due to those bits.

Just goes to remind us that billions of things have to happen correctly for all this stuff to work--it's a wonder that it works at all. Anyway a new 1GB DDR card and I'm back in the saddle.

Thanks for the replys, guys.

Hi there, I'm sure there is probably a really simple answer for this but buggered if I can figure it out.

I am working on a clip were I have two video tracks and I have a mask between them. It all looks mint at this point but I have reduced the size of the top track and shifted it using the Event Pan/Crop. Now that I have done that I have the exact size I want but on play back everything that is not within the perimeter of the top clip since it's been fettled with is black. Any ideas?

Generally speaking, you should NOT have change that setting and it should remain unchecked.

When I try to import a group of .m2t files from my Sony HVR-A1U camera (HDV 1080i) that I captured using HDV Split 0.75, I run into this problem.

Because HDV Split splits scenes, I ended up with three scenes. They are 4gb, 1gb, and 7mb (last scene is very small), respectively. The 4gb file imports fine, but the 1gb file and 7mb files have problems.

The problem files play fine when I use players like Media Player Classic on my PC, but when I try to import them into Vegas 7, I get a message saying, "An error occured during the current operation. Error 0x8004e70b (message missing)."

The files still import and it appears I can do some editing with them, but the audio peaks do not build at all. They simply say "peaks unavailable," yet I still hear the audio fine for the files.

What is this error message, and how can I solve it?

what is your favorite cbr setting for sports type wvms?
say a bitrate of 1mbps.

Well, I don't do sports. 1 megabit is kind of tough, slightly too large for most internet viewers, slightly too small for hard-drive playback of high-motion at full screen resolutions. For hard-drive playback I'd be testing more in the range of 1.8Mbps, or maybe even more.

If I were going to test/optimize for 1Mbps, I'd mark a region of about 20 seconds of representative program, and first try outputs of 320x240 pixels, 30fps, quality 70, and 640x480 pixels, q70. I'd expect the smaller size to look stunning, and the larger to need work (it's 4 times as many pixels as 320x240).

From there, it's testing other settings and sizes to see how they work for your program.

Couple notes:
Default audio bitrate settings are typically higher than needed for pc playback. Start your testing at 20kbps/44KHz mono and see how that sounds.

If you do a more testing on other clips, you can set up your benchmark renders by saving custom presets, then run the batch render script to do massive testing runs.

Do play back all your tests at full screen - Windows Media Player's rescaling engine is excellent, and lower bitrate can frequently look better encoded at less than full screen, even if the target is full screen playback.

Finally, if you have standard def footage, after your last tests you should run one more test if your encode is less than 640x480 - try the "best" setting for the render. For hi def footage, you probably should always test this.

Thanks for the help, I did what you said and I think the audio may have been set too high. I was a bit surprised to find the file sizes exactly the same. So the
larger size just spreads the pixels out. They look very similar at full screen. The video is of surfing mostly so there is a constant motion. Thanks again I'm going back to do more tests.

I am working on a scene where the talent is walking up an alleyway. Behind him are cars going by pretty quickly. I am getting very pronounced lines across the cars. I am attaching a screen cap, so you can see what I mean. I Cineformed on capture and the original file does NOT have these lines.

What setting in Vegas am I missing?

Thanks