Project properties on capture wouldn't matter, but project properties on edit do matter, I think this is what Bill is meaning to point out. If you have your system set for 1080 HDV when you're editing 720 HDV, then you'll take a performance hit, and vice versa.

I think that I have a solution for you, I'm not sure, but I think...

-Make 2 video tracks.
-Copy footage onto the new video track.
-On the bottom track's video, right click, properties, and set it to lower fields first.
-On the top track's video, do the same thing, except set it to upper fields first.
-Render it out, and see how it looks.

(Oh, while you're in the clip's properties, you could check 'reduce interlace flickering', ((in both the clips)) and that could help)

Just a thought. I use NTSC, not PAL, but give it a try and see if it works.

SB

Project settings were the first thing I thought of, and they match up (720p[25]). Might have to double check the capture settings again, just in case I am screwing up something there.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

When I go to "render as" under file, I am only given audio options. It didn't used to be that way.

I'm sure there is some setting I toggled on/off, but I can't find it. Any ideas?

Mark

Be sure you're using the HDV template, not the HD template.

You could always hold down CTRL-SHIFT when starting Vegas to reset it back to factory defaults.

Any ideas anyone?

No idea. I'm dealing with my own exception error in Vegas, and no one has been able to help me including Sony.

Hey guys,

Everytime I try to bring a mpg 2 file into DVDA 4 it says that the disc space used is 8.1 GB (Which is extremely large.) I opened this same file in DVDA 2 and it says disc space used 4.4 GB. I just completed two DVD projects in DVDA 2 because of this issue. What could be the problem? Is there a setting that I need to change in DVDA 4?

Thanks.

I believe Vegas 7 utilizes Core 2 (and other dual cores) to their potential, but the new Intel quad core (QX6700) is essentially two Core 2 E6700 together. Will Vegas be able to use the four cores to their potential? Will Vegas be able to use AMD's 4x4 to its potential when it comes out?

Apparently there's support as these tests indicate http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=4&articleid=878&cid=1 ... PC and CPU testers should use Sony Vegas more often to benchmark new equipment...

Forget what DVDA says about file size. It is not only very conservative but often so far off it's pathetic. Look at the file size in the EXPLORER WINDOW. It will tell you exactly how big the file is. I never look at the file size as it's read out by DVDA-this IMO is the one thing I wish they would do something about soon.
Don

http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?id=35443070-0b67-4a2e-807c-a7f431ebd02d

Yeah, I do have that set right. It's just the matter of being able to skip, using the remote, from the last chapter of clip 1 to the first chapter of clip 2.

Okay, it seems that the footage when capturing is registering as 50fps for some reason, rather than 25fps. Found this out by capturing some footage in CapDVHS. So it may be the way it was shot, rather than the settings in Vegas.

This is a actually something I've been wondering about myself. I know you can assign an affect to a whole track or the output of all tracks....but is there a way to apply in one action an effect to multiple clips....so that each clip has the effect applied, but you can still adjust each one individually.

I know you could key frame an effect over a whole track need be, but I prefer when say doing colour correction and brightness/contrast control, to put those on each clip then adjust them individually. This task would be made a little bit easier if I didnt have to add the effects to each clip.

COPY>Paste Attributes

Highlite the clips you want the effect on and paste it to those then you can go back in and individually adjust but to me it seems if you're going to do that you might as well save it as a preset and then place it on the clip 1 at a time and adjust to taste.
Don

ok when i view effects in vegas it comes up as the image below, it cuts off after the size of the default box, anyone else have this problem or how to fix it thanks.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i181/jacobian91/screwupscreen.jpg

Seth,

Check my article "Video De-interlacing with Vegas" here:

http://michael-morlan.net/pages/learning/learning_video_deinterlacing.htm

Enjoy,

Michael

That's a new one for me. What if you close and then re-open that window? What if you reduce acceleration on the video card?

well its not just vegas this is happening too, also photoshop, I tried the hardware accelerator and I shut all off and nothing changed even after restarting the computer. I think it has something to do with a font pushing the stuff off farther because now there is a bigger font used in some programs. Thanks for the reply though

While mixing voice with background music and sound fx in my low budget movies I find it's difficult to get the right mix. For example, when I lay down some background music and set it to a level that sounds good the music may actually be too loud when rendered to DVD, drowning the voice. Likewise, I have trouble getting sound effects at the right audio level, for example, explosions and laser fire outside the cockpit.

Are there some basic guidlines for mixing the audio? For example with dialogue and background music are there standard levels that are fairly reliable (like the music should be at least 9db less than dialogue or something).

Also, if there are to be loud noises (explosion, horn honking, thunder, etc) I assume they need to Peak under 0db. But I would think you would want them to be significantly louder than the dialogue, which means you'd set the dialogue much lower, but my dialogue is usually around -3db straight off the tape.

Anyway, I know these are pretty dumb sounding questions and wasn't sure whether to put this in the Vegas forum (my NLE) or audio forum but figured if there was any advice it would be better to hear it about Vegas compatible plug-ins and such.

I believe Vegas 7 utilizes Core 2 (and other dual cores) to their potential, but the new Intel quad core (QX6700) is essentially two Core 2 E6700 together. Will Vegas be able to use the four cores to their potential? Will Vegas be able to use AMD's 4x4 to its potential when it comes out?

I think even Vegas 6 can have the # of threads set. A minimum of one thread per core should do the trick. Now I don't expect that to be fully optimized for the CPU, but it should work better.

jason

Yeah, I do have that set right. It's just the matter of being able to skip, using the remote, from the last chapter of clip 1 to the first chapter of clip 2.

I once had to create a playlist when a movie I made had 3 different rendered mpgs. I added them to a playlist and then manually added chapters to the individual files. That seemed to work.

jason

Your dialog is definitely too loud. Normal speech should peak around -12db. Screams and whispers may vary. You may want to go through the dialog track syllable by syllable to balance the speech. Some consonants get dropped. Some words are overly loud. Get this right before adding anything else.

Effects can definitely peak at 0db. You can add compression to make explosions sound as loud as possible.

Mixing music is done to taste. If you wrote the music, keep it softer than you think it should be. ;)

EQ'ing the music around the dialog really helps. Feel free to manually drop the music as needed to keep the peaks from going over during effects and loud dialog. Same thing if the effects happen during dialog - pencil in a quick drop in volume as needed. Sacrifice everything before you sacrifice understandability.

If you're still unsure of your levels, rip the audio of a target DVD by connecting the audio outputs of a DVD player to your PC's audio inputs. Listen to the soundtrack and watch the levels.

Don't compress the overall result when going to DVD. (In essense, you've already compressed manually with the volume envelope.) Consider light overall compression for the web.

Here's a thread with lots of good tips on the subject:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=73903

Is there a software used for color correcting or are the tools in vegas adequate? Also, are there any books/video on the art of color correcting.

THanks

Check out the Sony Vegas color correction DVD (http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id=2212ad20-81a5-4415-a37a-fa0c83fa1dcd) by Glenn Chan and Douglas Spotted Eagle.

There is also an excellent book on Digital Color Correction from Steve Hullfish, but it's not for Vegas.
To answer the first part of your question though, Vegas has excellent color correction tools. They're not DaVinci or Pablo, but they're very, very good.

Try laying a 0 db tone at the beginning og your timeline. Set your the volume you like off of this tone and don't change it. Make an audio track at -6 db for your voice, -15 db for your sound effects and -18 db for your music.

You can then play with audio volume envelopes if you need to raise or lower a particular section in a particular track.

Jim

Hey all,

A quick question.

I'm using Vegas 6 w' Boris FX & Grafitti.

I would like to have a freeze frame "fragment" as if the wind is blowing it away. Starting from one side and dissolving across the frame.

I was thinking of using linear blur and a mask on a copy of the freeze frame.

However, can anybody direct me to a tutorial that could help or is there a quick and easy way of doing this effect in V6?

Thanks in advance.

sincerely,


ian

...Make an audio track at -6 db for your voice, -15 db for your sound effects and -18 db for your music...This is a good starting point for a dialog-based scene with foley and underscore, but wouldn't work at all for an action piece.

Consider the car/motorcycle/truck chase scene in the second Matrix movie. The music peaks near 0db and rocks the house as the Trinity launches the bike. The sound effects are also up at 0db with the music backing off as needed. Both the effects and music back off to make room for the minimal dialog.

A lot depends on the sound designer and composer. A good composer will manage the dynamics and go so far as to place the notes between words, so almost no detailed mixing is required. But if you're using some droning stock music, mix away, Merril...

Fortunately, Vegas rocks for creating a final mix. It's the right tool for this critical job.

Holy smokes.. it took me nearly 48hrs to render 110min of m2t. There were 13 clips, nested into a veg file with 13 vegs. Each clip had was no transistions. Applied correct correction-gain and 2 text media for each clips. Thaz it! I have been hearding about the slow speed but this is crazy.. Vegas 6 works faster.

The great thing about V7 is the m2t editing is pretty good. I'm running a 3.0GHz P4, 1.5Gb RAM. Pretty nice.. no more using Gearshift for V7. I guess u folks have had similar experience rite?

Thanks Don! That works great

You might take a look at Satish Kumar's WAX (http://www.debugmode.com/wax/). I believe it will do what you want.

Thanks a lot guys. That's extremely helpful!

YOu want the PLUGINPAC which I think is still a seperate plugin from satish. Although it's not really supported by him anymore it's simple enough to install and use.
Don

Thanks guys,

I'll give it a try.


ian

...that turns on the name of each clip on the timeline.

Anybody?

thanks in advance

View Active Take Information
or
CTRL+SHIFT+I

Found in the View options menu.

Thanks, Douglass. That was fast and sweet.

Is there any help for turning black tuxedos that came out to be brown in the video back to black? I have tried to do a little color correcting but I have just not had any luck. Please see attached picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Try the color corrector secondary.

In that filter, use the eyedropper and drag-select an area over the tuxedo.
Drag the limit luminance smooth slider very high (~200).

Change saturation to a low value like 0 or 0.2.

Hi, I've got my version of Vegas 7 in the post and have the possibility of buying a 2nd hand LogicKeyboard type keyboard. However, it's an Avid version. Can you select Avid keyboard in any of the Vegas preferences? I really want a decent quality shortcut keyboard but don't want to pay the Logickeyboard prices and want to if possible avoid the stickers option!
Thanks
Stuart

Hey guys I had to import the VOB files from a DVD I was given and just rename them as mpg files. They playback fine in Windows Media player and Premiere Pro (which I don't use) but in Vegas and DVD Architect the audio is missing. Why is that and how do I fix it?

Thanks

The AVID keyboard, is just a keyboard with the shortcut keys printed on it. It has no 'special' powers. In fact, in AVID, you can assign shortcuts to ANY key on the board. So most people have their own set, that are saved in user preferences. (Along with screen layouts.) That's one of the great things about AVID. If you cut your film (And I DO mean FILM, with edgenumbers and keycodes) On Avid Xpress Pro, you can save the EDL and take your preferences into a Symphony suite, load them up, and the screens and keys will act just the way you expect them to.

All that to say, an AVID keyboard will 'work' for VEGAS in the same way any keyboard does. IF you can asign the same functions in VEGAS to the already pre-printed keys on the keyboard, then... yeah, I guess it would be better than sticking stickers on the keys.

(Though I am assuming there are functions unique to both VEGAS and AVID that won't be found on either NLE, that will not be on the keys.)

Why did the black on some of the tuxes come through ok? You sure the others weren't brown to begin with? There are definitely a few shades of tux in that pic...even cc'ing your pic in PShop, look at the difference in shades.

What version of Vegas? I'm betting the audio is AC3. You either need a newer version of Vegas (6.0c added the File - Import Camcorder DVD option) or you need to convert the audio from AC3 to WAV using some other program.

It looks to me to be a material issue. My bet would be that the two chaps in front and the feller in the left corner are either, 1.) new to the group 2.)wearing newer tuxes, or 3.) have yet to have thiers dry cleaned! If these are school/church issued then there is more than a 90% chance that the brown tuxes are faded from the cleaning process.

The bow ties give it away. They almost never get the cleaning process!

I am not sure why the colors came out the way they did. There were some different shades of the black tuxes, but nothing like the way it came out. There were obviously some problems filming, but I am really not sure why they came out brown.

Using Glenn's advice, the final vid came out fine.

Thanks for the help

If Vegas only reads, what 2 gig of ram on rendering a mpeg/avi/etc file, does that same principle apply to rendering veg files? I'm at two gig now, wondering if I should bump up to 4 gig.