I run an Alienware mj12-7700:
P4HT 3.1GHz
2.5GB DDR2 RAM
160GB RAID 0 stripe (7200RM ATA133)
GeForce Go 6800

This system runs Vegas 6 like a dream. Render times aren't bad especially considering that I have the raw data on the same RAID as the render location (I think the RAID part helps a lot). Unfortunately due to Windows design limitations only 1/2 of available RAM is allowed to be used by applications. The rest is reserved for the kernel aka OS. So pack in the RAM (but 32bit OSes can only address a few gig) so don't go crazy. The real benefit is in the dynamic RAM preview and the ability to preview footage in real time with a few effects applied.

In case any readers haven't read the threads I have written in regarding this topic before, this new laptop with hyperthreading (pretend dual CPU / dual core) is only 3% faster rendering the exact same video than my 4 year old dual Athlon MP system wtih only 512MB of RAM.

jason

serriously..... these are mobile desktops. You cannot actually sit them on anything besides a hard flat surface due to all the fans on the bottom.

The part of the system right above the hard drives, which is the mouse pad, gets roasting hot when I am rendering because those two drives are spinnign and writing like crazy.

jason

I just downloaded Cinescore (trial version) from The Sony site, while I am waiting on my order to come, and thought I would give the group an IMHO review.

The software has the same layout as Vegas, Acid, Sound Forge, etc.

The concepts of the software are fairly easy to learn.

I had no problem learning how to change the "mood", "intensity", and "tempo" of the music. When the music is generated, you can add hints to modify several of the parameters.

I was hoping to be able to find a way to synchronize a specific frame to a musical event, i.e. a down beat to a frame. I couldn't determine how to make this happen. Since I've only worked with Cinescore for a couple of hours, it might be possible but I just couldn't find it. It is possible to generate a video with the new soundtrack or generate the sound track only. By generating the sound track only, I am sure that I could then synchronize a specific frame to a down beat, but within Vegas, not Cinescore.

I had two problems:

1) The soundtrack did not exactly match the length of the video I was making. I could adjust the length that Cinescore automatically selected but even then it might not exactly match the length of the video.

2) I couldn't find a way to render for 24 fps. It only seemed to render in 29.97 fps. This could be due to the fact that I was using the trial version but it seemed that all of the other features worked just fine.

The trial version only had a couple of themes. I ordered the regular version through my company and am hoping that I don't have to pay extra to get additional themes.

You can download the 30 day trial version at:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step2.asp?did=674

Jesse:

I downloaded the demo, but where are the sample themes ? What did I miss.

Dell Inspiron 8200, 1.7g , 512mb ram , 1 40g 4200rpm system drive , 1 40g 5400 rpm capture drive , on board firewire.
I know it's old but works fine.I use for capturing multi-cam( 4) shoots, premixed, capturing audio, editing and rendering.I have it networked to the desktop usually,but does all these idependantly just fine.The only reason I would upgrade is if it breaks or when I go HD or maybe when I gotta have faster rendering.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try it.

Does anyone use the free Frameserver plugin?
I'm told (correctly?) that there are some scaling issues/differences between the two applications, so I was wondering, if that is true, what my New Composition settings should be in AE for optimal results.

Dell Inspiron 8200, 1.7g , 512mb ram , 1 40g 4200rpm system drive , 1 40g 5400 rpm capture drive , on board firewire.
I know it's old but works fine.I use for capturing multi-cam( 4) shoots, premixed, capturing audio, editing and rendering.I have it networked to the desktop usually,but does all these idependantly just fine.The only reason I would upgrade is if it breaks or when I go HD or maybe when I gotta have faster rendering.

what is the graphic adapter of your notebook?

This isn't the first time this has happened, I have a quicktime movie that runs with quicktime (video and audio), but when I bring it into VEGAS and try to run it, it only gives me the audio stream and not the video. What am I doing wrong? I have upgraded my quicktime to the newest version of Quicktime.

Chris,

You've probably figured this out already, but the sample themes come up when you click on "Generate Music" on the icon bar at the top.

The two themes are "Blizzard of Sparks" and "The Monaco Diamond", on the left side of the pop up window. On the right side of the pop up window are the variations (and they vary greatly) of each theme.

Hope this helps.

I recently downloaded the Ultimate S plugin for trial. It seems to work very well for the multi-cam work I was doing. I am currently using Vegas 5.0. I would like to check out the live switching ability that UltS offers in V 6.0. Anyways, after the trial had expired I had to figure out how to remove the timecode from some of my footage. I notice that this could be done by removing the timecode plug-in under media fx for each clip. I was able to resize and remove the timecode from all my footage, but I have another problem. There is a clip that I copied and pasted on the same track. After the first clip plays at regular speed, I reversed the second (copied) and played back at alternating speeds. The problem that I have with the second (copied) clip is that it reveals the timecode in the lower right corner. I look under the media fx and found that the timecode plug-in was not being used. I pre-rendered the footage to see if the timecode would go away (but it didn't).
Is there any other way to remove the timecode from this project? I noitce in the Ultimate S interface you could remove time code, but my trial version has expired.

THanks.

Al Rodgers

Is there another entry in the media pool for the reversed subclip? The timecode effect has to be removed from that entry as well.

That did the trick. Why is it that when I clck on the reversed clip on the timeline it didn't show any media effect being used? Is this because the sub-clip on the timeline just reflects the setting of the original clip?
Thank you for your help.

BTW I also checked out your Excalibur plug-in.

The sub-clip always refers back to the original media but will have it's own effects in the Project Media. Therefore, only removing from the original media would not also remove it from the reversed sub-clip - that must be done separately.

Yeah, found it not long after I posted. Thanks.

This seems an awful lot like Sonic Fire Pro. Would be nice if their music was interchangeable. I will have to check it out.

u sure its quiktime? it could well be MP4, as ive never had an issue with actual QT

As I'm posting I'm sitting on hold with sony trying to purchase Vegas 6. I've been on hold for 1 hour 28 minutes... I know what kind of idiot would wait that long. Well me, I guess.

All I want to know is if I buy the download... can I get the disks as well because I will be replacing this computer in the next month or couple and I don't want to have to re-buy the software obviously. I know I could just order the boxed set and not have to worry, but remember... I'm the idiot who would wait on hold for an hour and 32 minutes. Actually it's because I'm in Canada and it's brutal waiting for stuff from the US sometimes. I went to "The Sony Store" retail the other day, and the dweebs there hadn't even heard of the product. They looked it up and finally agreed with me that they do sell the product. They said they would have to 'special order' it and it would likely take ONE MONTH. They also wanted me to pre-pay!!!

If anyone has the answer, can they post.

1 hour 35 minutes...

TIA

Ken.

Ken, just download the latest version, burn it to a CD or two and file it somewhere safe.
Even if you lose it, Sony keeps a record of all your serial numbers so reactivating it is very easy.

Mike

https://www.sonymediasoftware.com/shopping/category.asp?id=109

That should take you into the Sony store to purchase Vegas or Vegas with DVDa-2 things -FIRST make sure you upgrade (free) after you install the software to the latest version. It should be 6D. Also you can burn the downloaded EXC file to a CD and make your own hard copy of the program. I do that with every DL'd program including Vegas-you never know when the ol' machine is going to decide to die on you.

It's silly to wait for hours on hold.

HTHs

Don


I guess we're all thinkin' the same way at the same time. Hmmmm, scary ;-)
Don

What gets applied first; the envelope or the track FX? Obviously, the result will be different.

That's why I love this forum.

I post a question, check out another thread and return to find an answer. I'm still on hold BTW, 1 hour and 54 mins. Thank god for hands free. This freaking music on hold is a short loop and driving me crazy.... I won't get it out of my head for the rest of the day

I'm hanging up now (it's hard to let go after nearly 2 hours).

1 hour and 57....

That's why I love this forum.

I post a question, check out another thread and return to find an answer. I'm still on hold BTW, 1 hour and 54 mins. Thank god for hands free. This freaking music on hold is a short loop and driving me crazy.... I won't get it out of my head for the rest of the day

I'm hanging up now (it's hard to let go after nearly 2 hours).

1 hour and 57....

Are they even open today? It is Memorial Day, after all.

Thanks John, that makes sense. I was looking all over, and even the manual didn't mention that at all.

I think I need to explore all the right click stuff more. There's allot that can be done in with a right click that the manual doesn't talk about.

Edward,

It's not memorial day in Canada (JK)....

Well, they kept coming on every 5 minutes and telling me that their representatives were busy with other customers and they would be with me shortly...

But now that you mention it...That may explain it...

Thanks.

depends if ur refering to compression..

the effects are track based (if ur using them OUTSIDE of a bus track as in your NOT using these as a send effect) therefore as an insert effect, it would be used prior to any output levels.

as an example, if ur running an eq and compressor and noise reduction set up, then u run a volume envelope along the track, the effects will behave as they should, THEN if ur adjust the envelope as u go along (which is what i do quite often..) the compression <as an example> shouldnt fluctuate as the volume changes

Hey all,

I have just realised that I forgot the insert an image at the start of my project. What I am wondering, due to the fact that I have several splits and different tracks,if it is possible to lock the ENTIRE project into place, and move it across, say 7 seconds so I can put the image in without disrupting my project as it is finished.

I hope this makes sense,

Thanks alot

Scott

Enable ripple, then set it to affect all tracks, markers, regions. Insert your image. Everything will shift downwards.
FWIW, it's a good idea to leave :30 at the front of any project, you may need a count, bars, whatever....or may find that you need to insert an image. :-)

Wow, incredibly fast reply. Worked like a charm.

Thanks so very much Douglas

I just purchased a computer recently expressly for being able to edit HD video. (AMD FX60 processor, 4 gig RAM) I've been having problems with Vegas Video 6.0d. It worked fine on my old Intel chip computer but it seems that this AMD based computer is having problems. I cannot "capture" HD video from my camera. The program recognizes my HC-1 camera and I am able to control the fast forwad and rewinds function but when I go to hit play or the red capture button the program freezes. I've have tried re-installing the program several times. I have updated my video card. I have updated to SP2 as well as Windows XP. My IEEE link seems to be working fine since it does recognize my camcorder when I plug it in. I have another friend who is using an early AMD chip and he has no problems. I am out of options. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Your firewire post...is in on the motherboard (integrated or a seperate card).
I had issues way back when capturing in Vegas using my motherboards built in firewire port.
I installed a firewire card, disabled the onboard firewire in the system BIOS, and all was well.

Ripples are extremely powerful. Just be sure to disable it before you do anything else!

A couple of other options in addition to Ripple:

Put the cursor at the beginning of the timeline and choose Insert - Time
This will let you insert any specific amount of time at the cursor position.

Since you're moving EVERYTHING... you could always press CTRL-A to select everything in the project and then slide it however far you want.

It's my first time working with Vegas 5 pan/crop feature. I have some archival photos that I'm working with. I'm having a lot of fun and the pan/ crop is working and looking better than I expected, but I have one problem. When I try to copy the mask from one type of clip ( a .tif photo image) to a dv video clip, the size of the mask is changed on the second clip.

In "Vegas 5 Editing Workshop" (which usually is worth it's weight in gold) it says to copy/paste the keyframe from clip a to clip b and the mask will maintain it's aspect ratio. I tried this and it does not seem to work. Maybe I'm not doing this right.

The only way I can get it to work is to uncheck "maintain aspect ratio" in the properties of the two events. This works except the image that I'm masking becomes distorted (it widens and looks unnatural). The image I'm masking is from a photo arranged in portrait rather than landscape.

I hope i've explained the nature of my problem well enough to understand...

I agree...try another firewire port. I have the AMD 64 with 3 gigs of ram and no issues capturing HD. I am sure you have the correct settings in Sony vegas? Are you able to capture with ConnectHD from Cineform which is a very nice program to work with HD footage. Unless something is screwy with the Sony settings, I don't think this is a Sony software issue although I am not sure with the AMD FX.

Also...try setting your cam to downconvert to SD and then try capturing that in Sony V. Does that work?

You also might try asking around in the "What happens in Vegas" section of the HD editing forum below this one.

Thanks David and Edward

David,

If you open the movie in the QuickTime player and choose Window>Show Movie Info, what is the format listed as?

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I will try installing a seperate firewire card.

Sometimes when I render to quicktime format, my newly rendered file displays a black screen but the audio is there. But if I stop playback and manually move the playback slider I can see the movie as intended. Any thoughts?

Rob

Hi, I dont know where to put this, sorry if I posted it twice. I have problem capturing mini dv footages from my panasonic dv953. I have Vegas 5.0, I dont think it's the soft ware, can the vegas capture footages from this camera? It dont have a fire wire port, just a USB. When I do connect, this message comes up,
"Digital video camera is not set correctly.
Connect USB cable to your PC and
set digital video camera to the [Web Camera] mode.
If ready, press the [OK] button."
Is there a way for me to capture footages from this camera?
Thank you.

Use firewire to capture. There is a firewire port on your camera somewhere... the manual can be downloaded if you're having trouble locating it.

If your computer doesn't have a firewire port, get a firewire card + 6pin-4pin firewire cable. They are about $25 (bundle) for people living in the US.
newegg.com
pricegrabber.com
pricewatch.com
resellerratings.com

The USB port is for capturing low quality MPEG4 video (something like that), and the firewire port for DV.

Ah, I found the fire wire port! Thanks alot for pointing me to the right direction.

yeah its your video overlay driver.. most likely this is an ATI gfx card?? i get this too.. also happens with media player sometimes, and when u resize the frame, u can bringback the image

Subject line pretty much says it all…

In Vegas 6.0:

I’m using/trying Excalibur 5.0.3 demo (I own Excalibur 3)… I’ve added cams 1a and 2a to the toolbar, but when I use them (after running multi-cam), I get dissolves instead of clean cuts. How do I set the buttons to cut instead of dissolve?

Thanks!

PS -- Edward, I wish you well -- speedy recovery!

Duh... 'c' for cut

answered my own question!

After I have printed to tape, I will use that same file (after a few adjustment on the properties) and go to DVD architect. With the audio being -20db it will sound very faint on dvd architect. What audio levels should I raise the master up to for my destination??

Thanks

Tape will produce a "real time" sound and if you don't lower the master level it will snap crackle and pop-remember that -12db in digitalspeak is the same as 0db in analogease and 0 will clip (so will -12 on tape)
just reprint the project anf you lower the master level and you should be set to go
Don

Actually, in "analog-ese," 0dB is the same as -20dBFS. However, WAY too much attention is paid to these numbers. The bottom line is that you want your output peaks to be in the range of -3dB to -.5dB, depending on the content and dynamics. If you are making work for broadcast and have more than 12dB of dynamic from your average, you've likely got too much happening and you need to level things out.

regarding reference scale/dB matching, www.atsc.org, read the whitepaper on levels.

Yep, "A" cameras dissolve "A"fter the marker
"B" cameras dissolve "B"efore the marker
"C" cameras "C"ut
"D" cameras do a standard "D"issolve centered on the marker

I'm sure you'll see that the Multi-cam tools have grown a lot since version 3 and is also now much faster as well. Since you're on Vegas 6, you don't even need to stop playback of the timeline in order to add new camera switches. Plus, you'll see that the tallys also dissolve indicating the length of the dissolve for you (naturally the tallys "cut" when you're using cuts).

I have the A1U and like the idea of the low cut filter, but actually like the sound better from having the filter off. I, of course, get extra noise this way. Does Sony V have built in audio filters to adjust for low noises?

Thanks guys

I wouldn't call it a "duplicate" but yes, Sony Vegas (and most other NLE's) have a low cut filter. The filter in A1u is passive, meaning it's not intelligently seeking a frequency and its harmonics. Doing the same thing in post is usually quite simple.

I am rendering a fairly short piece on DVD Architect (about 30 minutes worth of video). Are there any disadvantages of rendering audio using PCM rather than AC3, other than it taking up more disc space given its uncompressed nature. The quality of the audio seems better with PCM and the volumn is quite a bit louder on the DVD.

Can all DVD players handle PCM? What about playback on computer laptops?

Thanks.

-- Keith

Audio standards for DVD are either PCM uncompressed, or AC3 Dolby Digital

Elective formats are MPG2 and DTS

for a DVD player to carry the dvd logo it MUST be able to play AC3 AND PCM, therefore, u shouldnt have any issues with the compatibility.

as for volume levels, the ac3 encoder within vegas is fully customisable and there are many threads on this forum which detail its nuances