I'm suddenly having a problem printing to tape. Running WinXP with Vegas 3.0c, nothing is sent to my GL2 when I print to tape from Vegas. I verified I can capture from the camera fine over firewire. Even when I print to tape, Vegas will start my camera and look like it's printing to tape. But nothing appears on my GL2 screen, and playing back what should have been the video is nothing but a black screen.

I've reinstalled my firewire card, but still the same. Windoze detects my camera when I plug it into the firewire port, so obviously it's communicating. I reinstalled Vegas also, but that didn't work. Even tried Movie Maker to see if that would work, but still all I get is a black screen.

Any other ideas? This is maddening....

I used the CTRL-SHIFT to restore and then did it again.

When I did View I could see them flying down to the bottom of the screen. Apparently they were hiding behind the Windows Start Bar.

Is this a 4.0e quirk or has it always been this way?

If MovieMaker isn't working either then the problem is probably
not with Vegas. What firewire card are you using?

What's changed on your system since it last worked? What have you installed?

There are several things to "try" but no guarantees any would work. For example:

Reinstall Vegas.
Reinstall DirectX.
Try another program such a Scenalyzer or the Vegas Capture.

One solution I'm sure WOULD work, reinstall XP and your Apps.

I've not seen that on ANY of the releases. BTW, that didn't change in 4.0e.

It sounds like they have been dragged loose of the "snapping" area. Can you drag them back to the snapping area?

Also, are you saying the screen did not reset? Or that it reset and then immediately went back to what you are describing? And you held the keys down through the entire startup of Vegas?

I was afraid of the responses I'd get...I did try reinstalling Vegas, but not DirectX, so I'll try that. Reloading WinXP will be my last resort. Don't recall reinstalling anything, but I've haven't had to print to tape for over a month, so there's no telling. My firewire card is a Pinnacle, I believe. I also have an AIW Radeon 8500DV, and that firewire port does the same thing. Just thought it was weird since the computer will control the camera and communicate with it....it just won't spit any video from the pc to the camera. Vice-versa works fine. Oh well. Hopefully I'll get this resolved soon. I have a project due in one week!

As a test, have you tried a different firewire cable?

Also, a standard OHCI compliant card would be better (using the built-in Microsoft drivers!)

I'll try a different cable, that's worth a shot. It is a standard OHCI compliant card. There's the one built into the ATI video card, then I have an additional firewire card installed as well. Both give the same results. Silly computers....

Well this is a bummer, and I hope it's not a problem with my new GL2. I tried from a different computer and different cable to print to tape to my GL2. Same thing, only get a black screen even though Vegas starts and stops my camera correctly. Then I tried the same thing but to an XL1s and it worked fine, print to tape worked correctly.

So does this sound like a problem with my GL2? Is there some setting I'm missing? I don't really think so, but I'm hoping. This is bumming me out.

Just noticed, aren't we supposed to see a DV IN indication on the screen when we have a firewire cable connected to the camera? This might be more appropriate in the GL2 forum, but when I have the cable connected and the GL2 set to VCR, the screen shows TV Screen and AV->DV. It does not show DV IN.

Edit....I'm a moron....all it was a silly setting in the menu screen. I had AV->DV turned on, which uses the analog inputs. Just did a test on printing to tape, and it worked fine on my GL2. Geez, I feel like a total tool...Thanks guys.

The GL-2 has a switch for this like the Sonys? Our XL-1 just "handles" it and determines whether we need "in" or "out" automatically.

It looks like that. I'm a bit surprised, as I never had to switch anything on the XL1, like you mentioned.

Hello,

I am diving into Architect for the first time, and have not been able to figure out how to link an image to a piece of video..I have read over the help files, but must be overlooking something..I am doing a simple DVD with 2 buttons on the main menu, I would like each one of the images to play a video clip when selected??

Mike

Hello,

Ok, never mind, I have figured it out !!!!

Mike

That was quick! ;)

LOL! :D

Yeah, it seems backwards. You have to create a link and then change the picture instead of adding a picture and then creating a link.

Just as long as it works. And once I got the hang of it, DVD Architect has never failed me! :)

Ted

Just as long as it works. And once I got the hang of it, DVD Architect has never failed me! :)

before you jump ahead, i strongly suggest you read the SoFo forums as well as aother threads here with regard to Architect..

it DOES have issues...

good program, but many issues...

Hello,

OK, Still in the learning curve on Architect..I go to the properties menu and I set it up to show my opening piece of video(I forget what it is called, but the intro piece of video when the DVD is first inserted and palys) Ok, when i go to preview my project, I nver see the intro, it goes right to the Main Menu.. Everyting else seems fine.. Just wondering if this is normal, and is there a way to preview this intro before burning??

Thanks
Mike

The "preview" button has a drop down arrow beside it. Press the drop-down arrow and click on "Preview All" instead of just "Preview"


As an alternative, once in preview mode, you can press "stop" on the remote and then press "Play"

It doesn't so much have "issues" as it does "missing features". It is a very stable and very capable program. Do I wish it had end actions? YES. Do I wish it has some other features? YES. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do in the next version!

Hey everyone,
I'm editing 10 games of high school varsity footbal and making a dvd. The easier way I figured out was to make each game an individual project and in the end just compile all of them into one. Is this even possible? This would be really helpful and less stressful on the CPU. Any info I'd like to here. Thanks


-Kay

Layout the individual files with the same track structure (the same number and position of video and audio tracks). To combine, open the first project and then open another copy of Vegas with the other projects. Select all and copy. Then click on the location you want to insert into the first project, at the top most track and paste. I do this quite a bit when roughing up scenes for a film and then putting them together.

Here's how I do many events. Like you, I break different sections into different projects. When a section is done, I render it to a new AVI file. When all sections are done, I create a "final" project in which I import all of the individual AVI files.

Edward,
What are your settings when you export each scene? are you using meg2 dvd quality?

Anyways, that seems like the easiest way... I can't afford to lose quality through renders though ( I know there will be a slight lose ).

Thanks for the tip!


(ps. I still haven't recieved my tsunami manual pdf =P)
your script rocks!!!!! makes my life 10x easier

If I do what Ed does, the intermediate renders are DV format. If I must have absolute best quality, you can frame serve each of the many Vegas projects into a final project that combines them. There may be some limitation of the number you can do that with. I've only done it with 4 or less.

I render to NTSC-DV AVI files. Since nothing will need to be rerendered in the final project (unless you create dissolves between the clips), you will get NO loss of quantity as no additional rendering will be required.


If you purchased and are currently using Tsunami, you have the manual - it installs in the same folder as the program. You should also be able to find it by going to start - programs - tsunami.

But afterwards I did whatever I had done and did it again.

If you can pull the windows start bar down you can grab the errant window.

One point I don't have a firm answer on:

When re-encoding an existing MPEG with the same settings (bitrates, etc), do you take a quality hit?

My eyes say no. Not to say there isn't one, but I don't see it.

I have been doing all of my concert pieces in 16:9.

Before I got DVDA, I rendered to a 4:3 avi or mpeg with letterboxing for final output (which was SLOW).

Now with DVD Architect I render out to a widescreen MPEG and make a DVD.

Then I play the DVD and copy to VHS. Voila! Instant letterboxing!

-Tom-

SO QUIT DOING IT!!!

Seriously, the method for "tearing" the windows from the bottom area is to click on the thin line to the left of the window. When you click there and drag, you will get a free floating window. If you hold down the control key while dragging a window, it will prevent it from snapping into the bottom area.

As for what you are doing to get them all below the start bar, I'm not sure.

Yes - you WILL take a quality hit. Any time MPEG is rendered, it must be uncompressed and then recompressed. Now, depending on bitrates used you *may* not be able to visually see it but there IS a hit.

BTW, why would you need to reencode an MPG at the SAME bitrate?

Is the MPEG-2 encoding such that you will get different results each time?

For example. What if I create an MPEG-2 from my miniDV source, then I start encoding that MPEG-2 with the same settings over and over and over again? Would the quality degrade with each iteration (like copying audio cassettes), or ... would the result of each encoding be exactly the same as the next (and prior) encoding, because all the 'information' the compression scheme throws out in the original encoding is already gone, leaving the compression algorithm with no real 'work' to do?

Just curious.

PS - I would also like to see the ability for the end of one selection in DVDA automatically start another selection, without having to use chapter points from a single selection.

If you start with an AVI and render to MPG from that AVI multiple times, you should get the same results. Where you are going to get a quality hit is if you take the MPG file and render to another MPG file. Either go back to the original AVI each time or don't re-render!

I'm still wondering why you would NEED to re-render - especially from MPG to MPG.

And, yes, end actions would be nice.

I hear about a lot of people who receive (original) DVD-Rs that the customer wants re-edited, new titles, etc. So people are always asking if re-rendering files they rip off DVDs will suffer in terms of quality. They can never seem to get their hands on the original source material. Examples include poorly edited or mis-spelled titles in wedding videos done by someone's brother-in-law's cousin.

I get suspicious just blindly accepting 'generation loss' in terms of MPEG encoding, because (in theory) if the first encoding has removed all the 'information' that the compression algorithm needs to throw away to reduce file size, what else is there for multiple encodings to throw away? (Assuming the encoding settings are identical.)

I get suspicious just blindly accepting 'generation loss' in terms of MPEG encoding, because (in theory) if the first encoding has removed all the 'information' that the compression algorithm needs to throw away to reduce file size, what else is there for multiple encodings to throw away?

Because the second encode will throw away DIFFERENT pieces of information based on what IT sees.

To re-encode from MPG to MPG, you take a compressed video, uncompress it, and then recompress it. This WILL result in a loss of quality. Whether or not it is visually noticable will depend on the original and new bitrates but, even then, there WILL be a loss.

There are many programs available that will convert a DVD to AVI. However, many people actually prefer to capture to AVI while playing the DVD through a convertor/deck/camera.

Bottom line: you WILL lose quality but it may be small enough to not be noticable.

Having a rough time in playing back Vegas.

I have a new 2.8ghz/800 1gig ram, etc computer,
but I am getting jerkiness/slight freezes in the viewer.
Happens playing both from the timeline or previewing from and media pool. The jerkiness does NOT increase (stays about the same) no matter if I am previewing in full res, or in draft mode.
Running under XP home.

Steve

This is the problem with running M2T natively through Vegas. Our Connect HD product that will ship in January is targeted to fix this very problem. Watch www.cineform.com for product release information.

I have not tried this but it might help, how about dragging your "m2t"s into Vegas and then right after, render them as either a Huffyuv or uncompressed AVI. Use that file to edit with rather than the "m2t"s.
The jerkiness is probably coming from the interpreted frames in MPEG video, Vegas needs to gather information from neighboring frames in "P" and "B" frames in order to display them properly.
Mac people are already doing something similar by using Pixlet or DC30 converted from m2t's to edit rather than MPEG.
Warning the AVI files are going to be much larger than the original mt2 files.

Actually, trying to edit uncompressed or HUFFYUV files will most likely choke the editor as these files require super-fast data transfer and processing.

Here's what I do: two-step approach to editing.

Step 1: Convert all m2t files into small-footprint AVIs and do the edit in your fave software (Premiere Pro in my case.) I convert to PicVideo codec ($99 download) that is only 27Mb per minute at quality level 16 out of available 20. Very nice image quality (subjectively, looks better than any other small-footpring codec I tried), acceptable for confident editing. Make frame size 640x360, so it's even smaller than DV (no choking of the editor - get Real-Time previews all the time) and proportions are the same as in the original 1280x720 file.

Step 2: Once edit is complete, simply replace these source AVI files with the final-render AVIs (make sure file names are the same.) This time I use HUFFYUV codec for m2t conversion, at the original 1280x720 frame size (2Gb/minute). Once source AVIs are replaced with HUFFYUVs, re-open your editor and render the project. Works like a charm in PPRo. (This time you don't need real-time previews, as the edit is already complete; what you need is high quality render, which you will get with lossless HUFFYUVs.)

Conversions can be done in batches, which is quite speedy and convenient - just write your little software program to automate the process (I did) or find some batch software on the web.

Or do it manually :)

Good idea - but tons of source is my problem.
I have close to 100 hours of footage of this project, so I'll need to render in stages, then clean up the drives. Sort of complicates your process. I suppose I can also re-connect in stages.
I guess the best solution is Cineform's new one - so I can capture in my destination's codec. But I can't wait till 1/19! I have a deadline, so i need to be editing as we speak!

Steve

Steven, how about using original m2ts in step 2 of Alex's process, that way you would have the advantage of quicker editing together with space saving? HUFFYUV might be needed in Premiere because it does not handle m2ts directly.

Hello,
I was putting together a short video using a lens flare across the title text. Everything worked well until I restarted the program later. The lens flare was not working. Then I tried to place a cookie cutter over a video track and it wouldn't show up. What gives? I must have hit something by accident but I can't figure out what.

Please help me!!

Thanks in advance,
Adam

Never mind, I figured it out.
I must have hit that split screen button down on the preview window. Once I clicked on that the video effects started working again. It must just bypass those effects in the preview window.

Thanks anyway!

<<<-- Originally posted by Edward Troxel :
Seriously, the method for "tearing" the windows from the bottom area is to click on the thin line to the left of the window. When you click there and drag, you will get a free floating window. If you hold down the control key while dragging a window, it will prevent it from snapping into the bottom area.
-->>>

You know, I'd been wondering how to get my windows back to the free floating state for the better part of a year, but never got around to asking. Thanks Edward!

The Split Screen button is there so you can compare a "before effect/after effect" or two different shots with each other. When you have it turned on, you can click and drag the mouse on the preview window to determine what areas show the before footage and what areas show the after footage. Most of the time when someone says their effects are not working or are working only on PART of the screen, this is the cause.

It's a powerful feature when used correctly.

Newbie question.

so I capture a couple hundred clips, and create bins in the Clip Explorer of Video Capture. Then I want to use all these clips and the bins already created in a Vegas 4.0 project. But I can't find the bins. I see all the clips as files in WinXP Explorer and Explorer in Vegas, but not the bins and the organisation I've already created. Do Video Capture and Vegas set up completely separate and unrelated bin structures?

thanks,
Scott

While I have not tried that particular feature, my understanding is that they WOULD transfer.

New to this and I just ordered Vegas 4.0+DVD (to beat the supposed price increase... gosh I'm a sucker...).

I've wanted to encode Dolby 5.1 for a while now to create a few trailers for my home theater and for other interesting experiments.

Can someone briefly describe the interface to the encoder and whether you can synchronize 6 channels of, say, .wav files and then encode them?

How does it work?

Thanks!

- GLupien

You can mix in 5.1 surround on the timeline of Vegas. Just change the project Audio settings (File - Properties) to 5.1.

If you have a soundcard with seperate outputs for all 6 speakers, you will be able to monitor during mixing. Otherwise, you can monitor via your normal L+R speakers (which I do and after some trial and error you learn how to do that).

If you want produce a surround audio file (.AC3), you need the software Dolby Digital encoder which is installed with DVDA and will be available in the Render window of Vegas. So all your audiotracks will be mixed to 1 AC3 file, which can be added to a dvd project in DVDA.