Is the best way to shrink something down in resolution in Vegas, simply to go to File -> Properties (project properties) and alter the width/height to whatever I want? I'm going smaller for web delivery.
I need to know asap if possible.
Thanks

The least painful (i.e. best way to avoid weird scaling issues) is to render it straight to the new resolution. File->Render As and pick your output resolution there. Changing the project properties does bad things to your currently loaded media, you're only interested in affecting the output.

Perfect!
Thanks!

Wow, 7 minutes to get the answer I needed. This forum once again is awsome.

Just to be sure...
Under "Render As", I assume I go to "Custom" then "Video". Then I have to change the Template to "uncompressed" in order to change the res. to a custom setting. Right?

I rendered out after doing this, but my file size was 2.5x bigger rendering a 320x240 file than when I rendered to NTSC DV 720x480.
Is this just the way it has to be, or am I doing it wrong?

No, you do NOT want uncompressed - it's what it says - uncompressed which is extremely large.

Instead, pick File - Render As, and pick the desired output format such as .wmv. THEN choose "Custom" and change to the desired size/quality settings. You should then see files that are MUCH smaller.

It worked, but delivered a file 1.5 the size of the original. I've got to be doing something wrong.

Fixed it. Thanks gents!

Under project properties, video, frame rate, what is the effect of selecting 24 FPS. Is the for incoming video or rendering? if it is for rendering, does this have a positive effect on viewing.

That would before incoming video---

Thanks David

Ok, this is weird......need some info so I don't scratch out the last of my hair <;~)
I've been waiting on my new video card to show up for my home editing box, and have yet to pick up the Pioneer A-05 DVD burner.
(otherwise I wouldn't of had the issue below).

Last night my partner and I were editing the footage over at my house that we shot last weekend for a 30 second broadcast commercial. After hours of messing with the footage, we got it where we wanted......for a rev.0 to the customer.

He had a 10:30 meeting with them today, so we decided that for the rev. 0 we would "print to tape" in VV 3.0, and go on our merry way after their critique, and edit/publish on our editing box in our quasi office/studio in the next day or so.

During the "print to tape" I couldn't get the XL1s to "record" the edited footage back to tape.
(the same tape I pulled down some of the footage earlier in the process).
Since it was late, I plugged in my GL1 and there was no issue in "printing to tape"......mission accomplished....sort of.

I looked at all my settings to make sure everything was good to go, and literally changed nothing.

My home XP editing box "knows" both of these cameras very well, but we've never used the "print to tape" function since we have VCR and DVD capabilities in our office/studio.

In effect I can "pull" from both cameras, but can only "push" to the GL1.
Any ideas?

XP Pro (updates as recent as 1-25-03)
P4 1.8ghz
1 gig Corsair PC2100 DDR
~200 gig in all Seagate 7200 spin HD's
VV 3.0
Compliant firewire card
(more info if needed)

Were you trying to use device control? If so, what would happen if you chose manual control and manually pressed the record button? I've printed to an XL-1 but think I've only done it manually.

For some reason when I plug in the XL1s that option does not give you the ability to "check it".

If I plug in my GL1, it is available.

I haven't plowed through the VV manual yet, since it was late last night when it happened..........

You might check the driver set used by XP. Many of the NLEs are rather picky about about which driver set you use.

Another thing to check is to be sure the S can be printed to. Try copying a tape from your GL1 to the S via a firewire cable. If that works you at least have a work around until you resolve the issue with Vegas.

It might not be a Vegas issue. I had something similar going on. (Vegas 3.c and Win98SE. Capture was OK, but Vegas reported the camera (under options -> preferences -> video device) unavailable for device control. The Vegas forum at Sonic Foundry could not help (uncharacteristically). I re-installed Vegas, tried different 1394 cards - nothing. After a total clean out (Format c:\) and re-install of everything (except the clutter), the problem wasn't there anymore. I still don't know what it was.

Does anyone know what specific features you will be able to get with DVD Architect that you won't get with Vegas 4 (other than the ability to burn DVDs)?

Steve--its not burning DVDs--its an authoring program, entirely different then Vegas (an NLE) You author your DVD's---create chapters etc with ARchitect---dont confuse the two.

Okay. I have had this problem for days now, I asked on sonicfo. forums with no help. Maybe you guys can help...

When I try to render as mpeg2 (because I will need to burn to dvd soon) it renders for about 2-3 minutes and then I get an error (error unknown)... this is a problem that others on the sonicfo. forums have yet nobody knows how to fix it. I am running out of time and need to get this thing turned into a mpeg2. dvd quality...

Can you guys either:

A. Tell me what is wrong with vegas.

B. Tell me what I should do as far as programs other than vegas that can make good mpeg2s... some "how to's" would be fantastic if you recommend another program. I have never burned a dvd and could use all the help I can get.

Eric,

Download TMPGEnc from www.tmpgenc.net and output your
final movie from VV to AVI. Then load this up in the encoder
and select the correct DVD template. Hit encode and it should
make you a compliant MPEG-2 file. You can try this out for 20
or 30 days.

Authoring a DVD is a whole different game. I believe Nero
can make a self-playing DVD-Video (just drop the file in), but
I'm not sure. Haven't done authoring myself yet.

Good luck

And TMPGEnc's quality was much better than the MPEG that Vegas could make, in my opinion.

Thanks Tor,
I've had 2 problems that no one on these boards has had with VV 3.0.

I was starting to get a complex......heh

Dan,
Are you using V V 3.0? If yours is a Vegas problem after all, an upgrade to 3 c might help. That is a free download for anyone with a valid 3.0 ownership. There won't be a 3 d, but 4.0 is just around the corner. That will get rid of your complexes (but not your complexion - due to its powerfur colour correction tools - ha ha).

Here's the DVD Architect product info:
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/products/dvda-feat.asp

and here's the forum:
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowTopics.asp?ForumID=22

I've noticed that when I use moving texts in my projects on Vegas Video there are horizontal kind of pixelated lines in the text. I don't know if I am explaining the way the text looks well, but I would prefer more homogeneous smooth appearing moving texts. I am rendering as mpeg2 and I think my settings are just the default ones. Am I doing something wrong or is that just the way they look? Does anyone use a text generator plug-in to achieve better results?

Thanks

I have downloaded and started to play with the Vegas demo (I have no previous experience from Vegas).

The PAL DV widescreen aspect ratio in Vegas is stated as 1.4568. In Premiere the aspect ratio is stated as 1.422 and in EasyChanger as 0.7031 (which is the the same as the inverted value ratio stated in Premiere).

Is there anyone that can shed some light on this issue? As I understand either Vegas or Premiere have/states the wrong AR. I have captured Widescreen DV (from a Sony PDX10P which is stated to record "true" widescreen without being a native 16:9 CCD) and edited in Premiere and in Vegas. Since I've only encoded a short clip (about 1 minute) and I can't view the clips side by side it's hard to tell which gives the most accurate result. However, in Vegas as well as in Premiere it seems as part of the picture is "over the top and under the bottom" (Canopus watermark partly hidden). Could this latter be due to overscan and is it something that I have to live with or could it be that I use the wrong template? In Vegas I have tried output to PAL DV Widescreen (no watermark which might be due to "none watermarked" codec) and Canopus and MainConcept (resulted in watermark).

Any input is highly appreciated.

Hans

I suspect Premiere is correct since they have the product longer
and also because it is the same value of that other product
(inverted).... but ofcourse I might be wrong

1.45 or 1.42 ??
for normal ntsc some use .9 others .9091

you can make it whatever you like in V .. so if you want to use the premiere 1.42 ... in V window FILE / Properties ... now in the pixel aspect choose PAL widescreen THEN change the 1.45xx to 1.42 ... this will change the preview window so a clip with aspect of 1.42 will fill it ( no bars on sides)

to make sure your clip has the same pixel aspect ( in V only) so you don't have black bars on sides go to media pool - right click on clip - PROPERTIES .. again change the pixel aspect to pal widescreen then change the 1.45 to 1.42

NOTE that many of these hand size camera's do NOT fill the whole frame from side to side ... so you might not be able to get rid of the black on each side

Thanks for the input.

I have done some additional reading and I think that I'm beginning to understand. It seems as Vegas and Premiere uses different basis for the calculation. Vegas seems to use the a method including also the fraction of non-square pixels (702 + 54/59 non square 59/54 pixels per line) that fits in 768 square pixels per line whilst Premiere excludes the fraction. Although the figures differ the visable result might be the same?

Include links to what I have read in case anyone is interested.


http://geocities.com/wunder01au/widescreen.html

and

http://www.mir.com/DMG/aspect.html

the easiest way to test the image is to record a perfect circle. When viewing the circle after rendering in the NLE, incorrect AR will result in the circle being distorted into an oval, sufficiently to be measured. Be aware than many, many video players, including Micro$oft Media Player, DO NOT convert aspect ratios correctly, nor do monitor screens that have been incorrectly set up.

This is a very thorny issue because of all the potential sources of distortion. Having gone thru this in detail, in the past, most problems come from the player or screen adjustments.

Stephen, in addition to authorng DVDs you also have the option to turn 5.1 audio into AC3 format. As far as I know, there will not be a standalone AC3 plug-in for Vegas (like there is for Acid). it requires the DVD architect program.

Actually, the AC3 plugin doesn't "require" DVD Architect, it just comes WITH it. You could still buy the AC3 plugin separately if you only buy Vegas 4.

Does anyone know if the new Vegas Video 4.0 support 4 channel audio capture?

Unless they just added it, no to 4-track. You can added Scenalyzer which will give you 4-track as an add-on.

No it does not allow capturing of the second stereo track. Buy Scenalyzer Live (about $33) which can capture Video + Stereo1 into an AVI file while simultaneously capturing Stereo2 into a separate .WAV file over firewire.

Thank you for the information.

I will buy scenalyzer, it seems to be a great program at a reasonable price.

I could not determine if the 5.1 support in Vegas Video 4.0 allowed 4-channel audio to be captured. Based on the responses I have received, the answer appears to be no.

My thanks to Edward and Nathan.

Heya all,


Need a hand understanding this, i outputted files with vegas video 4 as dvd mpeg2's which it said were for dvd architect.

So finally after i prepared my dvd and whatnot within dvd architect, it now wants to recompress them again and take another 2 hours at it, any ideas why it is doing this?

Shouldnt the file be ready for burning and no need recompression again?

Zac

I fixed up the problem, it had defaulted the project to NTSC and wanted to convert.

Sorry all.

If you want can delete thread.

How do you like VV4 and DVDA so far?

I am thinking about buying them but wanted to get some opinions first. Did you use VV3 before or other authoring software?

Thanks you.

Download the Demo versions from their website (http://www.sonicfoundry.com/) yourself
to get a good impression what it can and cannot do! You can
even download the full manuals for both products.

Always test before your buy. And test here is a hands on test
done by yourself!

Heya all,

Did a search and didn't find much. Is there a way to open a vv3 or vv4 timeline in adobe after effects?

I know with premiere it is possible and for avid there is a plugin, just wondering if anything similar is available for vegas video.

Or is there another way?

Thanks all,

Zac

There's no direct way to access the timeline back and forth. You have to render the section you'd like to use After Effects on, edit it, and then bring it back in. Rendering to DV is okay, but uncompressed QuickTime is optimal.

Check out the following message from another forum:

"This just-released plug-in for After Effects adds the ability to import Sonic Foundry's Vegas EDL files into After Effects as a Composition (similar to importing a Premiere Project into After Effects).

The plug-in was originally developed in-house to allow us to rough cut video in Vegas, then import and finish in After Effects. For more details goto www.forgedimages.com and click under "After Effects Plug-Ins."



It may do what you want.

"In the never ending war of which NLE is the best, it appears that Sonic Foundry has quietly set into motion a program that threatens to rock the NLE world and turn it all on its head. Jim Harvey takes a good look at Vegas 4 to see what everyone's been talking about."

I am not a pro editor, so let me ask this please. Why does a person need a vectrocope and histogram, also, what the heck is a vectroscope, and if you didn't have one and wanted broadcast quality video, where would video fall short without them. Also, is VV4 not a big project tool, several references have been made to the fact it is not?

Thanks
Donny

In order for video to be broadcast and look good, it has to fall within certain perameters, otherwise the colors bleed and/or get clipped, the audio buzzes--all sorts of ugy things can happen. The various scopes allow you to "see" the video signal and make sure it's within the NTSC broadcast limits (in a nutshell).

Vegas works great for long form projects. I have made many 2 hour plus projects using Vegas. The most complained about problem was the lack of bins in the media pool. These have been added in Vegas 4. I don't think you will have any problems with a long form video.

Thank you Jay and Edward, To date, I have see few complaints on VV4, I take it that stability is still very good? My last question is, what would the average Joe see in VV4 to make it worth purchasing vs VV3.
Thanks
Donny

Go to: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Products/showproduct.asp?PID=808&FeatureID=6877 for the complete list.

i'm about to purchase a pc, strictly for NLE. shooting mostly documentaries on my pd150. after doing some research decided to build a pc around AVID'S xpress dv (since, this software seems to be picky with the hardware used and compatibility with software).
but.... hearing more and more about vegas 4, hmmm... i'm not sure anymore.
my current idea is: to get the pc i had planned around the avid xpress, download demo's and try 'em out before finally making up my mind (usually the advise given anyway when asked by the undecided).
my question is: if vegas 4 has any hardware preferences, as does avid? i don't want to get my pc and find out that i'm limited to one of the two. does vegas 4 have compatibility issues?

i've also read that xpress dv won't live with adobe software on the same system. what about xpress dv and vegas?

my list so far:

processor: INTEL PENTIUM IV 2.53 GHz 533 MHz FSB
motherboard: ASUS P4B533 845E or INTEL BROWNSVILLE 845G
memory: 512 MB MUSHKIN PC2100 DDR SDRAM
hard drive: 40 GB Ultra ATA, 7200 RPM
120 GB -"-
firewire: ADS PYRO 1394 DV #API 300
screen card: MATROX G550 dualhead 32MB display
system: WINDOWS XP pro

thanks

any additional comments on specs or software comparison welcome.

System looks fine for Avid.

Don't be confused by the fact that avid "certifies" certain computers, and not others. Basically, they can't test and certify every possible configuartion, so they certify those that are most likely to be bought as off-the-shelf configurations. I am not sure if Vegas bothers to test and list "certified" configurations. I know people have trouble with both systems with different hardware conflicts... it's inevitable in the PC world.

As an example, I am using dual athlons on a tiger tyan board, which is not on the "certified" list, but runs like clockwork.

The problem with Avid and Premiere playing together, was based on the fact that they used different drivers, and would fight over the default. Some people used a dual boot system to get around it. Not sure if this is true now that Avid runs on XP pro now. As far as other Adobe products like After Effects and Photoshop... no problem - Avid works well with them, and plenty of people use them. (I don't know about Vegas and After Effects.)

I don't know about Avid and Vegas on the ame system for sure, though somebody on the Avid Forum dowloaded the beta and tried it.

If you purchase avid, you also get a copy that will run on a MAC, if that is important to you. (Some people use it on different computers, one at home, one at work) Of course, it will only run with the dongle attached, so one computer at a time.

Downloading demos is a good idea, but there are no "demos" for Avid. Avid will release e "free" version next quarter, that is a limited version of course. You could go to a dealer and test drive a copy, but that might not be possible for you.

Lot of people are happy with Vegas, especially since they have finally added some media management tools, and color correction. The trim tools are still awkward, if you are cutting dialogue a lot.

If you are staying in DV as your output - V V might be the choice for you. If you are going to transfer to a high end suite to finish, then the Xpress files transfer straight to a symphony or composer. And XpressDV cuts film with the powerpack too, But that is probably overkill for what you are doing.

Basically, if you NEED to work in High End finishing or off-line transfer and Film cutting ... go Avid. It's the industry standard. Otherwise it's probably overkill.

If you would like specific questions answered about avid, try the Avid forum. www.avid.com More people here seem to use Vegas or Premiere.

Good luck

- Bill

I've been trying out the new Vegas Video 4.0. I'm very impressed. Thanks to Donatello's help, it became rather simple to learn and the editing functions work really well.

But I'm having some capture troubles. Sometimes it lets me capture numerous clips of varying lengths, sometimes just a few, then it crashes. After it gets into the crash mode, it crashes simply by clicking on "record video."

I've tried all the fixes: Defragmenting, shutting off stuff running in the background, being careful to tell it to save temp (Captured)files to a plce with lots of room, overriding Windows virtual memory and setting my own to 1-gig. But the same pattern keeps repeating itself.

I noticed in a couple of captures some pixel flashes appear where none exist on the source tape.

I also noticed after getting fed up last night and shutting everything down, when I fired it up this morning it let me flawlessly capture about 15 clips before it started doing the crash thing again.

Does this sound like maybe I've got a heat problem? Would that even be an issue?