Does DVD Architect let you make copies of DVDs without having to keep a copy of all the footage and a copy of the project?

Many programs let you burn a DVD and then use that DVD as a master for all other copies in the future.

Hi Tony,

You can use Nero or what-ever-recent burner program you like to copy NON PROTECTED DVD:s.

// Lazze \\

Personally, I always burn from folders on the hard drive. However, I don't know why it wouldn't work. You may have more potential for a bad burn, though. When you choose burn, have you tried simply selecting that drive as the source? I'm sure you'd have to have TWO drives (one for reading, one for writing). The only reason I can think of for not work would be if DVDA didn't like reading from the root directory instead of a folder.

I'm starting post on an experimental short that I have shot using both DVX100a footage (24p w/ Anamorphic) and 35mm still motordrive which I convert to 24fps 1080p HD using Twixtor in After-Effects.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to edit this film in Vegas and preserve DVX100a resolution.

The final outout will be 1080p 24p HD, uncompresses (it's only a 6 minute short).

So:

(1) Edit the DVX footage first in 0.9 DV 23.97 project, then uprez to HD (I have PhotoZoom Pro) - however, what's the best way to get square pixels? Then, edit the DVX uprez footage with HD footage in 1080p 23.97 project?

(2) Uprez footage first, before editing (I have one hour of raw footage), then edit everything in 1080p 24fps project?

(3) Can you create a HD 1080 project with non-square pixels during edting, then stretch at output?

(4) Something else?

I tried to render a 1.5 hr avi out to mpeg2 with 'best' settings (in Vegas4). output mpeg2 file came @ 4.0GB and the corresponding .ac3 file @ 134MB.

Then why is it that when i go to DVDA, it says that disc space used as '6.1GB'!? DVDA also wants to recompress the video, obviously to make it fit on the DVD.

I believe I've output a MPEG2 file this big before with no complaints from DVDA.

Thanks for your help.

It surely should work. Are you running the latest version of DVDA?

yep, 1.0d

At what level do you run the peaks on the audiometers..At work we use VU and Dorrough audiometers so the Vegas meters are a little different

It seams I need to run them a little low

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Vince

1) I would edit first and then uprez, should save you lots of time and disk space

The numbers (I think) you need:

- start Vegas
- create a new project with NTSC DV Widescreen!
- load some footage
- set the preview to Best (Full)
- and hit the save button besides it
- the resulting file should be 872 x 480

So you need to output at that resolution with uncompressed AVI
at 1.0 pixel aspect ratio.

However, 1080 / 480 = 2.25 and 1920 / 872 is not (it's 2.2018 etc.).
So you might want to export at 1920 / 2.25 = 854 or 852 to get
to 854 x 480 which *might* upscale better lateron.

2) nope

3) yes you can

Just enter the resolution and square pixels (make sure it is
progressive!) into the new project settings in Vegas. To what
would you like to stretch when outputting?

You definitely want to keep everything below zero. Lately I've be running mine so it bounces around -12. Remember that -20 is the same as "zero" in the analog world.

DVDA sometimes "misguesses" at what the size will actually be. Try building the project and see if it actually does come out to bigger than 4.3 gig.

Thanks Edward about 10 years ago we got a device call a digicart a kind of NLE for announce and VO audio it was kind of hard to get use to recording into digital that much lower. Now I need to do the same on the Vegas and Avid

Thanks

Vince

Does anyone know if V5 will render an alpha channel only?
I have some logo projects that that need to be brought into Adobe P (my co-editor uses it), but he only wants the alpha channel rendered. My fear is that if I just render them against a black background & he goes to chroma out the black some of the logo's also have black in them & well, ya know what happens then...

Thanks in adavance.

Shane

If you render with alpha channel, you WON'T NEED to chroma key. The alpha will not be visable anyway.

Thanks for the speedy reply Edward.
Now how do I just render the alpha then?
I just did a test with a logo and Vegas defauts with a black background when I rendered it. When I brought the test render back into Vegas & dropped a different background under the test render you cannot see it.
I feel that I should know the answer to this but I sadly do not ;)

Shane

File - Render As - Type: AVI - Template: Default (Uncompressed), Click on Custom and on the second tab make sure "Render Alpha channel" is CHECKED.

After you bring the rendered clip back into Vegas, right-click it, choose properties, and pick the desire alpha format. Now the areas below should show through the alpha.

If the logo doesn't change over time, you could also use a PNG file which also saves the alpha channel.

AH HA! "Unmatted" under properties worked for me.
Now the question is whether this can be imported into Adobe Premiere as an alpha?
My co-editor lives in Ohio & he uses Premiere, I live in Oregon & I use Vegas (still trying to get him to convert).
We're producing a TV show called "Steve's Outdoor Adventures" that is now into it's second season on the The Mens Channel, The Sportsmans Channel and Wild TV (whatever the hell that is).
I usually handle all the effects, alpha channels and commercial spots but he is now getting into the alpha channel fun so this is the first time that he has requested just an alpha channel video and I feel embarrassed that this one stumped me.

Thank again Edward, you da man!

Shane

Rob:

Thanks for the info - I was leaning to trying one - thanks for the tip about 872X480 - that makes perfect sense now that I think about it.

What was tripping me up is when you shoot with the anamorphic adapter, you are shooting in 4:3 (0.9 pixel ratio) mode.

You mentioned Nero. Is that a good program for copying DVDs? Any other recommendations?

Tony,

Nero Burning Rom is more or less the standard application for burning CD:s and DVD:s - it also offers lots of extra functionality for a great price!

http://www.nero.com/en/index.html

// Lazze \\

<<<-- Originally posted by Lars Siden : Tony,

Nero Burning Rom is more or less the standard application for burning CD:s and DVD:s - it also offers lots of extra functionality for a great price!

http://www.nero.com/en/index.html

// Lazze \\ -->>>

Cool, here I go to nero.com...

And Nero even works with my drive for cheap money compaired to DVDarc which dose'nt.

If DVDA wants to recompress it, it may mean that something wasn't quite right in the render settings (resolution, bitrate, etc).

First I'd render it using the template for DVD Architect (try rendering a small section first) and checking DVDA will accept it without recompressing.

Once it does that you can just build the disc and see what happens.

I take it you don't have any amazingly big media in menus or anything.

Hi - Can any tell me why my MPEG2 render option is suddenly missing?

If it is totally missing, I think I would try a reinstall. I can think of NO reason why it wouldn't be there.

So one question - the film look plugin - sounds sweet, but I shoot with a dvx100a, and the 24p is built in.

BUT - it has 2 scene settings for 24p - F5 and F6 - Sony in their white paper says that you should use the F6 setting on my camera, and that's cool.

But, I've been reading a bunch on this topic and it seems that there are different gamma settings - and sharpness settings with the two different scenes.

So...I'm just looking for some advice - should I just make the changes in the settings in the F6 scene, and let it go with that, or is there something in the new plug in that would be a major benefit - I guess I don't know which way to go right now.

Thanks a bunch!
Milt Lee

You could perhaps export a 1 frame uncompressed AVI with
alpha channel and send it to him so he can try? Should only be
around 1.3 MB in size or so.

Yes, but if you just start a DV Widescreen project and load the
footage to the timeline, right-click choosing properties you can
alter the 0.9 aspect to the correct Widescreen aspect so it looks
correctly! Then export at the correct resolution with a 1.0 pixel
aspect and you should be fine.

Ofcourse make sure you test the complete workflow before
committing to things, also don't forget the whole 24p issue
(make sure the entire workflow is in 24p! DOUBLE CHECK THIS!)

What happens on reinstall? Does Vegas think it's in a new
computer as far as registration and such? Do you reinstall from
Start>Program Files>Vegas or do you reinstall with the CD?
I'm still getting Delay/Write/Fail errors so I would like to do the
reinstall but when I installed Vegas on my second computer
it didn't give me Mpeg-2, it told me I had to register for Mpeg-2
and they would send me a confirmation email with a number
to enter but after multiple tries they never did so on the second
computer I have to use an external drive and then connect that
drive to my other computer to render and burn it, which of course
no longer offers me Mpeg-2. Frustrating. Thanks

If you do an uninstall, reinstall, it will think it is a brand new computer.

If you do a "repair install", it should just try to update what has been messed up.

I would first try the "repair install" and then if it does not repair the problem do a full uninstall, delete the Sony folders, and then reinstall the current version.

Is your version on CD the current version? If not, download the latest update from Sony and use it instead.

I have a DVX100 and I use both. As long as you understand pulldown you'll be fine.
As far as the in-camera setting go, use which ever look you like best for the situation . You can make changes to the look ,color,ect ect in Vegas.

Thanks Edward, I will do just that. No I haven't downloaded the latest version since purchased new in July. I suppose I'm neglecting myself of some features. Thanks again.

Thanks Rob, I'll give that a try also just in case Premeire decides not to play nice with Vegas ;)

Shane

I have been careful on the 24p stuff I have it set as my defualt template since I only shoot 24p advanced.

I think I've got it figured out. Thanks a bunch for letting me bounce this stuff around and for the great input.

I've seen DVDA "misguess" (what a euphemism) for projects, too. I imported 6 small MPEG-2 files with self contained audio (not AC3) and DVDA reported something like 106%! I've done many projects like this before and knew that couldn't be true. I closed the project and reopened it and then it said something like 90%, 4 GB if I recall (it was last week I did it). No re-encoding was necessary for the video but the audio was encoded to AC3.

Very odd. Sounds like a bug to me.

Good luck.

Dennis

Start up - The Twain Manager could not be initialized?

What is that?

TWAIN stands for (brace yourself):

"Technology Without Any Interesting Name"

I am NOT kidding! TWAIN technology is used to allow graphic
applications to utilize graphic devices like scanners and photo
camera's to allow you to get picture from them.

The TWAIN manager is a part the whole system to manage this.
If you get such an error I would guess a part of it has been
corrupted. It might be in the Vegas installation or somewhere in
the Windows installation.

Did this just happen? What did you change/install prior to that?

I would start with an uninstall and then reinstall of Vegas. If that
doesn't work it might be time to reinstall Windows perhaps.

Did you try searching on the error on Google?

I think I would try reinstalling the twain software first. Download the latest drivers for you scanner and install them.

As a point of interest or maybe lack thereof I changed the TEMP drive from C: to another drive in Environmental Variables as recommended in another thread for another issue, that's when it
started. I did the reinstall/repair as Ed recommended yesterday and this has in fact fixed things. Frustration vanished (for the time being) Thank you very much.

I use Pipeline Digital's Autolog. In it's basic configuration - it uses a runtime version of Filemaker. In advanced - As I use - with Filemaker Pro 6 or above - I have completely modified the Input Logging Fields to work in conjunction with my special logging needs.

Now as I watch the screen as the clips are being logged - I just tab thru the fileds and enter the data and keywords. I can then print out the logs in any fashion. EDLs, Postcards. JPEGs, Text, etc....

It's a little more expensive than some. But, well worth your look. it comes in both Mac and PC versions.

Jay Mitchell

Any known problems with installing Service Pack 2 for XP systems?

Some people have had problems - others have installed it and it has worked fine. Known issues include problems with firewire. If you install it, make sure you have an image of your drive so you can go back to the way it is today.

You're priceless Ed...Priceless

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't seem to find a way to take out 2:3:3:2 pulldown of 24p footage in Vegas. It only seems to be able to handle 2:3 .

Is that because I'm using the 30 day trial version or can't the full version do this eighter ?

Secondly , it only seems to be able to take out pulldown of DV avi's . Not mpeg or other formats. Does the full version have this limit also ?

Thanks !

Frank

Hello, I have captured a 720x480 pixel video and due to outdated camcorder and the 8-year old tape, the bottom section of the clips "shakes." Meaning, the bottom portion of the entire video (less than 5% of the height) has a static or some sort.
How do you edit/correct this problem on the video using Vegas5? I think the simple way to approach this problem is to use a letterbox mask only on the bottom section.

The tape and the camcorder is 8 years old.
Here is the clip (www.kwak.org/example.wmv) that you can see for yourself. Thank you in advance.

How would you set Video rendering quality: Best to be as default rather than Good?

Thanks in advance.

Unless you're doing a lot of photo rescaling, good will give you the same results which is why it's the default. To change it permanently, go to file - properties, change it to BEST, click the "use these settings for all projects" (or whatever that checkbox says in the lower left) and then click on OK. All new projects from that point forward should use those settings. You may still need to check all older projects.

If you're going to be viewing it on TV, 5% is outside the safe area anyway. Just mask it out but it won't make any difference anyway. If you're wanting to view it on the web, you might mask out the same amount from the top so it looks consistent.

Are you saying that you DO NOT want pulldown removal? Can you re-phrase please?