Dylan, the best resource you will find is the PDFs on Sony's site. Find someone else who can download and print them for you.

"I find it simpler to just render both sections and start a "final" project using the rendered segments."

i thought of that. but i don't have enough available disk space at the moment.

You could check-out the sticky posts in the Panasonic DVX100 / DVC80 Assistant forum, but like Edward said, the Sony pdf file is the best resource - it tells you exactly how to do what you want.

I'd copy and paste it, but it's not allowed by the pdf.

Thats cool. Thanks guys. I'm shooting all weekend, then Monday I'll be formatting this computer and reinstalling so it works properly again. I'll get the .pdf then.

Credit roll
 

Maybe it's just me, but I think that the Vegas titler is very limitating for credit roll. The three types of item is not enough to really do what I want.

So what do you do, you, long time vegas users, to do your credit roll? Are you using a plugin, a third party software? a slow pan / crop over a long jpeg contaning all your credits?

I need your opinions on the best way to do.

Thanks

Vegas and other dvd programs
 

Hey folks;

Anybody used another dvd creation program with Vegas? I know I could upgrade to Vegas + dvd but the price is out of my range right now. I have seen a few programs that let you create a dvd in the $30 range and was thinking of this as a "till-I-can-afford-to-do-better" solution.

I don't need a lot of bells and whistles as it is just for program consideration submissions (no mass sales/distribution or anything like that) and archival purposes which is why the above mentioned programs seem so attractive in terms of price as compared to the Vegas upgrade right now.

If you have, which program worked best and if not, why not.

Thanks

All of the above work fine. Which do YOU like best? And do you want to spend any money?

Any of them should work fine. Either feed them an AVI or MPEG2 file from Vegas and they should work well.

Hi Edward,

Yes, I could think about spending some money if it could enhance my work.

I am not aware of any plugin or third party software to do this kind of work. Can you point me to some of these?

And I am unable to acheive a result as sharp as the vegas text when using the pan and crop over a jpeg. Perhaps I am missing something.

Dylan: keep in mind that you must have one of the later 4.0
versions for 24p support if I remember correctly. Something like
the .b or .c release at the least. The latest was the .e which
is the one with Sony on it instead of Sonic Foundry.

Do **NOT** pan over a JPEG! Use a lossless file format like PSD,
BMP or uncompressed TIFF for example. JPEG is a lossy compression
that adds another layer of degredation you don't want. This is
plain JPEG I'm talking about. JPEG2000 might not have this issue
if exported properly. But just use another lossless format to make
sure you don't loose any quality there.

Now if the source is coming from a digital camera (ie, a photo)
then keep it in jpeg form (unless you also have RAW) since that
is your original. No need to convert that since it can't get any
better due to another file format.

Just use a lossless format for generated media like text or 3D
animations and effects etc.

Text and Placement Tool
 

I use the the Placement Tool in plain old "Sample Text" in the Sony Text Media Generator .. I use the X and Y coord in conjunction with the keyframer .. excellent! I've done HUGE credit rolls, all types of fonts . . and it works AND it is quality . .. Grazie

Remember that Vegas 5 came with a light version of Boris. For even more power, you can upgrade to the full version of Grafitti or Red. You also have options such as Bluff Titler and Ulead Cool 3D. There are actually quite a few options available. However, as Grazie said, I usually just use the placement tab in the Generated Media.

Rob, Graham, Edward,

Thank you very much. I should be able to do something better now.

I just ordered the new version of vegas, how is the lite version of borris?

It's simply a lite version of the full Boris product. I believe it runs standalone (i.e. not directly from the timeline) unlike the full product.

Panda Titanium, AntiVir, and AVG
 

I'm trying to compare Panda Titanium, AntiVir, and AVG. I am interested in hearing pros and cons of each of these three antivirus softwares. Also, any compatibility issues with Vegas DVDA?

P.S. I am not trying to start a debate on the merits of hardware versus software solutions, nor the merits of using or not using antivirus software. I have already crossed those bridges, so to speak.

Don't know about compatibility with Vegas but AVG has worked very well for me. The "free version" located and isolated a virus on my computer that the others could not. TechTV has a very high rating for AVG. Of course if you really want to be safe don't have your NLE computer hooked to the internet. HA HA how many of us have taken this advice.....

Regards,

Mark

I´ve been using AVG (free version) for more than a year, and it performs really well...

PROS:

It hasn´t given me any conflicts with vegas or any other software...

It is very fast when loading and startup.

It doesn´t consume much resources..

It´s transparent for me... I don´t notice it´s there...

It upgrades with no problems or hassles..

It detects a lot of stuff other don´t..

IT IS FREE


CONS:

It also doesn´t detect a few thing that others do...

I think that the scan is a little slow.. but it could be my machine...


Still, besides a daily scan with AVG while I´m at lunch... I also do periodical scans with Panda On-line and/or HouseCall...

Some recommend NOD32 for 2 reasons:
1- It scans fast.
2- "For more than six years, NOD32 remains the only antivirus system in the world that has not missed any 'In the Wild' virus in the prestigious tests performed by the international magazine - Virus Bulletin."

Second opinion:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/artic...39,pg,1,00.asp

PC magazine likes PCIllin since it gives a great bundle of a good firewall and antivirus software.

ANG Antivirus FREE is good too because it's free. :)

Thanks Edward, as always, you have been most helpful.

Jason,

As Edward said, I also believe the Boris light version that comes with V5 runs only as a standalone product.

Many people, including myself, haven't bothered with Boris Light because of the program's complexity. It's not a very intuitive program, to say the least.

Some people are starting to use Wild FX Pro at www.wildform.com and Swishmax at www.swishzone.com for more interesting and complex titles.

Dave

Progressive Scan DVD Test
 

All of the DVDs I've produced with Vegas4,5 and DVDA 1, 2 use interlace format. Recently I've been shooting with a Canon Elura in Progressive Scan mode. However, I've always rendered in interlace format. I know there's no advantage to shooting in progressive scan if I render in interlace format. Maybe there's even some degradation.

But now I would like to burn a test DVD using progressive mode and compare it to my interlace burned DVD. In V5, I've rendered a loop region using Main Concepts MPEG-2 encoder, and I've selected the custom template, and chose progressive only field order.

Render completed, opened the project in DVDA2, and burned DVD.

Is there a way to tell if my project on DVD is really in progressive scan mode? I didn't see any choices in DVDA2 file properties for progressive vs. interlace. Or, can I somehow look at the properties of the rendered MPEG-2 file and see that it's in progressive scan video format?

Thanks.

Dave

As luck would have it, I found the answer to my question just after posting it Using the explorer view in Vegas, all I had to do is click on the rendered MPEG file and it shows me it's in progressive scan.

I'm still curious if in DVDA2 I can view the project's video properties and see that it's in progressive video format.

Sony site is down
 

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com
is down. So if you didn't download 5b (like me) you will
have to wait. They didnt say how long, only that the site was being upgraded.

The pre-messages announcing the down time said between 5:00pm and 11:00pm Central Time. So it should be up in a couple more hours.

If you have a software DVD player installed you can usually
set how it de-interlaces the footage and if it should de-interlace
at all. If you setup it that it doesn't de-interlace you should
be able to watch the footage in there and see horizontal
crawling of lines with moving footage if it is interlaced instead
of progressive.

questions re: making DVD w/ vegas + DVD architect
 

i am completely new to making DVD's. i went through the DVD ARCHITECT 2.0 manual and a couple of questions came up.

1. from what i understand DVD ARCHITECT 2.0 will only make uncompressed DVD with the following file formats: MPEG-2, AC-3 and PCM. so when i render a project with VEGAS, i should render it to the mentioned file formats. is this correct?

2. the DVD ARCHITECT, under PAL MPEG video (pg. 23), says the following: "If you're using the MainConcept MPEG-2 encoder in the Vegas software, use the DVD Architect PAL video stream template to render your video stream (you'll need to render your audio steram separately according to the parameters listed in the AC-3 audio or PCM audio sections)."
does this mean that when i render the project in vegas, i have to render the project twice? once only the video tracks to an MPEG-2 file and then render only the audio tracks to an AC-3 or PCM file, making seperate video and audio files to work with in DVD ARCHITECT?

thanks

1. No that is incorrect. DVD is *NOT* uncompressed. MPEG2 is a COMPRESSION (format). Therefor it is NOT uncompressed. Also DVDA can ALSO do the compression to MPEG2. So it also accepts at least AVI in. But yes, you can do this encoding in Vegas as well.

2. yes, that is the best method to do

so if i have a project (length: 1 hour) which i edited on VEGAS and now i want to make it a DVD, using DVD ARCHITECT, should i render the video tracks as .avi or mpeg-2? and audio tracks as AC-3 or PCM?

i know that MPEG-2 is a compressed format, but an .avi file of 1 hour will be too large to fit on a DVD so it'll have to be compressed somehow. the DVD ARCHITECT manual states the following (chapter 2, pg. 21): "The following files will not require recompression if encoded with proper parameters: MPEG-2, PCM, and AC-3."
does this mean that it is a prefered method to render to MPEG-2, etc. so that the files don't have to be re-rendered? or are there better methods, as far as preserving quality is concerened?

my question basically is: what is the prefered method of rendering a project on VEGAS, to be made later into a DVD using DVD ARCHITECT, while preserving quality as much as possible of both video and audo?

As I explained it does NOT matter. There is no preferred method
since both DVDA and Vegas use the EXACT SAME MPEG and AC3
encoder!

So it is up to you. Encode to MPEG2 / AC3 in Vegas or load the
AVI (then you don't have to export the audio seperately) file
into DVDA and let it do the MPEG2 / AC3 encoding.

The choice is yours so do what you like best. It will not matter
which one you choose in terms of quality. It's just what you like
best in your workflow.

One tiny difference might be disk space. If you output as AVI you
require much more space to save the file before DVDA encodes
it. If you directly encode to MPEG2 / AC3 from within Vegas you
will need less disk space.

That is the only difference.

got it. thanks.

selecting the frame viewed in the button
 

this is another DVDA question. i'm asking it here, because after all, DVDA is VEGAS bundled software.

i managed to create a scene selection menu. as default, the picture shown within each scene button, is the first frame of the scene the button is representing.

this creates a problem in a situation where the scene begins with black, therefore the button representing that particular scene will show a black picture. how can i select a different frame from that scene to be shown in it's representing button?

thanks.

Click on the button, On the right-hand side look under the "Graphics" header. Below that is a "Thumbnail" option. Below the "Thumbnail" is a "Start time" box - change this to be the frame you want shown.

thanks!

how do i render selected tracks ONLY?
 

if i want to render ONLY the video tracks or a project, or alternately ONLY the audio tracks of a project. would the simplest way of going about doing this be activating the MUTE button on all of the tracks i wish NOT to render and then go ahead and rendering the whole project? or am i missing something?

For video only, just deselect audio on the audio tab under "custom".

For audio only, just pick an audio format (such as WAV). OR you can deselect the video on the video tab under "custom" but it makes more sense to just pick an audio format.

Or, you can just mute the tracks you don't want.

Link to scripts which includes a script to change aspect ratio for entire media pool:

http://s92274348.onlinehome.us/vegas.html

Your Contour Shuttle Settings in Vegas
 

Woohoo - just got my brand spanking new Contour Shuttle Pro v2 to use in my favorite editing program! I wanted to find out, of those of you who are using this thing (v1 or v2), how do you have your keys programmed?

Looking for some ideas... I've never used a shuttle like this before.

http://www.contourdesign.com/shuttlepro/

Thanks Rob. My PC DVD player is Cyberlink PowerDVD and it doesn't have any config options for setting de-interlace.

As a side note, I played my Progressive Scan test DVD on 3 players all configured for interlace playback. Both my Pioneer and Sony DVD players played the DVD fine.

When I changed one Pioneer DVD player to progressive scan mode, and changed my Pioneer TV to progressive scan, I could not see any obvious difference between the interlace and progressive format playbacks.