Vegas Video discussions from 2005 (Q1Q2)

Patrick King · June 19th, 2005, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Lohman

1. Vegas can edit your MPEG files natively...
2.It is generally not a good idea to use such a highly compressed inter frame
compression algorithm for editing.
3. So if you still have the original AVI sources then use that.
4. Otherwise simply load the MPEG and output as WMV. Make SURE you use the same framerate and progressive/interlaced setting. The movie should not
stutter (unless you go to 15 fps for example).

Rob,

1. I know Vegas can edit my MPEG files natively...I wanted to know if anyone had any experience converting MPEG to AVI.

2. I wanted to convert MPEG to AVI because it "is generally not a good idea to use such a highly compressed inter frame compression algorithm for editing."

3. I don't have the AVI files, so I need to convert the MPEG back to AVI.

4. Converting MPEG to WMV does create resolution loss and stuttering...again, that's why I was asking about anyone's experience in converting MPEG back to AVI and then editing.

Glenn Chan · June 19th, 2005, 12:26 PM

Brent:
1- You probably shouldn't start multiple threads on your problem. Just add a post to your original thread so people can see past replies. Your thread will get bumped to the top automatically.

2- What about taking the RAID 5 out of the equation? Can you capture to the system drive or non-RAID drive?

Shawn Murphy · June 19th, 2005, 01:48 PM

Interesting, I wonder if the DVX follows that formula down to the pixel, i.e. 16:9 = picture height 364 pixels 76% and bar height 58 pixels 12%

My estimates from blowing the image up and moving the cropping tool to what appears to be the exact edge of the image is about 372....

...Well, I found a very in-depth thread over at DVXUSER on this subject: http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread...x+pixels+7200G

Barry Green says:

"..letterbox on the NTSC DVX100 (original model) adds 54-pixel bars on the top and bottom of the frame. *That leaves a 720 x 372 image in the middle.

Using a strict interpretation of 4:3 (which would mean a basic frame size of 640 x 480) you get 1.72:1. *However, DV video isn't a pure mathematical 4:3, because TV screens provide for a few pixels more...

Using the Vegas aspect ratio of .9091 you'd get (655/372) 1.76:1. *That's within a pixel or two of being exactly 16:9.

Using the Vegas cropping preset of 16:9, it crops the letterbox bars exactly, and one pixel more (i.e., Vegas thinks the letterbox bars should be one pixel thicker than the DVX thinks they should be).

So, it'd be fair to say that the letterbox bars in the original NTSC DVX100 are almost exactly 16:9, maybe just the tiniest bit taller, at 1.76:1 instead of 1.7777777:1."

Brent Marks · June 19th, 2005, 02:26 PM

There are 4 drives in the system.... each 250gig... under RAID 5 they make about 750 gig....
There is No System Drive.

I will hook up an external firewire and try to capture...
You are right, that should help me pintpoint things a bit...
To see if its the drive system, or perhaps the firewire card`

Peter Jefferson · June 19th, 2005, 10:46 PM

the easiest way to do this (and the safest in case of drive failure) is to run each drive as a seperate unit.

also go out and buy an 80gb drive and use that as a system drive.

ive got 5 drives here
80gb, partitioned as 30gb for system, 15gb for personal use, and the rest is all business documents and artwork etc

i have 3 200gb drives and 2 120gb

the 2 200s are for raw material. it allows me to work on 2 longform projects at once. theyr not raided, but if they were and one was o fail, id prolly lose the lot, so i went the other way. Id rather smaller drives as i can easily defrag and manage tehm as well as swap them around when i need to.

the other drives store music, and the prerenders, and anything thats been masterd.

i find this to be aa efficient workflow when working with this high capacity. segregating drives also allows for finite diagnostics as well as management of data

Bob Safay · June 20th, 2005, 12:42 PM

Thanks guys, I think I found my problems. 1) I have a 128 GB hard drive, I only had 3.2 GB of free space left, and, when I was doing the burn it was giving me a warning that I was VERY CLOSE to exceeding the 4.7 GB max on the dvd. I cut the progect in half and ran it on two disks. So far no problem.

James Binder · June 20th, 2005, 01:10 PM

I have a 15 min training video that I need to add subtitles to...

Any tips for creating subtitles in Vegas 5? I'm aware of this ability in DVDA, but I don't use the software.

Anyone done this in vegas?

Thanks!

Jay Gladwell · June 20th, 2005, 01:16 PM

Are you talking about subtitles, as in providing translation, or closed-captioning, as in providing for those who can't hear the audio?

Jay

James Binder · June 20th, 2005, 01:30 PM

Sorry, I suppose I should have been more clear -- subtitles for translation...

Thanks for the reply --

Hugh DiMauro · June 20th, 2005, 02:32 PM

Can I get rid of my CD/ROM and just use my DVD PLayer/burner as a general all around media player?

Edward Troxel · June 20th, 2005, 03:00 PM

Yes. .

Steve Roffler · June 20th, 2005, 08:52 PM

I add subtitles sometimes in V5 because my kids speak Chinese, which the granparents don't understand. It works fine but it is very labor intensive.

You will have to play around a bit to see how long to leave the subtitles on. Also, be careful to keep them on the viewable area of the screen. You can use the templates on the preview to make sure they stay in the viewable area. Finally, you may want to use bold and change the size of the font to make them more watchable.

Rob Lohman · June 21st, 2005, 03:28 AM

What I meant by the following:

"is generally not a good idea to use such a highly compressed inter frame compression algorithm for editing."

Was that it is better to edit in the original format if you still have it.

Since you only have the MPEG file it should NOT matter in what you edit. The
quality will be the same since the source is that lossy compressed MPEG file.
No way around that. The only reason you may want to convert it to AVI is
to speed up the editing process.

However, Vegas can transform that MPEG into AVI as well, but I suspect you
tried that and got the same problem.

What you have not told us is what settings you are using:

1. what are the project settings when exporting to AVI or WMV?

2. what are the EXACT (including advanced!!) EXPORT settings when exporting to AVI or WMV?

How large is the MPEG-2 file and what did you use to create it?

You say in the latest post:

" Converting MPEG to WMV does create resolution loss and stuttering "

I'm confused. Is this with Windows Media Encoder (as you said in the first
post) or is this with Vegas, or both?

Hugh DiMauro · June 21st, 2005, 06:33 AM

Thanks. It just doesn't make sense to have both cluttering up my internal bays. I used the extra space for an enhanced IDE hard drive.

Michael Lehrke · June 22nd, 2005, 03:02 AM

Okay, say for some crazy reason I created a file in Vegas 6.0b, but now what to open that project in Vegas 5.0a..... can this be done?

Thanks for the help!!

June 20th, 2005, 01:10 PM	#1897
James Binder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: NY, NYC Posts: 367	Subtitles? I have a 15 min training video that I need to add subtitles to... Any tips for creating subtitles in Vegas 5? I'm aware of this ability in DVDA, but I don't use the software. Anyone done this in vegas? Thanks!

June 20th, 2005, 02:32 PM	#1900
Hugh DiMauro Trustee Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Central Florida Posts: 1,205	DVD Burner/CD Question Can I get rid of my CD/ROM and just use my DVD PLayer/burner as a general all around media player? __________________ Interesting, if true. And interesting anyway.

June 20th, 2005, 03:00 PM	#1901
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Yes. . __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

June 20th, 2005, 08:52 PM	#1902
Steve Roffler Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Taipei, Taiwan Posts: 100	I add subtitles sometimes in V5 because my kids speak Chinese, which the granparents don't understand. It works fine but it is very labor intensive. You will have to play around a bit to see how long to leave the subtitles on. Also, be careful to keep them on the viewable area of the screen. You can use the templates on the preview to make sure they stay in the viewable area. Finally, you may want to use bold and change the size of the font to make them more watchable. __________________ Steve pdx10, EOS10D

June 21st, 2005, 03:28 AM	#1903
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	What I meant by the following: "is generally not a good idea to use such a highly compressed inter frame compression algorithm for editing." Was that it is better to edit in the original format if you still have it. Since you only have the MPEG file it should NOT matter in what you edit. The quality will be the same since the source is that lossy compressed MPEG file. No way around that. The only reason you may want to convert it to AVI is to speed up the editing process. However, Vegas can transform that MPEG into AVI as well, but I suspect you tried that and got the same problem. What you have not told us is what settings you are using: 1. what are the project settings when exporting to AVI or WMV? 2. what are the EXACT (including advanced!!) EXPORT settings when exporting to AVI or WMV? How large is the MPEG-2 file and what did you use to create it? You say in the latest post: " Converting MPEG to WMV does create resolution loss and stuttering " I'm confused. Is this with Windows Media Encoder (as you said in the first post) or is this with Vegas, or both? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

June 19th, 2005, 12:26 PM	#1892
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Brent: 1- You probably shouldn't start multiple threads on your problem. Just add a post to your original thread so people can see past replies. Your thread will get bumped to the top automatically. 2- What about taking the RAID 5 out of the equation? Can you capture to the system drive or non-RAID drive?

June 19th, 2005, 01:48 PM	#1893
Shawn Murphy Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Seattle WA USA Posts: 125	Interesting, I wonder if the DVX follows that formula down to the pixel, i.e. 16:9 = picture height 364 pixels 76% and bar height 58 pixels 12% My estimates from blowing the image up and moving the cropping tool to what appears to be the exact edge of the image is about 372.... ...Well, I found a very in-depth thread over at DVXUSER on this subject: http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread...x+pixels+7200G Barry Green says: "..letterbox on the NTSC DVX100 (original model) adds 54-pixel bars on the top and bottom of the frame. That leaves a 720 x 372 image in the middle. Using a strict interpretation of 4:3 (which would mean a basic frame size of 640 x 480) you get 1.72:1. However, DV video isn't a pure mathematical 4:3, because TV screens provide for a few pixels more... Using the Vegas aspect ratio of .9091 you'd get (655/372) 1.76:1. *That's within a pixel or two of being exactly 16:9. Using the Vegas cropping preset of 16:9, it crops the letterbox bars exactly, and one pixel more (i.e., Vegas thinks the letterbox bars should be one pixel thicker than the DVX thinks they should be). So, it'd be fair to say that the letterbox bars in the original NTSC DVX100 are almost exactly 16:9, maybe just the tiniest bit taller, at 1.76:1 instead of 1.7777777:1."

June 19th, 2005, 02:26 PM	#1894
Brent Marks Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Houston TX and New Orleans LA Posts: 300	There are 4 drives in the system.... each 250gig... under RAID 5 they make about 750 gig.... There is No System Drive. I will hook up an external firewire and try to capture... You are right, that should help me pintpoint things a bit... To see if its the drive system, or perhaps the firewire card`

June 19th, 2005, 10:46 PM	#1895
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	the easiest way to do this (and the safest in case of drive failure) is to run each drive as a seperate unit. also go out and buy an 80gb drive and use that as a system drive. ive got 5 drives here 80gb, partitioned as 30gb for system, 15gb for personal use, and the rest is all business documents and artwork etc i have 3 200gb drives and 2 120gb the 2 200s are for raw material. it allows me to work on 2 longform projects at once. theyr not raided, but if they were and one was o fail, id prolly lose the lot, so i went the other way. Id rather smaller drives as i can easily defrag and manage tehm as well as swap them around when i need to. the other drives store music, and the prerenders, and anything thats been masterd. i find this to be aa efficient workflow when working with this high capacity. segregating drives also allows for finite diagnostics as well as management of data

June 20th, 2005, 12:42 PM	#1896
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Thanks guys, I think I found my problems. 1) I have a 128 GB hard drive, I only had 3.2 GB of free space left, and, when I was doing the burn it was giving me a warning that I was VERY CLOSE to exceeding the 4.7 GB max on the dvd. I cut the progect in half and ran it on two disks. So far no problem.

June 20th, 2005, 01:16 PM	#1898
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	Are you talking about subtitles, as in providing translation, or closed-captioning, as in providing for those who can't hear the audio? Jay

June 20th, 2005, 01:30 PM	#1899
James Binder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: NY, NYC Posts: 367	Sorry, I suppose I should have been more clear -- subtitles for translation... Thanks for the reply --

June 21st, 2005, 06:33 AM	#1904
Hugh DiMauro Trustee Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Central Florida Posts: 1,205	Ed To The Rescue Again. Thanks. It just doesn't make sense to have both cluttering up my internal bays. I used the extra space for an enhanced IDE hard drive. __________________ Interesting, if true. And interesting anyway.

June 22nd, 2005, 03:02 AM	#1905
Michael Lehrke Tourist Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: La Crosse, WI Posts: 1	Save to Previous Version Okay, say for some crazy reason I created a file in Vegas 6.0b, but now what to open that project in Vegas 5.0a..... can this be done? Thanks for the help!!