Angel,

Glen Elliott edits in Vegas and produces artistic results.
Select the "Search" option then "Advanced Search". Enter "Glen Elliott".

This thread is a good example: Getting Ready"

About half way down this thread Glen posted another: Slightly different

Glenn Chan also edits in Vegas and posted an example where he achieved a filmic look from miniDV footage: Comparison

sorry, I didn't mean to mix concepts there. I'm interested in the XP Media's package for recording / viewing TV and such as an extra... some fluff on the side. I'm wanting a laptop primarily for editing with Vegas. I did not want to miss the goal for the sake of fluff.
Thanks for your inquiry as well as your answer to the heart of the question.

HP has an outlet center on their website that has a laptop configuration I've been wanting for a $500 savings compared to if I'd configured it new.
17" widescreen
3.4E P4 w/HT, 800FSB
1GB RAM
100 GB HD
dedicated 256 MB RAM ATI X600 PCI Xpress video
DVD+/-, DL drive
integrated wireless
XP Media OS
keyboard with dedicated numeric keypad
scroll touchpad
6-in-1 memory reader,
and of course Firewire port
for $1749.99
Looking forward to more editing location options, I'm tired of being away from everyone else and chained to my desktop, or away from the house for extended periods of time, unable to edit. Now it'll be fold-n-go, or a tiny footprint on the dining room table. Squeezing editing into life can be difficult for me.

Kelly Chien has a site where people upload their Vegas edited videos.

http://www.vegasusers.com/

-Dan

I just purchased a similar config with a 3ghz P4 and xp mc. I installed vegas 6, SoundForge 8 and DVD Architect 3 with no problems so far. xpmc comes with MovieMaker 2.1 which adds dvd burning capabilities (trying to catch up with the iMacs I guess). Plus HP throws in Itunes in hopes of you pruchasing their version of the Ipod. Not a bad setup.

Did you get the external video recording box with it? It supports both recording and viewing at the same time?

I placed the order last night, and was wondering the same thing myself. It claimed in the description to have the ability, but did not specifically mention the external box I've seen in some other pictures. I'm assuming at this point that if it's going to have the ability to do the dual tuner thing, it'll have to come bundled with the box you mentioned. They perhaps avoid pointing out there's going to be an external gadget to the already 10 lb. portable desktop. I'll see in a couple of weeks, Lord willing. Plus I have to wait and see if they even had enough refurb models to cover my order over the weekend as well as any others before me. The auto generated email said to allow 'til 10 pm the next business day to get back to me. There are pluses and minuses to shopping online at the outlet store on a weekend!

Thanks
Angel

Minimun laptop specs for doing Same Day Wedding Edit with Vegas
 

I've been reading a lot about people doing same day wedding edits that are shown at the reception. If you are using Vegas and doing this on a laptop, what kind of machine would you need?

I've seen a lot of talk about rotating footage in different programs and some do it badly and some do it well (apparently).
Does anyone know how well Vegas stacks up?

Cheers.

Vegas handles it very well. I would test render under both "Good" and "Best" and see which does the job better for you.

Most decent laptops could handle it easily. My recommendation would be to have EVERYTHING possible already rendered prior to adding the wedding day events. Then it will only have to manipulate a very small amount.

I know this laptop could handle it well. It's a 3.4 Ghz, 1 Gig RAM, 800 MHz FSB, and two 60 Gig 7200 RPM drives..

Edward,

Just checking whether you've had a chance to look at the Veg file.

Thanks,

Steve

Edward,

I thought I recognized that name from NAB. I was the guy with the steadicam type rig who was at the Vegas night. I think I sat right in back of you.

Anyway, Vegas Video works great with my 1.8 GHz regular computer and I'll be trying it out on a new 2.0 GHz Athlon 64 3200+ w/512 RAM + 60 GIG HD notebook. The neatest thing is that I can put a 200 gig HD via USB and use that for the video. I trust it will work correctly as the throughput is supposed to be high enough to handle video.

Any comments Edward?

By the way, I wished I had your multicamera plugin (I think you wrote it) when I did a two hour 4 camera shoot a month ago.

Terry

Terry,

The AMD and the P4 processors get quite warm after an extended period of time. I would strongly reccomend purchasing a Pentium M notebook. I use the notebook listed in my signature almost 8 hours a day for editing (with Premiere Pro) and the temp barely goes above 50

i ouwld have to agree... with the amount of grunt thats required, a centrino would be ideal.. on top of that, the chipset itself is MUCH faster and more efficient, so ur rendering will be very quick, if colour correction isnt needed..

a lil trick i do is set everything up in a project, then, i have jpgs, with text on them saying, bride walks down isle, grooms face, signing the certificate etc etc.
Then i capture THAT footage ad name tehm accordignly.. then i open the project (which is already set to timing with the music and transitions AND filters) , and the only elements i need to replace are teh actual pieces.. so go to ur media bin and select the particular jpg for that scene.. now right click and select "replace"

Now what i do.. for all the pieces that i have made prior to adding these "today" pieces i have a prerendered track which already has my texts, intros, and any stills/slideshow i may have already included.. so in effect, all that needs to be rendered is the pieces i add today...

then i output to tape and use a camera connected to a projector to play this back thru the projector.. the reason i use tape is that the motion is much smoother than mpg2...
I wont play the file off the lappy as its gamma is set differently..

very simple.. works a treat.

thing to remember though, is that you should have someone doing this while someone else is doing the actual work... u dont wanna spread yourself thin...

Check my site (URL below). I can recommend the short movie BitterSweet, which has been edited heavily with Vegas including reframing, color correction and title effects.

Either of those should work fine. As others suggested, there are alternatives (and mine DOES get quite hot). The external drive should be fine. Make sure you've figured out the delivery method. For example, you may need to take a VHS recorder with you also and use the pass-thru on your camera to get them something they can play.

Yes, I wrote the code in Excalibur.

Steve, I'm sorry but I have not yet. I've also lost the e-mails you sent. I still have the files that were IN the e-mails but not your e-mail address. Just send me a simple e-mail so I can get your address back. I still plan to look at it real soon.

Print To Tape Won't Work
 

When I try to print to tape from the timeline (prior to rendering) the command box to print to tape is shaded, preventing me from clicking. I get the option to select the color bars/tone lead in, but when I click next, the whole box is shaded. How may I fix this?

I Upgraded
 

I got the full Vegas 6.0 and DVD Architect 3.0 for $199.99 (returning customer appreciation thing, I guess). I bought it directly from Sony.

BUT BEWARE: Make sure your current computer configuration can handle the way Sony has version 6.0 use the CPU. Apparently, you get faster renders (I can vouch for that) but it puts such a hurting on the CPU that it causes it to overheat and renders freeze causing you to have to start all over again. Keep that in mind and check out our threads on this. The software pushes the CPU to its limit trying to give you th ebest possible performance but make sure your CPU can handle the extra load.

This is pretty much what I've been told.

Did you select the proper output device in the preferences?

Yes. OHCI Compliant (DV)

Dear Sam,

I have a Sony Vaio RA-910G, (3.4ghz) with Windows Media Center Edition (2004). Vegas 4.0 and Vegas 6.0 work well with this setup.

Windows Media Center Edition 2004 was based on Windows XP Professional and in Microsoft's words, the most complete version of Windows.

However, I have been told, by Sony Technicians, that Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is based on Windows XP Home edition. They also said for that reason, they do not recommend upgrading to Windows Media Center Edition 2005 from 2004.

Hello,Peter!!!
Grate picture,grate vision of your movie BitterSweet! Would you tell me what is the camera you use there, what filters/fx you use in Vegas? I tried with so many combinations and settings, but the result is so far away from the look like in your film. Please for your reply, help, examples and suggestions!

Yeah but, they're going to be "Gourmet" hotdogs and I'll be wearing a thong!
That should attract a huge clientele!!!

RB

Make sure the camera is on "camera" not VCR.

Aaron

The camera used was the Panasonic DVX100 (PAL version), used in the 25P mode with the cinegamma settings activated.
The footage was edited straight in Vegas, using the Color Correction tool and a bit of Contrast/Brightness tweaking. Depending on the part of the movie (flashback, present and afterlife) I've color corrected differently:
- flashback: desaturated, to make the colors almost disappeared (to give the old-memories feeling like finding pictures on the attic with dust on it);
- present: a very-very little desaturation (the life of the man lost a bit of color due to the death of his wife),
- afterlife: added yellow and a bit of red colors (the coule experience eternal sunshine and hapiness now they are together again).

I've just been experimenting with the color correction, and am not an expert at all. Vegas allows you to do that, as you see.

Maybe I'm missing something, but how can looking at a finished product tell you if an NLE is any good?

You basically have cuts, fades and maybe some colour correction. Almost any product can do those.

Using it is the way to work out if you want to switch.

Aaron

How do you manage colour correction and multiple clips?
 

I've just finished another project - this time for our entry in the 48hour film project and had the same issue that I've always had, so thought this time I'd ask for some help.

When I got to the colour correction phase, I often have to colour correct/adjust various scenes and shots so they look how I want. The problem comes when you want to do the same changes to a group of clips - different changes to others, and none to some. How do you arrange your clips, or edit them, in order to make this flow better? Do you prefer multiple tracks and then each set of clips that will have the same FX applied go on the same track? Do you apply "Media FX" and duplicate?

Media FX is good, but if the clip contains lots of scenes (Not broken up) then you can get into trouble.

Just after some ideas on your workflows to make this easier next time.

Cheers
Aaron

Vegas 5 stalls for quite awhile - anime video
 

Hello,

PC Spec: Athlon 1.2GHz and 512mb ram.
OS: XP Pro

I did not have any problems editing .AVI before. But suddenly Vegas 5 stalls when I try to edit an .AVI anime (Japanese animation) video.
The size of the video clip is around 180mb.

I import the video clip and the building clips for the import takes <b>extremely long!</b> (stalls at 0%)

Is it because it is an animation video clip? Importing digital video to the media pool never took this long. Any solutions? TIA.

If you are apply the FX to grouping that are not related to the orginal media clips, then your track approach is a good one.

If you want to apply them to, let's say. all the events that orginated with the same media, then Apply Effects in Excalibur will make things a lot easier.

Gary

Thanks Gary. That 'Apply Effects' sounds good. I'll check it out.

Cheers
Aaron

You can do the same thing in Vegas that you can do in FCP or Premiere or almost any other NLE system. Personally im a vegas user but I don't see how Vegas will make you a better editor.

I can, however, say that I used to be a FCP user until a friend of mine introduced me to Vegas. I still use both systems to edit but I tend to favor Vegas for the majority of projects.

But again, the program really doesn't matter. I suggest you download a trial version of Vegas 6 and try it out for yourself, There are websites out there that will provide you with a few basic tutorials to help you get a feel for the program. Then decide.

"when I click next, the whole box is shaded" same here...
I have selected OHCI for print device and it says "available", or "connected", or whatever.
I ended up rendering all to another avi and the printing that avi to tape from Vegas5...

"Make sure the camera is on "camera" not VCR."
What? Why?

I'm sure it's related to whatever codec is being used. AVI can cover a variety of codecs. Just because it is an "AVI" file doesn't mean it's what Vegas uses natively which is DV-AVI. Given what you've said of the file, I'd try loading it on the timeline, rendering to DV-AVI, and then editing with the new file.

I think you got that backwards

Correct, I did mean it the other way round.

I don't think I've recover from 48Hours yet..

Aaron

Snapshot effect in tv's X-treme Home Makeover
 

Hi. A new guy here. Just started shooting video with my GL-2 and I use Sony Vegas 5 as my editing software. I have been watching the tv show Extreme Home Makeover Edition and was wondering if anybody knew how they did the effect of transitioning from film footage using a "snapshot" or "photo camera" cutaway and they slowly zoom in on the still photo. Usually it's done when there is alot of emotion in the scene and they also usually turn it into black and white from color. Are there any plugins or special tricks to try to re-create this using Sony Vegas?

There's no pre-built transition that does this. You should be able to easily re-create it, though. B&W to Color is easy using two keyframes. You can move/resize the photo using Track Motion or Pan Crop. You can GET the snapshot by clicking on the "Save Snapshot" icon above the preview screen.

5.1 Surround..Help
 

Can anyone help me with getting 5.1 surround working. I have a 5.1 Audigy card. I have followed all the instructions in the Vegas Help files. I am setup correctly according to it. When I pan my tracks I have the surround control for all tracks. When I render it and burn to DVD using DVD Architect I get Dolby Surround on my receiver when it plays, but it's only comming through the left Center and right...No rears. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Teletype text in V5
 

Hello all,

Does anyone know of a script or a real quick 'n' dirty method of creating a teletype effect with text. I don't know how universal the word teletype is so I'll describe it: I'm looking for one letter at a time to appear at the left of the picture and shunt across to the right as the next letter is typed, like a typewriter.

I have established a way to do this long hand but I'm in urgent need of something for a short project which needs to be delivered in about 9 hours time (9am UK)!! At the moment, being short of time, I'm using a left to right wipe transition, which is what the client is expecting, but if I can quickly achieve the teletype effect I'd like to try that.

All help gratefully received!

Thanks.

Ian . . .