I'm also using DVDA1.
The area I'm referring to is under "Media Properties"; the blue film like icon.
Ken

When it comes to rendering...
 

I've been rendering quite a bit lately as we prepare our final screenings and am wondering at what point it's best to deal with the MPEG Encoding.

Initially I was rendering to uncompressed AVI in Vegas and letting DVDA handle the compression. Now it seems that Rendering to MPEG from within Vegas would be the better option since I can customize the render more.

How do some of you handle this? If I have several segments in different VEG files that I will end up putting together for a final render, should I render them all as MPEG and then do the final render as MPEG as well? If so, does it even bother re-encoding?

Thanks,
Kevin

The basic answer to your question is: Rendering to MPEG2 comes LAST.


Generally speaking, here's how I handle it:

I will build my project in pieces. As each piece is built, I render to DV-AVI. Once all the pieces are completed, I'll create a "final" project assembling all the rendered pieces. Then I'll render that to MPEG2.

I do the rendering to MPEG2 in Vegas since, as you said, you have more control over the various settings.

If you wish to use Uncompressed AVI instead of DV-AVI, you'll have slightly less loss on the colors. You may or may not be able to notice the difference. I'd try both to see which you prefer.

Ripple delete?
 

Is there a way of deleting the empty space between two clips in Vegas? I mean, like the "ripple delete" function in Premiere and Final Cut.

Double-click the blank area. Press the DEL key. If the area does not close automatically, press "F" (Post - Ripple Edit)

To make sure it DOES close automatically, turn on Ripple Editing. However, I leave Ripple Editing off and use Post Ripple Editing instead.

That's excellent, thanks a lot!

Can I Use Vegas 5 as a Hard Drive Capture Application?
 

Can I capture tapeless location footage via firewire onto a laptop hard drive using Vegas Capture in the same way one uses DV Rack?

Yes, you sure can. However, it will not slave to the camera as DV Rack does.

DV Rack is excellent for the "Slaving" function and gives you excellent results for sync timecode and 'no worries' type shooting. Also, you get all those other great functions in DV Rack as well.

- ShannonRawls.com

Yes you can. The Vegas Capture utility will do this but will require that you manually start and stop it. Besides the alternative of DVRack, you might also look at Scenalyzer Live.

Adobe Prem Pro w/ Matrox Hardware Question
 

I currently use Vegas 5.0 with a dell workstation p4 3.4g 1gb ram and I network render sometimes with another pc with the same specs. It just takes so long to render 2 hours of footage.

Does anyone use Adobe Prem Pro, that has tried vegas as well. Before I make the investment in Adobe's product with hardware I was wanting to find out how they compared.

I edit just started editing in HDV, so both products will work with HDV. My question is really more about SD editing. Considering my HDV work is about 3% of my total editing time, SD being the largest part. Although, I bet that will change eventually. :)

Thanks,

Jon

And I learn another cool thing from Edward.

I too rarely use Ripple but have to trun it on from time to time; this will save me some!

Thanks again!

All three modes of ripple editing can be performed with variations of the "F" key. Just do a search for "Post Ripple" in the help file.

Question: Do I have to export as uncompressed AVI?
 

I need to export rather large sections of video into aftereffects for image stabilization...

Why can't I export as DV instead of uncompressed AVI? Am I losing resolution by doing so? DV is what they are now -- so why can't I just keep it that way?

The reason I ask is that the files are huge as uncompressed AVI.

If not DV, is there another alternative that will save some space?

Thanks --

The short answer is no. However, uncompressed is probably your best option. And, yes, uncompressed is huge. You could try other codecs - including some of the DV ones, but the results will not be as good. You might also look at some others such as quicktime.

Another thing you could do is frameserve from Vegas to AE but you'll still have to render from AE into something to import back into Vegas. You'd only have ONE uncompressed file that way instead of TWO.

what about huffyuv?