Adding in H.264 codec
 

Ok im tired of the Main Concept MPEG2 codec. I want to install the H.264 MPEG2 codec. Is there a way to do this and have Vegas export using this codec? Thanks

Greg

I believe that Sony will have to add that in a future version. As of now, you could frameserve from to a standalone encoder (such as MainConcept).

Thanks Ed

Greg

debugmode frameserver is free and like Ed said, the best way to go.

http://www.debugmode.com/frameserver/
I use this to encode with Canopus Procoder rather than main concept.

UltimateS resource
 

As a frequent user of the 'lower thirds' option within UltimateS I decided to build myself a set of clips that showed each 'third' in action. It occured to me that other UltimateS users might be interested in them, so I've thrown them up on a quick webpage.

Of course you need to have your own copy of UltimateS to implement the thirds in your clips, they simply illustrate the final outcome.

Be warned, they are big files - I did try zipping them but it didn't seem to shrink them all that much.

You can download them here:

http://www.users.on.net/~waynestarick/

Dolby 5.1 to 2.0
 

I did a search first but no luck.
My question is: If I do a 5.1 mix but want to change
it to 2.0 later on, am I required to totally remix it
at 2.0, or is there some other way that Vegas will
automatically convert it to 2.0, such as by just
changing project properties?

u pretty much nailed it..

but theres afew tweaks such as levels and eq's which will need to be adressed.. oh and surround panning.. as anything in the rears may be lost (abit... )

H.264 is not an MPEG-2 codec, it is an MPEG-4 codec. If you were hoping to use the H.264 codec to encode video for DVD-Video, then I'm afraid you will be disappointed. Only MPEG-2 encoded files can be put on DVD-Video disks.

So, you're saying that I would have to start over
from scratch and make a seperate 2.0 mix?

Vegas 6.0c is out!!
 

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/dow...p2.asp?DID=579

You can now import video from a DVD Camcorder disc. From the File menu, choose Import, and then choose DVD Camcorder Disc. Standard and VR-mode discs are supported.

You can now export AVC (also called H.264 or MPEG-4 AVC) video to a USB-connected PSP(PlayStation®Portable). From the Tools menu, choose Export to PSP(PlayStation®Portable).

Lots of bug fixes too.

Here's the full list:

Notable Fixes/Changes in Version 6.0c

You can now import video from a DVD Camcorder disc. From the File menu, choose Import, and then choose DVD Camcorder Disc. Standard and VR-mode discs are supported. Please see Known Issues for additional information.
You can now export AVC (also called H.264 or MPEG-4 AVC) video to a USB-connected PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable). From the Tools menu, choose Export to PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable).

NOTE: PSP firmware version 2.0 is required to use this feature. To check your firmware version, choose Settings > System Settings > System Information. For the latest firmware, go to http://us.playstation.com (in the United States) or http://www.playstation.com (outside the United States).

QuickTime 7 is required to preview AVC video on your computer.

A full-resolution MXF reader for XDCAM has been added to allow you to use MXF files on the Vegas timeline.
Changes have been made to improve importing speed and memory handling when working with AAF files.
Track-based audio gain and panning are preserved (keyframes are not supported) when saving or importing AAF files. When exchanging AAF files with another application, refer to its documentation to determine whether audio gain and panning changes are supported.
A bug that affected rendering and reading of large AIF files has been fixed: 16-bit, 44.1 kHz stereo AIF renders are now limited to approximately 03:22:53 of audio (536,870,909 samples); 24 bit, 96 kHz stereo renders are now limited to approximately 01:02:08 of audio (357,913,940 samples); the largest file that can be rendered as AIF is approximately 2GB in size. Vegas 6.0c will continue to load files created with previous releases that exceed these limits, though other applications may fail to load them.
A bug has been fixed that caused some AVI and MPEG files to be improperly identified as AAF files.
A bug has been fixed that caused some AAF files to be improperly identified as MP3 files.
A bug has been fixed that could cause the Media Manager to crash when performing some editing operations if the Save media-usage relationships in active media library check box on the General page of the Preferences dialog was selected.
A bug has been fixed that could prevent snapping to the ends of media when trimming event.
The Ctrl+K caption-placement keyboard shortcut in the Edit Details window has been fixed.
A bug has been fixed that caused still-image sequences to be replaced with a single still image when replacing media.
A video rendering issue that occurred when using many high-resolution still images of different sizes has been fixed.
The CineForm CFHD codec has been updated for rendering HD intermediate files.
An issue that prevented certain media video properties from switching when relinking to offline media has been fixed.
A "Reverse" icon has been added to identify reversed events.
Multimedia keys now pass-through to Windows if they are not assigned in the Vegas Keyboard Preferences tab.
Issues with regional decimal separator characters in the Audio Event Properties dialog Time stretch / Pitch shift section have been fixed.

I missed the "MPEG2" part related to H.264. However, the newly release 6.0c update includes H.264.

What's new in Sony Vegas 6c?
 

http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?i...e-e49570d837fa to find out

DVDA 3.0c is out as well
 

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/dow...p2.asp?DID=575

Notable Fixes/Changes in Version 3.0c

* A bug has been fixed that caused layers to be flattened when pasting attributes of buttons created from layered .psd files.
* A bug has been fixed that caused theme exporting to fail when overwriting an existing theme.
* A bug has been fixed that could cause a crash when deleting files from the Project Overview window with a track selected in the Timeline window.
* A bug has been fixed that could prevent some DVD Architect projects from opening.
* A bug has been fixed that could cause button images to be displayed incorrectly after replacing individual images with layers from a PSD file.
* An Enable progressive render of DVD menus check box has been added to the General tab of the Preferences dialog:

When the check box is selected, all noncompliant menus in your project will be rendered as progressive-scan video.

When the check box is cleared, all noncompliant menus in your project will be rendered as interlaced video.

If you use a background video in your menus, we recommend rendering the video in progressive-scan format before adding it to your project and leaving the Enable progressive render of DVD menus check box selected. Progressive-scan menus will provide the sharpest-looking text and highest level of DVD player compatibility.
Note: Some DVD players will not display the last frame of a menu correctly when using interlaced background video.

If you change the setting of this check box after preparing your project, the change will not take effect until you clear the Enable smart prepare check box.

Mike Kujbida

Well, it's good that Sony didn't wait until the next major release to add H.264. I just wonder why they didn't include it in version 6 - which was just recently released - to begin with? I guess they must not have had it quite ready when version 6 had to start shipping.

Hah, this has always annoyed me on my laptop...

"Multimedia keys now pass-through to Windows if they are not assigned in the Vegas Keyboard Preferences tab."

Yeah! Now I can use my volume controls hopefully... :)

New DVD drive ? DVDA2
 

I’m taking out my old NEC DVD burner and going with a new Pioneer unit
My question, Will DVDA2 find the new drive? I think WinXP pro will see it ok

Thanks
Vince

If Windows finds it, DVDA2 should as well.

thanks Edward

Making JPEG image from video clip
 

Is it possible to save a "frame" from a video to a JPEG image file with Vegas?

Thanks!

In the preview window you will see a button that looks like a floppy disk. I believe this is the one you press to save a snapshot.

Real Time with Vegas 5.0
 

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm trying to find ways to improve my productivity with Vegas 5.0. I edit narrative features that are shot on the DVX100 and I was wondering if there is anyway to get Real Time effects for things like Color Correction, Dissolves, and using Magic Bullet. I only have a P4 @ 2.8 ghz and 512 megs of ram. Is there a hardware device that can give Real Time processing for such effects in Vegas? Thanks.

That does it - thanks.

Sorry but the answer is no.
If you find yourself doing a lot of the same kinds of things, you can always save them as presets whcih will save some time.
You can add more RAM to your machine and take advantage of the RAM render feature of Vegas for preview purposes.
After doing a complicated (FX) section, you can also do a "render to new track" so that you don't have to keep repeating the render over and over.
Watch out for Magic Bullet as it slows render times by a factor of 10 or more :-(

Can't open DivX/Xvid files
 

Im having trouble opening xvid/divx files in vegas so I can cut them. It imports all right, but there is no video stream, its just audio.

Anyone know what could be the trouble?

Just make sure that your preview window is set to "Best/Full" or you won't get the best quality grab.
Another option is to use a script like the Automated Photo Snapshot one for doing this. It's a part of the collection at http://s92274348.onlinehome.us/vegas.html

Mike

Do a search here for "DivX" and/or "XVid" which should point you to the proper codec to install so that Vegas can "see" the video.

Depends on what you mean by "Real Time". You can apply these effects, press "Play", and the timeline will playback in real time WITH those effects applied. However, if it cannot keep up, a couple of things happen:

1) Preview Quality: You can change the level of preview quality. The default "Preview" is a reduced quality version. For a higher quality, bump it up to "Good"

2) Reduced Framerate: If the computer cannot keep up with the effects in real time, it will start dropping frames. This is all system and effect dependent. Naturally, preview set Preview quality will drop fewer frames than one set to Good quality.

One really neat thing you can do is create a selection area and start a looping playback. Now, while the playback is looping, open the Effect window and start adjusting. You'll see the adjustments LIVE as you make them.

There is no hardware device that will help with the above. If you MUST see higher resolution than the above provides, a couple of options are RAM-Rendering and Prerendering.

A- Upgrading your CPU would help, although it is pricey.
Seeing Spot's VAAST demonstration, the dual core dual opteron machine he has (4 cores, about equivalent to 3.2ghz Pentiums each) is fast. *Real performance is less than 4X faster... probably about >2X faster.

If on a budget, you may be able to grab a Dell Inspiron 9100 for cheap and cannibalize your old machine (upgrade to dual core... may be like 40% faster than what you havenow). The base system can be a good deal, check hot deals sites for the US. Upgrades are way overpriced.

B- More RAM means longer RAM previews and more stuff can get buffered into memory while you loop.

C- Try Celluloid or Reelpaks (from VAAST) [i forget the exact name], as they render much faster than Magic Bullet. Some of the looks involve the gradient map, which can create banding in some cases. The workaround is to use the secondary color corrector to add tints instead.

DVD intro sequence?
 

First, I have been lurking for a few days now and let me say this forum
is awesome. I am a super novice user of Vegas but have been playing around with it for < a year now..Used it last winter to edit a motorcycle Stunt DVD and since then I have been trying to get better..

So my question is related to DVD architect. How do I make a DVD so that it plays an intro movie sequence before the main DVD menu comes up ?
We are currently doing another stunt dvd this winter and I would like our animated logo and trailer to play before the menu pops up ??

Cheers and thanks again for all the great tips and advice I have read thru..

Cheers

SC

Set the Intro Video as the "First Play" option and then have it "End Action" to the menu.

Got it...thanks....

Cheers

SC

Recording audio
 

How can I record just audio with Vegas? I also have a Canopus ADVC 110 connected to this system. I switched a dip-switch on the bottom of the ADVC but it didn't help.

Via firewire? Use Scenalyzer Live

Via your soundcard? Straight to the timeline!

Merging multiple clips onto track
 

I shot a series of clips which are no more than 2 seconds long but need to be played in reverse and sped up. There are about 20 of these clips and I was wondering if it's possible to add them all as one onto Track 1 instead of individually so that the envelope edit for time affects every clip on the track, somewhat akin to the "Flatten" feature in Photoshop.

Thanks guys

Add the 20 clips to the timeline and select all of them. Right-click on and choose reverse. While all still selected hit G to group them, then Ctrl/drag the right edge of the last one to the left.

Gary

Much abliged

HDV m2t workflow if going back to m2t? possible?
 

Hello. I am working on a project for a client and they want me to edit some footage they shot in HDV. I have the m2t files, and I have used HDV before as I have an FX1, but I have only converted them to quicktime or AVI's to edit them and not worry about getting them back to mpg/m2t files. But they want me to do this. Is it even possible without Cineform? They also want me to create a log of some sort, how do I do this?

sorry for the noob-esque questions.

thanks
Jamie

Hey there. I know this thread was quite a while ago, but no one suggested a motion blur envelope, which would have accomplished the blurring of light without blurring anything else, and it's built into Vegas. At least, Vegas 6.

Usually helps those who would love to offer assistance if you give some idea of what computer platform you're using (Mac/PC) and what editing software (NLE) you currently have.

This answer will be "hit or miss" without such information, but:for PC - if you get the demo version of AspectHD or ConnectHD and your NLE can write to MPEG2 Transport Stream of the same frame rate and bitrate of the HDV stream used, you can then use the Cineform HDLink utility to write back to camera. (tip: m2t is MPEG2 transport stream, so any *.mpg that is MPEG2 TS just needs the three character file type extension changed to .m2t and HDLink can use it... this works in reverse for player apps and NLE's that don't "natively" support HDV)

For Mac, I believe LumiereHD provides much the same functionality...