All of the widescreen templates will preserve the format, but if you're wanting to print back to tape, you need to use mpeg. Unfortunately, that costs you resolution. Are you wanting to archive or print back to tape? Those would be two different formats, IMO. I use CineForm to archive, or 4:2:2 YUV to archive, and of course, mpeg to print to HDV tape.

Thanks Spot for the quick reply,

In Tools there is a setting 'print to HDV tape', I tried this, and had an issue with my H1 ' Check HDV/DV input'. I had it set to HDV. Do I need to set it to DV or Auto?

Also, I'm just trying to get the highest rez out via tape or DVD. It's only 8 minutes. DVDA will only render it as about 563 megs.

Is there something I could be doing to increase output quality?

Thanks Again Spot.

Great "Upgrade" from 6 to 7, and dual session question
 

Just for anyone interested, I must say I was very pleased upgrading from 6.0 to 7.0b.

My 2.28 mghz machine with a gig of ram now handles HDV capture and editing with ease. The preview quit stuttering in Preview/auto mode completely. It does still stutter somewhat in Good or Best mode a little yet.

7.0b adds HDV scene splits which has been mentioned here previously.

All of my created render modes, FX presets, and other customized stuff appeared to migrate with the install as well, much to my surprise after reading other posts.

I couldn't figure out what to do with 6.0d after the installation, so I just unistalled it through XP add/remove programs. It completely uninstalled with no hassle, and 7.0b and my presets were all still fine.

What little rendering I've done so far has been as timely or better than 6.

These things applied to the DVD Architect upgrade as well.

3.0 mghz processor and 256 mb graphics card on the way...just cause I can.

One very satisfied customer here.
_______________________________________

I do have one question.

In going through the manual or help (I can't remember right now) it was mentioned that "while one instance of Vegas is rendering, you can edit in another".

I took this as meaning the program will operate in 2 separate "windows", ie... start the program from the icon or start menu, minimize it, and start another session from the icon or start menu. I know windows allows this and have done it many times with other programs such as CAD.

Has anyone actually tried this, rendering in one and working in another session?

Jamie

Spot,

I changed my project settings. I was WAY wide at 1920. So when I went to render, the only WAY wide setting was .avi. I switched to .mpg2 and checked 'stretch to fill'. So far so good.

I thought I read an HDV workflow from you somewhere on here.

I'm aiming to get the best result to output to DVD. I'm only rendering an 8-minute piece here. Can I set my bitrates WAY high to max rez?

V 7.0b rebuilds peaks with each logon
 

This is maddening since I have seven video/audio tracks in the project. The video files and the .veg are stored on an Acomdata 7200 RPM USB 2.0 external drive. Every time I log on it takes 10-15 minutes to rebuild the audio peak files. Is there anything I can do to stop this? TIA

If you're rendering to DVD, why are you messing with 1920 or 1440 at all? 720 is your max width.
Use the DVD widescreen settings, set your render to "Best" and then tick the "Stretch to fill screen"

Disclaimer - I've not done exactly this.

I think you've got to deinterlace before rescaling the video to PAL. Seems to me you're just asking for interlace artifacts any time you deinterlace something that has been converted from its native resolution.

So, you'd deinterlace in NTSC before conversion to pal.

See the thread below "Deinterlacing Secrets?" for a good referral to a deinterlace plugin from mikecrash.com. Lengthy render, but worth it. I deinterlaced before rescaling to several lower resolutions.

Glenn, Michael, thanks for the suggestions.

I did end up going with the Mike Crash plugin (now at mikecrash.com), and it worked very well, if somewhat slow on the render.

Michael, your page had great background info that helped my understanding of how vegas displays & renders interlaced footage.

See the Whirling Dervishes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S45OJnQp6mI

I have Vegas on order. Would Connect HD help the problem you're talking about?

Two concurrent Vegas sessions
 

Yes, I do occasionally run two sessions. I may render a composite super in one window while editing in the other. I try to limit the editing to roughcuts or other non-demanding work.

While I have 2 gig RAM, it does consume most of it while this is going on. Performance takes a hit. I am editing m2t's at HDV res though, so my expectations are adjusted accordingly.

I'm running with the connect HD demo now, and it's *really good*, at least in terms of performance ... even on my 2ghz machine, it makes the HD passable... very nicely done, and using the software to capture into their codec is definitely better than rendering into their codec from the vegas timeline (e.g. the no additional cost method).

Hmmm... That explains a lot.

Thanks Spot.

I mistakenly thought that because the project was short (8 mins), I could get higher rez on a DVD.

Right now I've got a beautiful looking 7gb avi that drops to a 500mb mpeg2.

The output is for a short film fest, so they will be projecting, and I am trying for the the highest possible rez. Any suggestions? I was going to print to tape, but you mentioned that this would also be mpeg2, so I'm assuming it would be nearly the same file size.

I've been using "trough" tracks as well to dump the clips I want to insert later on. However I wish there were a way to drop them into the media bins (of course it doesn't work when you try that) where I could organize and name them, ie. "green hat next to vase", "cat on a chair", etc.

My clip pooling tracks can contain as many as 50 small clips, and I waste a lot of time digging through this trough track to find the 1 sec clip that I trimmed and tossed in there an hour ago.

Is there a better way of organizing clips than this?

tia!

You can make subclips in the Trimmer and they will appear in your media pool. You can rename them anything you want.

You can definitely multi-instance.
 

I think I've gone as far as having 8 instances of Vegas 7 open, but I'm running with 8GB of RAM. To be fair, I was only rendering on a few of them.

If you're marginally brave, you can change the process priority of the background-rendering Vegas instances in the Task Manager to make your live-edit instance a bit more responsive on over-taxed hardware.

Vegas 7 Export markers
 

Is it possible to export markers in Vegas 7? I have just upgraded from Vegas6. Vegas isn't my normal editing program ( Edius Pro3) but I thought I would take the time and see how Vegas 7 and Architect work together ( I normally use DVDLab Pro 2). I hit the same frustation level I usually hit with Vegas!!! I exported a 39 min video with 56 markers I had set. To see how this all worked with markers as chapters in Architect. Imported into Architect, file properties show the marker being present but Architect does not see them. In fact I can't seem to set architect up to place markers at all!!!. So I thought I would just export the markers. Searching under Help for export markers in Vegas gave a large list none of which covered exporting markers!!!.
Any help on either topic would be useful!!

Ron Evans

When you render the file, there's an "Include Markers" checkbox. Was that checked? If not, they weren't saved with the file. There is a script (somewhere) that will save the markers to the proper file which could then be imported into DVD Architect.

Yes I did export correctly and I have eventually managed to get the markers to appear. I started a new project as single file. I originally started a project of menu based, which is what I really want of course, but with starting that way I am unable to set any markers and they do not show on the timeline. I like most people, I am sure, want to make a DVD that starts with a title screen that has a play button and a menu button , so that one has the option of starting at the beginning and watching the whole DVD or selecting the particular scene for viewing. An obvious aid is using the markers to create the menus. In DVDLab PRo this can be done automatically or manually, with complete control over backround image etc. Either I am missing something or this is not possible in Architect. This is clearly not an obvious choice for the designers of Architect!!! They seem to have included incredible capability that I don't need and missed most of what I want.
I thought I might export the locations of the markers so that I could still use DVDLab PRo by importing the markers. Clearly this is not possible in Vegas 7 either.
I love Vegas for its audio capability and upgraded to Vegas7 because it was a good deal. But I think I will stay with my present approach of using Edius for video, Vegas for audio mixing and DVDLab Pro for DVD creation.

Ron Evans

Well I figured it out. I can now get Architect to do most of what I want. Maybe after a bit more experimenting myself I will have a better opinion of it. I think life would be a lot better if both Vegas and Architect help files were rewriten by someone else!!!

Ron Evans

The Vegas help files are definitely not all that helpful.
Having DVDLab, and having used it a lot in the past, I think with a little help and tutoring, asking questions, whatever....you'll find you love DVD Architect 4. It is the first DVD authoring app that has allowed me to completely walk away from DVD Studio Pro for many projects. It's fat, powerful, and chock-full of semi-hidden features.

Ron,
There is a script that will export markers for use as chapter points in DVDA. I don't remember where to get it, but you can probably find reference to it on the Sony Vegas forum: http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/for....asp?ForumID=4

Search for Export markers.

Regards,
Jerry

A slightly different version may be found at this link.

I am sure just like Vegas, Architect has more hidden features than meet the eye. Vegas 7 is definately faster than Vegas 6 so I will work at it as it is my favourite program for audio for many years though for video it has frustrated me by how slow it has been compared to Edius etc. Certainly I just managed to complete this test video of a dance excercise with 58 excercises ( 42 mins long)and that is why I wanted very accurate markers and menus, not something that is that easy with Edius/DVDLab because of needing iFrames at marker/chapter placement. For a first attempt it worked but I need to work on the menu design as I know how to do this well in DVDLab but this first attempt in Architect looks like my first DVD's using DAZZLE DVD many years ago!!!!!!!!
For the sort of project I just tested I need to find out how to create all text menus using the marker names in column form.

Ron Evans

Thank you.

I never used the Trimmer before. In fact I never used the Project Media pane before either. It's much easier doing it this way!

Slow down audio exactly 4% for 23.976?
 

If I have slowed down the framerate of my movie to 23.976 in filmmaker but now need some "filler" audio from the original file... do I slow this audio down exactly by 4% ? (or is it 4.12843234... some silly number?) and, how can I do this easily in Vegas?

The easiest way is to "stretch" the audio to fit the video. Before changing the video rate, make sure that the audio and video segments have the exact same start and end points. Change the speed of the video, then hold the Ctrl key when dragging the ends of the audio segment to stretch it and match the video duration as needed.

One nit that I have with Vegas is that some of the numerical entry forms have too few decimal places, or don't allow direct entry. There are times when you want things to be exact, and it's frustrating when the best you can do with the tool is to mess with a slider.

Anyway, if you "snap" the audio to have the exact same duration as the video, you should be golden.

Vegas 7 and Panasonic HVX200
 

Can vegas 7 handle the Panasonic P2 cards? Is there a tutorial available?

http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?i...a-d07e5bbc018f has a tutorial.
Serious Magic, CineForm, and DVFilmmaker all have conversion utilities. This tutorial deals with the Raylight app from DVfilmmaker. I've used it extensively, and use the Serious Magic (now Adobe) as well. No real experience with the CineForm.
HTH

The Trimmer is very helpful for big projects.

Dual Vegas
 

I do this all the time, but mostly when my second render machine is not available (away from home office). That way I can kick off a quick "how is that going to look" render, while I continue to work. Note that trying 2 renders at once won't do anything special other than make each render slow and take possibly longer because the two processes are swapping for CPU . HD / RAM access. The only advantage is kicking off two different project renders so you can come back in 6-7 hours and have them both finished. If you need two different renders of the same project (ie wmv and mov) then you can just batch them up. Be careful not to give the quicktime render a file name longer than 4 characters because it will get confused and error out (just kidding on 4 characters, but it does have an insanely shot character limitation that NO OTHER render format has).

jason

2 mt2s, well no wonder
 

I have been able to set the process priority on the rendering window down to minimum so that I can continue to work unobstructed on the other which would be set to a high process priority.

But I'm running SD video instead of two HDVs.

jason

Me too - I've run 6 to 8 renders overnight. Easy and quick to set up. Mostly this has been for "chapterizing" event video, say, a 2 hour timeline that needs to be rendered to multiple wmv segments of 20 minutes or whatever.

Even this can be done with batch render, to a single (***edit*** or multiple***) destination format(s), by using the "render by regions" option.

Background rendering while editing in another instance works fine for me, too, but my work doesn't demand it much. Usually, I'll find a way to batch when I'm away from the pc so I don't suffer degraded performance.

It's all about finding the workflow that's most efficient for you.

I use Vegas with my HVX200 footage all the time, I use Raylight to convert the files.

http://www.dvfilm.com/raylight/index.htm

Here is a tutorial on using Raylight here. . .

http://dvfilm.com/raylight/raylightTutorial1.htm

Its free to try, around $200 to purchase, and a great addition to Vegas.
Vegas (Sony) wont be adding Panasonic native codec to Vegas anytime soon, so you have to use Raylight, Cineform. . .
http://www.cineform.com/products/ConnectHD.htm
Those two are the most popular. Raylight is simple and quick, no experience with Cineform, but try both before you buy. . .

Seth - what's your computer's specs?

My boss hit the roof when he saw me rendering two things at once.

Audio Cleanup Plugins for Vegas
 

Anyone know of some good audio cleanup plugins for Vegas? To remove noise of AC, wind, planes, etc. Just trying to get a feel for my options, and what everyone thinks is the best.

SoundSoap, WAVES XNoise, Pinnacle CLEEN, and my personal fave; Sony Noise Reduction 2.0.
Forget trying to do much with wind and planes; the frequencies are wide and varied. AC? Easy as pie. Vegas already has EQ settings that will kill 50Hz and 60Hz hum. Air conditioning requires noise reduction.
You know how in spy movies they always turn on water to prevent the bad guy from listening in? Guess what? That's not just Hollywood, it's real life. Water, wind, traffic, mechanical noises are all very difficult to remove without negatively impacting the original dialog.
Constant sounds such as humming refrigerators, air conditioning, AC line noise, transformers; they're quite easy to get rid of. Everything else falls in between.
Jeffrey Fisher has a Noise Reduction for Vegas DVD that's available; that might help you grasp the techniques that fall outside of using a plug in.

Zooming and Image Cleanup
 

I never thought I'd use the zoom feature of Vegas, but poor framing on my part necessitated it. I imagine there's no way to get around the loss of quality, but does anyone know of better zoom plugins? Or some plugins that remove noise from images?

I used HD video so I think I have a little bit of room without completely degrading the image... mostly, I notice noise in black areas... like my actor's jacket... any tips for concealing this or removing it?

The reason I ask about a better zooming plugin is I've seen programs that create high quality slow motion from non-slow-motion footage by extrapolating the missing data... just curious if there could be something similar for zooming in on video? I kinda doubt it, but I figured I'd ask.

Thanks for any help.

zooming is a pretty noisy process, no matter what tool you use. you can try repairing an image, but, the pixelation and noise really cause problems if you zoom to far. a couple of useful plugin tools to try to repair damaged images are:
1-THRESHOLD
2-BLACK RESTORE
3-Mike Crash makes some 3rd party freeware plugin tools. One good one is SMART SMOOTHER.

I've been mastering most of my audio with a tool called HARBAL, which is essentially an EQ shaper. Douglas is right, Sony's Noise Reduction plugin works wonders. But for that final polish, a notch filter applied with HARBAL does amazing things, as well. It works outside of Vegas, ie, it's not a plugin, and it takes a little bit of learning to use, effectively.
www.har-bal.com

I agree with Spot, Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0 can do wonders in certain cases.

Road noise, and planes are harder to remove.

Recently I was given an audio track that had very loud pops every few seconds. The audio was unusable as it was. Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0 removed all the pops successfully.

The same audio track had, in some instances some very serious clipping. I could not remove all of the clipping successfully. In other cases I have been successful in removing clipping with NR 2.0.

In one case, I was given a track with a very loud and unusual squeal. Sony's NR 2.0 removed the squeal. I was amazed. Our director was very pleased!

Using NR 2.0 requires some practice and expertise. There are many options available. But, it is very easy to try various options until you get what you need.