You can import them into Vegas (all versions, or at least 4.0+). You just have to specify "view all files" in the dropdown menu in the "import" dialog, instead of "view all media files."

Likewise, you can just drag a file into the media pool.

Just wanted to point out that any form of transcoding will cause a loss in quality. That (major) point aside, AVI's are much better for editing if you can take the quality hit, because your cuts are frame-accurate. Not possible with MPEG-2. But again, transcodes are usually very lossy.

DVDLab will also import and create a combined file for video and audio in the same folder which can be used to edit or re author a DVD. Most of the consumer programs like Ulead Moviefactory will also do this too.

Ron Evans

How did you learn Vegas?
 

I just bought this program (Vegas 6.0) as a step up from Pinnacle 9. This is a huge step and the learning curve for this program is great. What's the best way to learn? Should I click in and out of everything, buy a tutoring DVD, scan forums, or get a book?

Thanks!

Use all the resourses you mention,but try VAAST at: http://www.vasst.com/

They are a DVInfo sponsor and have "written" the book on Vegas training.

This may sound weird, but try it:

Find a project to do. Short film, commercial, whatever. Give yourself a specific goal to accomplish. You'll come to a point where you want to know "how do I do this?", and then you can look to the help files, look to a book, etc. That would be the way I'd do it, as opposed to watching DVDs or just reading a book straight through. The first thing you might need to learn is "how do I capture?" So you'd open your book and look at the section on setting up for capture. Next maybe you need to know how to get a clip on the timeline. Then you need to learn how to slice clips up to get rid of the unwanted material. ETc.

Basically, work until you encounter an obstacle, and then learn how to overcome it, keep working 'til you encounter another one. Your body of knowledge about the system will develop over time that way, and it seems like, since you're actually using the program, you'll retain more than just watching/reading.

I think I like books better than DVDs for this kind of thing.

That's my opinion.

Render HDConnect video capture at 24P?
 

I glanced around but did not find the immediate answer. I am going to mess around with HDConnect's ability to convert to 24P. My plan will be to shoot in 60i and then let HDConnect 3.0 do the rest. My question...what settings
should I use in Vegas to edit and then render for SD dvd output?

Thanks for your help.

Good advice from Josh. That's pretty much what I did to start - initially just with the manual (which in itself is pretty good).

Once you become confortable with it, then it is time to get some "training" of some sort. The reason I say that is I got to a point where I could do what I needed to do in Vegas, but there were lots of features of Vegas which I wasn't using. I bought Douglas Spotted Eagle's Vegas book and worked through that - it introduces a lot of features I didn't know or use... or in some cases easier/better ways of doing things I was already doing.

The training DVDs are definitely worth it. Spot's book, the manual, and even the forums are filled with good information and tips. You can also browse through my newsletters. It has an ongoing "Beginner's Corner" series.

Let me go a little further. In the new project template there is no HD 24p setting. There is a dv setting for this. I need to know what my project setup should be to input this 24p and then what my output setting for dvd should be.

Basically do I keep it at 1080 60i and change the frame rate to 24 or do I need to look somewhere else.

Thanks again

Take the 1080 60i template, convert the framerate to 23.976. Change the properties to progressive scan. Let Vegas do the rest.
Render as NTSC Widescreen, 24p.

Thanks very much Douglas

Quick question....what is the 23.976 IVTC vs 24 film?

23.976 is the NTSC film frame rate, same as what you get when you remove pulldown. 24.000 is the real film speed.

Another question. Since I am just starting to mess around with 24p I will not know what to look for. I took a quick 10 minute clip...just a speaker at a stand and people walking on stage to except awards. I notice with the 24p conversion that the people seems kind of jerky (well that is the best way to say it) vs the standard ntsc video. Is this common or did I maybe set something wrong? I did shoot in 60i and then use HDConnect 3.0 set to deinterlace and remove 3:2 pulldown. From there I used the setting that Douglas sent me.

One thing I did notice. After I was down downloading the clip from my camera, I went back into HdConnect Prefs and saw that deinterlace was not checked anymore. I am wondering if this somehow got unchecked prior to my downloading. Would this cause what I am seeing on the video?

Also...in Architect should it compress the video file? The file is only 350MB, but architect says it is going to compress the video file.

Sorry for my poor explanation, but I do appreciate your help

Mike

No multithread in preview
 

In my experience - No. Renders are multi-core multi-cpu enabled in Vegas - preview is not. Vegas puts video on one core and audio processing on the second core. Our dual-core dual opteron 270 system has processor utilization at 25% during preview/playback. Not great. And a playback fps at 12 to 15 on HD/Cineform material with effects and transitions on.

Renders, not suprisingly, is lightning with better-than-realtime MPEG2 rendering speed, and Cineform/DivX is at CPU utlization 80-90% on all cores during render.

Vegas sucks in preview. Since Vegas only uses one CPU I would recommend a single-CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 system at the highest clock speed you can afford, such as the 4800+ or similar.

Good luck!

/magnus

How did you render the file for DVDA?? Should have been mpeg2