pete,

imho, DVD forum's "standards" aren't consistent. why? you've got all these studio-authored DVD (classics most of them) that can do 96khz Mono DD1.0 and be played back across all types of DVD players, but DVD Architect won't accept a DD1.0 file. so... i've had to resort to DVD Labs and other DVD authoring tools. if the studios can do it, i want that ability too. same with the new HD discs. if they can do, i shuold be able too, as well, if not better. =).

oh i totally agree.. teh fact that vegas lets u render ac3 out to any ac3 standard is brilliant, BUT the fact that DVDArchitect DOESNT is a shitter to say the least.. I think this is more so a fact of licensing as opposed to actual capabilities of teh SW, as i dont se why it CANT author these discs technically... but again, more than anything its probably a licensing issue, as stereo and DD5.1 are far more common than any other format..

V6.0d???
 

I had never had access to MM until I upgraded to Vegas 6d. Previous editions had tried, unsuccessfully, to install MM, but never pulled it off. I finally just disabled MM to avoid confronting your error msg every time I booted up.

Not sure which version of Vegas your're using, but that's been my story. Good luck.

Darryl

Another possible fix is to download and install the trial of Acid Pro 6.
Graham Bernard (aka Grazie) had not been able to get Media Manager working. He did this and it cured his problems :-)
Apparently it comes with (a new version of) Media Manager 2.1 that remains even if you do an uninstall of the program.

. . . Hello . . Yup, the ACID thang did it. What comes with it is the newer 2.1 MM. Now I can quickly search and group media events into TAGS and I tend to use it now instead of Explorer. Just make sure you use the UPDATE option within MM - this will bring up to speed the present Library with all your media.

Grazie

i dont compleately understand but you could either render it. or you could copy and paste "what i do for my movies"

Probably the quickest way to do it -- especially if you have multiple clips you want to trim -- is to trim the clips in your project, then "Save As" and check the option for creating trimmed copies of the media with the project file.

For general performance improvement, if you have an additional HD then move the pagefile.sys to the drive that does not have the OS installed.
Assuming you have Windows XP, go to system properites, advanced, performance, advanced, under virtual memory, change, set drive C to no paging file, then select the other drive and either select custom size or system managed size and click set.
The other thing to keep in mind is to defragment your HD's

A WinTV PVR card can cause that symptom, so I'll ask the question again: does your PC have a WinTV card installed?

FS-4 24p to 19fps in Vegas?
 

Using my DVX100 I recorded in 24p mode (not advanced) to my FS-4 Pro in AVI Type 2 24p format.

When I import the files/clips to a 24p timeline it drops the fps to 19.1xx fps. If I UNCHECK the "pulldown removal" box under Preferences it runs at 23.976fps (which I know is correct). Should I leave the box unchecked or will it playback wrong? Basically should I trust the numbers?

Also should I have recorded on the FS-4 in the standard AVI Type 2 and would it capture the 24p look?

Thanks for the help!
TM

I get this same issues
 

I get a similar issue viewing video even from a rendered clip from my computer to a TV. I think that sometimes the field order gets reversed on the TV and the only way to totally make sure that your video is alright is to play in slow motion or slap it on a DVD. or VCD. I have a good DVD player that can ready straight MPEG files from a cd. I render to somethng like 640-480 .mpg or .avi. mpeg1 or 2 will work usually. this is the only sure way to tell I think.

Max Bitrate?
 

Perhaps that is just setting 8 as the max? Or the target bit rate? Usually with my projects I dont get bitrates much over 4 or 5 unless its a fast moveing scene or the video is shot poorly. Jerky video always takes up a lot of damn bandwidth... err.

I have a seperate hard drive where everything for the project goes. Vegas is on the main, differnt, drive. I have a folder for sounds, and video that may be used in other projects and a seperate file set up for the project i am working on. That way I can erase the file after completeing the DVD. I do shoot the tapes only once and keep them.

How does the FS-4 record? Does it remove pulldown on the fly and record straight 23.976 AVIs?

If it does, the pulldown removal box doesn't have anything to do with it.

If it doesn't, and it's recording 60i files with pulldown, then you need the box checked.

As for the "look," yes, it will retain it as a "standard" AVI.

zdravko, the differences in file sizes could be because one encoder is using variable bit rate, and the other is using constant bit rate.

with vbr, you should be able to set the peak at 8800 or so with the vegas mainconcept encoder... that'll take care of just about any scene you want to put on dvd.

however, in the end, the average vbr bitrate is what determines how big the file size will be.

good advice in this thread.

beyond that, and kinda o.t. for the thread topic... jeff, when you format a big hard drive to be used strictly for huge files like video, it's best to format it with the biggest block size available.

Vegas 5 Capture Question
 

I just finishing capturing 3 tapes from a recent shoot and I'm encountering something I haven't seen before.

I have scene detection enabled but vegas is only "seeing" 3 separate scenes on each tape ( after capturing I have three very long scenes that cover different aspects of the production).

I know the camera was paused more than three times. I can work around it by capturing manually but I really want to avoid that.

The video was shot on an XL-2 at 60i.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The usual problem in circumstances like this is that your camcorder's clock wasn't set.

Mike

Render keeps freezing in different spots
 

Yes, I do have quite a few stills in the project, but it seems to freeze on different ones each time. I read in one post there could be an overheating problem with the hardware...is that right?

I am rendering on a Dell Latitude D800, 512 memory, 40gb and 300 gb hard drives. I have set all the Vegas temp dirs to the larger drives (not C:).

I have tried prerendering portions where the freeze occurs and then rendering the whole project, but no luck.

I am using Vegas Movie Studio Platinum +DVD 6a.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jim

Vegas playback issue
 

I am doing a multicamera project. I used 2 xl1 shots and on playback in vegas, they only playback @ around 18 fps. All the others (4 other cameras) are playing back at normal speed. I am just curious why only the xl1 footage is doing this. It renders fine. Just in vegas is where the problem is. All the specs are the same in the video properties. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

PS...these rates are when the tracks are on solo, obviously

DVD Architect -- Play All?
 

I've been wondering how to set a "Play All" mode along with my menu based format in DVDA. Currently I used two menus with a short 20 sec. clip as a background, one menu for the pre-reception and one for reception, etc. I have them navigate to the item to view, and so on.

Is there a way to do it?

If you are using DVDA 3 you can set an END ACTION from the 1st clip to the 2nd-open the first clip set end action to point to the 2nd clip and you're all set.

Don

If you are seeing this in the preview mode its possible that the footage has some type of effect applied or the opacity is lowered (easy to do accidentally) and in the preview mode Vegas will drop the frame rate to keep up with the effects. Check to make sure you have no effects or that the opacity is lowered but it should render out OK and play at full speed anyway.

Don

Just to expand on what Don said, if you have two pieces of media (Media-1 and Media-2) and you want to add a Play All button, just copy and paste the Media-1 button and rename it Play All. Then change the End-Action to point to Media-2. You will now have three buttons, one labeled Play All that starts with Media-1 and chains to Media-2 and then one each for Media-1 & Media-2.

~jr

Call off the hounds, I fixed it...woo hoo!

Okay, I have learned my lesson about stills and DPI. I read many postings about not needing to use a high DPI with stills but did not think it would hurt anything if I did.

As soon as I converted all images from 600 to 150 dpi, not only was I able to render (finally), but I could actually preview without intermittent stopages. And I don't notice and degredation in image quality, even with a lot of zooming.

Whew...now maybe I can get some sleep...zzzzzz.

Another option apart from teh "end actions" as mentioned here, is to create a playlist.
Playlists are brilliant for bits and piece lije this however, you shoudl note that each titl set you insert (ie every individual piece of media) CANNOT extend its chapter listing past itself.. as an example, youve got 4 differnt MPGS. Prep, Ceremony, Photoshoot and reception.
Now when u import these into DVDA, u CAN creat scene selection scenes for EACH MPG, BUT, the only way to create ONE Scene selection for ALL MPGS you need to do it manually, which if anyone has used Encore, will know its a fiddly bitch to deal with.

What ive been doing if my projects require, i set them out this way (rare) is inport all material and create a play all button using a playlist,
then for each clip, i name it "play preparations, Play ceremony, play photoshoot etc etc" people then think that this are the chapters.
Then i put marker in every 10 moinutes or so and i write down the "title listing" on the back cover.. its not the best way to do the whole kit and kaboodle, but i create DVDs in less than half an hour using this method. If i did it the other wya, then id be there all day...

Multicam question
 

Is there one multicam program that is better than another? I currently have excalibur and its okay but it seems to be tempermental. I really do not like the way the tracks have to be named. Just curious if they are about the same or there are advantages to them

Thanks

Keyboard shortcuts for Audio Envelope Points
 

I just want to be able to move the volume points with more control. The mouse is a pain. At the very least it would be nice to use a key to hold a point's X or Y coordinate while I drag it with the mouse. Ideally I would like to move a point with the keyboard arrows.

Any tips?

Thanks,

Jim

There is UltimateS by Vasst however I don't use it. I've been using Excalibur since it came out and frankly I've never really had a problem with it. then naming of the tracks is a simple as 1,2,3...that's really all you have to do. As for it being tempramental sometimes if I've been running my edit station for too long without restarting it (talking about days not hours) Excalibur can be a bit slow to open but then so is Photoshop so I just shutdown and reboot-no big deal for me.
Perhaps you could explain in a bit more detail why you feel Excalibur is tempramental and maybe it's a simple fix.
Don

It was mentioned in another post that a Sony Media rep at NAB had said Vegas 7 is due out this fall. One of the big additions is XDCAM HD support, and suport for their new Cinescore software. I'm sure there will many other enhancements...

No matter which tool you use, the tracks have to be named some way for the script to tell them apart. There are three good offerings available: Excalibur, Ultimate S, and Infiniti-cam and all require the tracks to be named. If you already have Excalibur it will do the job and do it well. In fact, Excalibur 5 will build the project for you and name all tracks as needed - just point it to the clips and it will add the clips to the timeline and name each track appropriately.

As far as the loading speed - the first time is slowest (but still under 20 seconds on my laptop - plus this includes the time loading .Net). For me, subsequent loads are very fast (under 2 seconds) and the camera switches are way under 1/2 second in Excalibur 5.

There ARE keys that will constrain the movement. Try CTRL or ALT while moving the envelope points.

Speed up video 100x?
 

I recorded a shot, and I need to speed it up 50x-100x times, but I cant get it to go over 4x. Is there a way to make it faster?

to speed it that many times, you either need Time Bandit from PeachRock software, or you need to render it more than once. 12X is the fastest you can do on a single clip at a time. Velocity envelope plus right click/properties/playback rate

Are there any free tools I can use? I dont feel like spending money on something Im only going to use once.

Yes, Ctrl and Alt do constrain X and Y. I could have sworn I had already tried that.

Thanks for that.

Both Ultimate S and infinitiCAM will allow you to name the tracks anything you like for up to 9 cameras. So you can use your existing track names with these tools. If you don't like having to name your tracks something different than what you want, I recommend you try infinitiCAM. Just point it to your existing tracks and you're all set. For over 9 cameras, infinitiCAM uses the 1,2,3 method just like Excalibur (it’s about the only strategy that makes sense once you have that many tracks). InfinitiCAM will also build the project for you and insert and name the tracks automatically if you want.

~jr

Yup. You could use the built-in script called Render Image Sequence. Since you are speeding your footage up 100x you only really need one frame out of every 100. Just have it render every 100th frame and then import those back into Vegas as an image sequence. If that doesn’t have enough motion blur, render every 50th frame and speed it up by 2x in Vegas.

~jr

You can use a combination of:

1) Avisynth (http://www.avisynth.org) a scripting language for video
2) The DGDecode plugin for Avisynth (http://neuron2.net/dgmpgdec/dgmpgdec.html)
3) VirtualDub (http://www.virtualdub.org)

All are free. There is also a version of VirtualDub that reads MPEG2 natively.

You will need AviSynth + DGDecode to import MPEG2 TS (.M2T) into VirtualDub and decimate by whatever rate you want.

Actually, you can probably do the entire decimation in AviSynth, then use VirtualDub to encode to a format that you can edit in Vegas.

I use a combination of these methods to make timelapse sequences. It takes a bit of time to figure out AviSynth, but then it is almost completely automatic.

Just multiply it 12x, like DSE said, render it out uncompressed (if you're even worried about that) and do it again. Do it until it's fast as hell.

And if you aren't worried about DV recompression, I suggest getting a little lossy. Some of that natural furry blur helps high speed stuff sometimes.

Also, add a motion blur envelope to blur over any jumpyness from the extraction of frames.

Just by 2 cents.

DJ