It could definitely be a faulty firewire cable. Changing the cable would be the next thing I'd try.

Edward

I did what you suggested but I still can't bring up the pan/crop box.

Any other suggestions?

Edl
 

I don't understand. First of all, the online guy asked for an edl. This is my first time in dealing with an outside source so I never had to do this before. I don't know the difference in edl vs. aaf. I also don't understand the timecode filter you mentioned. Can you tell me what you mean in detail? Sorry for the seemingly simple request but I guess we all have to start somewhere. I stayed up late last night writing down all of my cut locations and am meeting the online guy today at lunch to start the edit.

Jeff

Jeff,
You can export the EDL from Tools/Scripting/Export EDL. Is this what you're doing?
I do have a workflow for the JH3/export EDL for Xpri if you think it will help you any.

Thanks
 

Douglas, I really appreciate your help. The edl seems to work fine but the timecode on the tape doesn't match the timecode on the edl. How I know that is that when I set up my captures with the JH3 deck, I set it to window burn the t/code from the tape onto the captured image. While I am watching my footage and making my cut, I can see the camera's t/c on the clip near the bottom of the image. When I did the export to edl, the list that printed lists the in and out points for both the the timeline AND the timecode. When I match up the t/c that printed with the edl, it doesn't match the burn that is on the image. The numbers are off randomely seconds to minutes.

All of this is secondary to the online guy not being able to open my edl. He says 3 or 4 minutes comes in and then his system crashes or freezes up. He is using a program called Speed Razor. Sounds like it might be compatability issues with that.

Thanks for the help.

Jeff

You tried resetting Vegas? If you hold down CTRL+SHIFT when you start Vegas, that should reset everything back INCLUDING the screen positions for the windows.

I need some direction from you wonderful Pros.
 

Hello everyone,

I am in the latter part of week #2 spending approxiamtely 16 to 18 hours a day trying to get my fishing show created in HD. For those of you who don't remember me, my name is Captain Ben Chancey and I host a fishing show out of Florida called "Chew On This." I have been filming and producing shows in DV for a couple of years now. I have three complete shows filmed in HD. Up until a few weeks ago there never was any reason to do anything HD wise because there wasn't any channels in my field that aired HD programming. Fortunately now there is. Unfortunately though, everything I have ever created has to be created from scratch accept for the three shows I did in HD. Over the past week with the help of some great patrons (Ed Troxel for leading me to BT, and Heroglyph) of this forum and others, I was able to get past several sticking points. Last night I actually rendered and printed the meat of my first HD show ever. There has not been any half stepping. I have had to do things I never even new existed as far as editing and capturing. The footage is spectacular and true to life. The biggest problem I have with HD is "Boy does it make me look UGLY." I mean to tell you if there is a flaw or a hair out of place, it will be picked up by the camera. It also really will make you look quite a bit heavier. I am on a diet right now because I've got to do better.

Now to the point. I need to put the most professional touch I possibly can on the show. In my previous shows graphics, titling, and text have all been mediocre at best. One thing I really, really need is the ability to create the cool captions or whatever you call them that goes under a person to name them. I have had fishing shows on everyday for nearly 2 weeks now attempting to figure out how to create just that simple titling. Some of the ones I have seen make sounds and scroll on the screen quick. They look great. I know I can make them but I just have not been able to find the groove yet. I have Bluff Titler but it seems to be jaggy and when I chroma key it, there is a wierd tint that darkens the picture. I am not very happy with chroma keying yet. I have downloaded Heroglyph but so far I have yet to find anything in there that has that polished TV look. As of right now I kind of feel myself stressing. I really needed to have the show done and overnighted by tomorrow but I am not comfortable with what I have created so far with the glitter and glaze portion of the show. I am confident and very happy with the meat of the show. I just want to be able to send the network the highest quality complete package that I can.

Sorry for the long post. I like to read DV Info and hear what others are doing out there with their video knowledge and abilities. I hope you all don't mind reading what I am doing. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Capt Ben Chancey

Hey Captain Ben!
You might find this tool to be useful:
http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...1-13ca5d685527

There are the freebies for it, plus there are purchaseable packages for it.
what you're looking for is "lower thirds" which are sometimes called "name boards."

They're easy to make in Vegas, but there are myriad packages on the web, too.
If you really wanted fancy, one of our designers could make a "fishing" themed lower third package set for you.

Douglas you are great. For whatever reason I was not able to figure out what they were called. I am typically fairly creative but I just didn't know where to start. Your help and advice is greatly appreciated. Now I can get to work for another 24 to 36 hours and maybe get it done.

Regards,
Capt Ben

using blue screens
 

How do make a background transparent in Vegas.

I have captured a clip, on a blue background, and want to make the blue background go away, and then lay the remainder on top of another clip.

I can't figure out how to make Vegas 6.0 do that.. Any help

Keith Kolbo's article "Chroma Keying DV in Sony's Vegas " at http://www.digitalpostproduction.com...e.jsp?id=31596 does a good job of walking you through the entire process.

you can also find Keith's article, along with several others on the subject of keying/masking/compositing at http://www.vasst.com/search.aspx?text=Chromakey

Preview device without the deck
 

Like most people, I use a camcorder as a digital/analog converter between my computer and video monitor. Is there a cheap solution that would let me replace my camcorder and still be compatible with Vegas.

I know Pinnacle has some external video cards with s-video output (which is what I connect my camcorder to my monitor with). Is anyone out there using this or a similar video card successfully with Vegas?

Even better would be a PCI card with an S-Video output. I just need one that's known to work (selectable in video preferences) with Vegas.

Best file type to import into VEGAS 6.0c?
 

Hello. I am relatively new to digital editing and as such have so much to learn.
I have an old 1 inch tape (35mm footage/4 minutes in length) that I want to have converted to a file so that I can re-edit it in Vegas 6.0c for output to DVD in 24p format. I found a nearby production house here in Phoenix that still has a one-inch machine and they can convert it to just about any file type. My question is what would be the best file format to have it converted to for use in Vegas 6.0c that would result in the highest retained image?
They mentioned using MPEG4 of which I only know that there are two types; (MPEG-4 part 2 …a.k.a. MPEG-4 simple profile. And MPEG-4 part 10…a.k.a. H.264 which is for HD although my 1-inch is not HD of course).
..Or, would an MPEG2 or AVI file type suffice? Note that this is for a reel which I am putting together and timeline footage will be mixed with HD24P footage coming off of a JVC HD100U in case that has any bearing on it.
Thanks in advance!

Hi all-
Messed around with DVD3 for a day.....and now I am proud to say that I have my project completed with menus/menu selection, great background, the works. Even has music loop on menu. It was fairly easy to learn. DVD3 is great just like vegas. (Now that I have my computer stable to edit, lol)

One question I do have is in DVD3. Is there like a safe zone for titling that I can turn on? or you kinda just hmmm. looks good. hahaha.

Thank you all especially Edward for all the help you have extended to us newbies.

After Effects & Vegas
 

What resolution should the compostition be in After Effects when the clips are later brought into Vegas for final output?

I was using 720 x 480 but the video was stretched. I find 654 X 480 gives me better results.

Is this the proper way for best results?

The odd thing is the AE template is 654 x 480 0.9 pixel size but when I bring the clip into Vegas the pixel is 1. If I change it to 0.9 it looks stretched again so I leave it 1 even though it was rendered in AE at 0.9 654 x 480. There must be something wrong but it works.

Sure is. View - Workspace Overlays - Show Title Safe Area & Show Action Safe Area.

Thanks for the info Mike.

Get a convertor similar to a Canopus ADVC-100. There are several different models and several different companies make them. This will replace your camera and work well with Vegas.

I recommend capturing into standard DV-AVI. This will allow editing without the additional quality loss that rendering from MPEG to MPEG will give.

Wow, that's a little expensive for me. Will this work: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

It does have s-video output.

Why would you want to replace your camcorder? I have never heard of anyone's camcorder failing from being used as a A/V bridge.

Improving MPEG 1 Render Video Quality
 

Hi everyone,

I just finished a short film and today I rendered to MPEG-1 (for VCD) straight from the timeline. However, the video quality is terrible - the image is very noisy and there are artifacts surrounding my credits and titles. All of my previous short films have looked fine, but for some reason this new one looks terrible. Can anyone help?

(I have Magic Bullet applied twice to the bus video track. One is set on 'Filmic' for the beginning and the end of the video, and one is set on 'Neo Dark' for the middle section of the video. I thought this was the problem, having two things in the chain. However, I rendered sections of the video again without any effects, and it still looked bad.)

Also, I rendered with everything closed except Vegas 6, and my computer is fairly new. I'm not sure what the problem is.

Thanks,
Dennis

Tony, I have used the ADC Pyro with my Mac and it should also work fine under Windows for your purpose. There might be a few reasons to use this instead of a camera. For one, your camera isn't sitting out on your desk gathering dust for long periods of time and won't be connected to the A/C line where a power spike could hurt it. But probably the main attraction would be that this box has component video output which can drive a monitor at higher quality (if the monitor supports it). That box will is also switchable between NTSC and PAL which might come in handy.

I can't be the only one who thinks it's a pain in the butt to use my camcorder as a converter for my monitor. It's a simple job, so I'd like a cheap peice of dedicated equipment. That way I could keep my camera downstairs and ready to go.

Excellent... I'll have to try that. That should be a cheap alternative to leaving the camera hooked up to the computer.

That is one of the limits of Boris. The advice I've been given is to take the clips and use boris by itself and then you can play the clips in Boris. I haven't tried it but it is a pain.

I expected more from Boris and was let down.

Help with Menu Page DVD Architect 2
 

I created 3 menu pages which are chapter selections, 14 chapters in all.
The 1st two pages havev 5 chapters eachand the 3rd page has 4 chapters.

Now I want to create a home page which is what I want to be displayed on my DVD 1st. This menu page will be my home page and will basically have a picture, a play all button and a chapter selection button.

I tried to create a menu page that links to page 2, but it puts the menu page as page 4 and it links only to page 3.
I dragged it to the top of my project window, without a problem, but it still links only to page 3.
I cant use end actions to link my new menu page with because it does not allow me to link it to page 2.( page to is not an option on the properties window)

I already linked menu pages 1, 2 and 3 in the order I want.

PLEASE HELP ME CREATE A NEW MENU THAT WILL ALLOW ME TO LINK TO PAGE 2 WHICH IS WHERE CHAPTERS 1-5 ARE.

Please help, I'm desperate!!!

Thanks in advance.

Bernard

Thank you Edward. I appreciate the info!

I would have created the main page FIRST. However, just add a new menu and set it to be the first menu that is shown. Then add links to the proper menus or videos to that menu.

Coupla things to view here.
1. Vegas scales media correctly, so if you were to save at 655 x 480 from AE, Vegas will read it right.
But.
2. AE/Adobe prefers scaling vertically, so 720 x 540 is the preferred size from their apps. PITA, it would be better if they correctly scaled, but it works either way in Vegas.

HTH

The MB stuff you're applying likely has a little to do with the image quality, but two things to note.
Vegas doesn't do MPEG 1 well, I'd recommend a third party tool like Procoder or TMPEG.

Second, try crushing the blacks with the Black Restore plug. You'll usually see some improvement.

finally, unless you *have* to use MPEG 1, avoid it. It's so antiquated, it's tough to get anything looking good unless you really reduce saturation and give the encoder a mostly flat, unsaturated image.

Hi Douglas,

Thanks a lot for the reply I'll try those things and get back to you on how it goes.

Cheers,
Dennis

Naming Conventions
 

After using PixelPops for my menu(s) I find they work well in Encore but I know I need to change the names for them to be accepted in Architect.

From what I can gather from the Help and Manual the only accepted "items" are buttons or backgrounds, both with their various sub items. If so how is a video, that is to be used as a motion element, named? Is there any way to look at a template that is included with Architect to see how the structure is established.

Thanks

Jim

Thanks for the help. That puts an end to the mystery for me. :)

scrolling credits and darkened video
 

Newbie question. I am running Vegas 6.0 (+ HDR/HC1) and I am looking for a work around or solution for a opacity issue. When I add generated media in the form of scrolling credits (actually timed fade in/out text),, I can only see the text when I reduce the opacity of of my primary video to 90%. Thus, in order to see white text, my video is darkened because my background for the generated media is black. When creating a white background for the generated media(dark text)hoping that would solve the problem but I can't seem to generate any text that way. Can I overlay clearly recognizable text without reducing the illumination of my video? I suppose a workaround is to overexpose my video when I shoot, in order to add text, but I hope it doesn't come to that. For what's it's worth, this is my first introduction into video production and I think Vegas is pretty sweet.

Sounds like you're putting the text track below the video clip. Make sure the text track goes above the the video clip and you should be fine.

Rendering settings for final HD broadcast.
 

I am nearing the final stages and I have a few ?'s on how to procede. When editing and then rendering intros and graphics do I first need to render them to HD specs best and then install to main time line? Or can I render them to preview and when I choose to print to tape, will it then render graphics in best quality? It may not work that way but I need to know for sure. In final render for graphics what settings do I need to use as far as blur, interlace flicker, interleave how many frames, and all the rest of those settings that I know are probably pretty important to get the best possible project. I have completed the meat of the show with music and rendered it to HD and printed to tape. The show looks great and I am very impressed with HD. I now have to add lowerthirds and other graphics to the footage as well as finish the intro and put billboards and commercial breaks.

I have yet to get this alpha channel right on lower thirds. I have went in and changes all images to premultiplied before final best render. I pray that it works this time. Each 5 second render for the lower third takes about 15 minutes. I really want to be able to use them.

One more thing, the network requires all audio to be on track two. I know how to combine tracks and that type of stuff but I have never recorded to track 2. Thanks

Thanks for hearing me out. I appreciate any and all help.

Regards,
Capt Ben

Lower thirds are rendered along with the show. you don't ship them separately.
As far as audio on Channel two, that's got me confused too. We ship HD via HDCAM, and never have been required to submit anything but stereo, and on two occasions, 5.1.
In all cases, we ship primary audio on channels one and two. If it's 5.1, we've been shipping that as separate channels to the 8 channels, with a stereo mix on one and two, and the six channels for 5.1 so they get both.
Don't worry about interleaving frames, etc. Just render to a template. You haven't said how you're delivering. HDCAM, D5, disk?

Hi Douglas,

Using TMPGEnc worked very well, the quality was noticeably better. I've also decided to render to other formats, which turned out with a much cleaner picture. Thanks for the assistance.

Just a question in general, which is a better format for small file sizes and web-distribution - WMV or MOV?

Dennis