Sony Vegas and DVDA

[Chris Brown]

Am I missing something, Im sure I am.I rendered a movie to .AVC and AC3. I then imported it into dvda to burn a bluray.One I cannot preview the video is that normal and two the video has to render all over again is this the norm, rendering twice. Once in Vegas 12 and again in DVDA. Also Im not sure i like DVDA too much.

[Don Bloom]

I've been using DVDA since just after it was introduced and I have to say that after literally 1000's of DVDs I find it to be a very good authoring program. Does it have some short comings? Sure, but overall for what I've done over the years it's worked out fine at least for me so let's figure out what your problem is and see if we can fix it.

First you said that you can't preview your rendered project in DVDA and honestly the only thing I can think of is; do you have the preview on external monitor icon switched on? If so switch it off and that should take care of it.
Second...No it isn't normal to have to render twice, once in Vegas and once in DVDA so let me ask what if any warnings or notices popped up when you went to burn? Keep in mind that you can go thru almost the entire process of getting the project ready to burn and NOT burn it. There would be a box in the middle of the screen and will give you messages, warnings and notices about the project IF there is anything that has to be done prior to burning.
The project COULD be too big and therefore has to be re-rendered in DVDA to make is smaller to fit or the project could be the wrong codec and therefore has to be re-rendered in DVDA to make it compliant.
If you're doing AVC then make sure it's the Main Concept AVC codec and the correct bitrate.
Take a look at those parameters and let us know what they are. You might find one of them is incorrect and if not let us know especially what the messages and notices are when you go to burn.
We'll see if we can narrow it down some more.

[Chris Brown]

I finally burned a bd disc. I had trouble getting the video to load. it finally took when I dragged it from a window to the left of the timeline. The audio would load every time but the video stayed black and that's why there was no preview. Once loaded by dragging and dropping it burnt the disc. I had some warnings though about ending the movie, still not sure of what that was. I had a couple of major goofs so I went back to Vegas 12 fixed those and re-rendered. This time it prepared the disc but did not burn so I had to tell it to burn. Oh by the way, the Falcon discs you recommended worked great. I'm going to print on it today. I think DVDA will be good to work with once I get used to it.
I am really confused about all the settings for building a video. If anyone knows where there is some good info on that Id really like to know.
I shot the video with Sony EA 50 using 1080p 60p PS. Properties in Vegas were set to HD-1080i-60i

Rendered in Vegas as AVC 1920x1080i 60i 16mbps video stream and AC3

Burnt disc at AVC 1920x1080-60i 16:9

I am going to shoot Wedding Video mostly. So I am just not sure if I used all the settings to get the best compatible and quality video. I cannot really tell with what I shot so far, I was working as a photographer at this wedding, I had no lights and that with not knowing what in the world I was doing. Well lets just say the videos not very good. thanks for all your help.
Chris

[Don Bloom]

Glad you got it working.
The first thing I would recommend is to go to the local blue colored store or something like it and get a blue ray re-writeable. This way you can try all sorts of different settings when rendering and not be worried about wasting money and discs. It can get pretty costly otherwise.

Now onto the actual render and burn.
First you need to download a bitrate calculator if you don't already have one so you know what settings to use for the render. Keep in mind that the disc is not going to give all the space it says due to formatting so it's a bit smaller so a 25 GB BR disc is (I think this is correct) 23.9 GB so one reason to use AC3 audio is it's a smaller file which allows for a higher bitrate for the video thus giving better video quality.
Second thing, I almost always add about 5 to 10 seconds of black for a leadin before I render my project in Vegas so that when the disc is inserted in the player it gives the person a few seconds to sit down before it starts playing.
OK so now to figure the bitrate. It's the total amount of time the project is so if the total is 105 minutes on the timeline in Vegas that's what you need to use to figure the bitrate. Once you have the bitrate figured then go to the FILE>Render As menu and find the type of file you want to make. I use MAin Concept AVC BlueRay 1080 60i 25 mbps template and customize the template for that project. I adjust the bitrate most times use a 2 pass and don't include audio since I do AC3 audio. Once it's rendered I go to DVDA and from the FILE menu goto NEW menu based or SINGLE file project depending on whether I need menus or not. Then I pull the AVC/AC3 render to DVDA and author from there.
You should be getting a preview and if there is a menu you should be able to navigate in the preview using the "remote".
Once you go to burn take note of any messages or warnings that come up and if you need to adjust do so before burning. Some of the messages though are just informational and don't mean much.
Try another and see how it goes.
Good luck

[Chris Brown]

Thanks for the reply, Good thinking about using a rewritable, never entered my mind. I already have used 3 disc. I will copy your instructions as I have some outside footage of vacation from Florida I will work with next until I can get some decent Wedding footage. I printed on the Falcon disc you recommended this morning and it looks awesome. Thanks for all your help it's greatly appreciated.

[Jeff Harper]

Chris, DVDA is not an intuitive program. Settings are not logical or easy to figure out on your own. When you begin, as you have, it will be confusing.

I have been using it for a few years, and am happy with it, but it does take time to get to know.

Stick with it and you'll learn it.

[Chris Brown]

I do feel better about it now. Took a day and stepped away from all of this. Too much to learn in just a few weeks. Started ordering equipment in Nov 2013 , I have been trying to learn the Sony ea50, Sony Vegas Pro and Dvda and its not going to happen in a couple of months. The best thing I have done was find this site. There is a wealth of info here and alot of people willing to help.

[Don Bloom]

You might think about this. Spend a day or 2 with the camera, then spend a day or 2 with Vegas. Once you have a basic understanding of the camera and can use it to get footage you like and understand Vegas enough to be able to cut that footage the way you want then you can spend a couple of days with DVDA to learn how to author a DVD (BluRay disc). If you try to do it all at once your head will explode! ;-)

Also keep in mind...you'll NEVER learn it all. Be it the camera or the software.

[Jeff Harper]

Glad to hear you've stepped back, Chris. It can help wonders!