You're right Edward. I kinda mis-read the post and then forgot about setting points. It was way to early to be answering anything.
Don

Well, until recently I didn't know you could insert the envelope value because click/dragging lets you only do 3% and -3%. I don't see why it's so hard to believe someone could think that.

see pic here
 

My page is back to normal, so check out this picture and tell me what you think.
As you can see, it is not the jagged lines that I would associate with interlacing, but wavy lines. But then again, I don't know what I'm doing so please help me!

http://www.geocities.com/freakyfamil...ts/shorts.html


Thanks,
Tate

One thing I found when using the VE this way - the audio continues regardless of what the video is doing, so if you want the audio to resume normally when you go back from 0% to 100%, you have to split the audio at the point where you went from 100% to 0%, and move it to restart when motion restarts.

If you ramp the speed up or down gradually it can get horribly confusing as to where you are audio wise. I hope that V5 has the Option to make the envelope do the same thing to audio as has been done to video, then one will stay in pace with the other.

The +/- 3% thing happens when the track is too short. There are two options. The first is make the track taller. This gives you more room to get the number but still isn't exact. The BEST way is to right-click the point, choose Set To... and then type in the exact number desired. Of course, another option is to use Excalibur.

One more question. I'm still confused of why black bars appear on the left and right sides of the video when I add a picture.

Because the picture isn't the same size as the video frame. When using pictures, open Pan/Crop and immediately right-click the image and choose "Match Output Aspect". This will eliminate the "black bars" and make things work the way you expect.

A few new Vegas questions...
 

1.) Dropped frames? I did a long capture tonight, and entire tape that spanned one long 50 minute file. I walked away while it was capturing and when I returned, near the end, I noticed it had logged 9 dropped frames. I had never dropped a frame EVER while capturing and the only thing I can remember doing different was choosing "capture tape" rather than hitting play then capture. Could the camera latency going from stop to play cause it to read as dropped frames?

2.) Captured footage resolution while viewed in Media Player? I played back a few clips in windows media player and noticed it's only playing at half resolution...I checked the source file to be certian and it is, indeed, 720x480. I did some searching in the options under Vegas capture and I saw something to the notion of "preview window size denotes decoder size" (not sure exactly how the box is worded, but it's checked. I'm assuming this is the reason why it only plays back at the resolution I had it previewing at while capturing. Does anyone know why this option is here and/or how it is there to begin with?!

3.) Color correcting while monitoring on external monitor. You know how you can creat an area/selection in the preview window through which you can see your color corrections. Can this be implimented while viewing on an external monitor?

4.) Re-encoded captured footage out to AVI any less quality? I ask because I'm now using a different workflow with my wedding videography. I capture large areas of a tape at a time, some times bordering an entire hour for one clip. Now once I'm done with splicing it up and extracting the good footage to use in my final cut...I encode the series of edits as a single avi file in order to delete the original un-edited 50 minute capture file. The problem is there are a few clips that weren't in my edit that I want to keep for a flash-back sequence later on in the wedding. If I spice these sections and separated them from the original long clip and render them out as another avi in order to delete the original file like I had first intended will the clips I cut and re-encode as AVI (to keep them on my hd) be of any lesser quality than the original capture?

Special Effects in Vegas
 

Any good sites/tutorials for special f/x in Vegas? I'm mainly interested in sci-fi type effects, muzzle flashes, light sabers, etc.

... or would it be better to learn to do these things in After Effects?

#1: It is quite possible that the "dropped frames" where at the very beginning of the tape. I always batch capture and make sure it starts a few seconds in.

#2: Not sure I followed all of that.

#3: Yes

#4: The ONLY areas re-encoded are the areas you changed (i.e. dissolves, color correction, ...) for all other areas, it will be a straight copy.

Taking it a step farther, say you edit a wedding ceremony with color correction. When rendering that to a DV-AVI file, it will be recompressed. Now lets say you take that DV-AVI file and put it in the "final" wedding video. This time it will NOT be recompressed because it will already be in the correct format. It will be copied instead.

Some of these things can be done in Vegas. A lot of people also use AlamDV. Vegas is a decent compositor but it sounds like you may need more power. Soon, Boris Red will be available for Vegas and will probably do all you want. Right now, AE is a valid alternative.

Ok let me re-iterate.

2.) In other words if I open one of my captured source files in Windows media player it doesn't display it at 100% (ie 720x480). I know the dimensions of full dv on my screen simply by choosing "full quality" in the preview window in Vegas and resizing the window to fit. Well when I play a captured clip in media player it only displays it at what looks like 1/2 it's resolution or 360x240....and I even made sure my zoom level in media player was 100%.

as for 4.) I'll try to be less wordy- I think you lost be because I took too long to explain my question.
In other words... if I want to delete a captured 50 minute file. But want a few short clips from it to remain on my hd, what's the best way to go about doing it?
I could splice it up and render the sections to new avi's before deleting the large 50 minute clip but would those new sections I spliced and rendered out as new smaller clips be of any less quality than the original 50 minute clip? {Does that make any more sense?)

#2: That's a Windows Media Player thing. There's an option somewhere to use full resolution. I've also downloaded an registry entry that does the same thing from http://www.scenalyzer.com/faqs.html. Here's what the question and answer say:

Q: When I open the files captured by ScenalyzerLive, they only show in a resolution of 360x288 or 360x240 - what's wrong?
A: ScLive always writes files with the full resolution, however Type1 DV-files are normally decoded by the MS-DV Codec, which by default displays the video only in half resolution. Either capture Type2 files (for Premiere 6.0) or download and start the file http://www.scenalyzer.com/hires.reg to set the MS-DV codec to high-resolution.



#4: Render those sections to separate files.

Thanks Edward, I think I'll go with AlamDv until Boris Red comes out. Being on the low end of the learning curve, I'd rather keep it simple and stick to a familiar interface.

Vegas 4 / AlamDV: Importing AVI movie files
 

I'm trying to import a movie file into AlamDV
but it says the AVI file is using the wrong codec.
Any solutions or workarounds for this?

Notes:
--------
The AlamDV website says I can use the MainConcept
codec to solve the problem ... I thought the MainConcept
codec came with Vegas 4?

The Sonic Foundry codec comes with Vegas 4. People get confused because it uses the Main Concept MPEG encoder (NOT DV encoder). There ARE some other options:

1) Render to uncompressed (fine for short clips because it takes a LOT of space)

2) Try using the frameserver by Satish at http://www.debugmode.com

3) Purchase and render to the Main Concept codec

2. That's what I was talking about. I saw in the capture options somewhere a box that was checked that stated "decoder resolution based on preview window size". I'm assuming this means whatever size your preview window is while your capturing is the size media player will display (decode) the clip. So I'm assuming if I uncheck it my files will be at full res. when viewed in media player.
*not so much of a necessity, more of a curiosity regarding this dialog box in the capture options*

4. Exactly I know, but my question is are these new sections going to be any less quality after re-rendered out as smaller clips?

LOL, the internet can create a sizeable communication barrier sometimes- sometimes hard to describe things. :) Btw, I appreciate all your help Edward.

#4: If you render out segments to a separate file and NO changes were made (ie effects or whatever) the file will be COPIED so there will be NO difference.

So if the footage is untouched the rendering should be real-time or faster?

Probably faster. However, that depends on your drive speed. It is simply copying so it will require virtually NO CPU time. However, your hard drive light will be on SOLID.

Vegas4 frame gap glitch?
 

I've been reading alot of buzz on the SoFo forums about gaps between multiple clips added to the timeline. I decided to double click a bunch of clips addind them all to the timeline automatically butted up against each other. I zoomed as far as could to the point where two clips meet. I didn't see a gap in the video but there sure is a gap in the audio, less than a frame in size. When I click the edge of the audio to drag it to meet the audio of the next clip the video automatically "snaps" to the lenght of the audio (which is, like I said...less than a frame wide). Odd?! Wonder why this is? Does it have anything to do with the sample rate of the audio. I did change it from the default of 44 to 48kz.

Audio stutters during cuts.....
 

Just noticed this tonight- if I have two separate clips butted up against each other without a transition (cut) the audio stutters twice once it moves onto the next clip. In other words once the audio from the adjacent clips begins playing I hear two short pauses of silence in the first few seconds of the clip. If I set it to loop it doesn't do it the subsequent times it is replayed in a loop- only the first time the timeline cursor passes over the two clips.
Any ideas why this is happening?

Lastly it seemed the only cure was to set "Direct Sound Mapper" in Preferences. Microsoft Sound mapper, and Creative ASIO both continued to do it. Anyone have any insight regarding this?!

Just read the fixes in 4.0d (I haven't updated because I'm in the middle of a project now).
One of the updates is:
"A bug that could cause audio drop-outs during crossfades under certain circumstances has been fixed"

Although it seems to be the opposite- if I crossfade the audio clips then the stutter isn't there. It's only when I butt two clips back to back.

Vegas Crashed Like Crazy Tonight....
 

Was editing in Vegas tonight and it crashed twice in a row. Came up with with some "Low Memory" error then some other obscure error message. I cold-booted hoping it would fix it but it didn't. It seemed to crash anytime I drug a large clip to the timeline then tried to fast-forward while watching it. It would crash the same way ever time- the monitor window would go black and soon after the error message would pop up causing me to shut down Vegas.

I thought it might be because I'm now using Nview, a dual monitor option on my Gforce 4 card. I figured maybe it was using more ram to display an entire second monitor...I know it's a stretch. Turned off Nview and Vegas continued to crash when I tried to ff.

I finally backtracked and hit the default button under audio device which defaults to Microsoft Sound Mapper (I had switched it earlier in the day to Direct Sound Mapper to aleviate audio stuttering). Soon after went back in and "tried" to crash it but this time it ran fine. Re-enabled Nview (2nd Monitor) and back up running fine again?!

Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!

Yes. Audio drivers CAN cause problems (as well as video drivers as you noted). You may want to see if there is an updated driver for your audio card. If not, leave it on the known good setting.

As long as quantize to frame is turned on, I would not worry about this. I haven't seen this gap problem but do not doubt that others have. If someone can give a step by step way to reproduce???

"quantize to frame "

this also helps with syncronisation of multiple instances of the same clip of the same (ie multicam)

you will note that difference will only be apparent depending on your clock timing (Vegas is basically a video sequencer) , audio and birtrate settings etc etc...

but the 1 frame glitch isnt noticable to the human eye.. my system runs about a quarter frame off depending on wha tim doin..
most of teh time its perfectly synced.

"Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!"

yes too many times...

audio drivers dont like going backwards i guess...

if u run the latest vegas update (d) it should fix the problem... it fixed mine

HDD and Audio latency issues are dealt with in this update.
i would suggest you run it :)

if ur hdd has a buffer cashe, this update exploits it nicely

DVDit PE vegas 4 vegas 3
 

Hello DVinfo folks,

I hope this is a simple question for those of you that KNOW DVDit products, I am trying to find a solution to DVD authoring, I am close. Here is the question. DVDit PE is 399 bucks (ebay full retail version may be cheaper), has menus and AC-3, Vegas 4 comes with DVDit architect creates menus and has AC-3. Vegas 4 is around the same price, What I am looking for is an Architect vs PE explanation, I need menus and AC-3, both appear to have it. Should I just buy Vegas 4 for the extra NLE or is DVDit architect limited?

Thanks for any help.

P4 2.4
1 gig crucial
Pioneer A06
XL1S

I don't think it was the drivers for my audigy card that did it- as I switched it to "Direct sound mapper" whatever setting that does. But it was the only one that seemed to cure the audio stutter I was encountering during cuts. The odd thing is the video would go black, like I explained...I don't know how an audio setting could do that but apparently it did! I'll be sure to update as soon as I'm done this current project- is that a little too cautious?

Peter, the gap (from what I've found is with the audio- not video) and no...it isn't audible.

Edward, reproduction of this oddity is quite easy. Simply drag two clips (that have audio) butt up against each other. Move your curser to the center between the two clips and zooooom alllll the way in as far as you can (even beyond 1:1), then you'll see the audio is shorter than the video but by less than one frame (because zoomed in that close one frame takes up the entire timeline!).

I used DVDit PE for over a year before DVD Architect came out. Now, I use DVD Architect. Here are some differences:

DVD Architect allows you to have Action Menus and Action Buttons. Also, the menu creation if you want snapshots of your images is easier. Likewise with chapter creation. Plus you don't have to work around the user interface quirks and instability of the program.

However, DVDit PE will allow end actions and much better navigational control. Just no action menus or buttons.

DVD Architect has better previews.

The softening has been a success. I used Glen's method, and the footage looks much less harsh than the original footage.

Any more advice on the subject is welcome.

Thanks,
Brad

I don't have any directly captured clips available to test with on this machine. All of the "rendered" clips on the machine do not show this. I'll have to wait to test with some clips from VidCap. I've just not seen this. Of course, I almost always create dissolves anyway.

glen, i was referring to the video and audio syncronisation to each other

never underestimate the power of effects chains....

alam dv looks incredible.. taking a squiz now, but for the moment, theres nothing like this available for Vegas...

Glenn there are alot of factors revolving around audio driver stability.
Depending on your OS and soundcard config and the way it has been configured through the project settings, it's most likely that your crash issue was caused by the audio drivers, or your OS handling of them.

the video would most likely go black due to memory restrictions and GFX card buffer underruns, too many buffer drop outs and you will get a crash.

as for updating, i was getting the same issues during an important wedding i was editing, not only would it crash when rewinding with the "shuttle" tool, (this is a full 5.1 project using 2x3 stereo busses <12 channels of audio direct from DV mp3 and wav> but it would crash when i clicked undo.
I did the update and the baby flies like Sally Field.. :)

it didn't affect my project

One thing to note is the SBlive Audigy cards DO have issues with certain Motherboards and driver configs whle running multiple codecs..
Its been an issue since the first emu10k SPU came out.
My old SBLive on my other machine (when they first came out) still runs fine for audio i can't fault it, but when i try to get vegas to play a jpg on the timeline, the audio cacks itself as its looking for the right audio codec when there is none. Bang, its dead and vegas follows...

the reason vegas is so good as a SW only kit, is due to the way it handles multiple processes and codecs at once (so long as the processes and codecs do not have driver conflicts, hardware conflicts or have corrupted registries...)

your issue could be from a basic need to defrag, or it could a HW issue like an IRQ sharing issue, which Creative gear DON'T like...
Could be lots of things....

Interesting.

I had to get rid of my SB Audigy card because it would crash another video editing program I use (Visual Communicator Pro). It would crash and lock up often but only if using windows 2000.

SB Live works just fine for me now.

Thanks ED. Looks like Vegas 4 for me !!