Wow thanks guys, I'll have to try this out right away. Fast response!


-Kay

Can Vegas use hardware rendering?
 

I know that you can use hardware rendering with premier on clips that have no effects/transitions. Can Vegas do the same? and if so, what card should I buy. Thanks guys for the support.


-Kay

I don't think so. But if you have no transitions or effects Vegas will render very fast and print to tape over IEEE 1394.

On clips that have no effects or transitions there is NO NEED to render at all! If you print to tape on a cut's only project with no transitions, it will create a W64 file for audio and, otherwise, just start sending the video out the firewire port.

If you to a Print To Tape, ONLY the sections that have been modified in some way will be rendered.

But, NO, Vegas does not use any hardware assistance when rendering.

Tsunami does nothing to timecodes. However, the timecode is in the original AVI file. If you keep the original AVI and just use segments of it, you WILL be using the original timecode. Then if the project needed to be rebuilt, you just re-capture the one LARGE file.

Tsunami can be found at: http://www.jetdv.com/tsunami

Thanks Edward. I am working on a Vegas script to do what I want but seem to have found a bug in that changing the RulerProperties.StartTime via the script does not cause the subsquent render to set the TimeCodeIn of the resulting file to the StartTime. If you do this manually, it works correctly, but in the script it does not. I have a UpdateUI command after setting the StartTime, but that does not help even though it does get updated on the screen.

I guess that I need to send a bug report to Sony.

Thanks,

Randall

Multi cam editing and sync...
 

I synced up two clips using Excalibur's Sync Wizard tool using a photographer's flash as a reference. As I watch the footage I can tell it's perfectly in sync because further photography flashes line up as well. However by the end of the clip (8 minutes aproximately) I get a one frame offset. Clip A's flash is one frame ahead of clib B's. Now both clips were filmed on different cameras (A DVX100 and a GL-1) What could cause this 1 frame discrepency on my sync?

Was the photographer standing in a different place? Camera aimed a different direction? Maybe the distance relative to each camera changed enough to account for 1/30 of a second. For one frame, I definitely wouldn't worry about it.

Capture headaches in Vegas using Canopus Storm2... help!
 

Hey everyone,
I just got Vegas Video 4d. And can't sem to be bale to capture from Canopus Storm2 edit bay via firewire slot. It works fine through premiere, but it doesn't recognize anything in Vegas. Although it does list the device under "video" menu in the capture window.

What am i doing wrong here?

You know I thought about that but tried to put it in perspective....I doubt the speed of light would be that "slow" though it would explain it because both cameras were in different locations/distnaces.

Speaking of....I've been having difficulties with the multi-cam tool, though it could be because it's not meant to do what I'm trying to do with it. Here's what's happening: I have one long clip of the two formal dances (bride/father, groom/mother) from both cameras. The cameras rolled the entire time without any cuts so I chose a basic flash as the sync point between the two clips. After synced I realized there was a large gap between the two dances I wanted out so I cut that section out leaving two separate sections of synced clips. I then added markers to use for the multicam edit tool. When I run Exalibur the first section moves up to the master track with all the edits correctly intact but the second section of clips doesn't lay correctly. It's like the one clip is moved in it's entirety to the master track and the other clip's sections are "punched" in over top of it negating the dissolve I had configured.
What could cause this? Is it because there was a physical gap between the two sections of synced clips and it wasn't contiguous? I even tried to do one section at a time by limiting which clips were selected by using the ctrl+click method but the multicam tool always seemed to work on both sets of clips (maybe because they are from the same original files)?

The Canopus Storm bay isn't OHCI compliant. Your fire-wire/IEEE-1394 port has to be OHCI compliant for Vegas to use it. Any standard 1394 port built in to newer motherboards should work fine. Even the 1394 on the Audigy 1&2 work as well.

Possibly. Here's what I do in this situation. At the end of the first dance, place a marker indicating you want to use at the beginning of the second dance. Manually split all tracks at this marker point. Now move forward on the timeline to the beginning of the second dance and manually split all tracks at that point. Delete the unwanted section and move the second dance back to where the marker was placed. This process has worked very well for me. As for the other, I have not seen that happen. BTW, what version of Excalibur are you using?

You may also check with Canopus to see if they have a driver that will make it OHCI compliant. However, you will also not get any speed benefits from that card in Vegas.

alright, i'll play around with that. thanks

Well Ed is right that there's no way the speed of light would come into effect here, or ever in normal video editing (sound is an entirely different story, but not in play here)

Here's what likely happened.

Since the two cameras are not perfectly in sync, you are manually syncing them. But you can only move the clips by frame increments (33 ms). But the cameras themselves are not off by perfect 33 ms increments, they're actually off somewhere inbetween frames. So when you finally sync the cameras, here's what you get.

A: 111|222|333|444|555|666|777|888|999
B: 112|223|334|445|556|667|778|889|990

A and B are your cameras with "|" designating frames. The numbers represent what those cameras were picking up in real time. The first "2" in camera A (which occurs in frame 2 in your final video) represents the exact same point in realtime as the first 2 in camera B (which occurs in frame 1 in your final video).

If an event (like a flash) occured right after the third 8 on either track, you will see that in camer A, it would show up in frame 9, but in camera B, it would show up in frame 8. As you can see, 2/3 of the time, simultaneous events will appear in the same frame in both cameras, but 1/3 of the time they will not.

If you try moving around either track, the problem will just be worse because you can only move in full-frame increments.

"Quantize to Frames" is useful for synching audio but probably won't work for this problem because I've never tried it with video-video synching. But you can try.

My recommendation actually would be to ignore it, as it will never happen more than half the time (depending on how much the cameras are truly out of sync, which you'll never know) and when it does happen it will never be more than a frame off. For lip synching, it will be unnoticeable because at least 1/2 of the mouth movements will look perfect, and the rest will be one frame off, and that's more than enough to fool the eye.

Pretty detailed explanaition for a "hobbyist"! (Read your profile, lol) So in short-hand it's normal, I knew it really wouldn't have any negligable impact on the video but I'm a perfectionist. Thanks!

Ed I'm assuming I'm still running 1.0 but I did get the upgrade you mailed me. Is it actually an upgrade or a stand-alone?

LOL. :) I learned a ton about this topic by editing a DVD of a 3-camera, 2-night, 2-audio-source recording of a 3-hour musical (i.e. 18 hours of footage and 12 hours of audio). All in Vegas.

In over my head? Hell yeah! But after only 4 months of non-stop work (an entire summer!) I came out something of an expert. :)

Glen, just install it and it will replace the existing one. All of these installs are "full versions". However, you WILL have to be on at least 4.0c. This fixed some problems in Multi-cam where events were not moved to the master track correctly. I have used version 1.5 extensively and it seems solid.

DVD architect, what have I missed ?
 

Hello DVDA folks,

Need help on DVDA. have done all the upgrades, my need is basic, I created a file, created a button, double click on button and my video comes up at the bottom of the time scale, preview does preview my video, file is saved, was imported as mpeg2 and ac-3, put burned disc in home DVD player, menu comes up, my picture I selected is the background, button I made has the right picture in it, press play, counter starts, picture turns black, gets to 6 or 7 seconds into playing and goes back to beggining menu. trying to create a basic DVD, one title, one button, nothing fancy but I obviously don't know what I am doing. Read the book, followed the steps, I originally used DVD-RW so as not to waste and thought that was the problem, so I tried DVD-R and made a coaster, any help appreciated. (this is obviously my first time using vegas 4 and DVD A). It's like I have missed something (the link) between the button and the video. Can I use RW and expect it to play in my RCA home DVD player?? Tried disc in computer and windows XP Pro media player said could not play "Error ID = 0xC00D116A, Remedy ID = 0x00000000"

P.S. When I save files they end in INK??

At this point brain surgery seems it would be an easier thing to learn. I will continue reading,

Thanks for any help.

To create a DVD with a single button pointing to a single menu, start a new standard DVD project, drag the file from the explorer window to the menu. That's it. Then tell it to prepare and burn and you should be done.

Take a look at Issue #7 of my newsletter at http://www.jetdv.com/tts

My DVD player does not work with RW apparently. I did the same thing I had done before but used a DVD-R. The only problem is I have a full audio section on the DVD before the Video and audio start (I did not load any other audio files). I double checked and have no background audio loaded on the page properties. The only thing I can think of is when you drag the clip to the main menu it somehow loads an audio clip. Even though I just used a JPEG for the page background, I still have a button that apperently has video inside because it said it had to be "compressed". Thanks for the help. I did read the suggested area but still lack some intermidiate knowledge about chapters, starting points, etc. Also looks a little grainy but I think the gain of the camera shows up more because brightly lit subjects are very clear.

With the menu page showing on the desktop, look at the file list over on the right hand side of the work area. One on top is for template, or background. The one underneath that will load an audio file. Just clear that block if you don't want sound playing while the menu is showing.

You may want to check the File - Properties - Introductory media setting and see if you have something there. If you do, delete it.

if you have a playstation 2, it WILL play DVDRW...

alot of people forget this, but it does come in VERY handy sometimes!

One last question folks, what is the easiest way to erase projects? I had to go into C drive to erase the projects but can't seem to remove them from the DVDA list under file.
Thanks

Hi Don,

I had similiar problems. My solution was to change the sound from AC3 to PCM, after that I could play my home-made DVD:s in my standalone DVD player.

Good luck!

// Lazze

"My solution was to change the sound from AC3 to PCM, after that I could play my home-made DVD:s in my standalone DVD player."

you shouldnt have to do this...

your player should have a selection for PCM, MPG & DTS audio, by using PCM, you are not taking advantage of the compression used in ac3 encoding, do your audio is probably 3 times larger than what it could be if it was ac3.

not all players like the media, however architect conforms to standard DVD file system, so the ONLY reasonit wont play is due to a player not having access to DVD-r playback or teh DVD player itself isnt configured to decode ac3.
check the dvd menu, it should have a menu config setup info for your.

good luck

Does it also fix the problem with the sync tool not carrying the audio over from the top clip?

I tried making DVD's using "single movie" mode, now I am making coasters with no sound but nice video. Starting to get really frusterated as I have read everything and am no longer discovering anything of assistance. Now need new remote and almost needed new TV. On make movie I show both video and audio files on right side of page.

What does it take to burn a DVD with video and sound. I need a step by step method as so far nothing is step by step, my video is rendered to mpeg2 in Vegas then create an ac-3. Using Architect templates I have to render video then audio seperately, In menu mode do you have to drag both the audio and and video to the main menu, how do you merge the two as they are seperate buttons on the main menu. so far I have made everything but a good DVD, 1. DVD with audio and video but an extra audio in front of the video, 2. just audio, 3. just video, I am loosing patience fast. sorry, I seem to keep doing the same thing and getting different results.

Thanks for the advice guys, in Vegas 4 I don't see a PCM, is it called something else.

Success,

The only thing I did different was to not use jpegs for the button and front menu, I also made sure that I had both AC-3 audio and MPG video file on media properties, when it rendered it rendered 2 of 2 objects instead of 3 0f 3. Which is where I am guessing I picked up the additional audio track and subsequently tried to get rid of and deleted needed audio.

the possibility exists that the jpegs had something to do with it or I was letting frustration get the best of me, but I sincerely believe I had a good grasp of things but the possibility still exist that I just crossed over my own tracks so many times that I didn't know what I had.

Unless for some reason the jpegs had an effect, I will let you know soon.

Thanks for the help.

jpgs wont affect your audio, however they would need to be converted to video format then overlaid which Architect would do for you...

Did you actually import the ac3 file? or were you selecting the mpg2 for video AND audio?

in archtiect you will note that you can either import the ONE file twice (ie audio video off the same source) or you can import video with a different audio stream...

dunno if that was mentioned, but anyway...

the best solution for coaster free Architect burning is to use RW discs, then test them.

If they work fine, just run nero or prassi and do a straight 1:1 copy....

might be tedious to start off with , but its cheaper on media and saves on wear and tear on your equipment considering your burning so much...

It appears that dragging the rendered file onto the menu page (or just double clicking it) puts both the mpeg file and ac-3 file in the proper places on the media page (using the menu format).

As of yet I have not tried to make another using jpegs in the menu and buttons. It's highly possible I was confusing the object properties with the media properties. I did however always try to preview the project before burning and I always got sound and video? What would have helped me was a good description of the the menu page, object page, and the media page, I think then I would have known where the project needed to be and what should be listed in the page. And I believe
Edward tried to guide me to helpful places but instead I chose to pout and whine!! (I repaired the remote so this learning session only cost me 2 kitchen chairs!)

I am now more familiar with the "menu" format than the "single movie" format. The single movie format is where I had some problems and switching back and fourth only confused me. Perhaps importing into "single movie" is different and I was trying to learn 2 things at once.

I tried using RW disc but my home DVD player didn't like them, said it had a "read error, shut player off and try again" player is about 2 years old. Then again, I am more familiar with the software now and may try again. But I did try RW at first and needed to burn -R to make sure the blank media wasn't the entire problem. My windows media player in XP pro will not play the media in RW, says it has a read error.

Still trying to figure out best way to delete projects after they are finished?

Thanks everyone for their help

Mmm, still didn't work. I just got my GL2 like 2 days ago so i'll try to capture with that.

-Kay

how about on VV 4?
 

which i got yesterday.. lo and behold i'm stuck on the same thing! Can y'all please advise me (again!) on how to get the .jpgs saved at 640x480?
thanks very much,
Nancy

Assuming you are on NTSC, You will get either 655x480 or 720x480 depending on whether or not you want square pixels. To get 655x480 (correct aspect ratio), just click on the Save Snapshot button. To get the full frame of 720x480, click on the copy to clipboard button and paste into your paint program. However, 640x480 is NOT an option.

If the date/time was not set on the camera when the tape was recorded, it will never detect scenes in Vegas. Scenalyzer can be used to detect via optical detection. Is the date/time set on the camera that recorded the tape?

<<<-- Originally posted by Glen Elliott : Does it also fix the problem with the sync tool not carrying the audio over from the top clip? -->>>


Not sure I completely understand the question. Sync Wizard has been working perfectly for me. One change between 1 and 1.5 is that the names are no longer case sensitive. I suspect this WILL fix your problem.

DE-INTERLACE: What am I Doing Wrong?
 

I captured interlaced footage then loaded it onto my hard drive via fire wire through Vegas 4.0.

1) I set the properties to NONE (deinterlace) and progressive scan. I even right clicked each clip and set the properties to deinterlace (progressive).

My footage still looked interlaced AND frame grabs still wobbled as if the footage was not deinterlaced. What am I doing wrong?

ALSO... I shot a wedding with my XL1s in FRAME mode and again set all properties to deinterlace and progressive. Frame grabs were AWESOME.

STUPID QUESTION #887: Does Vegas 4.0 see FRAME mode footage as 30p? What if I captured and edited FRAME mode footage and kept properties in deinterlaced mode?


HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP

In Vegas 4, there is a pull down menu above the preview window. It is probably set to "Best (auto)". Set it to "Best (full)" and then hit the save snapshot button (the floppy disk like button above the preview window).

Set the viewing size in the preview menu to 'full' and find a shot with interlaced artifacts. Go to the project properties and set the field order to "none (progressive)". Set the rendering quality to 'best' instead of 'good'. Set the interlace method to 'blend' or 'interpolate' rather than 'none'. Hit the apply button, and the picture in the preview window should become de-interlaced.