If your cam and the drive are on the same firewire card that could be a problem. The rest of the data looks good.

BTW, in Win2K and XP the drive's DMA by default is enabled.

Uh. . .cam and the drive on same card? If the camera's not even hooked up to the to my computer, does that matter? This isn't a problem I get with external monitor previews, I'm talking when it's the preview window in the timeline.

Well, whoever suggested rebuilding the peaks: brilliant! I don't know why, but it's been running smoothly since I did that. And I just received Vegas 4 today.

Thanks all for the feedback. I figured out my problem is when I apply a video effect I am not getting the keyframe timline beneath the effect window, so it must be keyframing from the main timeline, but I don't have any of those little keyframe diamonds. I do get the keyframe timeline with the track motion application however. I can't seem to figure out how to make it appear with video effects. Any ideas? I will check out the Sonic Foundry Forum as well. Thanks again.

any time you add a FX the 1st key frame is there in the FX time line ( bottom of FX window ) ... do a right click on the key frame ( square on it's edge) and choose HOLD if you want the color/brightness to hold your settings till the next key frame .. if you want it to change slowly to the next key frame then choose linear etc ...

to make key frame easier, below the FX time line click on the "lock" icon ( sync cursers) ..now where ever you put the curser in Vegas TL it will also be at the exact same place in the FX time line ... any changes you make to the FX will add a key frame at that TC ( you can slide the key frames- right click & drag ) ...

again on the key frames you can choose HOLD , linear ,fast slow, smooth ... i think it is defaulted to linear

Actually, it's very easy. Make the pop-up configuration screen BIGGER. It sounds like you need to enlarge it in order to see the keyframe lines. Just get on the top or bottom of the box and, when the arrow turns into the up/down arrow, click and resize it larger.

Thats the weird thing. My key frame window never comes up. Even with the video effects window as big as my monitor screen it is not there. Just a blank space below. Strangely, however, it is there if I want to apply track motion. It's got to be a simple mouse click that I've somehow bypassed to get it to come up.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I was able to discover the answer at the sonic foundry forum. Somehow I had inadvertently minimized the keyframe window seperately which made it invisible (which is a new feature on VV4 apparently).

Rendering problem with VV3
 

I have read a lot about VV3 in the forum, and have decided to give it a try.
Its pretty good.

The only problem is, when I start rendering the final output of the video.

The quality of the avi, or mpeg2 files produced seems pretty bad.
I have set the rendering to the 'best' and have altered a number of parameters as well, but the video still seems pretty bad compared to the previous program i used which is ulead.

Does anyone know what has gone wrong?
Thanks.

VV3 should be head and heels over Ulead. I have used both extensively. Could use some more information, size of files, settings, system setup etc. . . I always get better results with Vegas. Are you simply viewing the mpeg files, or are you burning them?

I guess I'll post more info.
Firstly, I click File, and render as.

Then, I save the video as AVI files.
I then click 'Custom' to change some settings.

I put 1) Video rendering quality to 'Best'
2) Motion Blur type - None
3) Resample the frame rate of all video (I've tried both click and unclick it but the video is still blocky)


Under the video option
1) Frame size - Pal DV standard
2) Frame rate - 25 (PAL)
3) Field order- Lower field first
4) Pixel Aspect Ratio - 1.093
5) Video format - PAL DV ( I suspect this is the one giving me problem as there are different compressors, but i've tried a few and the result is still the same )

6) Interleave every secs - 0.25
7) Create an OpenDML (AVI ver 2.0) Compatible file (Clicked)


I am not burning the files, just viewing the completed files. I am not too sure bout the system setup, but I have set it to all the best settings too under the project properties.

What should i check/do? thanks for ur help.

Check your project settings to make sure they are concurent with your render output settings. If its trying to do conversions and so on, you make get drops in output quality.


Zac

My project settings is as follows.

1) Template - PAL DV (720x576, 25.000 fps)
2) Width - 720
3) Height - 576
4) Field order - Lower field first
5) Pixel aspect ratio - 1.0926 (Pal DV)
6) Frame rate : 25.000 (PAL)
7) Full resolution rendering quality : Best

As I see it, it looks the same as the output. Hmm this is weird.
Anything else I should check?

Can you play the file back on another computer to see if it's a playback problem you're having? I had some problems that looked a bit like yours, and they went away when I defragged and did some tweaking of the memory handling etc. Turned out the renders were good, but the system couldn't handle the through-put in real time.
Tor

I dun think that its the system fault because I could still output better quality files from ulead n read them, which means my system should be able to read good avi files.

I thought something was wrong with the setting in VV3.
Does that mean all my settings is correct?
What could be the problem?

If you are viewing the video on the computer, you could be seeing interlacing issues. TV video is interlaced, computer video is NOT. How does it look when sent to a TV? If it looks normal on a TV then everything is fine. If you are really wanting to use it on a computer, then deinterlace it.

VV4 +NR please read.
 

Vegas Video 4.0 with Noise Reduction Plugin.

I footage I shot for a wedding and I discovered that I have echos and wind noise that drowned out the main audio. Can I fix this with NR and Vegas or should I look at Premiere 6.5 or maybe something else? If I can use NR...how? thanks.

Vegas 4.0+DVD
 

The thing about Vegas is that is so intuitive. Very small learning curve. Awesome software, I have not been able to find anything that Vegas was unable to produce for me. It is feature laden, stable and if you buy it via the upgrade or academic pricing, inexpensive for what you get. The DVD authoring program they offer has Dolby 5.1 AC3 encoder included.

I would also add that the performance of Vegas when you scroll and preview clips is superior to Adobe Premiere.

I work off both of them. I tend to 'quick edit' on VV and then dump it into Premiere for fine tuning.

Having worked on both Premiere and Vegas, I would definitely have this to say.

Vegas is a much faster layout and more intuitive interface and editing is quicker and easier to get you moving along. Not to mention real time previews of your transitions and corrections and effects. Premiere is a render happy tool. Yes the current version has real time but depending on the horsepower of your PC this may mean 8 fps. Chromakeying and other effects are much easier on Vegas. Remember Premiere was designed around the Mac as the ideal platform. Controls and stuff, much like Photoshop is designed around what a Mac User is used to. Whereas Vegas is a PC product that is PC friendly, the right click does what you intend it to do unlike Premiere. But I do complement Premiere on its titler program that is more robust and more professional than Vegas'. Premiere is also easier to work with when you cross other programs like After Effects and Photoshop. With all that said, Vegas is cheaper, easier and faster. Buy Vegas, because Sonic Foundry is in dire straights in the financial side and if we want to continue having great products designed for PC users then we should give them some cheddar.

Keith:

What's the nature of the "fine tuning" that you do in Premiere? Are these things that Vegas cannot do?

Will

To all:

For those using Vegas+DVD, could you describe the capabilities and limitations of DVD Architect? I've read the Web site and brochures, but I'm finding it difficult to put the product into context.

Also, how well integrated is DVD authoring with the NLE? The docs talk about placing chapter marks on the timeline that are exported to DVD architect. I'm not sure what that means or how well it works.

Thanks.
Will

Will, I've not had the occasion to use the DVD application in Vegas + DVD yet. I'd suggest you go to:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/default.asp and scroll down to Vegas Video Topics. Post your question there and you'll have more answers than you know what to do with.

Jay:

Thanks for the lead. I also found:

www.dmnforums.com
http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/he..._tutorials.asp

I'm still interested in any experiences from DViers.

Will

Vegas 3 camera detection problem
 

Here's an interesting one.
I'm having problems capturing video using Vegas 3 on my WinXP system. The camera is connected properly, and I can print video to tape with it perfectly. However, when I go to the Capture Video ..
First, I get a message window that says:
"The Device "No Capture Device" could not be opened.
Please Make sure that it is turned on and is not being used byu another application or user."
I click OK, then I get another message window saying:
"The device "Microsoft DV camera and VCR" Could not be opened.
Please makse sure it is turned on..."blah blah..
I click OK, and then I have the Video Capture screen, which shows no camera connected. I hit Reconnect and the same thing happens again.
Now, when I turn the power to the camera off, I get the same messages again.

It worked fine about 3 days ago, which was the last time I captured video.
THe video camera is a Canon ZR40 and I can capture video fine using Microsoft Movie Maker.


HEEEEEELP!

THanks

EDIT: Note, this is also the same result as what happens when you start the Video Capture when the camera is not turned on. But it is, and the DVIN on the camera is solid, not blinking.

Integration, well they are two separate programs, unless I'm usign them incorrectly, usually I would finish editing and then I encode using procoder and then use DVD Architech to make menus and the DVD.

In addition:
I've also tried starting the computer with the camera on, and various other methods of power on/off while opening the software.

At least this time I know it's a software problem, as the computer detects the video camera when I plug it in.

What driver is the firewire card using? If it is using a Texas Instruments driver, delete the card, reboot, let it auto-detect the card and use the Microsoft driver.

Vegas 5.1 sound
 

This so far works just like a dream I cant think of any way this could work better. Im just wondering if anyone has fooled around with this option and if so would they mind posting their results. I would enjoy hearing it.

Rob:D

I have Vegas 4 also, I'm trying to figure out how to talk my wife into a surround sound system, so I can try it out.

hmmm. . . a wise man once told me "It's easier to get forgiven, than ask permission".

My Device Manager lists under IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers that I have a "VIA OHCI COmpliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller"

I deleted it and let Windows re-detect it and it came back as the same thing.
Should I force it to use the Microsoft driver, and if so, how?


Thanks!

this really sounds like an issue with vegas.

check the settings in vegas3....you could always uninstall.reinstall vegas...if you can capture in micro$oft's movie maker it seems the issue lies strictly within vegas.

when you have the cam connected you should see it liseted under my computer in explorer...shows in mine in XP.

mes with vegas, may have to see what choices it has, but it sounds like XP recognizes the cam. i wouldnt force the driver on the card itself. inf files are only written for the device they are meant to function with. you could try manually changing the driver and see if it lists any others under.

check out: http://forums.viaarena.com

if you goto options/preferences in the capture you could choose "default all" on all the different panels...reset it.

Hey if it was werking three days ago, why not use tyhe system restore function...it will not erase and data files, only modify system changes.

Dylan---why dont you ask over at the
Sonic Foundry Vegas forum----some of the techs hang out in there an could probably answer your question---This is the first I have heard of anyone having a problem like that.

Text over clip in Vegas Video
 

Here's what I'm looking for.

I have my first clip play and it's 20 seconds. About 5 seconds into the clip, I want to place some "Generated Media" Text over top of the clip . So you can see the clip , and the text too. How do I go about doing this ?

Thanks in advance.

Jer

I think you will find the problem is related to "VIA". See if they have any updated drivers.

Add another video track above your current track. Drag any video preset into the new video track. The ones with the "checkerboard" background are transparent so the video below will show through.


Also, go to www.jetdv.com/tts and check out the newsletters - and the index reference which will give you a sneak preview of the contents of the next issue (i.e. Beginners Corner).

Go to "Media Generator", click on "text", then choose text with a transparent background (the background shows up as a gray checkerboard.) Drag your choice of text style to a video track above the clip you want to overlay. A text editing box will open. Type in the text you want. That's about it.

Thanks!
 

I was putting the text track under the video track. :(

Thanks..

Jer

well you can buy a $100 sound card that will allow you to work with the 5.1 within your computer. From there I assume that you can then have 3 sets of computer speakers or just those really nice kiplic (sp) sourround speakers that are the only THX certified computer speakers on the market.
Those speakers cost $300, so I think you might be spending just about the same for buying one of those full home theater systems that are prepackaged.

I dont have the sound card yet or the speakers. Alittle expensive, but I was still playing with the interface in vegas. It is the way I would like to see every interface work.

Rob:D

I'll check for drivers, but I don't see why it would stop working all of a suddent. It's been working fine for months and nothing has been changed on my editing system.