Here is how I believe it works:

Auto save files are created as specified in Preferences.

When you normally save a file, the current file is renamed to .BAK before the new version is saved to .VEG. So, that BAK file would be your PREVIOUS save.

main concept have actually released a standalone encoder as well, on top of that, their app Main Actor 5.1 is a great lil tool (not as good as vegas thou), which is great for use with individual clips which require effects. There are numerous particle generation media effects available, and i find it to be a great lil companin for Vegas...

cant wait for Boris!!!!!

yes that did the trick Peter. thanks for the info.

VidCap40 keeps crashing
 

I don't know if this is a Win2k issue or not, XP users seem to have fewer problems with Vegas... But, My VidCap40 utility is extremely unstable. It'll lock up without a reason, crash at the end of a capture session, or (right now) crash as soon as any tape activity starts.

I had this problem previously with 3.0. 4.0's capture utility doesn't appear to have changed much in features or function.... It certainly crashes as just as often!

I do not believe my FireWire is to blame.

Well, I have Vegas running on a Win2K system that capture works with wonderfully. I would recommend a full reinstall of Vegas if you are getting serious crashes and/or a full reinstall of Windows. Also, some cards cause more problems than others. Without more info, it is impossiple to diagnose a problem. For example, sometimes other software can cause problems. Are there any other editors installed? Particularly, anything from Pinnacle?

There are no other editors installed. Maybe it's time to give Windows an overhaul. I could probably put Windows XP Pro CD to use now...

I had a similar problem with Vegas. All of a sudden, it started crashing whenever I tried to capture DV video from my camcorder. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and the problem was solved.

Before you reinstall anything, make sure you've read Sonic Foundry's Knowledge base article on Print to tape/Capturing.
It's here

AVI Codecs.... wierd one
 

okies, im using vidcap 4 to capture as raw dv...
now in the poprties of the file i see the codec being used is
"miroDV2AVI"

i have never heard of this??
and when i try to print to tape after, after rendering as PAL DV in vegas, it gives me error messages stating that its the "wrong codec"

now i dont actualy have an issue with the codec, its just that one day i may need to print to tape and id liek the know the best way abotu doing this... with Vegas 3 i never had a problem...

Audio Filters- applying them at the master, track, and event levels?
 

I'm in the midst of editing a wedding in which the audio is a bit lacking due to the rumbling air conditioning system of the church (why do they always sound 100x louder on video?!). Anyway I'm trying to tweak the audio of the vows to help improve it's clarity. I'm working with both the Noise Reduction Plug-in and the Track Compressor.

I'm using Noise reduction to cut out alot of the rumble caused by the central air in the building and am using the Track Compressor to try and get my db back that was lost inadvertantly due to running Noise reduction.

Now I see you can add audio filters on three levels, the master (which affects all), track (which affects the selected track), and event (which only affects the selected event). Why is adding an audio filter on the event level automatically a "non-realtime" effect which requires rendering and applying it at the track or master levels doesn't?

Conversly if anyone has any good input as to how I can go about using the various audio filters more effectively please do tell- I'm an audio newb. Thanks in advance!

I don't think it will ever be possible to render to MPEG2 over
multiple computers. Why? Because with mpeg2 compression
a new frame stores only the changes from the last frame [full
frames are stored every now and then as well]. So if you have
3 computers and computer 1 renders frame 1, 4, 7 and computer
2 renders 2, 5, 8 how can it use the information from the frames
rendered by computer 1?

So I don't see we'll ever getting that. In theory you could use
a "renderfarm" for a format that doesn't use such a compression
algorithm like DV or MJPEG. But that aren't the formats that take
so long to compress.

The only thing that might be possible with MPEG2 is a complete
rewrite of the MPEG2 encoder that sends out packets of work
accross an mpeg2 client network. But that will be a lot of progamming
and with very fast CPU's falling down rapidly in price I doubt this
would be worth the investment.

You could always get a dedicated mpeg2 encoder board.

Keep in mind that you can change the inner color of the text,
the outer border AND the background color [which is transparent
by default]....

Usually such things are created with particles [particle effects].
Most serious 3D packages have particles and can work with them
to create fire, smoke etc.

As John pointed out you can also get real fire, explosions smoke
and what not from companies. They are usualy shot in front of
a blue screen or black background so you can mask them out or
use a supplied alpha mask.

Keep in mind that if you go down the route of using existing
footage it might be wise to have a lamp on set that you ramp
up fast in intensity [from nothing] and fast down again so
shadows and highlights etc. will sort of match the fireball footage.
Perhaps you need to balance the light towards red/orange/yellow
a bit [depending on the footage]

I usually add them to the track level and had never noticed that. You can also add them to busses!

Had never noticed what- that if you add them to the event level it requires rendering? The only thing I can think of why adding audio filters at the event level requires rendering is because it's the only way to add an audio effect as a separate take. I just figured I'd ask to see if you guys had some more detailed insite.

PS Is there book/etc that I can read up about all the various audio filters and how to use them effectivly. The instruction manual doesn't cover it in the least.