Just my experience, I think a lot depends on the amount of RAM and swap file. If I've been in Vegas for a while, working with several video files that are all several GBs in size, once I'm done and close Vegas, I have to let my pc just chill for a minute or two. Even after closing Vegas, I see all sorts of HD activity from the light on the case. What it's doing, I'm not sure, but I imagine it has to do with the swap file. Explorer is slow as a dog for a couple of minutes after using Vegas, but it eventually settles down and the speed returns. Granted, I only have 512MB of RAM, so more RAM will always help.

That will certainly depend on the amount of RAM indeed. Sounds
like your PC is swapping a lot indeed Bobby!

Going for a top gear look
 

So I'm new to editing but I have access to Vegas and Final Cut Pro. I am trying to achieve a look similar to the look of the Top Gear video shoots. The sky effects, the coloring, the lighting effects... I am unsure what questions I should even ask or where to start but I'd like to know which direction to go to get to my goal.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.
Top Gear - Evo8 MR FQ 400 vs. Lamborghini Murcielago

Correct equipment
 

I have worked with vegas for the past week. I want to make sure I have the proper set-up for my computer. This way if something seems funny I know it's me being a new user and not the equipment being not up to par.

I have a:
Sony Vaio 1.5 ghz pent4
256 ram
60 gb ultra ata/100 hd

My camera is a XL1s

Please feel free to tell me what I need or suggest a upgrade?

Most of my projects will be under 5 minutes a few might reach
15 minutes. I will not use to many transitions or special effects, I know that might make a difference with rendering times.

Also, I have no problem spending money for quality items.

Thank you for your time.
Matt

Assuming the computer also has firewire, it should work. I would look at getting more memory, though.

I have 2 i links on my computer to input video.

Imported Multimedia Clip Does Not Work
 

Hello, I've imported a multimedia clip (320x240 pixel) from the digital camera. I then imported to the media bin and to the timeline.
But the clip does not show up on the timeline and only the sound.
Only the sound plays in the timeline because the video itself is not shown on the timeline.

What could be the problem?

Videoclip Info: 320x240
Bit Rate: 88kbps
Audio Sample Size: 8 bit
Audio Format: PCm
Video Frame Rte: 15 frames/sec
Data Rate: 281kbps
.avi clip

I found the solution. :)
A mjpeg codec is required in order for Vegas to display clips imported from a digicam.

when I went to 640 megs of Ram Vegas 4 ran much better ...

Vince

DVD Authoring for VEGAS
 

I stupidly bought Vegas 5 w/out DVD Architect...I know I know. So how can I make the best of this situation since Sony doesn't appear to sell Architect seperately? Right now I'm authoring small projects with Nero 6.0, which is barebones.

You can upgrade from Vegas 5 to Vegas5 + DVD.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...id=10&PRCat=30

How do you shrink and move video in Vegas?
 

I want to keep the HD aspect ratio, shrink it, move it too lower left and put a 4:3 in top right, can this be done in Vegas 5?

I have read the manual and been trying all day but cant seem to do anything but shrink it using distort plugin but it keeps it centered, pan and crop doesnt seem to do it either.

The Vegas 5 to Vegas 5 + DVD upgrade is really your only choice. It's $300 to upgrade.

yea, ok.

take two movie files and put them in separate time lines. Over lap them a bit, so the top one is the one that is going to get shrunk.

then use "event pan/crop" icon that is on the video file you want to shrink is on the top timeline. <---very important, or else your small video will be behind the large one. "event pan/crop" is found on the timeline of the actual video file, it looks like a box with some shaggys hanging off two of the corners.

in "event pan /crop" resize the picture by clicking on one of the very small blue box in one of thecorners of the picture. click and drag it to make it scale. THE BIG "F" that is overlayed on the picture- make that F bigger. This will resize the image to make it smaller, watch the size grow or shrink in your preview.

Then you need to move it to a corner. Click on the CENTER of the big "F" so you see the four arrows cursor. Then drag the "F" into the corner you want.

thats it!

unfortunately you probably can't encode dolby audio right now, correct? if you do have some way of doing that, then what you might want to do is to also look at other dvd authoring software instead of dvd architect.

$300 is pretty cheap for a good dvd authoring package, but it never hurts to compare the capabilities of everything out there... for instance, how easy is it to create menus? will the dvd authoring package allow you to use different video frame sizes and bitrates on the same disc? etc.