Connecting a TV
 

Hey Folks,

I want to hook up a small TV to my computer so that I can preview the look of things. Are there any recommendations on how to do this? I want to try and avoid two things, confusing the computer and having the TV magnets interferre with my computer monitors.

Thanks Folks

Michael Estepp

Computer -> firewire -> Camera/Convertor/Deck -> S-Video or RCA -> TV

Here's a good converter (cheap too, esp compared to the canopus advc-100):

Link to

Reclaiming Hard Drive Space: A Mystery
 

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but since it indirectly involves Vegas 5, here we are!

I've been capturing clips into Vegas, making compilations on DVD. Sometimes the files add up to alot per project (i.e. 50 GB). After I'm done with a compilation I send all the files to the recycle bin. Zap. But each time I check my hard drive contents as to reclaimed space (that is, I capture 50 GB and then delete it after the project is done, expecting to be back where I started), I never seem to entirely recover the space previously used up. It's like I'm getting diminishing returns of reclaimed space on my hard drive after deleting each project. For every recycle bin session there seems to be a residual amount of GBs I never get back. I usually delete files from My Documents, since that's where the files are, but are there hidden, undeleted "shadow files" somewhere else? This is really baffling to me, but I hope it isn't to any of you!

Are you emptying the recycle bin too? The hard disk space is not allocated back until you do that. (Right-click - Empty Recycle Bin)

Also are you deleting the DVD files? They might be the culprit. I usually keep those though, just in case I need to re-create the DVD.

Yes, as to the Recycle Bin--and it goes "scrunch!" I also delete the DVD files after awhile. Could there be such a thing though as "phantom files?"

You can try the utility "treesize" to help you out. I prefer the freeware version over the pro one.

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

I agree with Glenn-- "Treesize" is a great little utility. You probably have a directory somewhere that is having intermediate media files added to it, and Treesize will point it out.

Do you have Norton Utilities installed? Is IT'S Recycle Bin empty?

Thanks for the tips but I hit upon a solution right under my nose. I found "Disk Cleanup" in the XP software. I opted for eliminating "unnecessary" compressed files (which I never actually saw listed anywhere). Once done I regained 60 GB of free space!! Anyway, I do appreciate all your input.

Render as .avi and .mpg2 and ?
 

Hello. After you have completed editing your final video, in what format do you save as/render as to archive your work?

I always render as .avi format for future use and I started rendering as .mpg2 format to use for dvd authoring.

Properties -> Add title, author, and copyright info
 

Hello, I like to make the video clip show the title, the artist, and the copyright information when played in Windows Media Player.
I go to File -> Properties -> Summary -> and add all the information.

After I render the clip, the video only shows "Playlist: Playlist1" and "Clip: Title"


How do you add the title, artists, and copyright information on the actual clip?

Thank you in advance.

Quality Loss Question
 

Ok, writing over tapes has finally caught up with me. I found myself wanting to re-use some footage from last summer and I have already overwritten the tape containing the scene I need. I have been able to extract the audio and video off a master DVD and convert it to .avi but am worried about the quality loss when re-compressing the already once compressed footage back to mpeg2 & ac3 for DVD. Will there be a noticable degradation in image and/or sound quality???

Beginner Question
 

I have been shooting western action videos and editing them with windows movie maker for about 2 years. I have a Sony PDX10 on order and want to upgrade my editing software too. I have a lot of my videos hosted on Neptune. Is Vegas too big of a jump for me to go to for NLE software? I know there will be a learning curve. I have a fairly late model HP Pavillion Pentium 4 and a 150 GB hard drive. I would appreciate any advice.

Download the trial and have a play about, thats the easy answer and that is what they are there for.

I found vegas very easy to pick up and at the same time very intuitive. In contrast I found premiere to be more cumbersome (others will tell of their experiences differently). At the end of the day it is another one of those eye of the beholder answers.

If you are serious about editing you will definately not regret moving away from WMM. I don't think it will be hard to transfer the skills you have learnt from WMM to any of the more serious NLE's out there and at the same time you will open up a lot more possibilities in your post production.

Vegas is the type of software that you can use as little as or as much as you want. If you get it and start doing simple edits - that's fine. But then you still have the power to grow as your abilities and needs increase as well.

While there is always some loss, how does the new AVI file look? Your final render should look very similar.

I always to a print to tape to archive the final product. I render to MPEG2 when creating DVDs. As for archiving the project, keep the VEG file, any added media, and the original tapes. You can always recapture the original footage.

James, I played with Premier some time back and also found it cumbersome, but of course I didn't spend a lot of time to learn to use it. As I recall it locked up on me a lot, which was not fun.

This site is amazing for the knowledge that people here have. I will use it a bunch I know.

File - Render As - WMV format - Custom - Go to the LAST tab.

Magic bullet help
 

I can't get Magic Bullet LTD. to run in vegas for some reason. Everytime I download and install the program it only puts the unintaller on my computer. What am I doing wrong? I have downloaded and installed other plugins and they're working fine. The Magic bullet plugin shows up in vegas, but when I click to use it, it comes up as an error and exits me out of Vegas altogether. I want to use this program to see if I want to purchase MBE.

I would recommend using Track Motion (button on the video track header) instead of Event Pan/Crop for dual-view output like you want. That's what it's designed for.

Like John said, put each clip on a separate track and then use Track Motion to compose their output in the final output frame.

///d@
Sony Media Software

The avi looks good on external preview to a 13" TV. I guess it's just knowing it could be a hair better if I had kept that tape. Makes me crazy....... (obsessive-compulsive)

I'm running a 1Ghz AMD Athlon and 384 MB SDRAM and my time varies according to the complexity and number of tracks in the timeline. If I render to avi my times are typically much faster than rendering to mpeg2. Throw in some event effects and panning and those then become the bottleneck. Rendering a simple 1.5 hour dance recital with some stock transitions and very few effects to mpeg2 took less than 6 hours while rendering a 1.2 hour wedding with 9 tracks(a couple of them 3D tracks), lots of keyframes, and lots of effects to mpeg2 took over 9 hours. The 3D track movement really seems to bring my system to its knees. All times are at the "Good" setting for render quality.

It should show up on the effect tab and is added just like adding any other effect.

you can use any ac3 encoder you want to make ac3 audio, so if you already have one, why buy another?

after awhile, you begin to realize that most of these editing packages that include dvd authoring software have too many limitations... vegas5+dvd could be the best of the bunch, but i bet that dvdlab pro runs rings around it when it comes to making serious dvd's.

most of us probably won't need that kind of capability, but if it's in your future plans, start looking at your options now.

A Better Setup for my PC?
 

I have a Asus P4PE with a Geforce 4 64 meg video card.
Pentium 4 2.4 Gig CPU.
40 GIG IDE ata100 Hard Drive.
1 stick of Crucial 512Meg. PC2700 DDR ram.

I am thinking I should get A SATA Hard Drive as an addition to my other. I am using Vegas 5.0 w DVDA.

Should I Upgrade my CPU to Hyperthreading Level, or Get more Ram first.

Could someone who is smarter than I (most poeple on this forum) maybe rank these steps in order of importance and possibly add others I'm not thinking of.

Tweaks To Computer Using XP Pro & Vegas 5 w DVDA?
 

Could anyone post links to tweaks I could or should make on an editing computer? I found some good info on the videoguys site. Is there any other good info availible for mining on the net?

More RAM can definitely help. Consider getting a second 512 Meg stick.

More hard drive will be NEEDED. The 40 Gig drive will be too small to do any serious work. Get a second drive for your media.

I make no vouches for any of these places but simply typing in "XP Tweaks" in Google yields MANY possible places. In addition to Video Guys tips, you might also check:

www.tweakxp.com/
www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/ ...powertoys.mspx
www.musicxp.net/
www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011204S0009

Settings
 

Hello,
I'm a new user and have been using vegas for a few weeks now. I was wondering if someone could help me out and give me some examples of the settings they use in vegas to post video to the internet.

Most of my work will be online at my website. Clips may be 5 minutes. Just not sure what setting may work best to get the best video for other viewers.

I have been experimenting a bit with different compressions, but not sure which is correct if any?

Thank you for your help,

Matt

I agree, you definitely need more storage space. 1 hour of minidv footage = 13GB. I find it very difficult to do any project without at least 60GB minimum free.

(Which is why I recently bought a 300GB SATA drive for $206). If cost is a concern, you could even pick up a 200GB ATA drive for about $110.

I have an SATA port to use and its my understanding that they're faster. I will also Upgrade my ram. Any way to configure SATA and Original ATA drive? Example i've heard Only media on bigger drive.

Edward as much as you reply on this forum and others you must be injecting coffee!

Thanks for the input guys!

Shaky .avi after rendering
 

Hello,

So yeah like the subject. It did this, I reinstalled windows and vegas (clean on a new hardrive). And this is STILL happening!! Anyone have any ideas? Other formats don't have this problem.

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Moore : Edward as much as you reply on this forum and others you must be injecting coffee! -->>>

I don't even drink coffee!!!

Keep all of your OS/programs on your 40 gig drive. Use the new drive strictly for media files.

SATA is generally faster because they are the newer model drives. For DV work, you really won't see a practical speed difference between PATA and SATA.

A hyperthreading processor won't really help things, although a higher clock speed processor will. 800FSB versus 533FSB (front side bus) also makes a few percent difference in speed, as does hyperthreading.

I'd hold off upgrading as you're not going to see a big jump in performance right now (around 30% in render speed with a 3.2ghz Pentium processor... assuming it's compatible). Wait until faster processors come out, when you can upgrade your motherboard + processor + RAM at the same time (you'll likely need to do all three at the same time, as a newer motherboard may need newer DDR2 RAM).

2- Your system is likely good enough to edit video with. Vegas doesn't need a bleeding edge computer. Just get more hard drive space and you're set. Maybe dual monitors if you don't have that already.

If you rendered to UNCOMPRESSED .avi, most systems would have trouble playing that back in real time to an external monitor without some jittering. Does this happen when you render to standard DV format .avi's from Vegas?
Ken

Please take a look at our pretty extensive thread on Top Gear and
how they achieve "the look":

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=33117

That is correct indeed. The problem was probably not even the
MJPEG codec but that you had a wrong one. There are two codec
standard on Windows:

- Video for Windows (VfW, the old one)
- Directshow (the new one)

You probably already had a codec if you could play the movies in
mediaplayers, but it probably would've been a VfW codec (which
is often the case with MJPEG codecs). I'd bet you now got a
Directshow MJPEG codec, but ofcourse I could be wrong, hehe.

Glad it all worked out!

Matthew: just so you know: i.Link = IEEE1394 = firewire