I have used Vegas for a couple years but am just getting around to setting up a little Toshiba TV as an external monitor. I could use some help on getting it to work.

I've read everything I can but am still stumped.

Here is what I tried:

I connected my PDX10 camera to the computer via firewire, using the same connection I use to capture video.

I connected the S-video on the PDX10 to the S-video on the TV.

I set the "preview device" in preferences to "OHCI compliant IEEE 1394/DV"

I selected the "preview on external monitor" button on the upper left hand side of the preview window.

I get the message "preview on external monitor" in the preview window since I selected to not show simultaneous preview.

But I can not get any preview on the TV. The S-video cable works because I can see my recorded video (on tape). I played around with the analog/digital switches in my camera, but to no avail. I am using Vegas 7d.

The only thing I can think of is the Sony pdx10 camera can not do DV to analog out (I know it can do analog in to digital out) but I can not find any information in my users manual about this.

One other tidbit - when I switch to external preview and then try to pause or stop the video playback on the timeline, my computer becomes unresponsive, even though CPU usage never exceeds 10% (Q6600 processor). It evenually responds but only after 15 or so seconds. If I turn off my camera, everything is fine again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Is there a menu setting to change on the camera changing from firewire out to firewire in?

The only setting I can find is "A/V to DV out", which can be set to on or off. I have tried both settings but neither worked.

I also tried to set the "display" on my camera to "V-out/LCD", which then shows the same thing on the camera display and TV.

You might have to go another solution..you can get a digital to analog convertor box or try to connect the monitor directly to your video card using s-video...but the image is very mediocre at best.

So you're saying my camera can not do DV to analog pass through. Anyone with a pdx10 know if this is true?

If I need to buy a DV to analog converter, any suggestions? I am non-professional, making DVDs for family use only.

Thanks.

Hi Steve, have u made sure that in preference/preview device you have 'conform output to the following format' selected to the same format as your project? i.e if you have a ntsc project setting and u have your display conformed to pal format it wont play. Also make sure your camera is in the right mode to pass video through it, i use a vx2100 and i have to be in dv in mode for it to work. Oh and just to let you know your camera can do this incase you were in doubt, also have you tried connecting using rca instead of svideo?

Daniel,

Thanks! Got it working.

It was the first problem you mentioned. I had different aspects set in the project and external monitor options. Once I set both to the same format (DV widescreen), I got both the preview and external monitor (TV) working at the same time.

Glad to hear you got it working. Happy editing.