Vegas to DVD Architect = Problem
 

When I import my movie from Vegas to DVD architect there is a brief half a second of blackness (black frames) in the middle of my movie. What could be causing this? I have carefully made sure that the black frames are not in my original movie by going through the trouble area frame by frame in Vegas, but when I import the movie into DVD Architect there is a half-a-second of black frames in the middle of my movie. Anyone have any idea as to what is causing this? Thanks.

Ok, I am starting to notice (through previewing the movie before it is rendered to DVD) that sometimes it drops the frames, and sometimes it doesn't.

Are you rendering out of Vegas into a single mpeg2 file? Have you pulled the file into WindowsMediaPlayer or other players, as well as DVDA to compare results? Which do/don't show the unwanted black frames?

-cw-

>>Are you rendering out of Vegas into a single mpeg2 file?<<

No. I am simply importing the avi straight into DVD architect.

>>Have you pulled the file into WindowsMediaPlayer or other players, as well as DVDA to compare results?<<

Yes, I have played back the file on both Windows Media Player and Real Media Player and I do not see these brief blackened/dropped frames. Nor do they appear in Vegas.

>>Which do/don't show the unwanted black frames?<<

Only DVD architect does. Vegas, Windows Media Player, and Real Media Player play back the file perfectly fine.

Right now I have recaptured the trouble avi (spot) and reedited it into my main avi. It will take a few hours for me to re-render the whole movie, I will let you know if it still a problem. Thanks.

IMO DVDA3 is a bit "shaky" - I've produced 20+ DVDs over a short period of time using it and my work order was like this:

1. Edit in Vegas (6.0)
2. Render to MPEG2 using MC DVDA template(from vegas)
3. Render Wav from vegas
4. Make model project in DVDA3
5. Import the finished MPG & WAV into model project in DVDA
6. Save proj in DVDA using the correct name
7. Burn DVD

I've followed this procedure many times without dropping a frame :-)

Good luck!

// Lazze

Why render and import the audio separately? The MPEG-2 file you render with the DVDA template should have the video and PCM audio together. Or maybe I don't understand the template you're using.

Good luck.

Dennis

Usually the audio is rendered separately as an AC3 file. WAV should work fine. As for the audio in the MPEG file, I believe that audio is compressed so the WAV file should be superior.

The DVDA template dosen't export the audio by default. But instead of WAV, he should export audio to AC3 to avoid recompression in DVDA.

Aha, you are correct. Upon further reflection I realize I mistakenly stated that the audio in an MPEG-2 file would be PCM. It is, of course, MPEG-1 Layer II audio. WAV would be superior.

Sorry for the confusion.

Good luck.

Dennis

If he's starting with PCM audio and going to AC3 would there be any advantage to exporting the audio from Vegas as a WAV file and rendering to AC3 in DVDA vs. rendering to AC3 in Vegas? The audio will have to be rendered somewhere and as far as I know Vegas will use the same AC3 encoding engine as DVDA does, no? And there won't be any "recompression" if he exports a WAV file form Vegas for DVDA to use, right?

Good luck.

Dennis

You have more control when rendering in Vegas. DVDA doesn't present you with the "Custom" box like Vegas does.

Render video to mpeg2 and audio to ac3 in vegas, no more rendering in DVDA
 

Actually it was only yesterday that I had burned my very first video on DVD, I am very new to video editing.
I captured, edited and rendered the whole product to mpeg2 using Vegas. When preparing to write the DVD in DVDA the audio had to be rerenderd to ac3. The quality of the product seemed OK, but this was rendering the audio twice, which, besides consuming time, I suppose is not ideal quality wise.

I have just made a first short trial only, but I guess this should be the better way:
Rendering the video and audio separately to mpeg2 and ac3 respectively in Vegas, no more rendering in DVDA required. ( I feared synchronization issues, but to my delight opening the mpeg2 and ac3 files one after the other in DVDA they came out perfectly well synchronized )

Is this the way to go?

Yes.

I have the full procedure outlined in my newsletter (Vol 1 #7 I think). Just click on the link under my name.