Vegas Video discussions from 2005 (Q3Q4)

Matthew Lombardo · November 21st, 2005, 04:54 PM

I have Vegas 5 and Photoshop CS and wanted to add some software to improve future projects. Could anyone suggest some software you would want in addition to Vegas and Photoshop CS. I would like to make great DVD menus and some effects and titles. Any must haves?

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 21st, 2005, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Lombardo

I have Vegas 5 and Photoshop CS and wanted to add some software to improve future projects. Could anyone suggest some software you would want in addition to Vegas and Photoshop CS. I would like to make great DVD menus and some effects and titles. Any must haves?

I'd recommend having Swish/Flash of some kind in there, those really help. You'll be surprised at what you can build with CS. Richard Harrington has a great DVD set out for doing exactly this.
Another handy tool is Bluff Titler, and same with Heroglyph. But in terms of DVD menus, CS or CS2 are wonderful for most applications, unless you're looking to build multi-layer vid.
What I often do is build part of my menus in Photoshop, with transparency in certain areas, and then put those into Vegas, to create deeper motion menus.

Vince Debart · November 21st, 2005, 07:41 PM

thanks Lance

Matthew Lombardo · November 21st, 2005, 08:09 PM

Thank you Douglas, look forward to seeing you next time you travel to NYC.

Steven Davis · November 22nd, 2005, 07:40 AM

So here is what I'm working on http://www.johnrofrano.com/tutorials/parentmotion.htm

I wanted the clips to continue indefinately, and I understand how to repeat the motion group of clips to make that happen.

Where I am having issues is, in the preview. I don't have an external monitor so I use the preview on the computer. And it is so jerky and lagged it's impossible to really use.

I just built my NLE, it's an AMD dual core 3800 with 2 gigs of ram and the new Matrox Melinium with 128megs of ram.

I was thinking about turning off the preview on each clip to see if that would make a difference. By preview, I mean when you look at the clip on the timeline you can see it's actual view.

For what ever reason with 21 clips running on the scroll, the preview is terrible, lagged even on the lowest preview settings. BTW, I'm not using the audio, these are only video clips.

I'm a little annoyed that with a brand new system, that this idea is dragging so bad.

I guess I need a new approach to my issue.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 22nd, 2005, 07:43 AM

What quality do you have your preview set to? For HDV, it's best to be at Preview/Auto.

DMA enabled on all drives? You're not using your C: drive for media, right?
Are you editing m2t streams, proxies, or CineForm DI's?

Steven Davis · November 22nd, 2005, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

What quality do you have your preview set to? For HDV, it's best to be at Preview/Auto.

DMA enabled on all drives? You're not using your C: drive for media, right?
Are you editing m2t streams, proxies, or CineForm DI's?

I'll have to check [at my slave job right now] when I get home about what preview settings I have. I've tried every one of them, even the lowest quality, but at that point alignment of the clips is impossible.

DMA should be enabled on all my drives, but I don't use my C drive for media storage, I possibly may use it for the project files, but not the video files themselves. I'm using my finished mpeg 2s for this project.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 22nd, 2005, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

I'm using my finished mpeg 2s for this project.

There is no way any non-hardware assisted system can decode m2t files and have track motion for several files, while still giving reasonable playback. This is why proxies and/or CineForm are recommended, or in your case...required.

Steven Davis · November 22nd, 2005, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

There is no way any non-hardware assisted system can decode m2t files and have track motion for several files, while still giving reasonable playback. This is why proxies and/or CineForm are recommended, or in your case...required.

So this is your recommendation?

http://www.cineform.com/products/ConnectHD.htm

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 22nd, 2005, 09:01 AM

Assuming your system is faster than 3.2 GHz, yes. There are other options as well.
Keep in mind, the CineForm intermediary is included with Vegas 6 if you have that. It's getting to it that takes a little extra time. There is also GearShift, which is a VASST product, which does all the work for you.
http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...d-aa4954c324a3
You can download a 14 day demo of both the full-blown CineForm (which is a wonderful asset) and download a 14 day demo of GearShift as well.

Steven Davis · November 22nd, 2005, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

Assuming your system is faster than 3.2 GHz, yes. There are other options as well.
Keep in mind, the CineForm intermediary is included with Vegas 6 if you have that. It's getting to it that takes a little extra time. There is also GearShift, which is a VASST product, which does all the work for you.
http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...d-aa4954c324a3
You can download a 14 day demo of both the full-blown CineForm (which is a wonderful asset) and download a 14 day demo of GearShift as well.

Thank you, I just bought Vegas 6 a month ago. Thank you for your time and help.

Michael Pace · November 22nd, 2005, 11:36 AM

Sigh.

I just typed hammer and tongs asking you experts why a wav render would consistently crash at 78%, whether on a 101 minute long project or a 2.5 minute long one (made both sizes fail at the same 78% this morning).

I believe in Searching before posting and gleaned this little nugget about checking yr RAM allocation in Vegas if having render-crash issues. So i lowered my RAM cache from 300Mb down to 20, just a bit more than the default 16Mb value. (I'd jacked that value up last year when doing a project that needed dynamic previews constantly)

So while composing my 'Help!' post this morning I set the 101-minute long movie audio to rendering, expecting to get yet another data point in the crash cycle. Typed many paragraphs to you all, setting up the conditions, the specs, the subtle variables etc that might explain why i've been unable to render any audio today past the 78% threshold.

Welll....looks like it was the RAM value. The full 101 minute movie audio just now rendered normally and plays perfectly. No sweat.

Hope this still serves as a data point for someone--

Still a valid question: when would anyone use W64 as a wav template?? That "Render large audio files as W64" option in Prefs has always intrigued me, but neither in Vegas nor Forge can i find info on when to use it.

Valid question #2: how much benefit is afforded by rendering say, several tracks of music and effects to a new single track? That's what i first assumed was the choke point this morning: a scene that had 9 tracks of M&E, with much panning, vol envelopes, and pitch shifts-- the ref to new-track rendering in the help files mentions downmixing as a means of conserving processor power-- what's the scoop? DSE??

Best wishes all,

MRP

Jeff Mack · November 22nd, 2005, 01:00 PM

I have decided for my projects that I will hire out the camera work to be shot in HDCam. I want to do the editing and have a 32 bit processor so I can't add a deck link card. I am going to upgrade my whole system to handle HDSDI. Can anyone tell me if Vegas can edit uncompressed w/o Decklink? I am considering a system such as Matrox with it's own real time pci card vs an onboard video card. If I capture this way, can Vegas still recognize the capture?

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 22nd, 2005, 02:06 PM

Vegas will recognize the captured *files* but won't recognize the capture card.
Workflow would be:
1. Capture using Matrox (or other card) and accompanying software.
2. Open files in Vegas, edit, render
3. Print to tape using Matrox card and accompanying software.

Vegas doesn't use any of the accelerator functions, nor codec functions of the Decklink card. It simply uses it as a recognized I/O

Matthew Lewis · November 22nd, 2005, 10:41 PM

Hi all,
I'm trying to convert a medical symposium video (shot in NTSC) to PAL for some overseas customers, and i'm having some major problems!! I've re-rendered each Vegas file (i'm still using Vegas 4) to PAL format, and am trying to rebuild the DVDA projects with the new PAL mpeg2 files. First, i observe that the DVDA project becomes much bigger in file size (as much as 2 GB bigger) when set to PAL output. I am currently trying to compensate for that by decreasing the filesize. However, the biggy is that DVDA keeps wanting to recompress the audio (ac3). It's the same audio i've been using in the NTSC versions of the DVD with no problem. It's also out of sync. Any ideas? Am i missing something or doing something incorrectly?
I appreciate any and al input. My customers are great and very patient, but i'm looking forward to shipping some copies and getting the project out of my hair!
Kind Regards,
matt lewis

November 21st, 2005, 04:54 PM	#1186
Matthew Lombardo Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Palm Desert, CA. Posts: 46	Software to add to Vegas I have Vegas 5 and Photoshop CS and wanted to add some software to improve future projects. Could anyone suggest some software you would want in addition to Vegas and Photoshop CS. I would like to make great DVD menus and some effects and titles. Any must haves?

November 22nd, 2005, 07:40 AM	#1190
Steven Davis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 3,065	Choppy preview with many clips So here is what I'm working on http://www.johnrofrano.com/tutorials/parentmotion.htm I wanted the clips to continue indefinately, and I understand how to repeat the motion group of clips to make that happen. Where I am having issues is, in the preview. I don't have an external monitor so I use the preview on the computer. And it is so jerky and lagged it's impossible to really use. I just built my NLE, it's an AMD dual core 3800 with 2 gigs of ram and the new Matrox Melinium with 128megs of ram. I was thinking about turning off the preview on each clip to see if that would make a difference. By preview, I mean when you look at the clip on the timeline you can see it's actual view. For what ever reason with 21 clips running on the scroll, the preview is terrible, lagged even on the lowest preview settings. BTW, I'm not using the audio, these are only video clips. I'm a little annoyed that with a brand new system, that this idea is dragging so bad. I guess I need a new approach to my issue. __________________ What happens if I push the 'Red' button?

November 22nd, 2005, 07:43 AM	#1191
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	What quality do you have your preview set to? For HDV, it's best to be at Preview/Auto. DMA enabled on all drives? You're not using your C: drive for media, right? Are you editing m2t streams, proxies, or CineForm DI's? __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

November 22nd, 2005, 09:01 AM	#1195
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	Assuming your system is faster than 3.2 GHz, yes. There are other options as well. Keep in mind, the CineForm intermediary is included with Vegas 6 if you have that. It's getting to it that takes a little extra time. There is also GearShift, which is a VASST product, which does all the work for you. http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...d-aa4954c324a3 You can download a 14 day demo of both the full-blown CineForm (which is a wonderful asset) and download a 14 day demo of GearShift as well. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

November 22nd, 2005, 11:36 AM	#1197
Michael Pace Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: La Florida Posts: 68	yo, learning curve!! Sigh. I just typed hammer and tongs asking you experts why a wav render would consistently crash at 78%, whether on a 101 minute long project or a 2.5 minute long one (made both sizes fail at the same 78% this morning). I believe in Searching before posting and gleaned this little nugget about checking yr RAM allocation in Vegas if having render-crash issues. So i lowered my RAM cache from 300Mb down to 20, just a bit more than the default 16Mb value. (I'd jacked that value up last year when doing a project that needed dynamic previews constantly) So while composing my 'Help!' post this morning I set the 101-minute long movie audio to rendering, expecting to get yet another data point in the crash cycle. Typed many paragraphs to you all, setting up the conditions, the specs, the subtle variables etc that might explain why i've been unable to render any audio today past the 78% threshold. Welll....looks like it was the RAM value. The full 101 minute movie audio just now rendered normally and plays perfectly. No sweat. Hope this still serves as a data point for someone-- Still a valid question: when would anyone use W64 as a wav template?? That "Render large audio files as W64" option in Prefs has always intrigued me, but neither in Vegas nor Forge can i find info on when to use it. Valid question #2: how much benefit is afforded by rendering say, several tracks of music and effects to a new single track? That's what i first assumed was the choke point this morning: a scene that had 9 tracks of M&E, with much panning, vol envelopes, and pitch shifts-- the ref to new-track rendering in the help files mentions downmixing as a means of conserving processor power-- what's the scoop? DSE?? Best wishes all, MRP

November 21st, 2005, 07:41 PM	#1188
Vince Debart Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Denver Posts: 254	thanks Lance

November 21st, 2005, 08:09 PM	#1189
Matthew Lombardo Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Palm Desert, CA. Posts: 46	Thank you Douglas, look forward to seeing you next time you travel to NYC.

November 22nd, 2005, 01:00 PM	#1198
Jeff Mack Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: McKinney, TX Posts: 195	HDCam in Vegas I have decided for my projects that I will hire out the camera work to be shot in HDCam. I want to do the editing and have a 32 bit processor so I can't add a deck link card. I am going to upgrade my whole system to handle HDSDI. Can anyone tell me if Vegas can edit uncompressed w/o Decklink? I am considering a system such as Matrox with it's own real time pci card vs an onboard video card. If I capture this way, can Vegas still recognize the capture?

November 22nd, 2005, 02:06 PM	#1199
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	Vegas will recognize the captured files but won't recognize the capture card. Workflow would be: 1. Capture using Matrox (or other card) and accompanying software. 2. Open files in Vegas, edit, render 3. Print to tape using Matrox card and accompanying software. Vegas doesn't use any of the accelerator functions, nor codec functions of the Decklink card. It simply uses it as a recognized I/O __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

November 22nd, 2005, 10:41 PM	#1200
Matthew Lewis New Boot Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 19	Need serious help! NTSC to PAL conversion and audio sync Hi all, I'm trying to convert a medical symposium video (shot in NTSC) to PAL for some overseas customers, and i'm having some major problems!! I've re-rendered each Vegas file (i'm still using Vegas 4) to PAL format, and am trying to rebuild the DVDA projects with the new PAL mpeg2 files. First, i observe that the DVDA project becomes much bigger in file size (as much as 2 GB bigger) when set to PAL output. I am currently trying to compensate for that by decreasing the filesize. However, the biggy is that DVDA keeps wanting to recompress the audio (ac3). It's the same audio i've been using in the NTSC versions of the DVD with no problem. It's also out of sync. Any ideas? Am i missing something or doing something incorrectly? I appreciate any and al input. My customers are great and very patient, but i'm looking forward to shipping some copies and getting the project out of my hair! Kind Regards, matt lewis