yeah its your video overlay driver.. most likely this is an ATI gfx card?? i get this too.. also happens with media player sometimes, and when u resize the frame, u can bringback the image

Excalibur: How do I get a cut instead of a dissolve?
 

Subject line pretty much says it all…

In Vegas 6.0:

I’m using/trying Excalibur 5.0.3 demo (I own Excalibur 3)… I’ve added cams 1a and 2a to the toolbar, but when I use them (after running multi-cam), I get dissolves instead of clean cuts. How do I set the buttons to cut instead of dissolve?

Thanks!

PS -- Edward, I wish you well -- speedy recovery!

Duh... 'c' for cut

answered my own question!

After I have printed to tape, I will use that same file (after a few adjustment on the properties) and go to DVD architect. With the audio being -20db it will sound very faint on dvd architect. What audio levels should I raise the master up to for my destination??

Thanks

Actually, in "analog-ese," 0dB is the same as -20dBFS. However, WAY too much attention is paid to these numbers. The bottom line is that you want your output peaks to be in the range of -3dB to -.5dB, depending on the content and dynamics. If you are making work for broadcast and have more than 12dB of dynamic from your average, you've likely got too much happening and you need to level things out.

regarding reference scale/dB matching, www.atsc.org, read the whitepaper on levels.

Yep, "A" cameras dissolve "A"fter the marker
"B" cameras dissolve "B"efore the marker
"C" cameras "C"ut
"D" cameras do a standard "D"issolve centered on the marker

I'm sure you'll see that the Multi-cam tools have grown a lot since version 3 and is also now much faster as well. Since you're on Vegas 6, you don't even need to stop playback of the timeline in order to add new camera switches. Plus, you'll see that the tallys also dissolve indicating the length of the dissolve for you (naturally the tallys "cut" when you're using cuts).

A1u Low cut duplicate with Sony vegas?
 

I have the A1U and like the idea of the low cut filter, but actually like the sound better from having the filter off. I, of course, get extra noise this way. Does Sony V have built in audio filters to adjust for low noises?

Thanks guys

I wouldn't call it a "duplicate" but yes, Sony Vegas (and most other NLE's) have a low cut filter. The filter in A1u is passive, meaning it's not intelligently seeking a frequency and its harmonics. Doing the same thing in post is usually quite simple.

DVD Architect and PCM rendering
 

I am rendering a fairly short piece on DVD Architect (about 30 minutes worth of video). Are there any disadvantages of rendering audio using PCM rather than AC3, other than it taking up more disc space given its uncompressed nature. The quality of the audio seems better with PCM and the volumn is quite a bit louder on the DVD.

Can all DVD players handle PCM? What about playback on computer laptops?

Thanks.

-- Keith

Audio standards for DVD are either PCM uncompressed, or AC3 Dolby Digital

Elective formats are MPG2 and DTS

for a DVD player to carry the dvd logo it MUST be able to play AC3 AND PCM, therefore, u shouldnt have any issues with the compatibility.

as for volume levels, the ac3 encoder within vegas is fully customisable and there are many threads on this forum which detail its nuances

ParticleIllusion problems
 

Hi,

I tried asking this elsewhere and am still frustrated; I hope it's a simple error I'm committing....
I'm importing a 720 x 480 10-second clip into ParticleIllusion (PI)
as a background, adding my effects (in this case, snow),
then removing the background and rendering only the snow as
a TGA with alpha channel.

In Vegas, I am importing this TGA file as an image sequence and placing it above the desired footage on the timeline--and now it is snowing on my desired footage. Here are the problems:

1) the TGA file sequence has a size of 598x480x32, even though the project settings in PI were set to 720x480.


2) For whatever reason, the snow effect is at least twice as fast as it was in PI. In other words, after rendering it in PI, it is now snowing twice as fast as intended, plus what looked like snow in PI, now looks like square snowflakes;

In Vegas, I right click on the PI created file, select properties/and have these settings:

attributes: 598x480x32
format: Targa RLE
frame rate: 29.970 NTSC
field order: none (but I have tried changing it to lower field first with no success)
pixel aspect ratio: 0.9091 (NTSC DV)
alpha channel: pre-multiplied


When I right click the video file/properties/I have these settings:

720x480x24
format: DV
field order: lower field first
pixel aspect ratio: 0.9091 (ntsc dv)

For whatever reason, I'm still getting the special effects (snow) at what looks like twice the speed--maybe even faster than that--from what I created in PI. Yet the frame rates show they are identical.

And despite setting my settings for 720x480 in PI and hitting alt +3 before rendering, the size--as you can tell by the properties--is different.

Any help greatly appreciated!

--Dale

Yes -- ver 5 looks great. Thanks for the reply -- be well!

Vegas color correction tools
 

I am wondering, what is the advantage of paying a Co. like DVfilm to do uncompressed color correction on DV files destined for filmout as oppossed to doing it with the Vegas color correction tools. Thanks!!!

Washington Baltimore Vegas User Group (WBVUG) Meeting
 

Mark your calendars!

The next Washington Baltimore Vegas User Group (WBVUG) meeting will be held on Thursday, June 29th 2006, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm in Washington DC, NW. We currently have reserved an auditorium that seats 100 people so there is plenty of room for everyone.

So come on out and meet your fellow Sony Vegas video editors located in the Washington DC, Baltimore MD and Northern VA area!

Thanks and we hope to see you there.

For information, click here: http://www.oicproductions.net/wbvug.html

Mickey Grackin
mgrackin@oicproductions.net

"Render As..." undoes Track Motion on my clip
 

I'm trying to make a 256k Windows Media Video file for the internet from some XL1 footage, but first I want to get rid of the infamous black border bars.

I take my clip into Vegas, click the Track Motion... button on the video's track, and increase the dimensions of the clip to "grow" it enough so that the black border bars no longer show. The clip previews correctly.

Then I choose "Render As..." WMV, render, sit back and wait.

But the rendered WMV file still has the black border bars, as if the Track Motion enlargement was never applied.

What am I doing wrong? Thanks for the advice--