Vegas Video discussions from 2006 (Q1Q2)

George Lilly · June 22nd, 2006, 10:38 PM

I captured someones old wedding footage just to burn to a dvd for them. The video "is" a little more than an hour long. I added a little color correction in Vegas 6. ( Which I had just purchased) It is taking literally days to render. Eventually it just freezes and I would have to start over. This is VERY Frustrating!! At first I was very pleased with Vegas 6, as it seemed much faster than 5.0 and also had more capabilities. I have a pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, 756 megs of ram. I have an ATI Visiontek X1300 video card with 512 mb of AGP, with around 100 gigs of hard drive space. Is it my settings? I hope I am just doing something wrong when I render. I recently ordered a HD100 and if I am getting these kind of results from Vegas 6.0 with regular video I am going to have problems down the road. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Jarrod Whaley · June 22nd, 2006, 11:09 PM

Just a wild hunch, but are there any processes running that might be tying up your RAM? Has your system been running continuously since the first time you tried to render? Have you tried rebooting and then starting the render?

Sorry for asking such general questions, but there could be all kinds of things going on that might cause a problem like this. To me, these things seem like a good place to start.

Richard Firnges · June 23rd, 2006, 04:22 AM

Hello Ian,

at least these are my experiences. Vegas seem to render the single frame with a pixel aspect ration from 1 - so it does covert 1440 to 1920. Maybe that the used data format doesn't allow nonsquare pixels? Anyway, I sometimes work with single frames and to get 1440 to 1080 Frames I use Vdub. The might be a workaround for Vegas: Change the aspect ration in Properties and in the Take to from 1.333 to 1 - then You should get what You want...

Greetings

Richard

John Miller · June 23rd, 2006, 05:35 AM

Use Task Manager to see how much memory is currently being used (Ctrl-Alt-Del then Task Manager). Make sure you select the Performance tab. Then - keeping Task Manager running - start your rendering in Vegas. CPU Usage *should* go up significantly (!). More useful, though, will be to see if the amount of memory used keeps increasing. Obviously, it will go up at the start but should then remain pretty steady. If it does keep increasing, it could indicate a memory leak within Vegas - e.g., after every frame, it isn't releasing a bit of memory back to the OS that it should. For small renders, it may never show up but for a l-o-n-g render it could easily bring your system to a crawl. Once the physical memory is full, the OS will start to put more on more stuff into the virtual memory file on the hard disk - then things will get really sluggish.

Just a thought...please post back any findings.

Mark Bryant · June 23rd, 2006, 06:26 AM

The "save snapshot to file" creates a PAR=1 still photo; so it will be 1920x1080.
(or if you take a snapshot of a PAL DV frame, it will be 787x576).

Paul Carlberg · June 23rd, 2006, 08:53 AM

George,

A while back I contacted Sony tech support for rendering problems and they replied with a list of processes that should be running on my Windows XP system with the _exclusion_ of all others. Apparently certain programs like virus software, etc. are resource hogs. (Aside from having adequate hardware resources), before rendering in Vegas via the Windows Task Manager, it was recommended that I kill everything EXCEPT the following:

alg.exe
ccmexec.exe
csrss.exe
explorer.exe
lsass.exe
MsPMSPSv.exe
services.exe
smss.exe
svchost.eve (may be several)
System Idle Process
System
taskmgr.exe
winlogon.exe
wmiprvse.exe

You may have other processes that are particular to your system/environment and it may not be wise to kill them. Caution and common sense I suppose.

Good Luck. Paul

George Lilly · June 23rd, 2006, 10:21 AM

Thanks for all your input. I have a hunch this may be my problem. I actually did try to see what memory was being used, and tried closing everything that wasn't needed. I wasn't sure though what exactly I needed to run and what could be turned off. Thanks to you guys I can now safely get rid of the suprfluous processes.

Don't worry about the "general questions". I am "generally naive" when it comes to many computer issues. I just updated my computer hardware and I am still getting to know what is working and what is not. when I get home from work I will surely check that. Thanks again!!

Jarrod Whaley · June 23rd, 2006, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Carlberg

George, before rendering in Vegas via the Windows Task Manager, it was recommended that I kill everything EXCEPT the following

That's a really handy list, George, thanks. I always try to kill as much as possible when capturing or rendering. I have a pretty good grasp of what's necessary and what isn't, but this list refines things somewhat.

Ruben Pla · June 23rd, 2006, 03:16 PM

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to take scenes or clips from films that are already on a DVD (not avi's) and edit them into a demo reel in Vegas? I tried bringing some of the video sections from a DVD to the timeline but no sound files comes with them. Thank you.

Edward Troxel · June 23rd, 2006, 03:19 PM

The audio is probably AC3. Your two main options are to use some other program to convert the AC3 to WAV or to upgrade to the latest version of Vegas 6 which has a File - Import - DVD Camcorder Disc option.

Ruben Pla · June 23rd, 2006, 03:26 PM

Thank you, Ed. A couple of things:

1) Some of the DVD's don't show any sound files at all (there's no audio folder or, if there is an audio folder, it's empty.) Does this mean that it's still probably AC3's, but they're just hidden?

2) What other programs could I use to convert the AC3's to WAV's?

David Jimerson · June 23rd, 2006, 03:32 PM

Thanks for the plug, Mike.

Do you mean 30 fps as in 60i, or 30 fps as in 30p?

If you mean 30p, it doesn't convert to 24p well AT ALL. Terrible ghosting, terrible choppiness . . .

If you mean 60i (normal NTSC video), then it really couldn't be easier than with Vegas 6. All you have to do is drop the footage into a 24p timeline, then render as 24p. You can render as 24p from any timeline, really, but the reason you should be in a 24p timeline is so that you can be in a progressive timeline and set the deinterlace method in the project properties. If you have a lot of motion, choose "interpolate fields." If you have little motion, choose "blend fields."

As for the pulldown scheme to choose when you do (if rendering to DV), choose 2-3 pulldown if you're planning to watch the video or edit in a 29.97 timeline. Choose 2-3-3-2 pulldown if you're going to edit the video on a 24p timeline.

Guy Bruner · June 23rd, 2006, 03:42 PM

The audio is in the .VOB files.

See www.videohelp.com for a number of AC3 to WAV (PCM) converters.

Jarrod Whaley · June 23rd, 2006, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy Bruner

The audio is in the .VOB files.

Which, contrary to popular belief, you can import directly into Vegas, and I've been doing so since at least version 4.0. I can say that I've never had any problems. Just go to import, and select "view all files" instead of "view all media files" in the drop-down box. Vegas should import it like any other video file. If you're still not getting the audio, you can demux the stream in any number of free programs that are readily available. Just google it.

EDIT: nevermind, I re-read you post and saw that you were able to get the video. Try some things at Guy's link.

Edward Troxel · June 23rd, 2006, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruben Pla

1) Some of the DVD's don't show any sound files at all (there's no audio folder or, if there is an audio folder, it's empty.) Does this mean that it's still probably AC3's, but they're just hidden?

Audio_TS should be empty. It would be used for audio DVDs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruben Pla

2) What other programs could I use to convert the AC3's to WAV's?

Check out Guy's link but a common one is BSweet.

June 22nd, 2006, 10:38 PM	#1981
George Lilly New Boot Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Harrisonburg, Virginia Posts: 16	Problems rendering!! Sloooooow! I captured someones old wedding footage just to burn to a dvd for them. The video "is" a little more than an hour long. I added a little color correction in Vegas 6. ( Which I had just purchased) It is taking literally days to render. Eventually it just freezes and I would have to start over. This is VERY Frustrating!! At first I was very pleased with Vegas 6, as it seemed much faster than 5.0 and also had more capabilities. I have a pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, 756 megs of ram. I have an ATI Visiontek X1300 video card with 512 mb of AGP, with around 100 gigs of hard drive space. Is it my settings? I hope I am just doing something wrong when I render. I recently ordered a HD100 and if I am getting these kind of results from Vegas 6.0 with regular video I am going to have problems down the road. Does anybody have any suggestions?

June 22nd, 2006, 11:09 PM	#1982
Jarrod Whaley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: chattanooga, tn Posts: 721	Just a wild hunch, but are there any processes running that might be tying up your RAM? Has your system been running continuously since the first time you tried to render? Have you tried rebooting and then starting the render? Sorry for asking such general questions, but there could be all kinds of things going on that might cause a problem like this. To me, these things seem like a good place to start. __________________ -->jarrod whaley. www.oakstreetfilms.com

June 23rd, 2006, 03:16 PM	#1989
Ruben Pla Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 80	Need help Can anyone tell me if it's possible to take scenes or clips from films that are already on a DVD (not avi's) and edit them into a demo reel in Vegas? I tried bringing some of the video sections from a DVD to the timeline but no sound files comes with them. Thank you.

June 23rd, 2006, 03:19 PM	#1990
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	The audio is probably AC3. Your two main options are to use some other program to convert the AC3 to WAV or to upgrade to the latest version of Vegas 6 which has a File - Import - DVD Camcorder Disc option. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

June 23rd, 2006, 03:32 PM	#1992
David Jimerson Jubal 28 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 872	Thanks for the plug, Mike. Do you mean 30 fps as in 60i, or 30 fps as in 30p? If you mean 30p, it doesn't convert to 24p well AT ALL. Terrible ghosting, terrible choppiness . . . If you mean 60i (normal NTSC video), then it really couldn't be easier than with Vegas 6. All you have to do is drop the footage into a 24p timeline, then render as 24p. You can render as 24p from any timeline, really, but the reason you should be in a 24p timeline is so that you can be in a progressive timeline and set the deinterlace method in the project properties. If you have a lot of motion, choose "interpolate fields." If you have little motion, choose "blend fields." As for the pulldown scheme to choose when you do (if rendering to DV), choose 2-3 pulldown if you're planning to watch the video or edit in a 29.97 timeline. Choose 2-3-3-2 pulldown if you're going to edit the video on a 24p timeline. __________________ www.wrightsvillebeachstudios.com

June 23rd, 2006, 04:22 AM	#1983
Richard Firnges Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 45	Hello Ian, at least these are my experiences. Vegas seem to render the single frame with a pixel aspect ration from 1 - so it does covert 1440 to 1920. Maybe that the used data format doesn't allow nonsquare pixels? Anyway, I sometimes work with single frames and to get 1440 to 1080 Frames I use Vdub. The might be a workaround for Vegas: Change the aspect ration in Properties and in the Take to from 1.333 to 1 - then You should get what You want... Greetings Richard

June 23rd, 2006, 05:35 AM	#1984
John Miller Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hillsborough, NC, USA Posts: 968	Use Task Manager to see how much memory is currently being used (Ctrl-Alt-Del then Task Manager). Make sure you select the Performance tab. Then - keeping Task Manager running - start your rendering in Vegas. CPU Usage should go up significantly (!). More useful, though, will be to see if the amount of memory used keeps increasing. Obviously, it will go up at the start but should then remain pretty steady. If it does keep increasing, it could indicate a memory leak within Vegas - e.g., after every frame, it isn't releasing a bit of memory back to the OS that it should. For small renders, it may never show up but for a l-o-n-g render it could easily bring your system to a crawl. Once the physical memory is full, the OS will start to put more on more stuff into the virtual memory file on the hard disk - then things will get really sluggish. Just a thought...please post back any findings.

June 23rd, 2006, 06:26 AM	#1985
Mark Bryant Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bath, England Posts: 119	The "save snapshot to file" creates a PAR=1 still photo; so it will be 1920x1080. (or if you take a snapshot of a PAL DV frame, it will be 787x576).

June 23rd, 2006, 08:53 AM	#1986
Paul Carlberg Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Aurora, Colorado Posts: 41	George, A while back I contacted Sony tech support for rendering problems and they replied with a list of processes that should be running on my Windows XP system with the _exclusion_ of all others. Apparently certain programs like virus software, etc. are resource hogs. (Aside from having adequate hardware resources), before rendering in Vegas via the Windows Task Manager, it was recommended that I kill everything EXCEPT the following: alg.exe ccmexec.exe csrss.exe explorer.exe lsass.exe MsPMSPSv.exe services.exe smss.exe svchost.eve (may be several) System Idle Process System taskmgr.exe winlogon.exe wmiprvse.exe You may have other processes that are particular to your system/environment and it may not be wise to kill them. Caution and common sense I suppose. Good Luck. Paul

June 23rd, 2006, 10:21 AM	#1987
George Lilly New Boot Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Harrisonburg, Virginia Posts: 16	Thanks for all your input. I have a hunch this may be my problem. I actually did try to see what memory was being used, and tried closing everything that wasn't needed. I wasn't sure though what exactly I needed to run and what could be turned off. Thanks to you guys I can now safely get rid of the suprfluous processes. Don't worry about the "general questions". I am "generally naive" when it comes to many computer issues. I just updated my computer hardware and I am still getting to know what is working and what is not. when I get home from work I will surely check that. Thanks again!!

June 23rd, 2006, 03:26 PM	#1991
Ruben Pla Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 80	Thank you, Ed. A couple of things: 1) Some of the DVD's don't show any sound files at all (there's no audio folder or, if there is an audio folder, it's empty.) Does this mean that it's still probably AC3's, but they're just hidden? 2) What other programs could I use to convert the AC3's to WAV's?

June 23rd, 2006, 03:42 PM	#1993
Guy Bruner Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ashford, AL Posts: 937	The audio is in the .VOB files. See www.videohelp.com for a number of AC3 to WAV (PCM) converters.