Vegas Video discussions from 2006 (Q1Q2)

[Ruben Pla]

Thank you, guys. I appreciate your help.

[Fred Foronda]

Will a final render of a m2t file from Vegas work on other NLEs?? Like Edius?

[Ron Coleman]

There have been some posts recently about Sony offering 2-day training and certification classes for Vegas.

For anyone interested in Vegas training, the Sony Digital Video and Audio Production book, which is included with the class, is also a good self-paced training kit. It' a spiral-bound 160-page book (the pages are 8.5x11, larger than a normal book) that includes a DVD with the media files needed for the lessons. I've been working my way through the lessons - I'm on module 7 out of 8. Each lesson consists of a set of tasks where you get to learn all of the features of the program by actually using them. At a cost of $50, it's a bargain compared to taking a class.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

The book you refer to is only a primer that is used in the cert class. Book is quite good, but missing much of what is taught in the class and just as importantly, the book cannot answer a question face to face, nor will it entirely help you pass the tests required to attain certification.
It's a great start, but it's also like suggesting that owning a book on editing film by a famous editor will give you the same education that you'd get spending 2 days with the same editor.

All that said, it should also be noted that I'm one of the certified instructors for the certification course, so of course I'm somewhat biased. ;-)

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Of course they will. They're just m2t files, same as what comes from the camera.

[Ron Coleman]

I realize one book isn't going to teach me everything I'll ever want to know about Vegas, but it really is a great start. A primer is what most people who are new to the program are looking for. When I get finished with it, I'll go back to some of the more advanced materials, like your "Editing Workshop" book and Edward Troxel's newsletters.

Some people like taking a course where the material is crammed into a short timeframe, but I tend to learn better if I can absorb the material more slowly in a self-paced format. Having an instructor around to answer questions is definitely an advantage, but you can't have everything for $50.

Thanks for the reply.

[Seth Bloombaum]

I've just finished my NTSC render of a Cineform DI. Audio went to AC3 stereo.

Gonna' run my PAL render tonight. Only done one before, it went to AC3 audio as well. I received no complaints... but this one will distribute a little more widely. (Primarily Germany and Turkey)

Is AC3 the best audio choice for PAL DVD? I've read that MPEG2 audio is prevalent in PAL countries. If MPEG2, do I have that capability in Vegas6/DVDA3?

[Dan Measel]

This is going to sound stupid, but I have used Vegas for about 3 years and am very familiar with the default docking setup, ie having the tab at the bottom to select Explorer, Trimmer, Transition with preview window on right. Somehow, I don't know how, I moved one window, then trying to move it back I screwed the entire setup up. Is there a default button to take me back to the way it was? I just keep making it worse. Each window is seperate now and has to be sized to be viewed rather than just clicking on its tab. I'm so used to the other workflow that this new "arrangement" is killing my efficiency. I know there has to be an extremely easy way to fix this. Can anyone help me?

[Edward Troxel]

You can try ALT-D, release that, and then press 1. You can also to a full reset of Vegas by holding down CTRL-SHIFT when you open Vegas (but that will reset ALL preferences too).

[Mark Bryant]

Short answer: Use AC3 and you should be fine.

Longer answer: It is true that the PAL standard requires DVD players support MPEG2 audio, while AC3 is not mandatory. But AC3 has become the "De facto" standard, and every PAL player I've come accross handles AC3 fine. DVD Models are generally common accross Europe, so no different for Germany and Turkey.

Vegas/DVDA doesn't support MPEG2 audio (or if it does it is undocumented and I don't know how!). If you are really worried you could use PCM audio which is part of both PAL and NTSC official standards.

Mark

[Richard Firnges]

I live in Europe - less than one % of the sold DVD tilles have MPEG - Audio. In fact it is mostly used by amateur DVD - Software (and maybe in DVD Recorders) and that only of license reasons.

I don't how You create Your PAL video - most European - Customers can handle NTSC and would prefer native NTSC over badly converted PAL - material. Good framerate conversion from NTSC 60i to Pal is tricky (or in my opinion almost impossible).

Greetings Richard

[Mark Bryant]

I also live in Europe... I agree that many/most DVD players and TVs/displays here handle NTSC, but not all. If you have a small number of specific customers you could ask them if NTSC is OK, or send them one to try. For more widescale distribution I think it is best to convert to PAL, even if that is difficult to do well.

In my experience the majority of PAL DVD players when given a NTSC disc output "PAL60", and most PAL TVs handle this OK. However, some PAL DVD players output only true NTSC when given a NTSC disc... and most TVs won't handle true NTSC (at least not in color).

In my house I have one DVD player like that - feed it NTSC and it plays true NTSC; the result is the picture is black and white. The other one I have is switchable, it will do either PAL60 or NTSC.

[Troy Davis]

Hello,

I want to know if there is a way to take blur the background of a video while keeping the foreground in focus using Vegas 6? For example, I have a person in some video footage (from a wedding) where they are stationary during vows and I want to blur the background for about 20 frames or so.

Thanks,
Troy

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

This is called a "simulated rack focus" and is *much* easier done in production with your camera than in post.
However, you can use the Bezier mask tool to create a mask around the image to be focused, and a Gaussian or even light radial blur to blur the background, or vice versa.
You'll probably want to feather the mask a bit.
There is a demo tutorial on the VASST site, and one on the Sony site as well.

[Edward Troxel]

Short answer is yes you can. You could start by looking at Vol 1 #12 of my newsletters about blurring faces. It shows how to do that using a cookie cutter effect. If you need more precision that the cookie cutter allows, you may need a different means of creating the mask. There are several examples of creating masks in the newsletters as well.