Vegas Video discussions from 2006 (Q1Q2)

[Isaac Kim]

Does anyone know where the video codecs for vegas are stored, or where can you find which ones are turned on?

I just installed DivX 6.1 and now none of my .avi files show any video when I drag them into Vegas. I uninstalled 6.1 and reinstalled DivX 5.21 and I still can't see any video on the timeline.

Help please!

Thanks,
Isaac

[Fredrik Forsell]

Hello
I have soon finished a 30 min shortfilm and am about to render the final project.
(I have Vegas 6b + architect, footage shot in 4:3 25i (Pd150))
I intend to burn it to dvd.
(I´m from sweden, please excuse my english)

But i have a few questions, hope you can help me.

1. Is there any good way of knowing how to get the picture as dark as possible without risking it to be too dark for some tv:s and/or monitors? I have connected my PD150 to a tv and uses that as an external monitor and have corrected the black and white levels using a colour chart. It looks good on my monitor too, but my friends complain that it is to dark on their monitors. Perhaps their monitors are old and therefore too dark, I dont know, but is there any way of getting a dark image (i want that) without risking it to be to dark, following a "thumbrule" that I don't know of? Or do I have to make it a little brighter then I want to, and by doing that not taking any chances?

2. The film is only 30 min long. Do I need to encode the audio in ac3 or can I render it as PCM? I read somewhere in this forum that the audio might get to low when using ac3, and I thought that if I simply make it PCM I get around that problem? I have never burned a dvd before; can I use an PCM audiofile or does it have to be ac3 when making the dvd? The project is in stereo, not surround. (A sidequestion: what level in the audiometer level should I try to aim for when I´m editing the audio? Should I keep it well below 0db, or always try to keep it as close to the red area as possible, or in the middle? I know that for dramatic events I shoudl increase the volume in order to surprise the viewers, but other then that, what level should I aim for in general?)

3. Might it be a good idea to render the project as avi (and pcm) if I want to keep a sourcesfile on my hd, and then render the avi to mpg2 when making the dvd? I ask that question since I never have worked with mpeg2 files in Vegas and are a little bit afraid that I after the long rendering see something I want to change, and that it´s more complicated to do that with a mpeg2 file.

4. A final question. How should I make it look as good as it can look on a tv? I don't mean " how do I get a film look" with filters and all, only should I choose to render it 25i or 24p and if so do I only have to change that in the settings and Vegas does a good job deinterlacing it? Will different dvdplayers object if I make it 25i or 24p or will they both run fine on any dvd player?

And if I then decide to crop it and render it as 16:9, what should my settings be? Project settings are Pal 25i, 720 * 576. Do you think that I should first render the entire project to 4:3 25i, and after that start a new 16:9 project and import the final file, or is there any easy way of changing that before that? But since I already have som panning on some of the clips, I imagine that there might be a problem if I should add a 16:9 mask over the entire project, or? That was why I was thinking it would be easier to first render it 4:3 and then to 16:9 If I should do that (import the rendered 4:3 file to a new 16:9 project) what should my setting be for the final 16:9 project, "stretch to fill frame" or nor etc. etc?

Grateful for your answers
/ Fredrik

[Ben Chancey]

When printing to tape in DV I was always given the option of color bars and tone before print. However, HDV print does not mention this. Is it not available? Do I need to manufacture one on my own from a DV tape that already has it on it? Will that even work? I went through preferences and project files but could not find any mention of it.

Thanks for the help.

[Glenn Chan]

1- See my article on setting levels properly:

http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/ar...s_part_one.htm

Some consumer monitors intentionally make the image really bright. This may explain why your friends say the image is dark.

You can try the following to lower the overall brightness of an image:
Add the Color Corrector filter, lower the gamma. Set it to something like 0.592.

Add the color corrector (secondary). Use settings like:
saturation = 0.827 (this setting affects chroma, not saturation)
This brings down chroma so everything looks normal. The gamma setting above actually changes the luma values of the signal. While doing this, it doesn't change the chroma values accordingly. So saturation will look wrong.
Do play with the "saturation" setting.

Limit luminance low = 0.0
High = 118.6
Smooth = 255.0

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

you can put your own bars/tones at the head of your file.
Leave a 65 second blank spot at the head of your project.
Insert 60 seconds of generated media/test patterns at the head of the file. then you'll have 5 seconds of black
to get a tone, there is a collection of tones on the home page of the VASST site. They're free.

[Ben Chancey]

DSE you don't realize how much your posts mean to me. I run back and forth from rendering from one computer to the other just to see if someone has responded and you have quickly everytime. I really appreciate it. I will do that. I guess HDV does not have the same test patter as DV. I am surprised.

Thanks,
Capt Ben

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Codecs live in their respective program folders or in the Windows drivers folders, I believe. Vegas simply enumerates them when it loads. (I'm not entirely positive on this one, but fairly certain this is how it operates)
In other words, Vegas is looking for the codecs you have loaded when you open the app.

DivX has some codec constraints, it might be that they are no longer VFW friendly. I don't use DivX, so can't help much there.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

It's a different colorspace. It might be that Sony hasn't licensed the bars from SMPTE at this point. But you can make your own using the generated media.

[Ben Chancey]

I am glad it was not my lack of knowledge. I did what you said and everything is in place. The show is rendering and printing to tape now for a test run. If everything comes out well then I will put the final master on a second brand new unused tape. I just wanted to let you know I put VASST's name in the Special Thanks section of the pilot. My last question is how would I record to channel two from Vegas? The was explicitly pointed out in the Pilot submission form. I can't find where it gives me an option to put audio on one channel for the other.

Once again Thanks for all the help.

Regards,
Capt Ben

[Fredrik Forsell]

Thanks Glenn. But the things is, my footage is mostly already dark. I tried your recommendation on a daylight clip, and then it was nice!

[Dionyssios Chalkias]

I have Divx 6.0 and it works fine in Vegas.

There are various bundles of Divx and other codecs with players etc. that are pretty messy. Did you make sure to uninstall everything that was installed in the same time? Was there a system restore point created before the problem?

[Madhav Yerella]

1)Firewire from PC to camcorder is the only cable that will work for preview on external monitor/TV (this is from vegas manual).USB cables will not work. Though USB2.0 is touted to be faster than firewire, when you do the reverse way of capturing signal firewire is the only way. Learnt it after 3 days of research.
2)Important point-only video will be transmitted to TV.No Audio-Vegas manual tells you to use speakers on PC.
3)Press external monitor button above preview area in Vegas
4)My setup is (pc-firewire-camcorder-3 pin cable-TV)-working fine.

Thanks
Madhav Yerella

[Ben Chancey]

DSE how would I go about rendering audio on Channel 2? Is there a certain setting I need to use?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

That one, I can't help you with. Everything we deliver is stereo or 5.1. I've never heard a demand for mono audio on channel two.
You could send all your audio to "left" and that would be channel 2 output on a stereo output, but that makes absolutely zero sense.
If you want to post their *exact* wording, I might be able to help.

[Theresa Roque]

Anybody also having problems with recording audio/video from direct playback from Vegas 6? My setup consists of an ordinary firewire card connected to a Canon XL2. I try to record a 16:9 24p edited short film to the Canon XL2 hoping to get the same aspect ratio and speed, but all I get oftentimes is stuttering video and audio or "blocky" audio (eg. audio disappearing at parts of the film). Is it a Vegas 6 bug or Canon XL2's fault?

to quote too:

Originally Posted by Dan Euritt

vegas was a huge disappointment to me, in that it does not send the real-time audio signal out the firewire port with the video... all audio during the edit is monitored via the sound card of the pc, so the quality of the sound card could definitely make a difference, if the rest of your audio gear is high quality.

of course, we are only talking about monitoring the sound while editing, but that can be a critical factor... it needs to sound exactly the same as it would after the edit is done, and the project is exported to dvd or whatever.

if you use a video editor that sends the preview audio out the firewire port thru the deck, like they are supposed to do, the sound card inside the pc won't matter, because the only thing you are using it for is scrubbing the timeline.