Can't Select Video FX Icons on clips on the timeline

[Jim Snow]

Thanks Jeff, I already tried that but it brings up a new empty instance of Video FX, not the already existing one.

[John Kilderry]

There is something weird going on in Vegas effects. My issue is a little different, but two threads on this in a short time has me wondering.

[Craig Longman]

Jim, generally it takes them a day or two to respond, but I had a question last month that took a week or so. With V10 Pro being so different and so new, I'd expect they're a tad busy, so it might take a few days yet.

As for their response, I've had all, from an aww shucks to a wonderful response that was clearly handled specially and delivered to the developers in question to provide an answer for me.

Good luck,

[Jim Snow]

I still have had no response to my question from Sony. Can anyone think of a good reason for this? I can't. I desperately need to do some work. I was really, really stupid to start a major project in Pro 10. I should have known better. For the life of me, I can't understand why Sony has no sense of urgency. Do you think it would help if I sent an email to Sony HQ in Japan explaining my problem?

[Jim Snow]

Out of desperation, I decided to use the nuclear option. I mentioned earlier that uninstalling and reinstalling Vegas didn't fix the problem. I suspected that whatever was causing the problem was being left in the registry and therefore a re-installation didn't help. I decided to bite the bullet and after uninstalling Vegas (both the 32 and 64-bit versions), I deleted the Vegas Pro 10 entries in the registry. I don't like to fiddle around with the registry but I had no choice. That did it; I'm back in business no thanks to Sony.

I don't know why software makers (and Microsoft) don't do a COMPLETE removal of a program when it's uninstalled. Leaving Registry entries seems sloppy to me and it can leave latent problems in the system. There's no good reason to leave crap in the registry when a program is uninstalled.

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by Jim Snow

I don't know why software makers (and Microsoft) don't do a COMPLETE removal of a program when it's uninstalled.

Because install is done by Windows which receives a database (the .msi file) of what needs to be installed (including some rudimentary registry entries). The uninstall is done again by Windows which simply undoes the install process. It only knows about the things it installed in the first place. It does not know about any registry entries that Vegas (or any other software) created after it was installed.

That is one reason. The other is that software authors tend to believe that if you uninstall their software and later reinstall it, you will be pleased all the personalizations you created while you used the software before will be magically reinstated. Especially since in the Vegas Options/Preferences dialog you have the "Default All" button which deletes all those changes you made.

[Jim Snow]

Originally Posted by Adam Stanislav

software authors tend to believe that if you uninstall their software and later reinstall it, you will be pleased all the personalizations you created while you used the software before will be magically reinstated. Especially since in the Vegas Options/Preferences dialog you have the "Default All" button which deletes all those changes you made.

Perhaps it would be helpful when uninstalling to give the user the option of 'complete' uninstall or 'standard' uninstall. Then I would be "pleased" because I could uninstall a little "nugget" like they served me with this ordeal. I do a much better job of deciding what "pleases" me on some occasions than a software author does because their 'helpful' generalizations don't always apply especially the ones where they served up a bug.

[Adam Stanislav]

Might be nice, though I do not see how that would be done considering the unistalling is done by Windows, not by Vegas, and Windows does not know anything about the inner workings of Vegas (the software, not the city).

[Jim Snow]

Originally Posted by Adam Stanislav

Might be nice, though I do not see how that would be done considering the unistalling is done by Windows, not by Vegas, and Windows does not know anything about the inner workings of Vegas (the software, not the city).

Well this is an example of how to do it. HTTP://WWW.revouninstaller.com/

This utility first calls Microsoft's uninstaller and then after prompting for permission, it removes the program's registry entries. There is a free downloadable version. Take a look at and imagine it being the Microsoft uninstaller.

[Edward Troxel]

Another option may have been to start Vegas while holding down CTRL-SHIFT. This will reset Vegas back to the default settings which may very well have eliminated the need to uninstall, remove the registry entries, and reinstall.

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by Jim Snow

imagine it being the Microsoft uninstaller.

But it is not the Microsoft uninstaller. :)

At any rate, you do not need to uninstall and reinstall Vegas when your configuration gets wrong. Just go to Options / Preferences and click on Default All. Or do what Edward has suggested.

[Jim Snow]

Originally Posted by Adam Stanislav

But it is not the Microsoft uninstaller. :)

At any rate, you do not need to uninstall and reinstall Vegas when your configuration gets wrong. Just go to Options / Preferences and click on Default All. Or do what Edward has suggested.

I did try "Options / Preferences and click on Default All". It didn't fix it. Unless you have any idea on how to use time warps, Edward's suggestion is a bit late. As I said, I have already fixed it. I hope I never have the 'opportunity' to find out if that would have taken care of it.

Revo may not be Microsoft's uninstaller but it's mine now. I don't think well about the "It is what it is" attitude from a software maker. That's usually a precursor to the fall of a giant. The other big reason is the "You're stupid, I'm smart" smug attitude.

I'm just curious Adam; are you an engineer or a programmer?

[Adam Stanislav]

Well, first of all, I work neither for Sony nor for Microsoft, and never have. I am just pointing how things are, not saying how they should be. I have no control over those things. I would do a lot of things differently, but that is rather irrelevant.

Secondly, I am retired. And I have been a lot of things in my life, which includes working as a programmer, both professionally and non-professionally (but I have been computing since 1965).

And no one here has suggested you were stupid, not even close to it. All we are trying to do is help you find a solution to your problem. We are Vegas users, not Vegas support staff. We are just helping each other and trying to learn from each other.

[Jim Snow]

Adam, you have misunderstood my comments. I have to correct you because your spin makes it seem that I am criticizing the members of this forum. Nothing could be further from the truth. I appreciate and admire them very much. Please don't twist my comments and make it appear differently. I was ONLY referring to the attitude that sometimes emerges in software companies. It tends to be cyclic because if it isn't dealt with, it often results in the failure of the company. Ashton Tate, Lotus Development Corp,. Digital Research - RIP. On the positive side, it looks like Adobe has made huge improvements over the past couple of years. They are light years from where they were a couple of years ago. My hat is off to them.

I recognize the unbridled engineer attitude because I was around it for many years before I started my own company 12 years ago. I started my career as an engineer in the computer data storage products industry and moved into sales and marketing management some years later. I learned to realize that when a company has this problem, it's an engineering management problem. If there are no firm rules established and enforced, there WILL be a problem. The problem I'm referring to is a palpable attitude where everything must be argued and debated. I called it "recreational equivocation." A subset of this is no regard or respect for customers. The most effective engineering manager that I have ever known was Vice President of Engineering in a very successful company that we worked together in. A cooperative, civil and team working attitude within his staff wasn't optional. He had a statement he made to every new hire. It was, "If you are going to work here, put your ego in your hip pocket before you walk in the door."

I asked the question because I recognized the style.

Peace, it's good to share the forum with you. ;-)

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by Jim Snow

A subset of this is no regard or respect for customers.

Yes, that is quite common among software companies. Shows especially in the belief the custommer does not know what he is doing.

The worst case I have personally experienced was with a networked TV tuner (it receives HDTV and sends it to any computer on the LAN) with a very frustrating "feature" of not having the ability to assign a static IP address. I kept requesting that ability on their support forum. They kept giving me all kinds of reasons why it was technologically impossible. Well, I know my networking (I wrote the sockets programming chapter for the FreeBSD handbook), and refuted all of the difficulties, explaining exactly how to do what I was asking for.

Finally, when they realized I was not going to swallow their excuses, they gave me the real reason why they had no intention of letting the customer assign a static IP: They do not want to deal with supporting customers who set up their own IP and forget what they set it to. How ridiculous! Your router will tell you (heck even Windows will) the IP address of every device on the LAN. And of course I told them they can have both a static IP and a dynamically assigned IP at the same time, so the device could still work the way it does. After that I gave up on them altogether.

Sony is no different. As a plugin author I have been quite frustrated by the lack of documentation on how to create plugins. No wonder there are many more Premiere plugins than Vegas plugins! It's not that people do not want to support them, it's that many simply do not know how.

Similarly, if you want to know the format of the MXF files used by Sony, you have to buy a very expensive disc with the information. Almost as if they did not want software authors to support them!