Vegas Video discussions from 2003

[Don Parrish]

Thank you Jay and Edward, To date, I have see few complaints on VV4, I take it that stability is still very good? My last question is, what would the average Joe see in VV4 to make it worth purchasing vs VV3.
Thanks
Donny

[Jay Gladwell]

Go to: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Products...FeatureID=6877 for the complete list.

[Adi Head]

i'm about to purchase a pc, strictly for NLE. shooting mostly documentaries on my pd150. after doing some research decided to build a pc around AVID'S xpress dv (since, this software seems to be picky with the hardware used and compatibility with software).
but.... hearing more and more about vegas 4, hmmm... i'm not sure anymore.
my current idea is: to get the pc i had planned around the avid xpress, download demo's and try 'em out before finally making up my mind (usually the advise given anyway when asked by the undecided).
my question is: if vegas 4 has any hardware preferences, as does avid? i don't want to get my pc and find out that i'm limited to one of the two. does vegas 4 have compatibility issues?

i've also read that xpress dv won't live with adobe software on the same system. what about xpress dv and vegas?

my list so far:

processor: INTEL PENTIUM IV 2.53 GHz 533 MHz FSB
motherboard: ASUS P4B533 845E or INTEL BROWNSVILLE 845G
memory: 512 MB MUSHKIN PC2100 DDR SDRAM
hard drive: 40 GB Ultra ATA, 7200 RPM
120 GB -"-
firewire: ADS PYRO 1394 DV #API 300
screen card: MATROX G550 dualhead 32MB display
system: WINDOWS XP pro

thanks

any additional comments on specs or software comparison welcome.

[Richard Alvarez]

System looks fine for Avid.

Don't be confused by the fact that avid "certifies" certain computers, and not others. Basically, they can't test and certify every possible configuartion, so they certify those that are most likely to be bought as off-the-shelf configurations. I am not sure if Vegas bothers to test and list "certified" configurations. I know people have trouble with both systems with different hardware conflicts... it's inevitable in the PC world.

As an example, I am using dual athlons on a tiger tyan board, which is not on the "certified" list, but runs like clockwork.

The problem with Avid and Premiere playing together, was based on the fact that they used different drivers, and would fight over the default. Some people used a dual boot system to get around it. Not sure if this is true now that Avid runs on XP pro now. As far as other Adobe products like After Effects and Photoshop... no problem - Avid works well with them, and plenty of people use them. (I don't know about Vegas and After Effects.)

I don't know about Avid and Vegas on the ame system for sure, though somebody on the Avid Forum dowloaded the beta and tried it.

If you purchase avid, you also get a copy that will run on a MAC, if that is important to you. (Some people use it on different computers, one at home, one at work) Of course, it will only run with the dongle attached, so one computer at a time.

Downloading demos is a good idea, but there are no "demos" for Avid. Avid will release e "free" version next quarter, that is a limited version of course. You could go to a dealer and test drive a copy, but that might not be possible for you.

Lot of people are happy with Vegas, especially since they have finally added some media management tools, and color correction. The trim tools are still awkward, if you are cutting dialogue a lot.

If you are staying in DV as your output - V V might be the choice for you. If you are going to transfer to a high end suite to finish, then the Xpress files transfer straight to a symphony or composer. And XpressDV cuts film with the powerpack too, But that is probably overkill for what you are doing.

Basically, if you NEED to work in High End finishing or off-line transfer and Film cutting ... go Avid. It's the industry standard. Otherwise it's probably overkill.

If you would like specific questions answered about avid, try the Avid forum. www.avid.com More people here seem to use Vegas or Premiere.

Good luck

- Bill

I've been trying out the new Vegas Video 4.0. I'm very impressed. Thanks to Donatello's help, it became rather simple to learn and the editing functions work really well.

But I'm having some capture troubles. Sometimes it lets me capture numerous clips of varying lengths, sometimes just a few, then it crashes. After it gets into the crash mode, it crashes simply by clicking on "record video."

I've tried all the fixes: Defragmenting, shutting off stuff running in the background, being careful to tell it to save temp (Captured)files to a plce with lots of room, overriding Windows virtual memory and setting my own to 1-gig. But the same pattern keeps repeating itself.

I noticed in a couple of captures some pixel flashes appear where none exist on the source tape.

I also noticed after getting fed up last night and shutting everything down, when I fired it up this morning it let me flawlessly capture about 15 clips before it started doing the crash thing again.

Does this sound like maybe I've got a heat problem? Would that even be an issue?

[Joe Carney]

hmmm
What chipset are you using? Via? Which 1394 capture interface?

for example, I have a mobo with a via kt266a southbridge and an Audigy MP3 with built in firewire. During capture, it appears to lose clips, but they are there during playback.

You could have PCI bus issues is what I'm getting at. Or not.

[Adi Head]

thanks bill.

<<< If you are going to transfer to a high end suite to finish, then the Xpress files transfer straight to a symphony or composer. >>>

the way i understood it, working with dv has the advantages of dv in and dv out. no recompression. i imagine i'll want to at a point get a dvd burner and burn my final projects to dvd. if these are my intentions, what advantages does transfererring to a high end suite give me.

if none, at what point will i need to do on-line editing on a symphony or composer? only when cutting film?

thanks... as you see, i'm still learning these things.

[Richard Alvarez]

Adi,

Like I said, you probably don't need to transfer. Using Avid to off-line a down convert from film or High Def, or Beta for example, then transfer to a high end suite to finish your project. Or when cutting and conforming a negative of course. EDL's are really crucial.

I see there is another thread where someone is having problems with Vegas crashing on capture... so like I said, conficts and ironing them out are part of the PC world.

You might want to look into purchasing a turn-key system, if you are not comfortable tweaking a computer to it's best advantages. I bought my turnkey from DVLine. Got a great deal. They also sell Vegas turnkey systems, ready to go. They back it up with LIFETIME free tech support, and have always cheerfully handled my questions or problems.

Bill

[Adi Head]

ok. thanks for the help bill. i might just give dvline a call.

[Edward Troxel]

I think one of the BEST new features is the scripting language. I have been able to create three scripts that will greatly simplify a weekly edit by automating some tasks. Read the list from the other link. I, personally, feel it is well worth the update.

I would also recommend updating to Vegas + DVD. The difference is $150 which is LESS than the cost of the AC3 addon. So, you are basically purchasing AC3 and getting a DVD authoring program thrown in for free. I'm switching to DVD Architect for most of my DVD authoring.

[Imran Zaidi]

It really seems to have so many great features. Any of you folks been happy Premiere users that switched to VV and never went back? Just asking since I'm a Premiere user and wondering what the experience is for a similar individual who made the switch.

[Jay Gladwell]

I've read about a few who have switched on other forums--Creative Cow and Sonic Foundry--and refuse to go back.

The biggest challenge for other NLE users is to unlearn (forget) what they know about their old systems. Vegas is that much simpler to use.

You need to at least refer to the manual. It doesn't come through osmosis. ;o)

[Rob Lohman]

Please post the following information:

- What CPU/chipset
- Memory
- What firewire/audio card
- Which Operating System
- If Win2k/XP, are you using NTFS or FAT

This will help narrow down the possible problems. Did you truy
Sonic Foundry's forums to see if anyone else has this problem?

I downloaded some drivers for my system and my new motherboard. Well, okay, a friend who knows what the hell he's doing downloaded them. He also did some tweaking with the system so the parts would talk to each other better. Since then, I've had no crashes and no dropped frames.

Ahhhh... life is good.

Thanks, all.

[Dan Measel]

While using Vegas 3 I used a velocity envelope to increase the speed of a clip. On preview it looked fine but when rendered to MPEG-2 the edges of people were somewhat irregular, jagged like. I read about using fast motion in Premier and how you must deinterlace the clip to remove the jagged edges. Does anyone know if this is possible in Vegas 3 or 4?

Of note, while playing around I noticed that this effect was not nearly as bad in slow motion.