Vegas Video discussions from 2003

Edward Troxel · August 26th, 2003, 12:29 PM

The Sonic Foundry codec comes with Vegas 4. People get confused because it uses the Main Concept MPEG encoder (NOT DV encoder). There ARE some other options:

1) Render to uncompressed (fine for short clips because it takes a LOT of space)

2) Try using the frameserver by Satish at http://www.debugmode.com

3) Purchase and render to the Main Concept codec

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 12:33 PM

2. That's what I was talking about. I saw in the capture options somewhere a box that was checked that stated "decoder resolution based on preview window size". I'm assuming this means whatever size your preview window is while your capturing is the size media player will display (decode) the clip. So I'm assuming if I uncheck it my files will be at full res. when viewed in media player.
*not so much of a necessity, more of a curiosity regarding this dialog box in the capture options*

4. Exactly I know, but my question is are these new sections going to be any less quality after re-rendered out as smaller clips?

LOL, the internet can create a sizeable communication barrier sometimes- sometimes hard to describe things. :) Btw, I appreciate all your help Edward.

Edward Troxel · August 26th, 2003, 01:18 PM

#4: If you render out segments to a separate file and NO changes were made (ie effects or whatever) the file will be COPIED so there will be NO difference.

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 02:25 PM

So if the footage is untouched the rendering should be real-time or faster?

Edward Troxel · August 26th, 2003, 02:27 PM

Probably faster. However, that depends on your drive speed. It is simply copying so it will require virtually NO CPU time. However, your hard drive light will be on SOLID.

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 03:48 PM

I've been reading alot of buzz on the SoFo forums about gaps between multiple clips added to the timeline. I decided to double click a bunch of clips addind them all to the timeline automatically butted up against each other. I zoomed as far as could to the point where two clips meet. I didn't see a gap in the video but there sure is a gap in the audio, less than a frame in size. When I click the edge of the audio to drag it to meet the audio of the next clip the video automatically "snaps" to the lenght of the audio (which is, like I said...less than a frame wide). Odd?! Wonder why this is? Does it have anything to do with the sample rate of the audio. I did change it from the default of 44 to 48kz.

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 03:54 PM

Just noticed this tonight- if I have two separate clips butted up against each other without a transition (cut) the audio stutters twice once it moves onto the next clip. In other words once the audio from the adjacent clips begins playing I hear two short pauses of silence in the first few seconds of the clip. If I set it to loop it doesn't do it the subsequent times it is replayed in a loop- only the first time the timeline cursor passes over the two clips.
Any ideas why this is happening?

Lastly it seemed the only cure was to set "Direct Sound Mapper" in Preferences. Microsoft Sound mapper, and Creative ASIO both continued to do it. Anyone have any insight regarding this?!

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 04:04 PM

Just read the fixes in 4.0d (I haven't updated because I'm in the middle of a project now).
One of the updates is:
"A bug that could cause audio drop-outs during crossfades under certain circumstances has been fixed"

Although it seems to be the opposite- if I crossfade the audio clips then the stutter isn't there. It's only when I butt two clips back to back.

Glen Elliott · August 26th, 2003, 08:23 PM

Was editing in Vegas tonight and it crashed twice in a row. Came up with with some "Low Memory" error then some other obscure error message. I cold-booted hoping it would fix it but it didn't. It seemed to crash anytime I drug a large clip to the timeline then tried to fast-forward while watching it. It would crash the same way ever time- the monitor window would go black and soon after the error message would pop up causing me to shut down Vegas.

I thought it might be because I'm now using Nview, a dual monitor option on my Gforce 4 card. I figured maybe it was using more ram to display an entire second monitor...I know it's a stretch. Turned off Nview and Vegas continued to crash when I tried to ff.

I finally backtracked and hit the default button under audio device which defaults to Microsoft Sound Mapper (I had switched it earlier in the day to Direct Sound Mapper to aleviate audio stuttering). Soon after went back in and "tried" to crash it but this time it ran fine. Re-enabled Nview (2nd Monitor) and back up running fine again?!

Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!

Edward Troxel · August 26th, 2003, 10:01 PM

Yes. Audio drivers CAN cause problems (as well as video drivers as you noted). You may want to see if there is an updated driver for your audio card. If not, leave it on the known good setting.

Edward Troxel · August 26th, 2003, 10:09 PM

As long as quantize to frame is turned on, I would not worry about this. I haven't seen this gap problem but do not doubt that others have. If someone can give a step by step way to reproduce???

Peter Jefferson · August 27th, 2003, 04:07 AM

"quantize to frame "

this also helps with syncronisation of multiple instances of the same clip of the same (ie multicam)

you will note that difference will only be apparent depending on your clock timing (Vegas is basically a video sequencer) , audio and birtrate settings etc etc...

but the 1 frame glitch isnt noticable to the human eye.. my system runs about a quarter frame off depending on wha tim doin..
most of teh time its perfectly synced.

Peter Jefferson · August 27th, 2003, 04:12 AM

"Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!"

yes too many times...

audio drivers dont like going backwards i guess...

if u run the latest vegas update (d) it should fix the problem... it fixed mine

Peter Jefferson · August 27th, 2003, 04:22 AM

HDD and Audio latency issues are dealt with in this update.
i would suggest you run it :)

if ur hdd has a buffer cashe, this update exploits it nicely

Don Parrish · August 27th, 2003, 05:46 AM

Hello DVinfo folks,

I hope this is a simple question for those of you that KNOW DVDit products, I am trying to find a solution to DVD authoring, I am close. Here is the question. DVDit PE is 399 bucks (ebay full retail version may be cheaper), has menus and AC-3, Vegas 4 comes with DVDit architect creates menus and has AC-3. Vegas 4 is around the same price, What I am looking for is an Architect vs PE explanation, I need menus and AC-3, both appear to have it. Should I just buy Vegas 4 for the extra NLE or is DVDit architect limited?

Thanks for any help.

P4 2.4
1 gig crucial
Pioneer A06
XL1S

August 26th, 2003, 03:48 PM	#861
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Vegas4 frame gap glitch? I've been reading alot of buzz on the SoFo forums about gaps between multiple clips added to the timeline. I decided to double click a bunch of clips addind them all to the timeline automatically butted up against each other. I zoomed as far as could to the point where two clips meet. I didn't see a gap in the video but there sure is a gap in the audio, less than a frame in size. When I click the edge of the audio to drag it to meet the audio of the next clip the video automatically "snaps" to the lenght of the audio (which is, like I said...less than a frame wide). Odd?! Wonder why this is? Does it have anything to do with the sample rate of the audio. I did change it from the default of 44 to 48kz.

August 26th, 2003, 03:54 PM	#862
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Audio stutters during cuts..... Just noticed this tonight- if I have two separate clips butted up against each other without a transition (cut) the audio stutters twice once it moves onto the next clip. In other words once the audio from the adjacent clips begins playing I hear two short pauses of silence in the first few seconds of the clip. If I set it to loop it doesn't do it the subsequent times it is replayed in a loop- only the first time the timeline cursor passes over the two clips. Any ideas why this is happening? Lastly it seemed the only cure was to set "Direct Sound Mapper" in Preferences. Microsoft Sound mapper, and Creative ASIO both continued to do it. Anyone have any insight regarding this?!

August 26th, 2003, 08:23 PM	#864
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Vegas Crashed Like Crazy Tonight.... Was editing in Vegas tonight and it crashed twice in a row. Came up with with some "Low Memory" error then some other obscure error message. I cold-booted hoping it would fix it but it didn't. It seemed to crash anytime I drug a large clip to the timeline then tried to fast-forward while watching it. It would crash the same way ever time- the monitor window would go black and soon after the error message would pop up causing me to shut down Vegas. I thought it might be because I'm now using Nview, a dual monitor option on my Gforce 4 card. I figured maybe it was using more ram to display an entire second monitor...I know it's a stretch. Turned off Nview and Vegas continued to crash when I tried to ff. I finally backtracked and hit the default button under audio device which defaults to Microsoft Sound Mapper (I had switched it earlier in the day to Direct Sound Mapper to aleviate audio stuttering). Soon after went back in and "tried" to crash it but this time it ran fine. Re-enabled Nview (2nd Monitor) and back up running fine again?! Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!

August 27th, 2003, 05:46 AM	#870
Don Parrish Major Player Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Tavares Fla Posts: 541	DVDit PE vegas 4 vegas 3 Hello DVinfo folks, I hope this is a simple question for those of you that KNOW DVDit products, I am trying to find a solution to DVD authoring, I am close. Here is the question. DVDit PE is 399 bucks (ebay full retail version may be cheaper), has menus and AC-3, Vegas 4 comes with DVDit architect creates menus and has AC-3. Vegas 4 is around the same price, What I am looking for is an Architect vs PE explanation, I need menus and AC-3, both appear to have it. Should I just buy Vegas 4 for the extra NLE or is DVDit architect limited? Thanks for any help. P4 2.4 1 gig crucial Pioneer A06 XL1S

August 26th, 2003, 12:29 PM	#856
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	The Sonic Foundry codec comes with Vegas 4. People get confused because it uses the Main Concept MPEG encoder (NOT DV encoder). There ARE some other options: 1) Render to uncompressed (fine for short clips because it takes a LOT of space) 2) Try using the frameserver by Satish at http://www.debugmode.com 3) Purchase and render to the Main Concept codec

August 26th, 2003, 12:33 PM	#857
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	2. That's what I was talking about. I saw in the capture options somewhere a box that was checked that stated "decoder resolution based on preview window size". I'm assuming this means whatever size your preview window is while your capturing is the size media player will display (decode) the clip. So I'm assuming if I uncheck it my files will be at full res. when viewed in media player. not so much of a necessity, more of a curiosity regarding this dialog box in the capture options 4. Exactly I know, but my question is are these new sections going to be any less quality after re-rendered out as smaller clips? LOL, the internet can create a sizeable communication barrier sometimes- sometimes hard to describe things. :) Btw, I appreciate all your help Edward.

August 26th, 2003, 01:18 PM	#858
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	#4: If you render out segments to a separate file and NO changes were made (ie effects or whatever) the file will be COPIED so there will be NO difference.

August 26th, 2003, 02:25 PM	#859
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	So if the footage is untouched the rendering should be real-time or faster?

August 26th, 2003, 02:27 PM	#860
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Probably faster. However, that depends on your drive speed. It is simply copying so it will require virtually NO CPU time. However, your hard drive light will be on SOLID.

August 26th, 2003, 04:04 PM	#863
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Just read the fixes in 4.0d (I haven't updated because I'm in the middle of a project now). One of the updates is: "A bug that could cause audio drop-outs during crossfades under certain circumstances has been fixed" Although it seems to be the opposite- if I crossfade the audio clips then the stutter isn't there. It's only when I butt two clips back to back.

August 26th, 2003, 10:01 PM	#865
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Yes. Audio drivers CAN cause problems (as well as video drivers as you noted). You may want to see if there is an updated driver for your audio card. If not, leave it on the known good setting.

August 26th, 2003, 10:09 PM	#866
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	As long as quantize to frame is turned on, I would not worry about this. I haven't seen this gap problem but do not doubt that others have. If someone can give a step by step way to reproduce???

August 27th, 2003, 04:07 AM	#867
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	"quantize to frame " this also helps with syncronisation of multiple instances of the same clip of the same (ie multicam) you will note that difference will only be apparent depending on your clock timing (Vegas is basically a video sequencer) , audio and birtrate settings etc etc... but the 1 frame glitch isnt noticable to the human eye.. my system runs about a quarter frame off depending on wha tim doin.. most of teh time its perfectly synced.

August 27th, 2003, 04:12 AM	#868
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	"Has anyone ever encountered Vegas crashing from an "AUDIO" setting?!" yes too many times... audio drivers dont like going backwards i guess... if u run the latest vegas update (d) it should fix the problem... it fixed mine

August 27th, 2003, 04:22 AM	#869
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	HDD and Audio latency issues are dealt with in this update. i would suggest you run it :) if ur hdd has a buffer cashe, this update exploits it nicely