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Empty events in project media
I created a dvd from extracts from a video tape with sony combo with about 35 short events. When I imported this dvd into my project many of the events were blank and empty in the project media. The ones that did have video info when expanded in the timeline had the video from the blank events it seems. Even though this seemed to give me all the video this also seemed to give me duplicates probably from the other events that had video. Any ideas why the events did not have video? This is getting complicated maybe I had better show you a picture. There is no way I can edit this unless I have video in each event
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15 Replies
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Where did you get these files from? Were they from a camera that records to DVD? How did you import them?
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I have done some more checking on these files in the project media window. The ones that show video are from 70 megs to 167 megs The ones that do not show video were short events
on the disc. down to 12 seconds. The 2 files I checked that did show video were more than a minute. I didn’t check all of them.I am inclined to think either the files are too small for Vegas or perhaps a combination of too many files and short files. The DVD I made plays just fine in a separate tv with dvd player.
The tape in question is a tape I made several years ago and is the standard VHS tape. Before this I copied the entire tape onto a disk then imported the disk in Vegas and did the editing into the events I wanted in Vegas. For what I am doing now it is actually easier to select the events from the tape and put them on the dvd then import. But that is not working.
What I am going to try is create a disk with fewer files or longer files but not a whole minute long and see if I can get it to work that way. I think the files are too small for Vegas.
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How are you importing them into Vegas? Are you using File | Import | DVD Camcorder Disc? That is the proper way to import but I’ve also read about problems with some DVD’s using this method.
There is a tool called Womble that will convert DVD .VOB files to .MPG files. It’s not free but it does have a free trial and it’s worth the money if you decide to use it. I would download the free trial and convert the VOB’s to MPG’s and see if it works.
BTW, going from VHS tape to DVD to editing and then back to DVD will not give you the best quality if there is rendering involved. If you have a lot of VHS tapes to digitize, it is much better to purchase a device like the Canopus ADVC-55 that will create DV AVI files which will have much higher quality.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
OK Thanks for the info. I use import DVD camcorder disk, I’ve never had any problems until this disk with the many small files.As far as VOB is concerned although I haven’t done it for a while VOB is an MPG file so all you have to do is change the extension to MPG. I didn’t know that about downloading because as I understand Vegas does not save files unless requested other than the download and I think vegas quality is better than standard VHS. So the conversion from vhs to mpg is the only conversion there is to degrade the video . Also putting it into an avi file means another step outside vegas. Importing with vegas breaks it up into chapters which is convenient. Besides VHS is pretty bad already. I have already imported my tapes and only wanted to select some scenes from the tape onto the DVD and see how that works in a new project. It’s harder to work on a Vegas screen than a TV screen when selecting scenes. I dont think vegas can handle the small files because I have never had a problem importing DVD into vegas before this.
HAND (have a nice day)Hope to see you
https://seniorobserver.blogspot.com, https://billswar2.blogspot.com -
I’ve double checked the file sizes that Vegas will import in import camcorder dvd and it they are too small vegas will not import them. At least in a a separate file. Yesterday it imported sizes as small as 72 meg which may be about a minute and a half. Today the smallest size I checked was about 135 meg. Most people are not interested in V tape so will not be concerned. Sony should publish this information somewhere.
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[doyal gudgel] “.As far as VOB is concerned although I haven’t done it for a while VOB is an MPG file so all you have to do is change the extension to MPG.”
Actually, VOB is not an MPG file. VOB is a Video OBject file that contains MPEG2 video and either, MPEG2 audio, AC-3 audio, or PCM audio. Renaming the .vob file to .mpg only works in certain cases. If there are multiple audio tracks in the VOB file, Vegas won’t be expecting that in an MPG file and it may not import correctly. For this reason, it’s really better to convert them properly.
[doyal gudgel] “So the conversion from vhs to mpg is the only conversion there is to degrade the video.”
Yes, but it’s degrating the video a lot. The problem is that DVD MPEG2 is compressing the video at a ratio of 25:1 while capturing as DV AVI is only compressed it 5:1. So you have 5x more compression (and quality loss) by capturing as MPEG2. You will get better results capturing VHS tapes as DV AVI.
[doyal gudgel] “Also putting it into an avi file means another step outside vegas.”
No, it’s not another step outside of Vegas. Vegas is built to capture DV AVI files directly. That is the primary tape based workflow for Vegas.
[doyal gudgel] ” I have already imported my tapes and only wanted to select some scenes from the tape onto the DVD and see how that works in a new project. “
If you’ve already captured them and you like the quality of the output then that’s all that matters. I was only pointing out that it was not the best way to maintain the highest quality.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks I sincerely appreciate the information. There is always an opportunity to learn more.
Hope to see you
https://seniorobserver.blogspot.com, https://billswar2.blogspot.com -
Do you mean we are capturing files off the disk in dv avi format? To maker a playable dvd we still have to burn as a mpg So how much better is that ?
where and how is the improvement? When I import the dvd it is imported as mpg. Right? I’ve only imported dvd’s with 2 channels. I import, edit, render, burn dvd. Where in the process do I make a better project with a dv avi file? They all wind up as a mpg file on a dvd. Where in this “import, edit, render, burn dvd” can I improve? Render to dv avi? It still has to get to the dvd as a mpg. I am not thinking of HD here. Vegas limits the resolution I think to a certain amount. -
[doyal gudgel] “Do you mean we are capturing files off the disk in dv avi format?”
No. I’m talking about capturing the VHS tape. You plug the VHS player into the Canopus ADVC-55 and Vegas sees the ADVC-55 as a DV camcorder and captures the VHS tape to DV AVI which is 5x better quality than DVD MPEG2. Then you edit your video in Vegas and when you’re ready to make a DVD to render the final output to DVD MPEG2.
[doyal gudgel] “To maker a playable dvd we still have to burn as a mpg So how much better is that ? “
Because you are editing the higher quality DV footage instead of the lower quality MPEG2 footage. If you edit lower quality MPEG2 when you render it again to DVD MPEG2 you loose even more quality.
[doyal gudgel] “where and how is the improvement? When I import the dvd it is imported as mpg. Right?”
No. I’m not talking about importing the DVD. I’m talking about importing the original VHS tapes directly to DV AVI.
[doyal gudgel] “Where in the process do I make a better project with a dv avi file? They all wind up as a mpg file on a dvd.”
Right at the start. You capture your VHS tape to higher quality DV. You edit and color correct higher quality DV. Then you make the lower quality DVD MPEG2. Going from high quality to lower quality is better then starting with lower quality and re-generating more lower quality.
[doyal gudgel] ” They all wind up as a mpg file on a dvd.”
Yes, but one of them starts as higher quality DV which will yield a higher quality MPEG2 that’s been edited.
[doyal gudgel] ” Where in this “import, edit, render, burn dvd” can I improve? “
Import DV AVI. Edit DV AVI. Render DVD MPEG2.
[doyal gudgel] “Render to dv avi? It still has to get to the dvd as a mpg.”
There is no DVD in my workflow (hopefully you see that now). It’s a direct capture of the VHS tape to DV AVI via the Canopus ADVC-55 analog-to-digital converter. As I said in my previous post, this is compressed at only 5:1 instead of the DVD MPEG2 25:1 so more of the original information is retained while editing.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Obviously that would be better but this is the first time I have heard of this device. Canopus ADVC-55. At this late date things will have to stay as they are. Lots of the tapes have degenerated with age and not worth going over everything again. I have always been interested in top quality from my days with the Hassleblad 2 1/4 still camera like the one that went to the moon and Lica 35mm to 16mm film to Super VHS. I don’t think I would have benefited with the Canopus ADVC-55 before going to Vegas movie maker.
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