can Vegas open mp4 files?

[Mike Kujbida]

Ernesto, you’re computer should be powerful enough.
I’d strongly recommend buying an external hard drive though as it’s not a good idea, especially while editing video, to have all your material on one drive as it can lead to exactly the kinds of problems you’re experiencing.
I don’t know where you live but here in Canada I can get a 1 TB external drive (USB which is fine) for under $200.

[Ernesto Marani]

Hi, Mike

Thanks a lot for all your help with my question. I bought a 1 TB and connected it first to my desktop computer, then to my laptop. I worked as you suggested. My MP4 files opened smoothly in the desktop and worked great in Vegas. (In my laptop keeps doing the same problems…I am kind of giving up).

Another issue:
I am editing a video file that has a black horizontal bar in the top, and another in the bottom, and the video image in the middle (creating like a widescreen). It was shooted with a very professional camera and I was given an MP4 file (straight from the camera card, if I understood correctly).
Is there a way of cancelling the black bars to obtain a “normal” image?

Thanx a lot
Ernesto

[Mike Kujbida]

Ernesto , it sounds like you need to have your project properties match your source video.
To do this, got to File – Properties, click on the Match Media Settings icon (looks like a folder), browse to the folder there your clips are, click on one of them and then click Open.
Once you do this, your project properties will match your source video and hopefull things will look the way they’re supposed to.
Let me know if this doesn’t work for you.

[Ernesto Marani]

God bless you!!! It worked great.

This file is a 2 hour conference. I was selecting short segments of it to make a one minute clip, and put everything on the end of the 2 hour timeline. Then I deleted all the two hours, and left only the one minute clip I made. I rendered…and got a 2h 1min file. How do I erase all the two hours so I only have the one minute clip in the project timeline?
(I now see a timeline which is 2 hours empty in the video tracks, has blue horizontal lines in the audio tracks, then I have the one minute clip, then empty again with the blue lines)

[Ernesto Marani]

Mike,
I matched the project as you instructed, and it worked great, I could see the bars dissapearing.
Curiously, during the render (I rendered only a selected area), I saw the horizontal bars again. Is there anything else I should do?

[Mike Kujbida]

How do I erase all the two hours so I only have the one minute clip in the project timeline?

Turn on Auto Ripple, double-click the empty area to highlight it and press Delete/
The remaining clip should now be at the beginning.
If there’s blank space at the end, repeat the above procedure.
Remember to turn off off Auto Ripple after you do this.

[Mike Kujbida]

Make sure your render settings match your source settings.
For example, if your source footage was NYSC DV Widescreen, select this option in your render options.

[Ernesto Marani]

My source file is HDV 1080-50i (1440X1080, 25000 fps), frame rate: 25000 PAL
I can’t find this exact rendering option in Vegas. Do you know if it has it?
Does it mean that I won’t be able to render without the horizontal black bars?

[Mike Kujbida]

What format do you want to render it out as?

[Ernesto Marani]

Whatever format that will do the job.

I get an MP4 file with the raw material filmed. I edit it in Vegas Pro 9. I need to present the edited movie as a DVD (PAL) with the highest quality possible (without the black horizontal bars).