Combining projects in Vegas

[Stephen Mann]

“Bug” is a loaded term. What you have is a PC problem, possibly some media or driver conflict. But a bug? Not likely. In fact, that you work OK in HDV and not in DV is curious because Vegas has to work harder to edit HDV.

If you can make short projects then just crate a master project and drag the veg files from each short project to the timeline. Come to think of it, that probably won’t work either if your PC can’t handle the bigger project in the first place.

You could make a bunch of AVI/AC3 files of each “scene” of your DVD and then join them in DVDA. Let each end-action proceed to the next scene and the viewer will only experience a brief transition between them.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[John Rofrano]

I agree with Steve that you should concentrate on fixing your problem rather than looking for a workaround. Capturing SD video hasn’t changed since Vegas 6 so this should work on just about any ole’ computer that can still boot.

I also assume you are using Vegas Movie Studio because Vegas Pro 10 hasn’t been released yet. This means the nested project approach that Steve mentioned won’t work for you.

What is the original problem? Can you not capture SD?

If you just want a workaround for now that’s simple: Edit smaller projects and render them separately to DV AVI. Vegas has an outstanding DV codec that can withstand multiple renders (like 10x!) before seeing any visual quality loss. Then create one last project and drop all of the DV AVI files together end-to-end and render to MPEG2 for DVD.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Ian Coots]

Thank you for the reply.

For a point of clarification, I used the term “bug” as I have been trying to solve this issue locally (Australia) with the software distributors here, and I was told by them (after many weeks, many screen dumps, error logs, many emails and even mailing my original files on a DVD)…. and I quote…
“We have been told by Sony US that they are aware of a bug in Vegas that inecplicably causes the program to crash somtimes when processing files of SD video. They are working on fixing this, but to date have not been able to find the answer. The problem does NOT exist if processing HD files.” end of quote.

I was given a voucher for a full refund of my Vegas 9 platinum, even though I had owned it for 12 months, so I cashed it in, then bought Vehas 10 pro thinkinjg that a “bug” like that would be fixed before a new release, but unfortunately not.

This is why I have appealed to help fronm this forum, the replies for which I am really greatful.

Thank you….. but please Sony, get a fix quickly!

[John Rofrano]

so I cashed it in, then bought Vehas 10 pro thinkinjg that a “bug” like that would be fixed before a new release, but unfortunately not.

You probably bought Vegas Movie Studio HD 10 Platinum. Vegas Pro 10 has not been released yet and the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for Vegas Pro 10 software is U.S. $699.95.

I believe you if Sony says it a bug. I have not run into any problems capturing SD with Vegas Pro but I have never captured with Vegas Movie Studio so maybe it’s only a problem with Movie Studio.

I believe my workaround of working in small projects and rendering them out to form a larger one will get you going again.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Ian Coots]

Hello John, you are correct it is HD 10 platinum… The wierd thing is that I had created many projects with no trouble at all, until of course, my overseas holiday that I’ll never repeat again.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my query. I really appreciate it as I want to complete a DVD to permanently rcord my trip. I will follow your advice and I’m sure it will give me the required results.

Kindest Regards,

Ian

[Stephen Mann]

If your problem is just capture, try using “Scenalyzer Live”. It just does one thing, and it does it well.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Ian Coots]

Thank you Steve, I have not heard of Scenalyzer Live so I’ll investigate… always good to know what products are available. My problem though is that I add clips to a project, than the whole thing just freezes. From that point on the file cannot be opened so you have to scrap it and start again… very frustrating. There is no warning. One second all is OK, the next thing it is too late. You can add the same files again, and sometimes you can add double the number of files before it happens, sometimes half the number… there is no consistency. As I said in a previous post, I sent a batch of files to the Australian distributer of the software who could reproduce the fault but were at a loss to explain it until they contacted the US who admitted they knew about it, were working on a fix, but also at the same time not able to explain why. I really appreciate the help I have received from this forum, as it has at least given me a way to preserve the memories I have from this trip. I have produced probably 20 or more DVDs, up to an hour in duration with no trouble, so that in itself makes this little problem even more frustrating. I couls change the software, but I have been using Sound Forge for arouind 20 years now and love the product and the way it integrates with Vegas. I’m a huge Sony fan fron TV to digital SLR and video, so I want to stick with what I’ve got. My only problem was to shoot in SD instead of HD… I don’t do that now.

Once again Thank you to all who have replied.

Regards,

Ian

[Stephen Mann]

When you say “add clips to the project” are you using Vegas capture to add the media? (Media on the timeline are events, not clips. This confuses people coming from other editing programs, and explains why you can’t search for “clips” in Vegas help).

Scenalyzer will connect to your camera through Firewire, and capture your video on the tape to AVI files. Then, just drag those AVI files to your timeline. Don’t bother to use any of the indexing or other features of Scenalyzer – I think these were programmed when 100Gb and a dual-core processor were state of the art. Just capture.

Before I switched to HDV and tapeless recording I captured everything with Scenalyzer. I started using Scenalyzer years ago (when 50Gb and 100MHz processor were state of the art) and Vegas Capture struggled to keep up with the data flow from the camera. I never used any other DV capture program since.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Ian Coots]

Hello Stephen,

sorry for the incorrect terminology… I’m a mere amateur and not sure of the correct terminology, but I know that doesn’t help you or others trying to fix my problem.

I have a Sony AVCHD camera, and I use the software that came with the camera to download the clips I have taken from the camera to my PC.

I then open the explorer window in Vegas and drag those files to the timeline.

I then make my edits as required.

When I save the project is when the trouble starts (if it is going to crash, this is when it happens) and this may be from my experience with a timeline anywhere between 10 minutes and 50 minutes.

I can create several projects using the same original files in the same order, and I’ll get crashes at different times, which is what makes it so damn frustrating…. but, with the help of this forum I will triumph.

Thank you once again.

Ian

[Stephen Mann]

“… and I’ll get crashes at different times…”
This is the classic symptom of processor overheating.

Here’s a program called Prime95 which is used by overclockers to stress their PC’s:
https://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

If I am right, this program should crash for you in the same timeframe.

If I am wrong, you may discover the 46th Mersenne prime. FYI, M45 is 243,112,609-1, a mammoth 12,978,189 digit number, found on a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) computer in the GIMPS PrimeNet network.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com