[Al Bergstein]

Stephen, what .xf footage are you talking about? It seemed to me that the new Canon and all the XF100 and 300 footage is .MXF file format. The specs on the new camera seem to be the same for the footage as the XF series. I use Vegas both 10 and 11 with that format without transcoding. It’s wonderful. So not sure what you are thinking about, but perhaps you simply need to upgrade to Vegas 11 to do what you want???

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Well, that’s not good news…have you pinged the guys at Cineform, and seen whether they are fully compatible with the new version yet?

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Robb, I would have to agree with Danny and Matt. As far as what I would leave Vegas for if you have had it: I’ve used FCP 7 for a few years, and while I have not had crashes with it, it is much slower to work with than Vegas. So there are a lot of trade offs. I’ve learned to work around the crashes and save frequently.
There is always Adobe. It’s pretty expensive though.

But…I would really focus on the footage you are editing. I have found that raw footage from my Canon 7D is much more likely to crash Vegas projects than the footage from my Canon 300xf. The codec does matter.

While I won’t belabor their earlier points, I have built and used computers since the 1970s. I have stopped building my own computers because I know how much vendors like HP and Dell go through for compatibility tests with the BIOS and the various component manufacturers. And While some on this board, like Steve, seem to never have problems with their home builds, I have always managed to find some significant incompatibility with them, sometimes later than sooner. While neither HP or Dell are perfect, we have to remember that we are trying to build a machine comparable to a workstation, and those manufacturers, usually build much higher quality machines at those price points. So…your computer *could* be the problem.

I have not been experiencing many crashes with 11, but also found 10.e to be very stable. If you follow the suggestions at looking at your computer system, when you say that you have “crashes” I assume you mean ‘Vegas crashes” and not blue screens of death.

Could the crashes also be from your hard drives timing out? Sometimes these new eSata “green drives” wind down to send , and I’m unsure that Vegas (or Windows 7) is properly handling the spin up process.

Hope all this helps.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Saeed, did u ever find an answer to your out of sync issue? I’ve never had a problem with my xf305. Also what did you do wrong to make fcp not read your files? I’ve not had a problem like you describe with fcp and my files.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Craig, i do this all the time. Xf300 comes with a great utility for backing up cards, one of the best i’ve workedwith. You can back em up and later go back in to edit the metadata with no problem, then use the footage, in fcp without transcoding, if you wsnt. Have no worries.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

First thoughts on Vegas 11. On my high end Dell XPS 15z laptop, I am told that the graphics card is not capable of running New Blue. I am running 64bit Windows 7, using the NVIDIA GEForce 525M, which runs everything else just fine ( I also have 8 GBS RAM).

Then when I pull up V11, the program runs for a while, when I try the NBlue titler it works a bit then crashes VEgas. What little I saw of it, did not seem to be an improvement over Pro Titler.

What am I missing here? What’s NBlue capable of that PTitler isn’t? Since Vegas is now not stable, I’m sticking with 10 until 11 is stable.

10 is stable on this machine, by the way.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Absolutely love my xf305 but if you need global rental pool b cam while traveling, the sony lineup seems “standard”. I’d still choose xf305 over ex after using it for six months, other than the rental issue.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Buy a spare hard drive, or use a second computer before jumping entirely. Dot zero releaseversions usually have bugs. I’llbeinstalling on my Dell laptop first.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Why not use a mixer to do what you want? I use a Mixpre and feed a Zoom for backup out of that. I know it costs more, but it ultimately is a better way to monitor the volume levels, IMHO. The SD Mixers have very readable meters even in harsh sunlight.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Melissa, I am going to assume your cameras do not have XLR outs, but 3.5″ jacks the standard for consumer products (given your price points).

If you don’t, the Optimum way is to get the adapters from 3.5 to XLR and run XLR to a mixer. Don’t run the 3.5″ cables too long. If needed you can buy 10′ cables to extend your 3.5″ jack. This can plug into the Zoom.

If you can’t afford a mixer, then assume your zoom will be the master track, and your camera live sound will be the thing you try and line up in Vegas (sync) to the master track. The Zoom should be set to 48kHz which is not what it usually is set at. Your cameras are likely to record to that sampling rate.

As instructed by others, get your lavs close but not too close. TEST all this before the actual shoot.

At the actual shoot, get there in advance, retest. Check for background noise, fans, AC, etc. Then setup accordingly. Or move the room. Then start the Zoom, then the cameras, then CLAP to establish a sync point. Then you can bring your talent in, record them, and THEN stop the cameras.

The cameras can record a huge amount of video and the Zoom can record even more. Don’t worry about wasting footage.

Good luck
When you get to Vegas you should be able

Alf