[Al Bergstein]

Mike, be sure to read this review…
https://www.dvuser.co.uk/content.php?CID=228

Nigel is a working pro writing for working pros. I wondered why my Bogen head was such a pain in the *ss until I read Nigel’s overview of why it’s a mess. I bought the Libec on ebay after reading this, 1/2 price, and mounted my Libec head on my Manfrotto carbon fibre legs. It’s a GREAT combination. The Libec head is very much better ergonomically. The legs are very good, but the real issue I face is wind. Out here on the coast I can shoot in 30kt winds and up, sometimes in a brisk storm, up to 60 kt. I needed stability. the Manfrotto carbon fibre are really solid. The Libec, less so, until you get into the high end.

So stay with ‘pro grade’ meaning retail $800 and up (ebay sometimes much less). Some pros pay well over $2k as their tripods last way longer than their cameras. Wish I had my tripod from the 70s still!

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

I am currently rendering a 5:30 video with no transcoded footage and the rendering time appears to be 11 minutes total, start to finish. That means Vegas is having to process raw AVCHD and Canon 7D MOV files simultaneously. With transcoded footage, I assume that will be faster. All 8 cores are engaged, some more than others, highest is about 40%. Disk IO is pegged, so that will be what I would look at for any kind of upgrades, though I am running on 7200 drives now, so the next step is into solid state.

So upgrading your processor may or may not make a difference, if your footage is not transcoded, and your drives are slow (i.e. 5400). Maybe just upgrading RAM and your drives will solve your problem.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Update…see my embedded update on the previous post. By the way, I’m re-rendering the video I shot into a special template that I created (using Sony AVC choice, and modifying it to fit their audio guidelines) that matches Vimeo’s specs (especially audio changes) and will see if that makes a difference.

I have to say, it does seem to work just fine for me to render in ‘normal’ Youtube rendering specs for Vegas, i.e. audio at 160 kbps 8 kbps, etc.

So I keep thinking you are experiencing issues with using the Main Concept codec. Please try the other Sony version and let us know what is going on.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

I have almost the same setup as you, but have not experienced this. In fact, the video I posted yesterday, of the Brazilian music was shot with a 7d & 150 sound was both zoom & off the board, I threw out the zoom take, but did sync it first. I manually synced the waveforms. Same frame rate as you, same audio rate.I posted to vimeo as well as YouTube. Sync was fine.

I did not use match media, I’ll double check my rendering settings later today. (UPDATE – I just checked, I used the standard rendering settings of SONY AVC internet 1280×720 audio 48kHz etc. 8 Mbps, standard stuff). Have you tried outputting it to the standard Sony AVC render yet? It appears that you are using the Main Concept codec, rather than the one setup by Sony. Any reason why you are choosing that? It includes a standard choice of Variable Bit Rate in the menus under ‘custom’ which may be your problem. It appears that Sony only includes it to allow folks to create IPod content, can anyone on the board help us understand when to use that choice and when to use the Standard Sony AVC codec?

I have not been using plural eyes lately, as I’ve found it easier to sync one track by sight. are you positive your local file is in sync? I’ll try downloading the file later this am.

Try eliminating those two variables first, but it seems likely it’s your rendering settings. Maybe someone else here has experienced this.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Kevin, I suspect some add in did this. I get a similar message about not having the right version ever since installing posthaste. I just ignore it and the file works fine. You might look at whether you added anything recently. remove it if you have. Did you install the latest Mac osx upgrade? I’ve opted out of all os upgrades until proven reliable (about one month after or so). As to putting your project files on your boot drive, that is something Larry Jordan recommends, only for speed sake. I’d love to know why that would have anything to do with data corruption. But you mit want to see if you have a backup of a project file off line, and restore it to a non raided device.

Btw: I too had a failure of my owc raid (new drive in last three months). I’m struggling through with twin working drives and copying one to the other daily, until I find a break in the action to restore. A true pain.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Start by upgrading to 64 bit windows 7 & 64 bit Vegas and more ram first, as it more effectively uses all available ram. But I don’t think you will see radically better times. U don’t mention the speed of your drives, which could be a bottleneck. If I remember right, rendering seemed to be drive and ram intensive. I think I am about a 1:1 rendering relationship, but to be honest, it’s been some months since I checked. However, going from 60 to 40 might seem worth the cost. I’ll check my thread settings later. Maybe John will be on before then.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

I have almost the same setup as you, but have not experienced this. In fact, the video I posted yesterday, of the Brazilian music was shot with a 7d & 150 sound was both zoom & off the board, I threw out the zoom take, but did sync it first. I manually synced the waveforms. Same frame rate as you, same audio rate.I posted to vimeo as well as YouTube. Sync was fine.

I did not use match media, I’ll double check my rendering settings later today.

I have not been using plural eyes lately, as I’ve found it easier to sync one track by sight. are you positive your local file is in sync? I’ll try downloading the file later this am.

Try eliminating those two variables first, but it seems likely it’s your rendering settings. Maybe someone else here has experienced this.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Be sure to tape next time at 48 kHz not 44. That avoids the slip, which will drive you nuts and not always work for lip sync. It’s a setting in the SD, or any recorder you might have. 44 is for cd’s videos at 48 .

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Lance, I concur with the others on the issue of buying more proc power than RAM initially. But I would caution you that the current crop of Mac Pros I doubt will be upgradeable to really take advantage of Thunderbolt technology, and I personally feel it may be the most in demand feature in the near future. As I understand it, it needs the new Intel procs, to gain the throughput, so retrofits are likely to have bottlenecks, if work right at all. Perhaps there’s something I’m missing in my analysis though?

If what I think is true, then saving up for a newer machine (when they arrive) with TB is best. Getting a very cheap older one is next best (I bought mine used on Craigslist and got it for 1/2 price of newest technology from a laid off bank worker, it’s worked fine for me for the last year + 3 months, and I don’t have Applecare). I won’t buy any machine at this point without TB (Windows or Mac), so I’m holding off on all purchases and using my current machines longer. However, you have a machine that could really benefit from any sort of upgrade. It’s a hard choice. Maybe the idea of a iMac is actually the best choice if you can’t buy ‘right’. The i7’s will be a great chip for a long time to come, I’ve seen it blow the socks off the Intel core duo’s in the windows video editing I also do, and that’s in 64 bit editing. I would assume that for your limited needs even after 64 bit conversion, you will be ok with it. Your downside is that you will be stuck without esata for expansion, but maybe you could live without it for a while. Just make sure your RAID array has both esata & FW800. Some don’t. Then sell your iMac when the next gen comes out and/or you need the new features, and consider the difference your rental fee for using it between now and then.

If you are getting Applecare I assume you are buying new, or refurbished, or through the developer store, so I think that I would say it’s worth it, because these particular machines are VERY expensive and if they die for any reason, the parts cost will likely be higher than the Applecare. I always buy Applecare on new machines.

Hope this helps…

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Do you mean the lineup on the top of the post listings? I think that’s determined by some kind of average of the last x postings. So however is posting the most, ends up there. Or are you meaning somewhere else?

Alf