[Don Bloom]

the one that showed up at the beginning might simply be because when the clips were brought into Vegas they jumped on the timeline in no particular order. This has happened to me when I get too quick on the mouse (I double click from the folder on the HDD).
The difference in the clips is due to the camera clock-1 is set and 1 isn’t.
I did a job for a friend not long ago and he used his 170. When I captured his tapes I got no scene detecton at allwhich was a real PITA. Turns out he has never set the clock on the camera.
I don’t think either of these thing is really anything to worry about.
Don

[Don Bloom]

PREPARE and RENDER are different, not meaning to be picky but you said 2 different things here so it’s a bit confusing. Nonetheless, what program are you rendering to MPEG? DVDA or VEGAS? If DVDA then the render times will fluctuate because of the First Play, then a menu then the movie. It reads the material and then has to recompress all the frames so it’s giving the times as it see’s the material.
Remember too that when rendering to MPEG everyframe, regardless of whether anything has been done to it, has to be looked at, rendered (compressed to the proper size) then put into place in the MPEG file. It can be a slow process especially if you have any color correction or FXs done to the footage.
Probably not what you want to hear but…
BTW, it doesn’t seem like you have done anything wrong on this one-just the nature of the beast.
Don

[Don Bloom]

possible video dropouts in capture-more likely 2 different camera makes running at ever so slightly different speeds.One might be off 1nt of a second and over a period of time it can be quite a bit. Cut the video frame where it goes out of sync and resync as neeed. I’m editing a job for someoneelse right now and he used a Sony and a Panasonic. The 2 aren’t quite perfectly in sync so a little cut and move is in order.
As for audio clean up I would say that for the 45 or 50 weddings a year that I do 95% of my audio work is done in Vegas and it works very well.
Don

[Don Bloom]

I loved my 250. It had pretty all the features I wanted and even though it didn’t have a “professional lens” after many years of PD150/170 work it was not a problem for me with that lens. If I needed something else I could get my hands on a camera. Besides I still had my JVC5000 and access to a DSR570 and DSR450.
The 250 has a lot of ins and outs as most full size cameras do – if you need any info about it PM me and I’ll be happy to help.
Don

[Don Bloom]

OR since you’ve got both the outputs on the mixer clear (I think-it sounds like it) run the 2 output cables from the mixer to the camera-1 to each input on the rear of the camera. Set 1 of the rear inputs to REAR and the other to FRONT-now you’ll have both channels working off the mixer with the ability to adjust levels on both the mixer and the camera for what should be perfect audio 😉
Don

[Don Bloom]

To get a stero type input on the 250 you need to run the mic cable to the front mic input where you would normally run the shotgun or on camera mic cable. Rmember up front you also have an wheel to control the levels as long as it’s on full manual control.
I rarely ever did this with my 250 but ran the shotgun to the front input and my wireless or wired mic to the rear then flipped the switches on the camera to get both tracks-the shotgun went to channel 1 and the wireless to channel 2. Then in post I would do what Mike suggested-first do a mono channel either left or right depending on where the wireless was run to and then dup the track and use a panning envelope to get a left and right combo. IF I knew I didn’t need anything from an on camera mic I would run my audio thru the front input and adjust the 2 channels slightly differently so I would make sure that low input and high input were always within my limits. Then in post I could play with the track to get an even sound. Again a pan envelpoe would usually do the trick.
Hope that makes sense.
Don

[Don Bloom]

First, forget B&C. there are other ways to get where you want to get without degrading the footage quite as bad but keep in mind IF the footage is that dark when you bring up the levels there will probably be some degradation of the image quality. No way around it.
You can use LEVELS to do just that-adjust the levels of the footage to suitable tastes OR you can use Color Corrector to do the same – use GAMMA and GAIN in SLIGHT increments to make the adjustments. As you do this you MIGHT need to do some slight color grading to keep the colors true.
Now here’s the trick to all of this. FIRST-DO NOT USE A COMPUTER MONITOR TO DO THIS WITH. I don’t mean to yell but to emphasize the point. When people use a computer monitor to adjust color and exposure it shows me they haven’t got a clue. Again not yelling but trying to make a point. You cannot properly judge color or exposure on a CRT monitor-most LCD or plasma monitors aren’t much better UNLESS they have been properly adjusted to color bars at the least. If you don’t have access to a true, properly adjusted production monitor then at the very least use a TV set up thru a passthru from the computer and use color bars,waveform and vectorscope to get the color and exposure as true as possible. It really isn’t that hard to do-just gotta use the right tools to make the adjustments to the hardware before you can really get the image where you want it.
I don’t want anyone to think I was yelling at anyone, I’m not, again just want to emphasize certain points.
Hey it’s early and I’m only still on my first cup of coffee 😉
Holler if you need more explaination or help on this one.
Don

[Don Bloom]

right and that caused the problem. In the template menu there is a NTSC widescreen template and that’s the one you need to use to take care of the problem. You’ve got to use the correct template or else you get bad looking results.

Don

[Don Bloom]

rendering time is dependent on a few things. The computer setup you have should be just fine to render fast BUT, it also depends on WHERE you are rendering to. Are you rendering back to the drive the program is on? What type if any effects are you running on the clips? Some (Magic Bullett among them) are very slow to render, median, levels (exposure adjustment) color correction are very heavy FXs and require a great deal of time to render. ALSO what are you rendering to? It sounds like your rendering to MPEG which means that EVERY frame of the piece has to be gone thru, looked at and the rendered (compressed) with any and all FXs applied.
So the answer is 1) never render to the same drive the program is on 2) render to AVI first. Reason? Going to AVI doesn’t take very long and then ALL of the FXs which might be applied are an included part of the new clip and then when rendering to MPEG it flows along much faster. Another step in the process? Yes but I have run some very unscientific tests on this method over the years and found that first there is no generational loss of quality (at least none that I have ever seen) and SECOND the render time of doing 1st an AVI and then MPEG is much much faster than going straight to MPEG.
Unless the clip(s) have no FXs or corrections done going from the timeline to MPEG can be a long and arduious task.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it 😉
Don b.

[Don Bloom]

you can also put the cursor over the cut in the video track press the “/” key on the NUMBER PAD (must be on number pad) and PRESTO! instant dissolve and the audio doesn’t and stays in sync.

Don