[James_j]

Yes, it can matter. But you’re pretty safe if you use the presets.

We use the DVD presets for most of our stuff (modified to CBR), but when we need to show it on the web we’ll use .wmv. I honestly can’t tell you what these presets do with interlacing and I really don’t care.

Obviously, if you knew the exact display method you could customize more, but I doubt you’ll see any great improvement.

[James_j]

You can’t just make up DVD resolutions as you go. They have very strict standards.

Two options quickly come to mind:
*) Stretch to PAL 720X576 using track motion
*) Matte

Or try burning an mpeg file to a data DVD at your resolution and see if your DVD player will play it. Some might.

[James_j]

There aren’t two separate processes, but you should clearly see both cores being used. I don’t think they’ll be at 100% because there’s overhead.

Been a while since I used Vegas6, but I know with 7 it’s so aggressive I use Process Tamer to kick it down to Low priority. It sits at about 98-100% usage.

[James_j]

I can’t imagine why they would decide to strip off markers by default,
but I’m willing to modify the script if that’s what it takes.

I have Batch Render.cs from Vegas6 here, so I did a compare to the V7 script. Lots of differences, but nothing that mentions ‘set this to on to save markers’. In fact, the word ‘mark’ doesn’t appear in the script at all.

So I’m at a loss. I’m competent enough to make code changes, but right now I have no idea what to change. Maybe there’s a scripting forum somewhere?

[James_j]

I didn’t really want to hear this is a problem with Vegas itself. Or rather, with the scripting engine.

Now I’m wondering which it is. Are you saying that sometimes even if you render an mpg2 manually, you get no chapter markers? Yikes.

[James_j]

Oddly, that fixed the audio problem. I can’t imagine why.

But why is it dumping my chapter markers?

[James_j]

Oops, I didn’t create a new audio preset, I’m just choosing the included 5.1 Surround selection. Although I can’t find any VU meters in DVDA(?), by ear I’d say the output is halved. It’s pretty clear graphically on the timeline in DVDA as well.

Makes no sense since the audio is fine if I manually render it using the same template. But then, so are the chapter markers.

I’m no expert at coding, but looking at the included (V7) batch render script the word ‘chapter’ doesn’t appear. Is this just a glaring error that can be corrected easily? Or is there a better batch render script floating around?

[James_j]

As GK said, it’s likely just a preview issue. Render will be fine.

If you can’t see the whole pic, just zoom out. Obviously you’ll have borders on some pics – especially the vertical ones – but you can add a background to a lower track. And add a drop shadow using track motion.

[James_j]

Note also this effect is much easier if you start with higher res video (eg HDV). If you try to zoom very much into SD video, it can look awful.

Of course, there are tricks to get around this.

[James_j]

To expand on Gary’s answer:

I wouldn’t settle for a capture at that low a resolution (320X240). If you intend to make a DVD (720X480) out of it, it’s going to look terrible.

If you can’t find a setting somewhere in your ‘TV input device’ to get 640X480, you’re going to have to consider a different method. Like he said, if you have to, borrow a miniDV camera and use that to convert – at least it’ll get your capture to 720X480.

PS I know nothing about 8mm analog video, but I just can’t imagine it was ever limited to a resolution that low.