[John Gregoriades]

Gentlemen, here is my report.
Apparently I must have downloaded and installed the “right” codec (among many others, for other purposes,) because Vegas now “sees” and accepts the Canon digicam .avi OK, right-out-of-the-SD card.
However, I went ahead and did some testing, as follows:
Using the Canon (Model A620 point-and-shoot still cam) I copied a color slide*, in “movie mode”. This created an .avi video clip.
{{* Making a movie of a (still) slide allowed for later capture of an identical “photo” during video playback. See below.}}
I then copied the clip from the Cam’s SD card to the HD of the PC.
Using Windows Movie Maker, I loaded the original clip, and had it “rendered” into a video .avi.
Using Virtual Dub, I loaded the original clip, and had it re-saved as an .avi (Note, I could not find the setting for: “resave it as an avi using “direct stream copy” mode” so I could use some more direction, please.
Then, I placed the three clips one after the other (original Canon, plus the WMM and VD results) on the same Vegas timeline (adding titles so I could differentiate which one was which) and then rendered the whole as a single high quality NTSC MPEG2.
I then played the MPEG2 using WinDVD, in a good Sony 19″ Monitor. While playing, I tried to note differences in the video (not the audio), and could not; they looked identical. I captured “stills” and blew them up 400% and could detect no differences between them.
Either my test method is flawed, or the compression algorithms are “so good” that they don’t affect the quality to any significant degree. (One thing I noticed was that the original Canon audio is monaural – only one microphone – but the WMM created a stereo.)

[John Gregoriades]

Makes sense. Will report after the trial.

[John Gregoriades]

Thanks, Mike.
I will shoot a short video, run it thru WMM and the Virtual Dub and compare what Vegas’ final product looks like.

[John Gregoriades]

Thank you, Mike.
My friend went searching the location you mentioned, and found some obscure program which does what he needed.

[John Gregoriades]

Thanks, Mike, but could use some more help.
My friend gave me a CD today. On it were two files: a movie (in .avi format) and a .srt file.
I tried opening the .avi movie in DVDA and it would not accept it at all; nor the .srt file.
I tried opening the .avi movie in Vegas and it showed on the timeline only its audio portion, not the video. Trying to load the .srt came up with an error message.
I then tried the Subtitle Workshop. It will take some time to figure that one out, but that’s another story. Any input on why the problems with DVDA and Vegas?
John

[John Gregoriades]

Thanks, Mike….and so are you!

[John Gregoriades]

Thank you all.
I appreciate your quick and helpful replies, and I’m learning all the time.
The “original” material was in the form of a DVD disk, from which I extracted .VOB files, and placed on Vegas’ timeline. (I was pleasantly surprised that Vegas would accept .VOB files!) From that timeline I did the editing, and then I rendered MPG2; and from that I created a DVD.
What is now proposed is to take some shots from another DVD (which I will have to extract their .VOB files) and then insert these scene(s) somewhere in the middle of the original.
Looks like I may have to bite the bullet, and use the original .VOB files (using the original .veg) and do the insert-editing, plus cut and remove, then re-render the new assembly into MPG2 so as not to degrade the original portion.
But Jerry’s Womble idea is worth a try, if for no other reason than to be aware of its existence.
(Incidentally, this is an assembly of war-footage of some significant historical value, much from dusty film archives, and the resulting DVD will likely have wide circulation among amateur historians. Took a lot of work, breaking down the scenes, in some cases flipping them mirror-like, with the advice of folks in this forum, and adjusting brightness contrast sharpening, titles, etc. etc. differently on each scene. Whew! The initial edition has been well received, and now the requests are coming in to add more to it.) A rewarding, although time consuming, hobby! Vegas continues to impress me with its ability, and stability.
Again,
Thanks!
John

[John Gregoriades]

Great, thank you , Mike.
(Apparently it also makes modifications on the resulting PREP files, because it did not create new ones, it must have modified the old ones.)

[John Gregoriades]

Thanks, Ted. Your response seems logical. I’ll do some more research.

[John Gregoriades]

Thanks, Ted.
Since you use Corel, maybe you know this: It appears that, for filling-in a drawn object with fountain fill,your choices are linear, radial, conical or square. I recall a decade or more ago using an Apple program (“Draw”??) which, after you drew an odd shape (say an amoeba) you could fill it in such a way that the effect would conform to its edge. Say, if the edges were dark, and brightening toward the midle, then all edges of the amoeba would be equally dark, and the brightness would depend on the distance from the nearest edge. I don’t see Corel having that feature. Am I wrong?