John Rofrano
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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AVI is just a file wrapper for the actual video. The video itself could use any of a number of codecs. (note: codecs are the algorithm used to encode and decode the video or audio)
When Vegas imports only audio, this usually means that you either don’t have the correct video codec for the file or the video codec is not support by Vegas.
First download a utility like GSpot and drop your AVI file into it and find out what codec it uses. Then make sure that you have that codec installed. If you do and Vegas still doesn’t import your video, then it’s a codec that Vegas doesn’t support and you will need to use some other program (like Super(c)) to convert the file into a format that Vegas can edit.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
BTW, I’ve added a tutorial on this to my web site called:
Editing Camtasia Footage in Sony Vegas Pro
This gives you step-by-step instructions with screen captures and circles and arrows, etc.
Hope this helps,
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
S-Video will only support 480i. I would NOT drive an HDTV with that signal. Clearly you would not get HD output. Also, S-Video is analog. By using the DVI to HDMI cable, you will be sending a digital signal which will be better than converting to analog first.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
You need to use two ports on the video card to get two monitors that show different things. Since your video card doesn’t have 2 DVI ports, you will have to use the VGA port for one of your monitors. Get a VGA to DVI adapter (most new video cards come with these already). You could then go VGA -> DVI -> HDMI -> HDTV. Not sure how that would look. Alternately you could use VGA -> DVI for your PC monitor and DVI -> HDMI for the HD TV. The key is to use both ports of you want the two monitors to show different things.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> Am I right by saying no matter what I do the screencast will not come out as good as looking at your own screen?
There will always be some loss as long as what you are showing is being resized into 720×480. That’s why zooming in is helpful so that there is minimal downsizing from the original. Also, TV is interlaced so you are taking a progressive capture and splitting it into fields which will degrade the fine lines in your video. That’s why using sharpen is so important.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Also make sure you are entering the key correctly. I assume it is on paper since this is the boxed version. Sometimes a zero (0) can look like an o (O) or an o like a zero. It really may be an incorrectly typed key.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
The number of cores that get used is dependant on the codec. MainConcept MPEG-2 uses all 4 cores at 100%. As you have seen, Windows Media only uses 2 (probably one for audio and one for video). If the codec is not multi-threaded then Vegas cannot process on more cores. Vegas Pro 8.1 in Vista 64 will gladly keep 8 cores busy rendering to MPEG-2 if you have them.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Here is what I’ve found works really well. It starts by not expecting video captured at 1680×1050 desktop resolution to be readable in a tiny 720×480 DVD sized video.
- Capture using 1280×720 screen dimensions. That means resizing whatever program you are using to 1280×720. This is easy using Camtasia 6
- Capture to the AVI file format (not CAMREC) so you can edit immediately in Vegas
- In Vegas, use the Match Media Settings option in the project properties to match your Vegas project to the Camtasia media. If you used the settings in #1 this should be Custom (1280×720, 15.000 fps) progressive, square pixels.
- Add the Sony Sharpen FX with about a 0.500 setting to the video track with the Camtasia footage. This will clean up the edges to make text more readable.
- Use Pan/Crop to zoom into areas of interest in your video. Remember, a DVD is only 720×480 resolution. Don’t try to pack too much information into that tiny space. Zooming is your friend.
- Render using the standard DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream template. Rendering direct to MPEG2 in Vegas will give you the highest quality over creating an AVI and re-encoding it in DVD Architect later
Follow these steps and you should have a pretty good looking Camtasia tutorial on DVD.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
This is the “little white lie” of media players. They all support MP4 but there are so many parameters to the MP4 spec that what they don’t tell you is that they only support a very limited sub-set of MP4 rendered in a certain way. An MP4 file that plays on an iPod may not play on a PSP or Zune and visa versa. What you have to do is find out what format your media player supports and re-encode your videos to that format. Not fun, I’ve been there.
Since it’s a Sony player, I would start by rendering using the Tools | Export to PSP option. Hopefully all Sony players will support the Sony PSP format (but maybe not). If that doesn’t work try the iPod format (Main Concept AVC/AAC | Apple iPod 320×240 Video). Be prepare to waste an entire weekend figuring this out. Good luck.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Quicktime is just a container for the video. What’s important is how the video is encoded and that depends on the codec that is being used. Open the file with the Quicktime player. Does it play? Open the Movie Inspector (Windows | Show Movie Inspector (Ctrl+I)). Look at the Format of both the Video and the Audio. What does it say? These are the formats that Vegas must support in order to be able to edit the video.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com