John Rofrano
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
-
I find it best to keep your project in the same format that you will deliver in. This ensures that there are no surprises especially when matching aspect ratios. So I would start with a PAL DV Widescreen project and then add your AVCHD files to that and render using the DVD Architect PAL Widescreen video stream template and a corresponding AC3 template (Stereo or 5.1) for audio.
~jr
-
In that price range you also have the Sony HVR-A1U to choose from ($1849.95 after $300 mail-in rebate at B&H). This shoots HDV MPEG-2 to tape just like the bigger HVR-Z1U. It has XLR’s and does a very nice job. I have this and a Z1 and while the A1 doesn’t do nearly as good in low light as the Z1, it holds up rather good in well lit scenes. If your sports are during the day it should work as well as the more expensive HDV cameras.
Maybe Douglas can comment on whether the A1 is better than the AVCHD cameras in low light (I don’t have any AVCHD cammys to compare to)
~jr
-
> …could it be a progressive scan setting I’m getting wrong.
Yea, sorry for not asking earlier but how was the footage shot? If it was shot progressive then you should set your project to progressive and render progressive. This would leave the interlacing to the DVD player which will gladly add it on the fly during playback.
I never asked you what your project setting are. They should match your footage. Are you using the HDV 1080-50i setting? You could also use the Match Media Settings option in the Project Properties.
Another thing to try is to reverse the filed order. Go into the rendering options and change lower field first to upper field first and render a bit and see if that helps.
The problem is caused by a field order mismatch so the solution is to figure out how to match the field order again or render progressive and not have interfacing at all.
~jr
-
> ..then burn DVD straight from camera.
I believe this is part where Douglas said that you must be using some other program than Vegas since Vegas does not burn DVD’s from your camera. It is possible that whatever you are using to do this is getting the interlacing wrong.
What are you using to make your DVD?
Here is the problem: HDV is interlaced upper field first. MPEG2 for DVD is interlaced lower field first. If the program you are using to create your DVD doesn’t realize that the source has reversed interlacing it will get the interlacing incorrect and you will see the scan lines.
Here is something to try: Render your HDV project from Vegas using the MainConcept MPEG-2 render type and use the DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream template with that (or the PAL version if you are in a PAL country). Vegas will understand the field order differences and render the MPEG-2 file correctly. You will also have to render a separate AC3 audio file to use since the DVD Architect template is video only. Then use those two files in your DVD authoring program and see if that fixes the problem (it should. This is how I make DVD’s from HDV all the time)
~jr
-
Boris RED will do what you want and it plugs into Vegas or works stand-alone. There is a downloadable trial copy on the BorisFX web site along with several really good tutorials to get you started quickly. If Boris RED is outside your price range, they also have Boris FX and Boris Graffiti which do 2D/3D FX and 2D/3D Text Generation respectively and are less expensive. Boris RED combines Boris FX & Boris Graffiti with even more capabilities. If you get RED it should do everything that Canopus Xplode did for you and more.
~jr
-
No, the Adobe Master Sets libraries do not work with Vegas. They only work with the Adobe Ultra software. You can use the output of Adobe Ultra in Vegas, but you can’t use the master sets directly.
~jr
-
OK. I’ve place the file on my web site with one second of DV footage:
After the developers check out the file, they can contact me by replying to one of the two emails that I sent to support. Remember, every other video application on my desktop e.g., Vegas Pro 8.0b, DV Rack, Ultra 2, particleIllusion 3.0, Vue 6 Infinite, Carrara Pro 6.0, Cinema 4D, VirtualDub, etc. can read and play these files just fine.
So it’s not just a codec issue… it’s a codec issue with RED and BLUE. Also BLUE will display the first frame but not play the clip while RED only displays a black frame, so maybe there is a difference in the way RED and BLUE handles AVI files that might be a clue.
Thanks for looking into this. I appreciate it.
~jr
-
Peter,
I wish it were that simple but it’s not the clips. As I said, I have tried different clips from my DV camera, ADS Tech A/V Link, and DV output rendered from Sony Vegas.
ALL of these clips play fine on my laptop with RED. In fact, that has been my work-around. I just transfer the clips to my laptop and work on them in RED and transfer them back to my desktop (via USB drive). So the clips are not the key to what’s wrong.
There is something about my desktop computer that causes Boris RED not to read any DV AVI files. RED & BLUE are the only video program that are affected. So RED & BLUE are doing something different than all of the other video programs I use. The key is to find out what that is, and why it doesn’t work on my desktop.
Does RED open DV files using the Video for Windows API? or does it use the DirectX API? or maybe the Quicktime API? I beleive that knowing how RED handles DV files is the key to solving this. Then we can start looking for conflicts.
~jr
-
Peter,
Thanks, I appreciate it. Because of SPAM, email has almost become a useless form of communication. It really is a pain.
I met some of the Boris team while I was at NAB this year and I learned a lot just from talking with them. I’m sure they will help me figure it out.
Thanks again,
~jr
-
Hi Peter,
No luck. No one has responded to my email. 🙁 I also sent one via the BorisFX web site and got no reply. Does Boris supply email technical support?
Anything else I can try?
~jr