[Kent Clark]

Joe and Enrique, thanks for the comments. Joe, I did go back to the video clip and insert text. Then I planned to make blank buttons in Architect and align them with the corresponding text in the clip. But when I did this the text from the clip was very fuzzy, almost unreadable for smaller fonts, while the DVDA text was much sharper. If I did what you were explaining did you have any issues with text sharpness?

[Kent Clark]

I tried to get around this problem by adding the text from the navigation buttons to the original clip and then superimposing blank buttons on the corresponding areas of text when the clip was made the background graphic for the menu.

The big problem with this is that the text is so fuzzy it is almost unreadable, whereas the text from DVDA is much crisper.

Any suggestions or help?

[Kent Clark]

Mike,

Thanks for the help. Here what the program Help files say in VMS Platinum:

If the selected file type supports it, the Render As dialog allows you to create custom templates for saving files.

Of course, there is no mention that I can find that tells the user what file type allows custom templates. I’ve tried all of the listed ones and none activate the Custom button.

1. Use the Render As dialog to specify a location and name for the file you want to save.

2. Click the Custom button to open the Custom Template dialog.

3. Choose a template from the Template drop-down list, or enter a new name in the edit box.

* Built-in presets cannot be edited.

* When determining bit rates, 1K=1024.

4. Use the Custom Template dialog to set the template’s properties.

Since it says built in presets cannot be edited I tried changing a parameter to get custom properties instead of a preset, but even then the Custom button is grayed out after selecting Render As.

So, it appears that you may be right that this function is unavailable in Movie Studio Platinum. I’ll either have to do some rejuggling or buy the Pro version.

[Kent Clark]

Anthony, it’s hard to know from short internet comments how much someone knows about computers so if this reply seems obvious I apologize. Just because you have XP Pro doesn’t mean you have a 64 bit OS. WXPPro comes in 32 bit and 64 bit flavors so if you have the former you’ll still need to upgrade to the latter.

[Kent Clark]

Anthony, if you are running a 32 bit version of Windows you can only use a little bit more than 3 gb of RAM, if you put in more it won’t make a difference. To use more than that you need to have a 64 bit version of windows. So if you upgrade to Vista 64 bit and 4×2 gb RAM modules you’ll be set.

[Kent Clark]

You can chain any of the other video fx with neatvideo, so you can do color correction, brightness, contrast or anything else with neatvideo on any video event.

I’ve found the auto settings to be workable for everything I’ve done so far. The only problem is finding a featureless area that is big enough for the software to use.

The pdf manual, which I think you can download before you buy the product, is very good and very detailed. It explains everything I’ve needed to know up to now.

[Kent Clark]

I forgot to answer your question about when you can use it. Since it is a standard Video FX you can apply whenever you want, you can deactivate it, reactivate it, etc. Anything you can do with the standard video FX you can do with the Vegas plug-in version.

[Kent Clark]

Raymond, the free download will not do a complete screen of standard DV and it puts text on the screen saying it is Neatvideo trial. But, it will show you what the program is capable of by reducing the noise inside a box or frame on your screen.

If it does what you need then you have to buy the program to really do anything with it. They have a Vegas plug-in that works inside Vegas, you will see it in your Video FX tab when you install it.

[Kent Clark]

Raymond,

I’ve used this program with some success in smoothing very noisy 8mm film transferred to video:

https://www.neatvideo.com/

[Kent Clark]

Thanks Steve. Would this be the correct way to follow your instructions:

I choose the Render As option. On the dialog box that pops up I then choose MainConcept MPEG-2 (*.mpg). After that I choose the DVD Architect Video Stream option under templates and then render the video.

Once that finishes rendering I go back to Render As, choose the Dolby Digital AC-3 Studio (*.ac3) option, make that file’s name the same as the video, and then render again?