Matt Crowley
Forum Replies Created
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Try experimenting with the VBR (variable bitrate) modes for WMV. It looks like you’re using CBR (constant bitrate) at 6Mbps. Try customising the WMV video compression settings to VBR (you can choose bit rate or quality) and experiment with the values to see what sort of average bitrates you get. Try 5Mbps average (or quality or 75-80) for 720p and see how the bitrate (and filesize) compares to your 6Mbps CBR renders. Just how effective this is will depend on the material – how much movement, detail and abrupt changes/cuts there are.
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See Edward Troxel’s post in this thread for a possible solution: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/24/915703
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You can also use the J/K/L keys as a shuttle jog – K stops playback, L and J play forward or reverse. Repeated taps of L or J change the playback speed. If you hold K while tapping J or L, you’ll get smaller speed increments. This is equivalent to dragging the double-headed Rate arrow adjacent to the transport controls.
Shift+Space will play from the beginning of a project, and Ctrl+Shift will start playback no matter where the focus is in the Vegas interface.
See the Vegas menu Help > Keyboard Shortcuts for a complete list of time-saving keys.
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Not sure what’s up there… maybe you can post a video render on Youtube that shows the problems you’re encountering? Vegas might choke on a complex timeline during preview but the rendered output should always be smooth.
I’ve never had a problem with audio stuttering or dropouts. What format is your music track in? WAV, MP3? Perhaps you can try temporarily deleting the music clip and/or track to see if that helps preview or render.
You PC sounds like it should be fine for all this.
When you’ve got time, try a simple project with just a few clips on one track with simple cuts from one to the next and render it out. If even that causes problems then there may be some other issue.
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What’s your computer spec like? On my 3GHz Core2Duo desktop PC things get sluggish with even a handful of AVCHD clips and minimal effects. AVCHD is a very demanding format – Vegas has to spend a lot of its time decoding the video, never mind applying effects and edits.
Are your source video files on an internal hard drive? Editing will probably be very sluggish using any external drive.
You can copy/paste between separate projects, but you need to have both projects open at the same time.
You say the rendered output stops after a few clips/stills? Make sure you have the entire timeline of your project highlighted (double-click on the space just above the timeline ruler) before rendering, or remember to un-check the “Render loop region only” option at the bottom of the Render dialog. The render should always come out OK with no jumps/hiccups unless these are actually part of the project.
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If you’re working with a lot of HD video clips and/or large still images from digicams, Vegas will have a LOT of processing to do as it previews the video on the timeline. Are you saying that playing/previewing the project in Vegas is choppy, or playing a rendered project (the output video) is choppy. Maybe both? HD video is hard work even for a fast PC – particularly if it’s AVCHD format video.
Vegas has some tricks to help the editing/previewing speed though. You can pre-render parts of your project that are particularly slow, you can set the preview quality to a low setting, disable external monitor preview, make sure the project settings match the input media format… search this forum and look at the manual for details.
The sure-fire way to tell if your project is going to turn out well is to render it to a suitable video format. For HD output, try one of the HVD presets (MainConcept MPEG2) or AVCHD (Sony AVC) that matches your project and source media format.
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I’ve never actually tried a dual-layer DVD so I don’t really know the detail of selecting a break point – none of my projects are nearly big enough to need it.
It sounds like DVD Architect can’t automatically find a suitable break point. Do you have any chapter markers in your project? Or is it just one (or more) huge video segment(s)? If you don’t have markers, try adding some at convenient places (scene changes etc) to break up your DVD.
You can add markers on the timeline in DVD Architect to save re-rendering in Vegas – just click on the timeline for the video, scroll/play until you find a scene change or fade-out (to hide the layer-change pause) and press M to add a marker (like in Vegas). Break up the project with markers, then try preparing and burning again – hopefully the markers will be picked up as possible layer-break points.
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When you render audio to AC3 (as with the AVCHD format) you have an option in the advanced audio settings (Click the “Custom” button in the “Render As” dialog, then click the “Audio” tab) to use automatic gain control.
This is enabled by default and makes the decoder/player automatically adjust the audio level to suit typical DVD/BD levels. If you un-check this option, the audio level will not be affected, so you will have the same level when you play/import your rendered video as in your Vegas project.
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If you haven’t already prepared the disc, clicking “Burn” will automatically prepare the disc, then burn it. You can also choose a previously prepared project folder to burn.
If you want to use Imgburn instead of DVD Architect to burn the disc, just use the “Prepare” option.
DVD Architect 5 (with Vegas HD 10) will burn dual-layer discs. I don’t know about earlier versions. Check in the help file under “burning your project”. DVD Architect prompts you to select a layer break point (usually a chapter marker) in the Burn wizard if you’re using a dual-layer disc.
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An update to the default fade type…
The default for audio is “fast log” fade. This isn’t usually the best choice for fading audio in/out from silence. I find “smooth” or “slow” to sound better for this, as the fade is more gradual and mimics what you get with a mixing desk or amplifier volume control.
However… the default of “fast log” is the better choice for audio crossfades because it results in constant-volume crossfades. This is not what I expected. I assumed smooth or linear would give a constant-volume crossfade but no, they result in a 3dB dip in output level at the mid-point of the crossfade. Try some crossfades on a noise sample (or sustained applause, etc) to see the effect.
For video crossfades, the “fast” and “slow” fade type result in a flash-like transition as the composite level rises (for fast) or falls (for slow) slightly at the midpoint. This is particularly noticeable on clips of similar brightness (try it with a solid grey generated media). The other fade types are “neutral” in this respect. I stick to “smooth” or “linear”.