[Mike Kujbida]

Sareraka, an external audio mixer won’t help you either as, by it’s very nature, a mixer is designed to take multiple inputs (mic and/or line) and give you a single output of everything already mixed together.
As Danny suggested, what you need is a multi-input sound card.
Presonus, RME Audio and Echo Audio are manufacturers of cards that should fit your needs and are Vegas-friendly.

[Mike Kujbida]

New DVD Architect 5 and Blu-print Update.

LAS VEGAS, NV — (NAB Tradeshow Booth # SL12413) – Following the industry-wide adoption of the Sony Blu-ray high definition DVD format, Sony Creative Software today announced upgrades to its DVD Architect and Blu-print applications for authoring Blu-ray discs. Ongoing development of Blu-ray authoring solutions reinforces Sony’s commitment to offer comprehensive production solutions, from software to hardware, at the prosumer and global production scale.

DVD Architect 5 software enables independent producers and videographers to author both a standard definition DVD or a high definition Blu-ray Disc complete with full motion buttons, motion menus, scene selection menus, subtitles and alternate video and audio tracks. The clean, drag-and-drop DVD Architect interface, powerful layout and authoring tools work seamlessly with the Sony Vegas Pro video editing and production software, making it easy to develop dynamic menu-based DVDs, movies, picture slideshows and music compilations. Shipping in mid-June, DVD Architect 5 software will be available as a free downloadable upgrade to all registered Vegas Pro 8 users, as the Vegas Pro software ships bundled with the DVD Architect application.

[Mike Kujbida]

“What are the differences?”

Check the Release Notes for a full description of the changes.
Generally you want to go with the newest versions due to the various bug fixes.

“Will any external harddrive do? Or are there recommendations”

My personal preference is anything from Seagate (great warranty!!).
You can buy cases that are USB only, firewire only or a combination of the two. Once again, it’s your choice.
I prefer the combo units as it doens’t limit me.

“Finally can vegas pro be purchased without the Architect?”

Until last week, the answer was no.
However, B & H just announced a special version of Vegas Pro 8 all by itself.
Note that this link is to a page with several different options with the cheapest being Vegas Pro 8 for $130.00.
Be advised that, since this doesn’t get you DVD Architect, you won’t have MPEG-2 or AC-3 render options.
You can buy a different authoring app, DVD Architect Studio from B&H (limited version of DVD Architect) or go the Upgrade to Vegas Pro from Vegas route direct from Sony for an additional $235.00.
At a total of $405.00, this is still cheaper than buying the full package from B&H or Sony.

[Mike Kujbida]

Ray, on a recent monitor discussion on the Sony Vegas forum, for a variety of reasons, most folks did not recommend the Samsung monitors.
The Westinghouse L2410NM (24″ – 1920 x 1200) was highly recommended.
Sam’s Club apparently has it for $299 right now.

[Mike Kujbida]

In the world of standard definition video, DV-AVI is the best format there is for editing.
Converting to (and editing with) any other format, especially WMV, is going to drastically increase your render times.

The fastest render times will be obtained by rendering to a completely separate drive.
I find it very hard to believe that rendering to a flash drive is faster than the separate drive method.

BTW, the “estimated time” is exactly that, an “estimate”.
You’ll notice the time go up and down depending on what is being rendered at that particular moment.

[Mike Kujbida]

It sounds to me like you only have one drive in your computer.
To do it right, you really need at least 2 drives, one for your OS and other programs and one (exclusively) for your video projects.
What I think is happening is that your page file keeps increasing until it maxes out and starts to give you the grief you’re experiencing.

How big is your hard drive?
Are you running XP or Vista?
What’s your CPU?
How much RAM do you have?

[Mike Kujbida]

If you can wrap your head around the technical terms, Glenn Chan has some excellent articles on his site about these issues, specifically the two “Color Spaces” articles.

[Mike Kujbida]

Unless you’ve changed the file locations in Vegas, the default is C:\My Documents.
If you have a small drive C, it’s easy to fill this up.
The 2 file location options are in Properties (File-Properties – Prerendered files folder) and Options-Preferences (Temporary files folder.

[Mike Kujbida]

The broadcast filter is designed to bring video levels to legal limits which is the opposite of what you want.
What you need to do is to convert Studio RGB (16-235) to Computer RGB (0-255).
The easiest way to do this is to apply the “Secondary Color Corrector FX” to the clip and then select the “Studio RGB to Computer RGB” preset.
You’ll see the blacks get blacker and the whites get whiter.

[Mike Kujbida]

I rendered out the file that you gave a link to in the other forum dropped it on the Vegas timeline.
Black levels were identical so I suspect Windows Media Player is doing something to it.
I also tried playing it with Media Player Classic and the blacks were where they were supposed to be so I’m positive it’s Window Media Player that’s the problem.
Unfortunately I don’t know enough about WMP’s various options to tell you what to tweak on it.