[Mike Kujbida]

Does “standard def AVI” mean that it came from a camcorder or somewhere else?
If it was somewhere else, then where?

I’m asking this as I had a student bring in a video yesterday that he claimed was a standard AVI yet it wouldn’t open in Vegas.
Further investigation showed it be an XVid which won’t open natively in Vegas.

Ignore the drive format question. The file is too small for FAT32/NTFS to be an issue.

Adding a border will do nothing to reduce the file size.
Reducing the framerate will.
Rendering to a different format like WMV will.
Using a lower quality codec will.

[Mike Kujbida]

Cathleen, place any two clips/images on the timeline and overlap them.
Right-click the “X” and select “Fade Type”.
That’s where you’ll see the 25 different types.

How are you applying the “Composite Level” envelope?
The reason I ask is that it works properly for me. I can apply it at the Track level or by using the “Insert – Video Envelopes” option.
I get a thin blue line at the very top of the clip that runs the entire length of the timeline.
I can double-click it anywhere to add points.

Here’s another thought. Are you sure you’re grabbing the “Composite Level” envelope line and not the “Opacity” envelope line?
The behaviour of the “Opacity” envelope more closely resembles what you’re describing.

[Mike Kujbida]

You’re right leslie.
DV-AVI is approx. 14 GB/hr.
A 1 hr. DVD is only 4.3 GB. so something has to suffer and that’s usually picture quality 🙁

p.s. after 2 final weekends of it, the snow is finally gone here and temps are supposed to be around +15 C. this weekend!!

[Mike Kujbida]

I can’t offer any good suggestions as that’s never happened to me nor have I read about it happening to too many other users.
Generally the steps you’ve already taken cure the problem.

I do have one question though and that is why you chose DVD footage over original camcorder footage to edit with.
DV-AVI material is much easier on your computer than converted DVD footage.

edit: 6.0b was as far as VMS got.
You may have seen posts for Vegas but it went up to 6.0d

[Mike Kujbida]

A bunch of questions for you.
Is the video standard def or hi def?
What format is it (DV-AVI, WMV, etc.)?
How large is the file?
Is your drive formatted FAT32 or NTFS?
Unless it’s analog (i.e. VHS, 8 mm., etc.), video usually doesn’t have a border.
If it does, using Pan/Cop and selecting “Match Output Aspect” usually fixes this.

[Mike Kujbida]

720 x 1.2121 (widescreen pixel aspect ratio) = 872.712

And remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question!!

[Mike Kujbida]

Does that make sense?

Sure does 🙂
It’s called Track Motion because whatever you do affects everything on that track.
You can use keyframes to get around this buy that’s another topic all on it’s own.
The simplest solution is to place each clip on it’s own track and apply the desired FX to it.
Vegas has virtually unlimited tracks so you can get away with doing this very easily.

[Mike Kujbida]

Kevin, look into the various offerings from Digital Rapids.
This is a well-respected company and I’m sure they’ll have a product that meets your needs.

[Mike Kujbida]

Where is the include markers option?

On the first render screen that comes up, it’s the second option from the bottom.

Also, I did move the mpg file and did not move the sfk file.

You meant the “.sfl” file, right?
The “.sfk ” file is for audio waveforms and will get rebuilt when you open the project.

Get into the rendering habit of rendering the MPEG-2 and AC-3 files to a separate folder.
Make sure they both have the same surname (i.e. myvideo.mpg & myvideo.ac3).
That way, when you import the video file into DVDA, the audio will follow automatically.

[Mike Kujbida]

Mel, the Sony newsletters have had several articles on audio that you should take a look through.
Tweaking narration to perfection (part way down the page;
Tweaking Vegas audio in Sound Forge software;
The Compressor/EQ Question: Who’s On First?;
Mastering with Sound Forge (Part 1);
Mastering with Sound Forge (Part 2).