[Mike Kujbida]

Insert a volume envelope (shortcut key is V) on the music track.
Whwn you want to lower the music, double-click the envelope line four times to add 2 points at the beginning and 2 points at the end of the voice-over segment.
Place your cursor anywhere between points 2 & 3 and drag downward as desired.
Adjust the time difference between points 1 & 2 or 3 & 4 if you want the fade in/out to be fast, slow or somewhere in between.

[Mike Kujbida]

“Actually, I could use some help on how to do this in DVD architect.”

I think Douglas was referring to using the arrows found in DVD Architect, not actually doing it there.

…it was very labor intensive moving the pointer…

Yes, It is a time-consuming process to do this AND have it look good. You need to decide where to draw the line time-wise (so to speak).
This is where the use of keyframes comes in very handy.

…the pointer is backwards…

Use the tools in the Pan/Crop window to rotate it any way you want.

“Would it be easier in DVD architect ?”

Nope. Vegas is the right tool for the job here.

[Mike Kujbida]

…right-click with the mouse, go to the end, and do shift+rightclik)

Don’t do a right-click or shift+right-click.
Just click on the first one, shift-click on the last one and then group them.

[Mike Kujbida]

The Wingdings font set has an arrow in it that you could use for this purpose.
You could also make your own arrow using any paint program.
Make the background transparent and save it in PNG format to preserve the transparency.
Add the arrow to a new track above your video track in Vegas.
Open the Pan/Crop window for the arrow to size and position accordingly.

[Mike Kujbida]

John, according to the Release notes, DVDA 3 offers “Dual-layer mastering and burning support”.
The majority of posts I’ve read do not recommend the Lightscribe feature.
You’re better off with a colour printer that will handle printable DVDs.
I haven’t tried them yet but the new Taiyo Yuden watershield discs are supposed to look great (better colour saturation) when printed on.

[Mike Kujbida]

Sorry Brad but Vegas can’t do what you want in this case 🙁
The only solution to prevent bumping is to render the audio portion out as a wave file and re-import it.

[Mike Kujbida]

There are two ways of doing this.

The first is to click the “Copy Snapshot to Clipboard” icon (top right of the Preview Window), paste it it into your paint program and save it.

The second is to click the “Save Snapshot to File” icon (looks like a floppy disc) on the top right of the preview window.
You’ll get the choice of saving it in JPEG or PNG format. I recommend PNG because it’s a lossless format in case you want to do anything else with the image.

With either method, make sure to set the Preview Window to Best/Full before doing this to maximize image quality.

[Mike Kujbida]

When you capture live from a switcher…

Ah yes, that does make a difference 🙂
I’ve done this numerous times at my workplace.
How are you feeding the audio to Vegas?
How are you combining the audio and video feeds?
If it’s through something like a Canopus box (or, in my case, through a JVC miniDV/SVHS deck with built-in A to D conversion), this should work just fine and be able to be given to anybody for their uses.

My guess is that you’re recording the audio separately from the video which is why you can’t hear the audio in an external player.

BTW, I’ve done this as far back as Vegas 4 without issue.

[Mike Kujbida]

Are you talking about standard def AVIs or HDV?
I’ve never has any issues with SD AVI footage playing in any other program.
This includes AVIs given to Mac users.

[Mike Kujbida]

…isn’t there a way to set markers while you capture…”

Sorry but no. Timecode-based scene detection is all that’s currently offered by Vegas.

To answer David’s original question, I believe Scenalyzer has that capability.
Or was it in the older freeware version?
Either way, download both and find out.
If you like it, Scenalyzer is only $34.