[Mike Kujbida]

Dean, I’m glad to hear that you finally got it working.
I trust the video was a success.
Happy editing – and DVD authoring!!

[Mike Kujbida]

Achmad, if I understand you correctly, you want to make a DVD from this footage.
If that’s correct and this is to be a regular DVD, then you have to stay with a template like “DVD Architect NTSC video stream” and customize that.
My suspicion is that you have selected one of the BluRay or HDV templates and those won’t work for a regular DVD.

[Mike Kujbida]

John, something strange is going on here and I’m not sure what it is.

I wonder if you’re confusing the time display window in Vegas with actual clip timecode.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

Last week, I captured 6 tapes that were used in the production of a student music video. All times were shot on a JVC 550U that was externally timecode locked to a DVCAM deck that was used for music playback. This allows the students to reference the song’s timecode for editing purposes.
During capture (normal, not batch), each tape was given it’s own name (eg. studio-1, studio-2, chromakey-1, etc.) so that identifying individual clips in Vegas would be easier.
After capturing, all the footage was loaded into Vegas and, before putting anything on the timeline, I ran the “Add Timecode To All Media” script.
Now, whenever any clip is dropped on the timeline, the proper timecode shows up allowing for instant synchronization to the master song.
The song’s timecode starts at 00:01:00:02 (drop-frame TC) so I dropped it on the timeline so it starts at that point.
However, since I’m referencing burned-in TC, I could’ve started it anywhere as it’s the TC numbers I’m using, not the time display in Vegas.

Does this make any sense?

[Mike Kujbida]

My thought is that you have selected one of the BluRay templates.
HDV templates render with an m2t extension while BluRay has m2v.

[Mike Kujbida]

Sorry John. Yes, I meant Project Media.
I’ve been using Vegas since version 1.0 so old habits die hard 🙂

I just tried it again and it works for me.
The script is called “Add Timecode To All Media” and is one of the stock ones with Vegas Pro 8.

Is this HDV, DV or analog footage?
Was the clock on your camcorder set?

[Mike Kujbida]

Either run the “Apply Timecode to all Media” script or apply the Timecode FX to your media while it’s in the media pool.
This way, original tape TC is applied to the clip.
If you applied the TC FX while the clip was on the timeline, it wouldn’t have any relation to actual tape TC.

[Mike Kujbida]

Is this a full body shot or a head & shoulders shot or something in between?
If it’s not a full body shot, consider shooting at night (as long as you don’t live in the city, that is). Odds are that you can get creative enough with your camera angles that you won’t need a backdrop.
If you do need the fabric though, just like shooting for chromakey, the trick is to get the fabric back far enough from the talent so that no light spills on it.
HTH.

[Mike Kujbida]

So there are particular resolutions for DVD?

Yes there are. The numbers I gave came from the Vegas manual.

I’m curious as to where the 640×480 files came from.
Did you use Vegas to do the MPEG-2 encoding or are these already MPEG files?

…its edges get brutally sliced by the tv.

This is called overscan and it’s been an issue with video since the beginning.
The only way around it is to pay attention to the safe action/safe title markings in Vegas.
If you really want to see the entire frame, the only thing I can suggest is to drop the 640×480 clip(s) in Vegas over top of a track of solid black or a background of your choice. Then use Track Motion to shrink the 640×480 clip(s) down so they fit inside the safe action area. You’ll end up with a border around everything but at least you’ll see it.

[Mike Kujbida]

John, I use that particular feature a LOT and have several different templates stored.

Here’s a tip for you about custom templates.
If you want to save them or are moving to a new PC and want them, all of the custom rendering templates are in:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Sony\File Templates

Where is your windows account name.
Just copy them over to your new PC and they should be recognized.

[Mike Kujbida]

Dean, If you still have the original files, my recommendation would be to render them out as a single movie.
This way you’ll have the choice of having either an instant start DVD of one with a single menu item.

If you don’t have them though, let’s help you work through this.
I’m assuming by “chapters” you mean individual segments (i.e. football-1.mpg, football-2.mpg, football-3.mpg).
I’m also assuming that you’ve dropped all 3 on the menu page so that you have the main title along 3 separate icons.
To get things to loop from clip 1 to 2 to 3 and back to 1, you need to use end actions.
Your mistake seems to be that you’re looking at the End Action tab on the main page and not, as Edward said, for the clip itself.
To see the tab for individual End Actions, double-click clip 1.
It will bring up that clip only with a new sret of tabs on the right side of the screen. Use the End Action tab here to tell it what to do.
In this case, it would be to go to football-2.
Repeat this procedure for clips 2 & 3 and set them to go to football-3 and football-1 respectively.
Let us know if this helps or is still confusing.