[Raymond Pace]

Well, the thing is that I’m reducing the framerate for every event, and they were all 29.970. So, for example, I’m used to using a 0.6 undersample, which results in 17.982 fps. For 120 fps, I’d have to go with a (much lower, obviously) 0.15 undersample, in order to achieve a framerate of approximately 17.982.

That had me worried.

[Raymond Pace]

[John Rofrano] “What you have just learned is that you want to set up your project correctly BEFORE you do anything else.”

Does that mean there’s a way to make sure any footage I insert into the project automatically matches the aspect ratio? So I don’t have to change it in Pan/Crop for each event?

Also, some footage that I converted from FLV to MP4 is showing up in Vegas as 120 fps, even though when I play the video in VLC Media Player and check “Codec Information,” it lists the video’s framerate as 30. Any idea what might be going on?

[Raymond Pace]

Okay, apparently I lied.

When I changed the project settings to 1280×536, I got large letterboxing bars on either side of a 1280×720 event I was experimenting with. Is this normal?

[Raymond Pace]

[John Rofrano] ” Does that make sense?”

Absolutely.

I really appreciate the help.

[Raymond Pace]

[John Rofrano] Otherwise you are asking Vegas to convert your footage on-the-fly in order to preview it on the timeline.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what do you mean exactly by this? Would it somehow be easier for Vegas to preview 1280×720 events in a 1280×720 project, as opposed to 720 events in a 480 project?

[John Rofrano] ” What is the resolution of your original source video?”

Correct me if I misinterpreted the question, but this is a project with a ton of different events, ranging from 360p to 1080i.

[John Rofrano] ” What is the resolution of your delivery format? (is that 1280×720?)”

If you mean the resolution I want the entire project to be rendered in, then yeah, that’d be 1280×720.

[Raymond Pace]

Yeah, that definitely helps. I was just worried that I might render it, view the finished product, and then realize it looks differently than I thought it would because I wasn’t able to see the letterboxing until after the fact.

Also, the aspect ratio I’m going for is 1280×720, although I edit the project in 720×480, so it’s less of a load on my laptop. I hope that’s not bad either (not being sarcastic or anything, I’m just not a Vegas expert by any means, so I could be making a lot of mistakes without realizing it).

[Raymond Pace]

Honestly, getting the letterboxing itself isn’t the most important part. I’m probably not gonna finish this project for at least two weeks, so we can cross the “rendering” bridge when we come to it.

I was just wondering if there’s anyway to letterbox “properly” and also be able to see it in the preview window as I edit.

Oh, sorry: I’m going for NTSC widescreen 720p, either 25 or 30 FPS (haven’t decided)

[Raymond Pace]

I want to add the letterboxing because I feel it gives my video a more professional look. I know others may disagree, but this isn’t really about that.

The reason I want to do it within the project is so I can see the letterboxing as I’m editing events and such.

[Raymond Pace]

What if my clips aren’t all the same resolution?

[Raymond Pace]

Let me try to explain it like this:

See the two sections I’ve outlined in blue? Is there any way to essentially do that within Vegas? To isolate a group of events, and keep them separate from another group of events? Any type of visual aid to let me basically “box in” a group of events, I guess, so then I can have two, three, etc. “boxes” of events (like I have in the pic, with the light blue squares).