[Rick Shorrock]

Actually, Brad, we had been doing that on this project. It just seemed to play better on the timeline if we changed the project properties to a lower resolution.

[Rick Shorrock]

Do you have the proper DNxHD codec on your computer? I’ve heard this was particularly problematic some times, as this is an Avid codec. Here’s where you can download the codec: https://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec
Hope this helps you out.

[Rick Shorrock]

I think, since we weren’t using really high-powered computers, the concensus was that the timeline would play better if the project was in 720p.

[Rick Shorrock]

This is an old problem, but can be fixed. I used to have this problem with Newtek’s Video Toaster system, and the fix seems to work with Vegas, as well. The way it was described to me, I will repeat: this has to do with the pre-render files that are in the app data folder for your Vegas program. Go to C:UsersPreferred UserApp DataLocalSonyVegas Pro11.0 (or whatever version you have). You’ll have to delete the Vegas Pre-render files in this folder. You might also want to delete the autosave.veg and the restored.veg file in this folder, as well. If this doesn’t completely solve the problem, delete the pre-rendered files in where every you told the program to save the pre-rendered files in (you can find this under your project properties). Then make sure you re-start the computer. Hope this helps, because it has for me!

[Rick Shorrock]

I think it depends on what is going to be your delivery format. YouTube, for instance, seems to like Main Concept MP4 (AVC/AAC) as a delivery format. So does Vimeo. I think it’s important, overall, to use the project settings that match your footage. Here’s some bitrates and frame sizes to throw at you:
Frame size: HD 720p (1280×720)—again, your files may be in 1080p, so use that
Profile: Main
Field Order: None (Progressive scan)
Pixel aspect ratio: 1.0000
Variable bit rate (max) 5Mbits/sec
(average): 4Mbits/sec
Encode mode: automatic
Audio:
Samble rate: 44.1Khz
bit rate: 320,000
Again, these are for MP4 (AVC/AAC) file for progressive internet downloads, but I get spectacular results doing all my pre-renders of the timeline in this format and doing the final render for DVD. Just make sure you render in the Best Quality. But the professionals here probably know better than me on this topic. Where’s Douglas Spotted Eagle when you need him?

[Rick Shorrock]

I love the Levelator program. It’s especially good if you have one person talking real low and another talking real loud. I’m using it in a movie. The levelator works so well, though, that it will increase the volume in between people speaking, so make sure you record plenty of room tone that can be cut in in these places.

[Rick Shorrock]

I went ahead and upgraded to Vegas Pro 9. Still having the same problem. It just seems to be on having an external display show a single frame from the timeline, via firewire. The timeline plays back through the firewire to the camera I have hooked up via firewire as a capture device (I have an old Canon GL2 with a broke zoom rocker switch). But I have trouble recording back to tape through firewire also. I am using the firwire connection on the motherboard, so I think I will try installing the ADS Pro firewire card from my old computer and see if that works.

[Rick Shorrock]

You can use Super to encode to encode .avi files to .flv, and then find a tutorial on the ‘net to teach you how to write an HTML file to insert the video on your site with a player interface. Here is an open-source player I just found:

https://flowplayer.org/

Good luck! When you get it done, put up a link so we can see the finished video!

[Rick Shorrock]

Thanks to both Theo and John…both good ideas. Now we know how to proceed. I think we’re going to go the hard drive route with the .veg files and all the videos used in them, so that we don’t both have to capture all the tapes. As a followup, I think I’m going to use YouSendIt as a means to keep the producer updated on the edits on each scene. I’ve done this before on a docu-drama, and worked fairly well.

[Rick Shorrock]

Try Super. It’s free, and it encodes great FLV or SWF files. Go to https://www.bigbytevideo.us and check out the SWF banner. All those little clips were made with Super.