Can't Print To Tape--Help a Newbie Please

akaDan wrote on 4/17/2003, 9:11 PM

I'm new to video editing, so if I'm overlooking something obvious, go easy on me!

I'm using VV rel 4.0a. I have a P4(2.4), 120 gig HD(7200rpm), running Win XP Pro. VV4 runs great, and I have no problem capturing DV with my Sony TRV17. I have been completely unable to print back to DV tape, however. I tried (equally unsuccessfully) to do so both from the timeline and through the video capture application.

I have no problem controlling the camera (play, stop, FF, etc), and it is obviously "trying" to print to tape, since the red record indicator light comes on on my camera LCD, and I can hear the tape transporting. When I review the tape, however, it's about 95% blank, and about 5% still frames, or very brief motion. The sound is very intermittent also (more off than on).

I did do a search of this forum on "print to tape", and I tried many of the suggestions previously offered to individuals having similar problems. I also tried capturing a very short (10 sec or so) portion of video from my DV cam, then, without doing any editing whatsoever, tried to print it back to tape. Again, I got only a few frames, and mostly blank tape.

Most of the suggestions offered in prior posts were hardware in nature. However, in desperation, I tried to print to tape using MS Moviemaker. Worked great. No dropped frames. Everything was perfect. So, I don't think the problem is with my IEEE-1394 port, or other hardware issue.

Of course I can and will print to tape using Moviemaker until the problem is solved, but man, I just paid serious bucks to get Vegas. I shouldn't have to use a freebie (MS Moviemaker) to do something I should be able to do in Vegas.

Like I said, everything else is working great, and I'm having a blast with the program. This "print to tape" thing is really exasperating, though. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

DavidPJ wrote on 4/18/2003, 6:24 PM

I'm also new at video editing and Vegas. After reading your post I tried print to tape for the first time with Vegas 4.0a. I printed 2 clips from the timeline for about 15 seconds and it worked like a charm. I used the option to allow Vegas to enable recording on the video camera.

DGrob wrote on 4/18/2003, 8:38 PM

Have a look at this, although you've probably been through most of it since you've been searching this forum.

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support/SupportProduct.asp?FamilyID=30&Family=Vegas&TopicID=89&DetailID=879

A couple of us have been down a long and very rocky road with PTT issues. I can assure you the issue driving your PTT probs is most likely not Vegas!
Can you be a little more specific with your various settings for capture and renders?

Interesting about the MSM. When you PTT from Moviemaker, is this a full-on, .avi rendered, DV file or some other codec?

Grob

akaDan wrote on 4/19/2003, 8:22 AM

Grob, thank you for your reply.

The file that I successfully PTT in MS Movie Maker was a .avi file that I rendered in Vegas, using the default settings.

The "Render As" dialog shows:

Template: NTSC DV

Description: Audio: 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, PCM Uncompressed.
Video: 29.97 fps, 720x480, Lower field first.
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 0.909. OpenDML compatible.
NTSC DV video files compatible with Sonic Foundry Video Capture.

When I tried to PTT in Vegas, I tried both from the timeline. There, too, I used the default settings, same as above. When I tried to PTT from the Capture program in Vegas I first rendered to an .avi file, again using the default settings.

Grob, if this isn’t what you mean by “settings”, or if there are other settings I omitted, please let me know. Again, I’m new to all this, and it’s very possible I’m missing something obvious. I still don’t think my problem is hardware related though since I can PTT in MS Movie Maker without a problem. I also can capture from my camera in Vegas without a hiccup. Are there other settings in Vegas for PTT that I should try?

Thanks again for any help.