Since DVD is MPEG-2 and Print to tape creates an AVI DV file you will need to do 2 renders, one to the MPEG-2 format and then another when you do a print to tape. The fastest way is to Print to tape first, then re-capture that and render to MPEG-2.

Yes, these are two different functions because PTT is basically .avi, and prepping for DVD is an Mpeg2 render.

The fastest way to get your project out to DV tape, is PTT frfom the timeline, as opposed to creating a separate, complete, avi.

Rendering the Mpeg (and preferably the AC3) takes as long as it takes.

Gary

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Do the avi file first, because it involves no (or at least, much less) compression. Then render the mpg from that.

***However, your other question, about AC3 sound, could complicate things, *IF* you mean 5.1 AC3 sound.
If you're just talking stereo AC3, no problem. Render to avi, then render that to mpg -- selecting AC3 for the sound format of the second render.

If you've mixed a 5.1 soundtrack in your project and want 5.1 for the DVD, then you'll need to render twice from your original project, once for each target format. (The avi file will have stereo sound, not 5.1.)

1. What's the difference between PTT (Print To Tape) and making a completely new .avi file? Isn't it one in the same?

When you PTT, it will create a bunch of small AVI files for all sections that need rendering. The sections that do NOT need rendering will be pulled from the original AVI file.

Making a completely new AVI file is exactly what it says - an entirely new AVI file will be created.

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If you simply want to save to DV tape and, on top of that have an MPEG2 file for DVD, the fastest way would probably be to render the project to AVI, then do a PTT, then use that AVI to render the mpg file.

Clarification: if your project has a lot of complex FX, the above would probably be the fastest. If it's only straight cuts and fades with no fx (color-correction, etc) then you would probably want to PTT it without rendering and then re-render to mpg.

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Just render overnight, it works great for pretty much everyone else here. If you have so many projects you need to do, then maybe investing in a second or third editing system might work for you. For the price of vegas you can buy many machines for the price of one Avid system! I run vegas on 3 computers and I let one or 2 render while I work on the other one. It works great and I am pretty much never sitting there twiddling my fingers waiting for something to render becasue I can always be working on another machine.

If you're worrying about crashes, well that doesn't have anything to do with vegas, it has more to do with the machines and equipment you edit on.

Zippy,

Once again you post your problems on the forum and many helpful people try to ease you out of your ignorance. Once again you do not respond to them by thanking them for their help, but by bitching and moaning about Vegas. EDIT Zippy's correct below, I did miss him saying thanks. I saw the "I'm peeved" part and jumped ahead to where he starts shouting. I withdraw that first part and apologize to Zippy. Everything else stands. EDIT

The best way for you to have an efficient workflow is to stop using Vegas. It obviously doesn't live up to your standards. Other programs are so easy, you will never have to post about your problems, because you will have none. Other programs can render to mpeg, avi, wmv, qt and divx simlutaneously. Other programs do this faster than real time. With other programs when you print to tape you don't even need a camera or a dv deck. With other programs you just need to unwrap a new DV tape and place it on your keyboard. Then just click your other program's "Virtual Print To Tape" button and the transfer happens wirelessly. It takes about five minutes. You really should check out other programs

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I did misread that. I edited my post above.

(Everything they say about me is not true. I know cuz I told them some of that and I was lying!)

BIllyBoy, what speed is your box? My 1.5 hour MPEG2 file is being rendered from the AVI I made of the project (just as you suggest) but my render time is about 2.5:1, rather than your almost 1:1.

Zippy, I sympathize with you and suggest that as soon as you get paid for a couple of projects you upgrade to a faster PC with some external HDs for archiving. I had to struggle with a PII 500/256 meg RAM for a month or so and it was render hell. Your only option is to render over night (assuming you sleep 8 hours). It was the long renders that forced me to buy the real time MPEG1/2 encoder and the Sony DVD RDR GX7 for simple tape to disc conversions. "Real" jobs still merit rendering though.

Also Zippy, if you want to try a truly HORRIBLE PROGRAM get a crack of ReelDVD LE (full version like mine needs a dongle) and try it out. You have to use PhotoShop to build your menus, encode exactly right or it rejects the files etc. It is very time consuming but my only option for printing to DLT tape for the replicator. Now, learn from my post: I am not slamming the program, just stating it is far more challenging than DVD-A or MyDVD or DVDit et al.

Peter

What "Real Time" Mpeg2 encoder?

Zippy,
there are quite a few real time mpeg encoders around, but be prepared for a shock, they cost very serious money. If I was authoring a lot of DVDs as a commercial proposition I'd be buying one, then there'd be the income to justify the capital expenditure.

It's the same with NLEs, I can live with the long render times in my currect system. Firstly I have an appreciation of the things that will blow out my render times and only use thm if absolutely necesary.

Even on systems costing millions bung on enough effects and they slow to a crawl. Get realistic, I doubt there's many of us here who could even afford the power bill to run that kind of system.

To answer your question about runnning multiple machines. If I have a lot of encoding to do beacuse I'm not stacking on heaps of tracks I use VV to render out an intermediate avi and then use TMPGEnc on my laptop to batch encode those AVIs over my network. I can also swing my old PIII into service as well, sure its slow but at least its earning its keep. There isn't a major hit on my VV machine as encoding is CPU not disk intensive. When the bank balance is a little healthier I'll switch over to gigabit ethernet but with only one fast machine at the moment that's not going to speed things up much at present.

Zippy,

For tape -> DVD, nothing fancy, I use the Sony (forgot the model #) DVD recorder that takes composite, y/c and firewire in and writes to DVD-R/RW and DVD+RW. This is to make DVDs, btw. A two hour VHS tape takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes to copy and finalize. Only chapter options are every ten or fifteen minutes.

For MPEG1/MPEG2 I have a Dazzle DVC II PCI and a Canopus Res 100 (Storm) c/w harware card and Media Cruise software. The Canopus card encodes 16:9 from DV, Y/C, composite and component (Y/R-Y/B-Y).

I do MPEG1 encoding daily so the hardware solution is essential. Even with a fast PC you have to capture the clip then render it, maybe at a 0.5:1 ratio but there is the render time factor. Hardware MPEG1 means a one hour clip takes one hour to encode then a couple of minutes to burn.

However, in your case I strongly recommend you upgrade your work station before looking into capture cards.

Peter

I overclocked** my box a little so right now it seems perfectly happy to be running at 3.3 GHz. I started with a 2.8 GHz P4 using a ASUS MB.

** For those not familar with "overclocking" it simply refers to bumping up the default clock speed the CPU chip was designed to run at. While as recently as just a year or so ago overclocking was more a hacker thing, and could involve hard writing on the MB or tinkering with traces on the CPU chip itself today's latest BIOS that comes with many motherboards makes it a snap to overclock.

You only need to change a setting in the BIOS (setup) which you easily do from your keyboard and your system is overclocked. While there are several finer points to overclocking this method increases the FSB (front side bus) speed so the CPU can talk to the memory faster. The faster that happens, the more zip you get. It also involves bumping the voltage a little and a couple other things, but its taken care for you automatically with the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe MB. So too with some other brand boards and other models of ASUS. You just need to read the fine print to see what MB does what.

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