DV render to tape - why the pre-render time?

vicmilt wrote on 4/9/2003, 5:07 PM
Could someone explain to me exactly what is happening when you "Print to Tape"?
What is the computer doing, where is it storing it, and why?

Even if I've prerendered all effects to a single AVI track, I still have to wait while the computer does it's thing. Is there a way to do this, and save the results so that if I want to print the same track tomorrow, there won't be any wait?
And/or - if this is possible, can I prerender smaller portions to save time on large Print to Tape projects?

Thanx in advance.

Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 4/9/2003, 5:12 PM
Vegas decides what it can print cleanly to tape and what it can't, anywhere there is a transition or fast moving objects it needs to render those parts so that it can do a clean print to tape. It renders those small clips to a temp file, then prints the final project to tape.
vicmilt wrote on 4/9/2003, 5:31 PM
then why does it still need to render a "whole" AVI file with no cuts or dissolves, or anything???
DDogg wrote on 4/9/2003, 10:21 PM
First of all, if you want to print the tape tommorrow, it might be better to just render the file to disk. You can then print to tape from the capture utility whenever you want to do so with no delay.

When you choose print to tape, what happens more or less, is that Vegas "looks" at the footage and sets up an internal "to do list" of areas that need to be rendered. This is where a change has been made to the original image. It then does the list of partial renders saving to disk as temp files. It then assembles the parts together and prints them to tape.

So, say you had a hour timeline, but only added a couple of transitions. Vegas knows it only has to pre-render those two areas. But, say you made a change that would effect all the timeline. Then Vegas would pre-render all the bits and pieces and in fact, I assume the temp files would be as large as if you did a normal render to disk.

This is only a few answers to the many you asked and is just a rough approximation of my perception of what is happening.
jetdv wrote on 4/9/2003, 10:50 PM
Assuming straight cuts or a straight AVI file with NO cuts or effects of ANY kind:

Step #1: Examine to make sure no effects or transitions have been made
Step #2: Generate the audio W64 file
Step #3: Send to tape
Step #4: Cleanup stuff