Using an external TV monitor to preview DV projects is a great way to get a wysiwyg preview of your DV production. It is not that hard to set this up, but you need to be aware of a number of issues, both system config related, and Vegas specific.
I assure you that even with the minimum system (PII400, 98SE, 128mb ram, av-rated drives) this CAN be done in either NTSC or PAL- we've been doing it here since the pre-release development days of Vegas 2.0. Lest anybody think I have some super-powerful state of the art system, I don't. I am using a PIII800, 512mb RAM, Win2k, 2 IDE 7200k and 2 SCSI 10k drives on a Dell Precision 220.
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System setup:
1) You can use ME or 98SE, but these are less than ideal. Use either Win2k or XP if at all possible. At the very least you will get NTFS support (for unlimited file sizes) and dual proc support, but there are many other reasons why 2k and XP are superior for multimedia, which I won't over here.
2) Defrag your hard drives often! This makes a big performance difference.
3) Turn off PIO mode for all drives.
4) Enable DMA for all IDE drives (Win2k, for some odd reason, turns DMA off be default.)
5) Keep video display card, SCSI card, 1394 card, and sound card on unique IRQs if at all possible. Search this forum or creativecow.net/Vegas for "ACPI" or "IRQ" for more info.
More DV setup info here (accurate!):
http://www.creativecow.net/articles/spottedeagle_douglas/dv_basics/index.html
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Hardware needed for DV timeline playback to external monitor over 1394:
1) Make sure your 1394 DV card is "OHCI compatible, IEEE-1394DV". Just because it has a 1394 connection, doesn't mean it is OHCI compatible. If you have to install ANY software at all to make the thing work, it likely is NOT OHCI compatible. Windows will automatically install the right driver for your OHCI DV card- this same driver is used by Vegas, Premiere, Ulead, AVID DVXPress 3.5 and others. Pyro or SIIG cards are excellent choices if you are shopping for a new DV card.
2) With external monitor enabled, Vegas conforms the frames to the selected DV format (when needed), feeds the DV video data stream to the 1394 card, from there you need to convert DV to an analog video signal, and patch that into a TV monitor. Most NTSC camcorders can do "DV to analog passthrough", but many PAL camcorders do not (Euro tax issue). Check the camera/deck specs to confirm it supports DV>analog passthrough, or ask around on the Vegas forum.
You can also use a DV/analog converter instead of a DV camcorder. The Canopus ADVC-100 is a great choice, and supports both NTSC and PAL in the same unit. Highly recommended if you don't have, or don't want to use, your camera for this purpose.
3) You need a TV monitor of course. You can use just about any cheap TV, but a production monitor provides more accuracy and flexibility. I personally use a Sony PVM-146NU- works great for both NTSC or PAL, not terribly expensive. Personal choice here-
4) A waveform monitor is desirable, but not mandatory. If you are doing work destined for broadcast, you should look into one of these- expensive but worth it for the pro.
-------------------------------------
Setting up Vegas for external monitor previewing:
1) Update Vegas to the most recent version (3.0c as of this writing).
2) Start a new Vegas project. Use either the PAL DV or NTSC DV project template, unmodified (depending what TV format you will be working in). Don't change any settings in the project template. Holding Ctrl+shift when starting Vegas will reset all preferences to their defaults if you get stuck.
3) Launch SF VideoCapture from Vegas and capture some DV clips.
*Using other 3rd party capture apps may work for you, but every app write the files a little differently, so to be safe, start out with SF Video Capture and use another app only after you have achieved full framerate previews as described below.
4) Immediately print one of those just-captured clips back to tape with SF Video capture. If you drop any frames or see any other weirdness, you'll need to look into system tweaks (as above for starters).
5) Load one of the just captured DV clips on the Vegas timeline. Right-click the clip>properties>media. Format should be "DV". If it does not say that, you likely have an alien DV codec on your machine and you are advised to remove it, and recapture. Although this may be obvious, if you have captured a PAL DV clip, you should be using a PAL DV project. If you have captured an NTSC DV clip, you should be using an NTSC DV project.
6) Size the Vegas video preview window to 1/4 frame size (360x240 for NTSC, 360x288 for PAL), and set preview quality to "preview".
7) Play the DV clip in the timeline. You should be able to get full framerate playback in the preview window (29.97 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL). If you don't get this, stop right now and check the system configuration. Defrag, DMA, IRQs, other conflicts need to be resolved if you want good external monitor previews. If you do get full framerate playback, or are real close to it, proceed.
8) Enable the "Preview on external monitor" button on the Vegas video preview window. Go to options>preferences>video device. Set Device to OHCI compliant IEEE 1394 DV. Make sure the project format is conformed to the DV format you are working in (PAL or NTSC). Check "recompress edited frames". Apply.
9) Play the DV clip in the timeline again- if your 1394/DV>analog device/TV monitor are hooked up right, you should be seeing the timeline clip playback...at full framerate. At this point., Vegas is not recompressing anything- the file is being played back straight through Vegas without modification. If you aren't getting full framerate with all settings exactly as described, there is almost certainly a system config problem. Read this doc over and confirm everything previously stated.
10) Add a second DV clip to the timeline, crossfade it with the existing clip. Play both clips. You should see full framerate until you hit the transition, at which time the framerate will drop (how much depends on your system's capabilities), and once you are through the transition, framerate should jump back up full speed.
11) Make a time selection across both events, and choose tools> selectively prerender video (shift+M). Choose the .avi DV template for the format you are working in, and let Vegas finish the prerender. Only the sections that need processing will be rendered during this operation. Play the two clips again- you should see full framerate for everything, including the transition.
Side note: Real time previews,as defined in Vegas, means that frames are processed as fast as the system can handle them. It does NOT mean you'll never have to render anything ever and always see everything at full framerate. As you start to add fx, transitions or anything that requires processing, framerate will drop depending, ENTIRELY, on the capabilities of your computer. The faster your system, the better the performance. If you prerender, that is internally the same as playing back straight-cut DV, and you'll have full-framerate previews again. With computers getting faster and cheaper every day, the performance of Vegas will scale upwards every time you upgrade the system, no additional hardware needed.
--------------------------------
I hope this helps. Some computers are simply not capable of playing back anything at full framerate, but most reasonably modern machines are, if properly configured. Consider this document a starting point, keep good notes, and post your results pro or con here.
I assure you that even with the minimum system (PII400, 98SE, 128mb ram, av-rated drives) this CAN be done in either NTSC or PAL- we've been doing it here since the pre-release development days of Vegas 2.0. Lest anybody think I have some super-powerful state of the art system, I don't. I am using a PIII800, 512mb RAM, Win2k, 2 IDE 7200k and 2 SCSI 10k drives on a Dell Precision 220.
-------------------------------------
System setup:
1) You can use ME or 98SE, but these are less than ideal. Use either Win2k or XP if at all possible. At the very least you will get NTFS support (for unlimited file sizes) and dual proc support, but there are many other reasons why 2k and XP are superior for multimedia, which I won't over here.
2) Defrag your hard drives often! This makes a big performance difference.
3) Turn off PIO mode for all drives.
4) Enable DMA for all IDE drives (Win2k, for some odd reason, turns DMA off be default.)
5) Keep video display card, SCSI card, 1394 card, and sound card on unique IRQs if at all possible. Search this forum or creativecow.net/Vegas for "ACPI" or "IRQ" for more info.
More DV setup info here (accurate!):
http://www.creativecow.net/articles/spottedeagle_douglas/dv_basics/index.html
-------------------------------------
Hardware needed for DV timeline playback to external monitor over 1394:
1) Make sure your 1394 DV card is "OHCI compatible, IEEE-1394DV". Just because it has a 1394 connection, doesn't mean it is OHCI compatible. If you have to install ANY software at all to make the thing work, it likely is NOT OHCI compatible. Windows will automatically install the right driver for your OHCI DV card- this same driver is used by Vegas, Premiere, Ulead, AVID DVXPress 3.5 and others. Pyro or SIIG cards are excellent choices if you are shopping for a new DV card.
2) With external monitor enabled, Vegas conforms the frames to the selected DV format (when needed), feeds the DV video data stream to the 1394 card, from there you need to convert DV to an analog video signal, and patch that into a TV monitor. Most NTSC camcorders can do "DV to analog passthrough", but many PAL camcorders do not (Euro tax issue). Check the camera/deck specs to confirm it supports DV>analog passthrough, or ask around on the Vegas forum.
You can also use a DV/analog converter instead of a DV camcorder. The Canopus ADVC-100 is a great choice, and supports both NTSC and PAL in the same unit. Highly recommended if you don't have, or don't want to use, your camera for this purpose.
3) You need a TV monitor of course. You can use just about any cheap TV, but a production monitor provides more accuracy and flexibility. I personally use a Sony PVM-146NU- works great for both NTSC or PAL, not terribly expensive. Personal choice here-
4) A waveform monitor is desirable, but not mandatory. If you are doing work destined for broadcast, you should look into one of these- expensive but worth it for the pro.
-------------------------------------
Setting up Vegas for external monitor previewing:
1) Update Vegas to the most recent version (3.0c as of this writing).
2) Start a new Vegas project. Use either the PAL DV or NTSC DV project template, unmodified (depending what TV format you will be working in). Don't change any settings in the project template. Holding Ctrl+shift when starting Vegas will reset all preferences to their defaults if you get stuck.
3) Launch SF VideoCapture from Vegas and capture some DV clips.
*Using other 3rd party capture apps may work for you, but every app write the files a little differently, so to be safe, start out with SF Video Capture and use another app only after you have achieved full framerate previews as described below.
4) Immediately print one of those just-captured clips back to tape with SF Video capture. If you drop any frames or see any other weirdness, you'll need to look into system tweaks (as above for starters).
5) Load one of the just captured DV clips on the Vegas timeline. Right-click the clip>properties>media. Format should be "DV". If it does not say that, you likely have an alien DV codec on your machine and you are advised to remove it, and recapture. Although this may be obvious, if you have captured a PAL DV clip, you should be using a PAL DV project. If you have captured an NTSC DV clip, you should be using an NTSC DV project.
6) Size the Vegas video preview window to 1/4 frame size (360x240 for NTSC, 360x288 for PAL), and set preview quality to "preview".
7) Play the DV clip in the timeline. You should be able to get full framerate playback in the preview window (29.97 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL). If you don't get this, stop right now and check the system configuration. Defrag, DMA, IRQs, other conflicts need to be resolved if you want good external monitor previews. If you do get full framerate playback, or are real close to it, proceed.
8) Enable the "Preview on external monitor" button on the Vegas video preview window. Go to options>preferences>video device. Set Device to OHCI compliant IEEE 1394 DV. Make sure the project format is conformed to the DV format you are working in (PAL or NTSC). Check "recompress edited frames". Apply.
9) Play the DV clip in the timeline again- if your 1394/DV>analog device/TV monitor are hooked up right, you should be seeing the timeline clip playback...at full framerate. At this point., Vegas is not recompressing anything- the file is being played back straight through Vegas without modification. If you aren't getting full framerate with all settings exactly as described, there is almost certainly a system config problem. Read this doc over and confirm everything previously stated.
10) Add a second DV clip to the timeline, crossfade it with the existing clip. Play both clips. You should see full framerate until you hit the transition, at which time the framerate will drop (how much depends on your system's capabilities), and once you are through the transition, framerate should jump back up full speed.
11) Make a time selection across both events, and choose tools> selectively prerender video (shift+M). Choose the .avi DV template for the format you are working in, and let Vegas finish the prerender. Only the sections that need processing will be rendered during this operation. Play the two clips again- you should see full framerate for everything, including the transition.
Side note: Real time previews,as defined in Vegas, means that frames are processed as fast as the system can handle them. It does NOT mean you'll never have to render anything ever and always see everything at full framerate. As you start to add fx, transitions or anything that requires processing, framerate will drop depending, ENTIRELY, on the capabilities of your computer. The faster your system, the better the performance. If you prerender, that is internally the same as playing back straight-cut DV, and you'll have full-framerate previews again. With computers getting faster and cheaper every day, the performance of Vegas will scale upwards every time you upgrade the system, no additional hardware needed.
--------------------------------
I hope this helps. Some computers are simply not capable of playing back anything at full framerate, but most reasonably modern machines are, if properly configured. Consider this document a starting point, keep good notes, and post your results pro or con here.