HD Problems

Stebu wrote on 7/16/2007, 7:56 PM

I finally moved from V4 to V7 and got a Sony HDR-HC7.
All is beautiful but here are some "very simple" hobby filmer questions:

a) my preview window is very jerky / stuttering - impossible to make good editorial decisions - but the burned short trial DVD had pretty good quality and no jerkiness. How can I change the preview to the old "reliable'" preview like V4 ?

b) the video appears to cover the whole screen in the preview window (data = Project: 1440x1080x32 , 29:970i , Preview: 360x270x32 , 29970p , Display: 320x180x32) but when playing the burned (old fashion) DVD it had a black stripe on top and bottom. How do I get rid of it ?

c) In my short HD-trial video I incorporated some "old" DVD footage as opener which appeared in the preview window with two black stripes on each side and after burning it showed up with black stripes all around. How do I integrate DV stock footage into HD format ?

d) before asking these questions I was trying to look into previous threats and found some (slightly older info from DSE/VAAST) about the jerky aspects versus Cineform Codes HD. - Is this 'now' incorporated into V7 or would that still be a valuable add-on ?

Apparently I am 'just' a hobby film enthusiast and do not have a lot of basic knowledge but a passion for filming and (Vegas) editing and do appreciate your comments.
Please keep it simple. Thanks.

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/16/2007, 8:15 PM

a-leave preview at Preview/Auto, with project settings using HDV template, be *sure* you're using the HDV template and not the HD template for 60i.

b-Render to NTSC DVD Widescreen template, with "Stretch to Fill" enabled.

c-old footage will need to conform to "new" project, or you'll need to conform new footage to SD widescreen template, one or the other.
If you place 4:3 content on a widescreen timeline, it either has to be pillarboxed, cropped, or stretched. None are optimal, but if you're going to SD output, I'd crop the 4:3 to fill frame. You'll lose resolution, but it's not the worst solution, IMO.

d-Cineform still has significant benefits if you're compositing, keying, or archving, but currently, Vegas 7 isn't optimized for Cineform, and you'll actually lose some playback speed on older computers using Cineform.

HTH

Stebu wrote on 7/16/2007, 9:04 PM

Thanks for your quick reply.
I do appreciate your training videos etc. and appreciate a number of excellent leads from you previous threats. . Now I have to ask a little more 'common' questions:
a) how do I / be sure using HDV template and not 60i ?
b) 'Stretch to fill' I assume is being asked during rendering the process ?
c) what is and how do get to "pillarbox, cropped or streched' ?
d) Do I understand you correctly NOT to go for Cineform at this time ?

riredale wrote on 7/16/2007, 9:55 PM

(1) Go to File/Properties, then Video tab, use "HDV 1080-60i."

(4) Vegas6 seemed to run Cineform much faster than m2t. Vegas7 seems to run m2t much faster than Cineform. For simple work (and even complex work, if you plan ahead) I think the conventional wisdom is that staying with m2t is just fine. For a slower computer, you can use a product like GearShift to create DV proxies and edit those.