Aje - Thanks for your reply!!!!!! All help is very much appreciated. I will try printing to DVD tape. You are an angel.

Do you by any chance have a short hand explanation of what "rendering" really is?

Thanks a million.

JCG

Rendering=processing your edits.

Be it that you cut out sections, resize or crop an image, fade between two clips, 3d effect etc. The end result is that you have stated your desires inside Vegas. You might even have seen a preview which is adequate for your creative feedback from Vegas.

However to commit this to a target (be it tape, internet, broadcast or DVD), you should anticipate the whole rendering thing. This time around Vegas does this in a more exacting format. No compromises occur with the "best" (or often the "good") preference settings. Then, although you'll have possibly doubled your disc usage, you have a finished piece of work. Video editing is a bit different to word processing. The term "rendering" comes from the artistic packages (and brick frontages) that came before video editing.

RB - Thanks very much for this explanation. Question: Before rendering, a VEG file exists. I thought that this VEG file accomplished what you described. After a VEG file is rendered, is there any new file created or is the existing VEG file simply changed (new and improved)?

Another question in case you can help: I had no problem getting through the whole process of printing video to DV except that when the file had finished rendering, I got a message saying "Your device is off line. Please reconnect it now and click OK." I have done that every which way I can think of (e.g., while the camera is connected (via USB 2.0) to the CPU, starting everything over again, etc.) and keep getting the same message. Any thoughts? I'm simply DYING to get this little piece on tape.

Again, thanks for your help!!!

JCG

JCG,

I believe Vegas only prints to tape through a firewire cable; not usb-2. That may be your problem.

A veg file is only a project file. Vegas is a non-destructive NLE which in effect means it will not change your original files in any way or form as you edit: for example, say you cut a piece out of the video, Vegas does not actually cut anything from the original file. That is why you have to render. Rendering means creating a NEW video file from the/all the original video files you have used in the edit, applying whatever cuts/fades/effects etc you have chosen in your edit. So you end up with a new Video file.
When you render you have to choose a format: DV, MPEG 1 or 2 etc...Mpeg-2 is the format you want to create DVD. You cannot "print to tape" to a dvd; you need to author and then burn the DVD using DVD Architect. BTW, make sure you render your MPEG-2 in PAL or NTSC depending on your region (for Europe its PAL; for the USA its NTSC.


Hope that helps.

Thank you, PDB! I appreciate all the help I am getting here. A few more questions, if anyone is up for it.

QUESTION: When I click on "Print video to DV tape" in the Tools menu, it takes me through a process that includes rendering the VEG file. In this case, it took about 12 minutes to render my 4 minute piece. At the end of the render, I got the message about the device (camera) being off line and I was forced to "cancel" the process. Soooooooo, what happened to the rendered stuff? Does it go off into computer oblivion? Is it automatically saved somewhere?

QUESTION: I do have DV Architect, but was wanting to put the piece on tape for now, and not burn a DVD. Is burning a DVD easier?

QUESTION: If I burn to a DVD+RW disk, will it play in a "regular" DVD player (the kind a typical home has)?

My thanks to all of you for your kindness and help. Looking forward to seeing my "thang" on the screen...

JCG

QUESTION: When I click on "Print video to DV tape" in the Tools menu, it takes me through a process that includes rendering the VEG file. In this case, it took about 12 minutes to render my 4 minute piece. At the end of the render, I got the message about the device (camera) being off line and I was forced to "cancel" the process. Soooooooo, what happened to the rendered stuff? Does it go off into computer oblivion? Is it automatically saved somewhere?

It creates "pre-rendered" files that, depending on your settings, may or may not be saved. Check your Options - Preferences to determine whether or not you are saving pre-rendered files.

QUESTION: I do have DV Architect, but was wanting to put the piece on tape for now, and not burn a DVD. Is burning a DVD easier?

Making a DVD is not "easier" but is definitely not very hard (depending on how complicated you want to make the DVD)

QUESTION: If I burn to a DVD+RW disk, will it play in a "regular" DVD player (the kind a typical home has)?

Short answer is "maybe" - you need to try it and see if your DVD player is compatible - not all are.

There is a way to record to camera manually.
Open the capture window in VV4 go to options/preference/ unmark enable DV device control (first item)and OK.
Go to tools/print to tape, again and choose manual control
in the last window of the print to tape dialog.
Set your camera in record pause click the Ok button in VV4 and then release the pause button.
It will take up to 15 seconds before you see the recording on the camera screen depending of your settings but it will work IF I repeat IF
this is possible due to your connection with USB2 - I don´t know.
If not get a firewirecable !
Aje