MPG in Media Pool, AVI on timeline

JackW wrote on 12/31/2003, 12:12 PM
Here's the story: I edited a two act play (2:22:05) and output it as two mpg2 files, one for Act I, one for Act 2, so we could burn a two-DVD set for our client. Everything worked beautifully, so I deleted the avi files associated with the edit and, by chance, didn't delete the mpg2 files from the hard drive.

Now the client wants several VHS copies of the project on a single T-180 tape. To do this, I need to combine the two mpg files. So, I opened a new project in Vegas and used Explorer to bring the mpg2 files into the new project. Both appeared in the Media Pool as Act_1.mpg and Act_2.mpg. Both play on the time line after I linked the end of 1 to the beginning of 2.

Next I went to the Tool Bar and started to print to tape. And Vegas began prerendering the entire project, treating the mpg2 files as though each was an avi file. I.e., the prerender window actually says "Prerendering avi clip 057" etc. This even though the files are already rendered to mpg2 format.

QUESTION: what's going on here. Is it possible merely to use the Vegas time line as a place to join the two mpg2 clips and then play them out to the deck? The object of this exercise is to play out of the computer via firewire, through my digital deck to the duplication distributor. Since the mpg2 files are already rendered, why the prerender as though they were avi files.

I could just play each mpg file in Windows Media Player, but then I'm left with the awkward job of having to stop all the duplication decks, cue the up, and try to begin the capture of the second mpg file without introducing snow to the duplications. Joining the files in Vegas would be a lot easier.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year to all .

Jack

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 12/31/2003, 1:31 PM
Vegas can only Print-To-Tape using DV .avi files; no other format will work. What's happening is that Vegas is rendering the entire timeline to DV format first before it can print. When you see "avi" in those messages that means that Vegas is creating new .avi files.
JackW wrote on 12/31/2003, 2:30 PM
Thanks for the info. It confirms what I suspected and makes perfect sense.

It's unfortunate, though. To burn DVDs you need files in the mpg format; to print to tape, in the avi. Since our clients often want to go from Vegas to DVD -- in our case burned in DVD Workshop -- and then subsequently decide they want VHS tapes for distribution, it means we'll have to store both the mpg and avi files for a while, a lot of hard drive overhead. It's not a problem if everything fits onto one DVD: we can use the DVD as a source and copy directly to tape VHS. But where two or more discs are involved, connecting everything in duplication gets to be a challenge.