Need help with basics please.

Mognar wrote on 7/3/2004, 10:43 AM

Hi,
I am using Vegas to convert some avi's and svcd's to dvd.
I have been looking thru the forums and just need some basic help on this.
I imported a sample to test, and thought I could just go to render to set the output, but render is greyed out. Why is this? I know is something basic, I just started using the program.
I tried using both an avi and mpg. The avi would not even give a preview. The mpg showed up in the preview pane.
Please don't flame, I am really tired, and we were all new once :)

My goal is to convert some pal avi's and mpg's to ntsc dvd. If anyone can point me to a guide, or help in this process, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mog

Comments

2G wrote on 7/3/2004, 11:19 AM

Is this a preview version or a full licensed copy? Can't remember for sure, but I think the render capability might not be functional in preview version. I know mpg rendering isn't available.

BillyBoy wrote on 7/3/2004, 11:24 AM

Are you using the demo or do you already have the full product?
Because of license issues you can't render to MPEG with the demo.

Some VERY basic steps....

When Vegas opens you see a large blank area in the middle of the workspace. There are no predefined tracks. Look at the bottom. Go to the Exploer tab. Locate some AVI files or your system. Click on one, while holding down your left mouse drag and drop and a track or tracks (if it has audio) will be created.

One you see the movie fill out the timeline, click on it, whatever frame you click on should show a vertical line cutting through the timeline and that frame should appear in the preview window.

Play around with Vegas to at least change something. Now click on File, Render As... Give your project a name, under save as type select a file type. If you have the full product click on the little down arrow and select MainConcept MPEG-1 as your file type. Under templates click on either of the VCD offerings. This will set things up to make a REGULAR CD. If you want a super VCD set the file type to MPEG-2 and pick one of the SVCD templates. Click on custom if you want to change defaults. Now click on SAVE and your project will be rendered. You see a time progress scroll bar and a estimate for the render to complete.

Once its finished locate the file you created and play it back in your favorite movie player, like Microsoft's Media player.

Mognar wrote on 7/3/2004, 11:53 AM

Hi and thank you. That worked, but only for mpg's. I was originally trying to get an avi in, and that was the problem. I can add an mpg to the timeline, but not an avi.... So now I still need to get an avi into the timeline.

I do have experience with Canopus and TEMPGenc, not much, but enough to get my projects accomplished :) I'm just looking for a "simple" way to convert pal avi', svcd to NTSC dvd and wanted to compare Vegas to Canopus.

I do have another question. When I went to render my project using an mpg, from the drop down list, for the file type, it listed main concept as the mpg 2 format. I'm guessing that Vegas uses that as a plugin? So when I chose that, I see pal seperate streams as an option, but not NTSC.

I normally use DVD Author with an mv2 and converted ac3 file from the wav when I encode. How do I get seperate streams in NTSC?

The source is PAL, and my goal is converting to NTSC.

And I am using the full version.

Thanks again,

Mog