Newbie questions about Vegas (demo version)

wildbill001 wrote on 12/20/2004, 6:27 PM
I have read a lot about Vegas recently and downloaded the trial to see if I like it. But I have already run into two problems....or at least I think they are problems.

1) Trying to load an AVI file into the timeline and all I get is the audio...no video. The file plays fine in WMV and DIVx player. When you select the file in the Explorer window, the "summary" window(for lack of a better term) says, for the Video, that "Stream attributes could not be determined". Do I have a bad AVI file or ....?? Any suggestions as to where I can download some AVI files to play with?

2) Since I couldn't get the AVI file to load properly, I thought I'd try an MPEG-2 file. No joy there either. After trying numerous times to bring the file into the timeline, a message-box finally popped up saying something about this feature has not been unlocked.. Is editing MPEG-2 files not available in the trial version?

3) When you buy the product, does it come with a printed manual?

Thanks for putting up with yet-another-noob

Bill W

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 12/20/2004, 6:39 PM
1) Your video is probably encoded with a codec not available to Vegas. Where did you get this file? You may have to install an additional coded in order to use it in Vegas.

2) MPEG-2 is not available in the demo version. You won't get an MPEG-2 activation code until after purchasing a license for Vegas and registering it.

3) No, sorry. The manual comes as a PDF file on the CD or downloadable from the website.
wildbill001 wrote on 12/20/2004, 6:46 PM
The file is part of a competitor's tutorial I had downloaded several months ago when I was demo'ing their product.

Bummer about the MPEG-2 thing....I got lots of those to play with. Guess I'll have to find some AVI files to work with. Any suggestions (no porno sites, pls)?

That's both good and bad about the manual. Good 'cause not everyone will want/need a printed version so Sony saves on shipping and production costs. Bad 'cause now I gotta pay to have it printed.....oh well.

Thanks

Bill
Chienworks wrote on 12/20/2004, 7:04 PM
If you wanna see some finished Vegas projects take a gander at http://www.vegasusers.com/vidshare/ ... most of these files are WMV which should open fine in Vegas. You'll get some clips to experiment with as well as seeing what other folks have done with Vegas.

Please limit downloading to 6 clips per day, thanks!
Jameson_Prod wrote on 12/20/2004, 7:13 PM
Why not capture some of your own material? I assume you will be shooting and editing your own material if you purchase?? Then you won't have the problems with codecs.

Vegas is a top notch program.....you won't go wrong. I have been using it since Vegas Audio and Vegas Video were seperate programs!!

Good luck.
wildbill001 wrote on 12/20/2004, 7:33 PM
"Why not capture some of your own material? I assume you will be shooting and editing your own material if you purchase?? Then you won't have the problems with codecs."

I am making the switch, long over due, from analog Hi8 to DV. Don't have a camera yet (Santa are you listening?) so I have nothing to capture - yet.

From what I am reading in the manual, it looks really good. Especially since I don't have any bad habits from other software to overcome 8-)

Bill