Novice firing up DVDA for first time

seattlecrow wrote on 6/30/2007, 8:37 PM
So I have my first-pass rendered Vegas project into .mpg and .ac3 files and it's DVD authoring time! So how exactly... uh oh.

After some searching, what I'm getting is that there are few-to-no video or web tutorials or step-by-step guides for DVD Architect 4.0.

Aside from Timothy Duncan's brief DVDA "bonus track" in Chapter 24 of his Vegas 6.0 Class on Demand training disk, it seems that only the helpfile and .pdf manual are available for novices. Huh. Mr. Duncan mentions that a separate DVDA training series was in the works, but evidently such plans fell through.

Anyway, some questions:

1) I'm doing a 24P widescreen NTSC project -- is there something peculiar about this format that causes the region/chapter markers to not make it into DVDA? I'm sure to tick the checkbox to save them when doing the render.

Reading the history on this forum, it seems it's a long-standing issue/bug that has never been resolved. Updating to Vegas 7e and DVDA 4b does not help. I have a support request into Sony, but am wondering whether there's a reliable workaround known to the forum. It's only 7 chapters, but I like where I put them the first time, and am annoyed that a ballyhooed feature is non-functional.

2) My Vegas project renders to a 3475600 KB .mpg plus a separate 109097 KB .ac3, yet when I drag & drop the media onto a fresh-project timeline, it warns of having to rerender because it's running 104% of a 4.7GB DVD.

Excuse me, but since when does 3.5GB + 0.1GB exceed 4.7GB? The optimize dialogs complain about composited graphics driving the rerender, but I thought rendering flattens out compositing, so what's the prob? Is it the 720x480 widescreen that's eating me?

Should I: A) Let DVDA do the rerender to fit; B) Set a lower bitrate in Vegas and rerender; or C) Have Vegas render to an un/less-compressed DV .avi and let DVDA do a fresh lossy compression? Mr. Duncan mentions this as a worthy option for largish projects.

Thanks for any help for this novice!

Comments

GeorgeW wrote on 7/1/2007, 5:31 AM
1) Did you render using the template: DVD Architect 24p NTSC Widescreen
I just tried a small 4-minute clip using that template, and the chapters carried over to DVDA4b.

2) Did you add a Button Over Video to the timeline? This could trigger a re-render due to composited graphics (i.e. adding the BOV to your video)

ECB wrote on 7/1/2007, 7:16 AM
Your steps work fine for me. If read your words literally " yet when I drag & drop the media onto a fresh-project timeline" are you sure you are not dropping your video on the menu timeline? Dropping the 24p video on the menu timeline will cause a rerender. I can't answer the size issue without knowing more. Also, dropping the media on the menu timeline will not import the chapter points which accounts for you second problem. As far as I know there is no way to create an empty media timeline.

In the simplist case just drag and drop your media on the menu not the menu timeline.

Just a guess.

Ed
seattlecrow wrote on 7/1/2007, 12:53 PM
Hm... I started a fresh project, predefining it as a 24P NTSC widescreen. Then I selected the .mpg in the Explorer and dragged it into the main viewing window, not onto the timeline as I would in Vegas. Presto, the former oversize warning went away, with size still good at 3.8GB.

Now when I *double*-click on the main title in the Project Overview, the project markers show up properly on the timeline. I then drag the .ac3 onto the timeline and it sticks nicely.

Why the order or manner in which media are imported into a project matters is beyond me. Yet such big-duh basics are not well-covered in either helpfile or the .pdf manual. I'm doing a lot of black-box probing & trial and error, and slowly getting the hang of it. (Hello, Sony? Are you reading this?)

I've also pinged Class on Demand to ask whether they ever published the promised DVDA 4 training; no reply yet. fortcollinswebworks.com sells training on DVDA 3 (anybody want to sell me a used copy?) -- maybe I'll have to settle for that and pick up the enhancements on my own.

Thanks for the tips!
seattlecrow wrote on 7/1/2007, 1:03 PM
Doh! I'm really having a RTFM experience.

Here was I using DVDA like it was Vegas; I just assumed the default timeline visible post-boot was a blank media timeline, not the menu timeline. Yes, having a 90-minute motion background for the menu would tend to inflate the DVD's size (slap forehead).

Thank you for your patience with my moronic newbie misconceptions!

Now I get to tackle button masking and themes...
GeorgeW wrote on 7/1/2007, 3:00 PM
Sony sells DVD Architect Studio (retail is something like $49, and I have seen it for FREE after rebates). The key with the "Studio" versions (both Vegas Movie Studio and DVD Architect Studio) is that they come with some builtin Tutorials.

Of course, it won't have "Advanced" tutorials because those options are not included in the scaled down "Studio" versions (things like Buttons Over Video, Multiple Audio Tracks, Subtitles, Video Angles, etc...). But the Tutorials do get you up and running with the basic workflow. They have a Trial of the "Studio" version -- which might get you going as far as the Tutorials...