Anything MPEG will take over the machine. So many processing cycles happening there, it eats up the system resources fairly quickly. As John points out, it rarely will cause a glitch, UNLESS you have a system resource required and you call on that resource from another app. this can happen, but it's not common.
John, DVDA actually runs LIGHTER on my machine than does Ulead or REEL. Then again, I never render to MPEG in DVDA.

Thank you, sirs!

I'm taking users' advice and rendering to DVD-A video stream and PCM wave separately out of Vegas.
This seems to take alot longer than just using the default MPEG-2 template.

Mario

Why PCM? If you're going to DVDA you should be doing AC3.

If you find that Vegas uses too much of your processor during render, use the task manager and lower it's process priority.

--Scott

Well, the DVD-A manual says it'll take either PCM or AC-3.
So you're suggesting AC-3...why?
It's better than PCM?

Mario

Actually, I guess it doesn't really matter. DVDA will take the PCM stuff and compress it to AC3 anyway. I'm just used to using the Vegas script that renders the video and AC3 audio in one click.

AC3 is almost as good as PCM, and takes up way less space, so you have more room on the disc for more material.

I regularly use my computer for many other tasks while rendering. I usually set Vegas' priority to below normal so it probably averages about 93% CPU usage instead of 97%. The increased rendering time is just about unnoticeable and is way more than offset by being able to do other tasks during that time.

In fact, one of the many tasks i often perform while rendering is ... rendering! Running multiple renders simultaneously is one of Vegas' great strengths.

And just to forestall the oft asked question: performing other tasks while rendering will not and cannot cause dropped frames in the output file.

AC3 is great for dialog and most scenes. It's nowhere near as robust as PCM for full music or action mixes. However, it also uses nearly 10 times the space, depending on content. So, if you want the BEST audio on short films, use PCM, especially if you have big booms, articulate music, or lots of frequency contrasts. If it's a documentary, wedding vid, news show, training project, etc....AC3 will be great.
DVD Architect will allow you to use either format, or even mix formats.

Spot: DVDA actually runs LIGHTER on my machine than does Ulead or REEL. Then again, I never render to MPEG in DVDA

I don't render in DVDA either. That is why it is so puzzling that DVDA should be so slow when it is just doing a prepare. I brought this to Sony's attention, so they do understand the issue.

Mario: I'm taking users' advice and rendering to DVD-A video stream and PCM wave separately out of Vegas.

Ah, yes. Once again (several times a week) the "default template" issue. Sony has Vegas revert to the "default template" every time you do an MPEG-2 render; it does not "remember" the last template you used. This is VERY unfortunate because the default template has a setting of 15 for the "video quality" setting, whereas all the DVD Architect templates have this setting pegged at the maximum value of 31. This quality slider makes a BIG difference in encoding time (smaller values are faster), but unfortunately also makes a big difference in the quality of the encode.

This forum gets several posts each week from people complaining about DVD quality, and it is almost always traced back to choosing the "Default" template. Who can blame them? Shouldn't the "default" give you the best starting point? It doesn't. ALWAYS use one of the DVD Architect templates when encoding to MPEG-2.

John: And just to forestall the oft asked question: performing other tasks while rendering will not and cannot cause dropped frames in the output file.

I agree. This is totally different from capture, where the computer must keep up with the relentless stream of data arriving at the computer from the capture device. By contrast, when rendering, the computer can stop or stall the render process in order to "service" a foreground application (like me typing this message), and it won't make any difference in the final result.

However, as far as setting the task priority, that will help with something that hogs the CPU, but it doesn't help with a program that hogs the disk. Disk I/O is not affected by changing task priority. As a result, the problems I noted with DVDA cannot be fixed simply by changing the task priority, because the problem with DVDA is that it hits the disk millions of times during a simple prepare. I didn't believe this until I did the tests. Open the task manager the next time you do a prepare of a totally full DVD. Look at the disk I/O stats. You will be amazed at the disk activity.

Thanks for all the great advice!

Mario

Ac3 vs. PCM.... can anyone comment on whihc format is more compatible with more consumer DVD players? Or is this not a factor here?

I've always used Ac3, with no problems.

Thanks,

Greg