How are you previewing the video? Is it SD video being previewed over a 1384 converter box like one of the Canopus boxes?

- OK, it seems to be something to do with Preview settings...
- Preview is normally set on... Preview (Auto)
- If I change it to any of the (Full) settings it gets better... much better...
- If I set it to Preview Best (Full) it is clear as can be.

- I'm previewing in Vegas but also have the "Preview on External Monitor button clicked and am using a Mini-DV cam to drive the external monitor... Firewire from PC to Cam... S-Video from Cam to Studio Monitor... has always worked fine.

Finally, if I drag the Vegas Preview Screen to undock it... and then drag the corners to make it big... the video clears up on both the Vegas Preview Monitor... AND the external Studio Monitor ??

I didn't know the Vegas on screen Preview Monitor had an effect on the external Studio Monitor!

Any idea's on why this happened all of a sudden? Both the onscreen Vegas Preview Monitor and external studio monitor show the video looking very poorly unless I set the Preview to (Full) and/or undock the Vegas Preview window and make it large on the computer screen.

Thanks for any help.

OK, now I know exactly what is going on. When you are previewing video without any filters or titles added, Vegas is just passing the video on to the 1394 camcorder and not processing the video at all. That's why it previews at full resolution on the external monitor even if your preview resolution is set to a lower mode. If you were to look at the preview resolution on the window on your computer monitor, the resolution would be previewing at the lower preview resolution rather than the full quality you are seeing on the external monitor.

As soon as you do anything to the footage however: add titles, change the color, etc., Vegas starts processing the footage and the external preview drops to whatever your preview footage is set to.

The good news is that it's just a preview. Your final render will still be full quality.

As you've figured out, using the highest preview resolution makes the preview of processed and unprocessed footage match better.

I wouldn't worry about it though. Just set the preview resolution to whatever your CPU can handle comfortably and edit away. Yeah it may look a little grubby on the processed parts, but it's just a preview. The final render will look just fine. Most of us here have edited most of our projects this way and it really isn't a big deal.

When you set the Preview Resolution your talking about click the "Preview Quality" drop down over the Vegas on screen Preview Monitor...
and setting it so either Draft/Auto, Draft/Full, or Preview/Auto Preview/Full, or Good/Audo, Good/Full, or Best/Auto, Best/Full...

Right? or is there another setting... like 'pixels' or whatever somewhere else?

Thanks for the help.