Quirks with Digital Juice in Vegas

smhontz wrote on 1/20/2007, 8:54 AM
I bought up a bunch of Digital Juice products when they had their Christmas specials. But I'm having annoying weird little issues using them with Vegas 7.0c so I'm wondering what workflow others using DJ products use. I'm trying to use the VideoTraxx and various JumpBacks, and the Sound FX.

I use the Juicer to render the videos I select out as 720x480, 29.97 fps. I've tried uncompressed AVI, but half the time I get the dreaded "all black" render and can't use the clips. I've also rendered out as Animation MOV (when I need alpha channels) and Photo JPEG Mov. In all cases (AVI when it works, Animation MOV and Photo JPEG Mov) when I put the clips in the timeline, I only get 15 fps playback. (My project settings in Vegas are standard NTSC DV - 720 x 480, 29.97 fps.) AVI files from my camera or that I rendered from other Vegas projects play full-speed.

What codec are you guys rendering with for use in Vegas? I would think AVI would be the best, but, like I said, sometimes it doesn't render right, and it doesn't play full speed in the timeline.

Plus, do you ever have issues with flaky DJ disks? I have the Sound FX library, and I've already exchanged the entire disk set once, and yet, I still seem to have disks that don't want to read.

I love the DJ stuff, but the quirks can sure be annoying.

Comments

jmeredith wrote on 1/20/2007, 9:51 AM
I pull the JumpBacks and VideoTraxx right off the disc and straight into Vegas bypassing the Juicer completely. If I need the Alpha channel, I just right click on the clip, select Properties, from the Alpha channel drop down on the Media tab, select Straight Unmatted.

Hope this helps :)
apit34356 wrote on 1/20/2007, 10:27 AM
Juicer is a good ideal in theory for handling massive video libraries, but I think Jmeredith suggestion is probably is the best or easier way to go. Especially if you only have a few of the DJ libraries. They, DJ, needs to run some more super specials. ArtBeats can do that as well!
Xander wrote on 1/20/2007, 10:53 AM
I use the Juicer software to preview/locate what I want. I then directly copy the file off disc and use in Vegas. Also select Alpha using right click approach.
Dan Sherman wrote on 1/20/2007, 11:10 AM
No toruble with juicer here or any of the Digital Juice products.
farss wrote on 1/20/2007, 11:42 AM
I've got almost all of their HD Jumpbacks, no problems so far.
And bought very cheaply.
Sab wrote on 1/20/2007, 11:46 AM
I also use the Juicer simply as a search tool and then put the clip directly on the timeline and right click to get the alpha channel.

It would be nice to have a script that does this with a single button push. Apply the alpha channel and then de-select the maintain aspect ratio check box under switches once the clip is on the timeline.

Sab
ken c wrote on 1/20/2007, 2:11 PM
agree - no reason to use the juicer to render; o/w codec issues etc.. just use the juicer to preview the videos, then pull the source avis off the DVD ... of course that doesn't work if you have the old ones, that are just png series, that must be rendered via juicer, but for newer JBs I just pull off the DVD directly

ken
BigBadBz wrote on 6/18/2007, 6:35 PM
Those of you that use the clips straight off of the Digital Juice DVD -- is that because your projects are PAL format? I just received the Sports Editor's Toolkit, and the clips are PAL DV resolution -- it seems that I would need to run the clips through their Juicer software in order to obtain NTSC DV (720 x 480) resolution.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions about how to do a reasonable job of re-coloring a clip? I'd love to have a version of the animated spinning baseball on the blue background (jump set 187) that has a green background instead. I've tried the hue/saturation control in Juicer 3 as well as Vegas' Secondary Color Corrector - I get a green background, but the nice white baseball with red stitching becomes a greenish baseball with magenta stitches... :-(

Thanks in advance,
- Paul
epirb wrote on 6/18/2007, 6:49 PM
Nope I use the NTSC Dv clips from the discs as a matter of fact I have a separate HDD that I copied all the .mov files from the MDE, Frames and Line itemsand SFX library's etc discs, that way I too browse useing the Juicer 3 and then get the clips name and add into vegas that way.
I have always colored or tinted a clip w either SCC CC Or HSL in Vegas ,...you can try using the SCCand just selecting that color to be changed w a wide hue range.
BigBadBz wrote on 6/18/2007, 7:34 PM
Thanks for the reply, but I don't see any NTSC clips in this version of the Editor's Toolkit; just PAL-resolution QT clips. I'll try SCC again.

- Paul
MSmart wrote on 6/18/2007, 10:08 PM
Paul, you may want to give the DJ Using Digital Juice Products with Vegas forum a look see.
Andrew B wrote on 6/18/2007, 11:01 PM
I have noticed that some of my DJ clips are in PAL format. I simply resize them using the crop tool (right-click and choose match output format).
I also have loaded my DJ collection onto a HDD (1TB drives are only $250 now) and use the juicer only to find the clips I want to use.
I know you have to use juicer when editing StackTracks, but other than that, I just drag and drop...
BigBadBz wrote on 6/19/2007, 7:18 PM
To all, thanks for the help - most appreciated.

- P