The scope settings are very confusing and (in my opinion) this has to do with Vegas being poorly designed. I don't believe that there is anything in the manual that really explains what is going on.

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1- Um... Vegas' preview may or may not be accurate.
http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/v8color/vegas-9-levels.htm

You need to figure this out first. Make sure that your preview is accurate. Vegas does not give you an accurate preview by default (this is bad design and unintuitive). From your original post, it seems that you are confused about this.

2- Vegas doesn't know how your digital video will end up being converted to analog. So you have to tell Vegas the correct answers. If you had a set of real hardware vectorscopes, you could figure it out. You probably don't so... it's a bit of a catch 22. It's easiest if you don't think of them as real vectorscopes.

If you convert all your video into studio RGB levels (this is probably a good idea), this is what I would do:
- Keep the studio RGB setting on
- Turn the 7.5 IRE setup off. You could turn it on if your country uses 7.5 IRE setup, but this isn't helpful. Vegas does not draw a line at 7.5- again, this is bad design. So just turn it off.

if you do that:
On the vectorscope, 0 will correspond to black and 100 to white. Yes, you can make a white that goes higher than 100 on the vectorscope. This is an illegal white and can cause problems. Don't do it. Your video will look different on different TV systems, among other problems.

ComputerRGB is when you want to use all the colors, IE a video meant to be displayed only on a digital device.
I think that you are confused and misinformed.

Studio RGB can represent a far wider range of colors than computer RGB. The Y'CbCr color space can represent even more colors than studio RGB can handle.

When you convert from a larger color space to a smaller color space, you lose colors.

Whether your display device is an analog CRT or a digital projector (or a digital TV) should have no effect on whether your use studio or computer RGB. It's irrelevant. At the end of the day, Vegas renders to a codec that expects either computer or studio RGB. Some codecs expect computer RGB and others expect studio RGB. You need to give the codec the correct levels.

(Other NLEs handle all these conversions for you. Vegas is badly designed.)

Actually Vegas is very well designed!

If I put an NTSC color test pattern on the timeline and set the Waveform monitor for 7.5 setup and check Studio RGB (16 to 235) the levels displayed will be exactly right.

Since that test pattern is meant for Studio RGB it will not display properly on the video preview because it is being shown on my computer monitor which expects computer RGB. So it will not show correctly. However, if I display it on my second monitor it will show correctly because I have my settings to adjust levels from studio RGB to computer RGB.

So instead of changing the video to match the main monitor it is much better to set it correctly for the second monitor. This is assuming the second monitor needs computer RGB.

Now, because Vegas does not have a 7.5 ire marker on the waveform monitor I simply un-check the 7.5 on the waveform monitor and let the blacks (16) be at zero. That makes it much easier to work with. I do know that zero does represent 7.5 or 16 on studio RGB.

The videos from all of my Sony cameras are 16 to 255. To get the proper results I simply use Sony levels to bring the high end down to 100 IRE. I get great results every time.

With the above settings on the waveform monitor the NTSC test pattern will not exceed 100 and not go below zero except for part of the P.L.U.G.E. part. P.L.U.G.E. stands for Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment.

Being that I have spent many years working on televisions and related electronics I prefer to use the waveform monitor. Others prefer the Histogram which to me gives a very poor indication of what one is actually working with. Whatever works best for you.

So set the waveform monitor to have Studio RGB checked and the 7.5 IRE unchecked. To see the video the way it should be, use a second computer monitor and have the settings set to convert from Studio RGB to Computer RGB.

If your second monitor expects studio RGB then do not convert it.

The main monitor expects computer RGB which causes the video levels to appear wrong on it.

The only problem in Vegas is that it does not allow one to convert studio RGB to Computer RGB on the main monitor. With a second monitor dedicated for preview that does not matter.

One monitor is never enough for NLE work anyway.

So, in other words, leave it in Studio and try to keep it between 0 - 100. The end results for what I do for now is going to be shown on a Digital TV.

Studio RGB can represent a far wider range of colors than computer RGB. The Y'CbCr color space can represent even more colors than studio RGB can handle.

Codec color spaces have nothing to do with the scopes. The only thing we're talking about is scopes. Codec capabilities in relation to a discussion on the scopes just gives confusing information.

Whether your display device is an analog CRT or a digital projector (or a digital TV) should have no effect on whether your use studio or computer RGB. It's irrelevant. At the end of the day, Vegas renders to a codec that expects either computer or studio RGB. Some codecs expect computer RGB and others expect studio RGB. You need to give the codec the correct levels.

It does when you use the SCOPES to correct levels, in any setting. Just like rendering/encoding to the correct format you need to correct the footage to that format.

(Other NLEs handle all these conversions for you. Vegas is badly designed.)

Other editors are trained badly. Just like drivers who can't handle a manual transmission aren't trained good enough to handle one.

So, in other words, leave it in Studio and try to keep it between 0 - 100. The end results for what I do for now is going to be shown on a Digital TV.

I'd say don't care unless there's a specific reason to. Maybe correct your colors a bit and use the scopes to make sure you're not destroying something else accidentally, but a digital original to a digital delivers should be no problem. Scopes are great for correcting colors/shading, making sure different source footages are as close as possible, but if it's all one camera and the settings are consistent for the entire taping then just correct the colors to how you want and have fun, don't worry about things being blown out (if they're blown out they're lost data anyway). The best you could do is dull them a little bit.

i work in 000-255, but monitor with a Sony BVM/PVM (can't remember which)

1) scopes are set to 016-235
2) timeline is sRGB (000-255)... any footage used is mapped to it.
3) a Computer to Studio filter is always on the Video Output FX, except...
4) the filter is removed when rendering or proofing on a Dreamcolor.

scopes behave as expected... their accuracy i can't speak to as i don't have hardware scopes to A/B with... i tend to use Vector/Waveform most, and Histogram/RGB Parade for more detailed info.

i've used this setup 7 years; no problems so far... but i've been burned in the past with colorspace issues so i watch for that more than some.

Here we go again . . .

"Here we go again . . . "

Welcome to the party! Are we having hot dogs or hamburgers?

[I]'Being that I have spent many years working on televisions and related electronics I prefer to use the waveform monitor. Others prefer the Histogram which to me gives a very poor indication of what one is actually working with."[/I]

Agree with you there.
Just one trap to watch out for. Rec709 sets video black at 5% IRE. I suspect a lot of cameras don't do this correctly however the better cameras certainly do. Mug me thought I should correct this "setup" out and was then wondering why my blacks could look a bit crushed.

Bob.

scopes behave as expected... their accuracy i can't speak to as i don't have hardware scopes to A/B with...

For most Vegas editors, I wouldn't worry about it.

If you own a betaSP or digital betacam deck, I would absolutely worry about it. The software scopes in Vegas and Final Cut Pro can burn you. They should not be relied upon when making broadcast masters.

So, in other words, leave it in Studio and try to keep it between 0 - 100. The end results for what I do for now is going to be shown on a Digital TV.

Yeah, that should work for you. If you render to the Main Concept MPEG2 encoder for DVDs, it expects studio RGB levels. Setting up your scopes to be the same is what you want.

You should do something to make sure that you have an accurate preview.
- Firewire out through a camera to a TV (preferably a CRT). If you work with SD a lot, I would highly highly recommend this. There are things like field order issues that are impossible to see on a computer monitor.
- Use a windows secondary display at the preview device. Go into the settings and check the studio RGB box.
- Apply a "studio RGB to computer RGB" preset in the Levels FX to the video output FX. This can get you into trouble if you forget to turn it off when rendering your final video or when rendering to a new track.

Still trying to understand.. If my ultimate format will be H.264, and my source is AVCHD, then I should check the studio rgb check box in the settings, set the preview device settings to display in computer rgb and preview on my second LCD monitor only in full screen by clicking the button as the computer rgb setting only works in external monitor mode, NOT the resizable preview window. Then before I encode from Vegas, I apply the video output fx levels to 16-235. Do I finally understand this correctly?