Thanks for pointing me in the hardware direction and drivers direction, my audio hardware does not have any obvious bit and sampling rate technical reference values other than being described as having high-def capabilities. I have downloaded the latest realtek and then the popular Asio for most hardware drivers which are now both installed but do not make a practical difference even with a 24/96 soundtrack and picture rather than a video track, which then enables a DVD to be rendered but still with 16/48 audio settings. I am guessing I need to buy a proper 24 bit 96 Khz sound card although I am confused by the fact that even a standard integrated realtek sound chip is quite happy to playback a 24/96 wave file which sounds so much better than a 16/48 recording which means the hardware is working to some extent. Is there a quick solution to being able to render in vegas with 24/96 sound using a cheap sound-chip while I wait for an upgraded sound card to arrive? Many thanks.

My notebook with onboard Realtek is quite happy to render 24/96 with the original drivers.

Just a note: Although you can put 24/96 PCM on a DVD, it takes up a lot of space that people would normally use for higher video bitrate.

I've managed to source and install a 24/96 sound card that has its own specific asio drivers (rather than using a generic item) which are now recognised within Vegas but this action does not enable DVD's to be rendered with a 24/96 soundtrack although Blueray rendering is a valid option which I interpret as meaning, the hardware is no longer suspect. I must be missing something crucial in the vegas config, any ideas?

I think you should open a Tech Support ticket. You may have uncovered a bug in your version of Vegas Pro. Perhaps others here with your version can try to duplicate your issue.

You are attempting to render a separate 24/96 PCM WAV file, correct?
And a separate MPEG-2 video file using a DVD Architect template?
That is the only correct way to do it without re-encoding in Architect.

It's not really necessary to even have a soundcard just to render audio (though it would, of course, be impossible to hear what you are working on without one), so I think the hardware discussion is irrelevant here.

But it occurs to me that you may be making a mistake in how you are rendering the video and audio materials, particularly since you say you have recently moved from VMS where the procedure is rather different.

For the avoidance of doubt, in Vegas Pro the procedure you should be following is this:

1. Render the video material using File|Render as... and choosing "MainConcept MPEG-2" for "Save as type" and "DVD Architect PAL video stream" for "Template" (or "DVD Architect PAL Widescreen video stream" if you are working 16x9).

2. Make no changes to the template under Custom except to choose suitable figures for the bit rates on the Video tab. In particular do not attempt to include the audio - this is where I am guessing you may be going wrong.

3. Choose a suitable location and filename for the .mpg file you will render and ckick on Save to render the video.

4. Now render the audio material using File|Render as... and choosing "Wave (Microsoft)" for "Save as type" and "96,000 Hz, 24-bit, Stereo, PCM" for "Template".

5. Choose the same location and filename as you chose in step 3 (except for the filemane extension - .wav rather than .mpg) and click on Save to render the audio material to the same location as the video material, and with a matching filename.

6. Now in DVD Architect, when you insert your video media the (identically named) audio file in the same location should be automatically loaded as well.

If you are correctly following this procedure, please let us know exactly at which point you are encountering the problem. But if, as I suspect, you are not following this procedure please do so and I am confident that you will have success.

Mark

Thanks Mark.
With some interface/OS/software combinations, recording and playback options are automatically grayed out for bit/sample rates that are not configured or supported by the sound device. This was the case with my M-Audio USB interface, thus I raised the hardware issue, not suspecting the OP's workflow.

Now that I have read the original post again, I am inclined to think you are correct, and that there is a lack of understanding that is causing the problem. Thanks for jumping in with clear directions for a successful workflow.

As far as the reasons why DVDA expects separate audio and video, there are many factors that make this the preferred method, and I will gladly go over some of those once the OP has successfully burned a DVD with his desired audio format.

Thank you both very much for your help, as a movie studio user moving up to the pro version this was indeed a simple case of having to understand that the more expensive the software is, the harder it is to drive! It may interest you to know that the end part of the answer was on the net in various forums but unfortunately, was always written-up without mentioning the different initial render procedure which is of course automatic in less expensive versions of Vegas. Once again thanks for your help.

Yeah, the more user control and options a software offers, the fewer automated functions. It's a tradeoff no software developer has ever gotten completely around. Here's hoping you continue to learn and take advantage of the powerful features Vegas Pro offers.

What are the advantages of separate audio and video renders expected by DVDA?
-- With DVDA pro, you can have separate audio tracks for one video; surround, stereo, languages, narrative, karaoke, whatever.