Yes, you would need to render your project to DV-AVI before using the print-to-tape feature. If you have a movie that is pure, unedited, untitled, untouched DV-AVI then you wouldn't have to re-render it. But, that scenario is a stretch since you're likely to do SOME editing.

Then again, you'd have to do this with Pinnacle and Ulead as well. They might call it something else, or hide it as part of an overall step, but edited movies do need to be rendered to DV-AVI before being output to a DV camera.

If by "play back to tape" you mean something else, then let us know!

Thanks for the info. Here is the problem (I think):
A few months back, I upgraded from Moviestudio 3 to Vegas Moviestudio 4. I also use Pinnacle Studio 9 and Ulead Videostudio 7.

When I output a project from Vegas MS, the program always renders the whole timeline. If you are familiar with Pinnacle, you know that if you import DV from firewire, you can then output it immediately without rendering. If you add a title or effect, it renders only those.

So, is Vegas MS supoosed to play back without rendering? If it is rendering, as in my case, does that mean I have the wrong codec? When I check my device manager, I find the Pinnacle DV codec as the only DV codec. Should there be another one? If any of you guys have only Vegas MS on your system, what DV codec shows up?

I really like Vegas, but I thought Pinnacle, buggy as it is, gives a big advantage in not requiring as much rendering.

You could be onto something regarding the Pinnacle DV codec. Given that there are a couple different variations on DV-AVI, that may be the issue.

One thought: even when ouputting from AVI to AVI on my system, it still does take some time, since it still has to copy the pure AVI parts to the new file. The way you can tell if it is doing any rendering in the AVI parts is that the preview window will change; if your disk is just spinning and the preview window remains unchanged, then it isn't rendering, it's just copying.

So there is an amount of waiting involved?

What happens if you import about a minute of DV via firewire and, without changing it or adding affects, output it back to the DV camera via firewire? Is there still a matter of waiting for the file?

Also, is there a DV codec listed in your device manager properties?

Thanks for your help.

No, there is not a DV codec in my device manager properties; I hope I'm reading the list correctly!

For a one minute clip I wouldn't expect too much waiting, and in fact if it is literally straight DV-AVI then I would expect you could do the print to tape without having to render at all.

Out of curiosity, just how long are you waiting, and exactly what steps do you carry out before the waiting starts?