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Videoon 4/9/2013
New 563 Build
@ VidMus: "Maybe if SCS would have not chosen OpenCl and went solely with the GPU itself things would have been better? With the use of preview memory and the system timings for sending bits to and from the GPU I think it would work up to a point and then get all clogged-up" -- "Vegas works on my system and with the media and workflow I use and not others. WHY???" -- "AND WHAT CAN SCS DO TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS?????" Purely FWIW, when it comes to graphics hardware acceleration developers can either turn to proprietary methods like CUDA, Stream, & Quick Sync, or use an open solution -- OpenCL -- for everything. Both have advantages. OpenCL works with everything -- at least in theory :) -- so it's hardware agnostic & you get the largest user base. It's also simpler to use one method, OpenCL, than 3 -- Adobe solves the problem in some of their stuff by choosing CUDA & ignoring AMD/ATI & Intel. Sony Creative might also have ties to AMD, e.g. from working together in the past, & AMD/ATI has moved on from Stream to embrace OpenCL. From a user standpoint OpenCL may be superior because it allows you hardware freedom. I just bought a new graphics card, choosing AMD/ATI because it has better OpenCL benchmarks [http://clbenchmark.com/] -- there are also differences in quality with the video processing, but IMHO info's a bit hard to come by, often irrelevant to apps like VP, & often subjective, so I'll leave that alone. If I relied on Adobe [or other apps using CUDA] I wouldn't have had that choice. [I actually would have preferred Nvidia, but with all apologies to any Nvidia fanboys, this time 'round everything I've read says OpenCL is where their current crop is lacking] As far as things "getting clogged up", I think that's a decent enough way to put it. A developer has to identify which operations can be performed faster with a GPU, & then figure out how to split those off & send them to the GPU, all without timing issues -- it doesn't do much good if the GPU does whatever at lightning speed, only to have the results sit there waiting for the CPU to be ready to accept them. Making it more complicated, higher end graphics cards are faster in that respect than cheaper ones, just like more expensive CPUs are faster, so a developer has to [or should] account for what happens when the user has a slower/faster GPU & CPU. Then there's Windows, which adds it's own constraints, & the fact that graphics hardware is so complicated nowadays that there have been & are problems both Nvidia & AMD/ATI can take many months to figure out what's happening. Finally, graphics hardware assisted video processing is an ugly stepchild to graphics card marketing folks -- their prime target is the gamers buying 4 $500 cards -- so both development & fixing related problems sits semi-permanently on the back burner. As far as why this stuff works for some & not others, IMHO it helps to think of the PC/laptop as a sort of ecosystem. In nature the introduction [or extinction] of the smallest organism can have outsized effects on everything else. While most everything hardware is standardized, there are small variations, even among the same brand & models of motherboards, power supplies, graphics cards etc. The example that comes to mind [of what those small variations can mean] is overclocking -- how far you can go depends on the individual CPU/motherboard &/or graphics card & how efficiently it operates... I think that's one reason they compare benchmarks on-line, i.e. mine's better than yours -- if everything was identical why bother? It seems logical that the same sort of variations apply to OpenCL performance. Another factor is what software's installed -- Windows' Direct Show can be a nightmare. Take for example a DS filter that's called or opened whenever a video file or type of video file's opened, & then consider what happens when it has some incompatibility with the graphics card driver set, delaying or maybe breaking one or more of it's functions, or maybe a DS filter or part of another driver set conflicts with whatever app. I use Virtu, which routes some graphics stuff to the CPU's built-in graphics to take advantage of Intel's Quick Sync -- I have ffdshow along with some other stuff installed & set to use Quick Sync for some video formats, which can speed some things up. In an earlier version of VP 12 the Intel OpenCL driver caused issues -- I had to disable it temporarily when I used VP -- & I've yet to see what the effects are from the LAV Filters with this latest version -- in the past VP 12 didn't like them at all, so again enabled/disabled them depending on what I was using. What can SCS do to fix this sort of thing? Three words: Spend more money. There's little that can't be fixed if enough resources are thrown at it, but the problem is who provides those resources. They could charge more, & the extra profits would allow them to hire more people along with buying more hardware to test VP12 on, but then you have the problem of if they charged more, would their customer base shrink so that total profits decreased instead? Now I know it's common & popular to blame greed when a company doesn't spend more money developing/making a product, & *maybe* parent Sony is partly to blame, but we VP12 users aren't going to influence a company as big as Sony, so I consider the point moot.
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Videoon 4/8/2013
New 563 Build
@NormanPCN -- "The MainConcept AVC OpenCL problems with the AMD 7950 card not being detected/used still exists. 3 weeks and no support response" FWIW confirm problems with AMD/ATI 7870 as well. Test encoding 1080p to 1080p, Sony AVC encoder shows between 30-40% CPU, 30-40% GPU while MC encoder set to OpenCL shows high 90s CPU & 0 GPU. Running a 2600K with Virtu on or off, no difference -- I did not try disabling the Intel OpenCL.
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Videoon 11/21/2012
Free DVD A 6.0
> "Sorry for colloquial terms - the install of Adobe writes a unique harddrive signature - which unlike most software installs can not survive a harddrive image and restore. That kind of difficulty encountered for restoring you license in everyday drive function is a pain in the." Adobe's not alone with DRM PITA issues, unfortunately... Add SSD(s), switch from SATA (IDE mode) to AHCI, VP 11 etc. apparently thinks you've attempted DRM crack, goes into FU mode -- or at least that's what happened to me. :( Simple re-activate didn't work, remove/reinstall didn't work, had to remove, find DRM tracers, remove those, reinstall, activate. I've worked with drive/partition image backups a bit for the last several years, but only restored win7 with VP 11 to the same drive -- I'm not anxious to see if VP repeats that sort of thing next year when I think that drive may be due for replacement.
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DVD Architecton 11/21/2012
Make button image from a menu page
As vtxrocketeer posted your best bet is going with a screen capture for that sort of thing, though I wanted to add a quick note for more involved stuff where you might be tempted to use screen grabs as well [I can't see it mattering for a button fill]... I've run into a few cases where I've had to render the DVD layout, then feed the menu mpg2 back into Vegas Pro, taking snapshots there -- mpg2 rendering in VP &/or DVDA can slightly shift things, particularly with stills &/or compositing [layers]. IMHO adding text for menus in VP looks a little better than for example adding it in P/Shop -- that slight shifting on render can also cause problems there when it comes to button highlight masks.
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Videoon 11/15/2012
Use of anti-virus software
> "I remember when McAfee was *THE* antivirus choice, nothing else compared. Then windows 95 came along.... :(" :) what can I say... it's cheap @ ~$4 a seat [or $0 if I hassle with MIR], it's fully removable, it's usable by anyone. The removable part is important to me -- I'm not a fan of re-installing Windows. Some folks don't trust what they suspect are Kaspersky's ties to their gov. I'd rather have something other than Windows firewall so use SE where that's irrelevant, i.e. in my VMs. Some brands use their higher rate of false positives as marketing, with users happily pointing out how much malware it catches, even though the blocked stuff really wasn't. And most successful breaches continue to be via phishing. :) As usual I'll see what's avail. next spring when licenses expire, which work best with win8 [no, I don't believe win8 is bulletproof because SE is pre-installed]. :)
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Videoon 11/14/2012
What is the Point of GPU!
> "I feel that the introduction of GPU dependency is when Vegas versions started to exhibit problems that weren't easily resolved by patches and updates. Vegas 8 (9) run perfectly well and don't appear to lack anything significant the later versions offer. And they run on Windows XP to boot. " Exactly why I've got VP 9 in XP Pro in a multiple boot setup with win7/8. :) > "SCS needs to take the clue from AVID and Mac and make it work on SPECIFIC hardware with SPECIFIC drivers. Then if people want it, they would not have to guess which drivers work best. ... I remember even updating QT with AVID would cause uwanted consequences. The problem is, SCS might release a version of Vegas that worked with driverXXX of the Nvidia ModelXX, but then Nvidia updates to driver YYY, now some of the calls that Vegas makes may not work." You're right on IMHO about the drivers, but OTOH the day SCS marries VP to a certain hardware is the day I stop buying it. That's why I never have, likely never will buy anything from Apple. It makes sense from the perspective of selling a product that does everything it claims, but raises costs while tending to put you in a straightjacket should you dare also want to do something else. It would be nice if SCS could afford to do hardware & driver certification, even if that limited them to one brand, ATI or Nvidia, & unless you also use whatever rig for gaming, you do not need the latest driver set, so any time lag waiting for certification wouldn't be a big problem [though some would surely complain]. But it would be expensive from both testing/certification & support standpoints, and money would have to come from somewhere, & I'm not sure how many VP users would be happy with higher prices &/or diverting resources from developing fixes & features. > " I don't think that they can just drop hardware support now that they have started it without, again, making a lot of people angry after spending dollars on video cards and such." SCS has to offer competitive products if they want enough sales to keep the doors open, & I don't think that for a lot of people they would be competitive if they didn't offer GPU assist -- it's gotten to the point where the free & cheapest video converters have it, so particularly with their lower end versions of Vegas, it's specifically one of the things potential SCS customers look for. The more pro aspects of Vegas are kind of lost on potential customers who don't know yet how that stuff might matter. I know if I was new to video & saw Nero Ult., took a look at the editing features along with everything else in the package, & then saw I could get it for $40 upgrade from some OEM version, I'd look at any version of Vegas an awful lot more critically. Remove Vegas GPU assist in that situation & Nero would be a slam dunk. I might later be disappointed, or sooner if/when I found encoding times were higher than I'd imagined, but I'd have already bought Nero, & being angry with the Nero folks doesn't help the SCS bank acct. one bit. > "This is why I suggest they pursue a different path altogether with modern innovation and jump to the Intel Quick Sync method or other for fast rendering at a lower price. " Problem there is that there doesn't seem to be much in the hardware mid-range, & no AMD that can use Quick Sync if you mean as a sole alternative -- if you mean in addition to ATI & Nvidia VP 12 seems to use it now to some extent via Virtu... it does call the Intel OpenCl stuff, mentions it in the release notes, & for me can add 1 or 2 fps, though more Intel graphics assist would always be welcome. :) ----- As an afterthought, & purely FWIW, the economy being what it is hurts chances that SCS can afford some major re-writes, & by that I mean re-doing very major portions of their codebase that they've been building on over the years. Because of that VP can't take the most advantage of newer methods & tools that they might otherwise use to speed some stuff up considerably. They can speed up encoders & stuff like filters/FX because those aren't part of that core codebase, & when it comes to filters/FX, they don't have as much freedom because those still have to interface with existing, older code. At any rate not an alibi for anyone, but more a theory on why performance seems uneven, based in part on the history of DVDA, which has needed but not received a re-write ever -- seems to me perhaps poured a lot of resources & licensed code into building it, & once it was build, didn't have those resources to do more than glue on basic BD.
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Videoon 11/14/2012
Use of anti-virus software
> "Simply disable the constant monitoring feature of the software then it won't hog any resources. " Windows Task Mgr., or one of the better 3rd party apps like Project Lasso, or the free Process Explorer from Sysinternals at microsoft.com , will all tell you if your security software is active or not while you're rendering -- if it is using CPU, disable real time monitoring, & that takes care of the prob. for the most part in MS Sec. Ess, & mostly takes care of it in McAfee [don't know about other brands]. > " If you have a device (even saw a virus on a mp3 player once) that goes between two computers or more you can still get a virus." That's how Flame & variants can spread. As far as mp3 players & such, there are a few hacks that might surprise.
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DVD Architecton 11/14/2012
Blu Ray won't move past Menu
FWIW I've had great luck out of meritline for BD blanks shipped out of their US warehouse -- had one order shipped from Hong Kong or wherever & the bottom disc was damaged/worn. The quality overall has been better than BD blanks ordered out of newegg, where 3 batches from 1 manufacturer worked great, but the 4th batch didn't work at all. OTOH I've had very poor luck with DVDs out of meritline, despite having no problems with the same brands bought locally & from other suppliers.
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DVD Architecton 11/14/2012
HD video on DVD DL disc
Just FWIW... Blu-Ray on DVD is part of the Blu-Ray spec, I *think* stuck in there by one of the distributers in case Blu-Ray pricing never came down. Stand-alone players AFAIK tend to treat BD 5&9 discs as AVCHD, & some do the same thing for burned rather than mass-produced Blu-Ray discs. Some Blu-Ray players will handle most anything you throw at it, while others can be very picky -- research before you buy. Same can be said for BD burners -- quality & performance varies by make/model. Note that if/when buying a BD burner, if you want to burn or play BD in XP it can be worth it to buy a burner that comes with software, e.g. the PowerDVD that came with my first BD burner worked to add the format to XP's capabilities where nothing else, including the common hacked drivers did. BD 5&9 *possibly* means discs that'll last longer than cheap BD blanks -- Google & you'll find reports of unreadable discs a couple few months after burning, plus many [most?] cheap discs have a flexible film protection layer rather than the hard plastic a DVD uses. BD 5&9 means lower costs -- the difference between a $15-$20 DVD burner & ~$50-$60 BD burner matters to some people... there's not a huge price difference between DVD 9 & BD 25, but with 100 Verbatum DVD 5 blanks for ~$18, for some the savings are worth it. BD 5&9 also play on PCs/laptops without Blu-Ray drives, so it can work when you've got a number of PCs you want to view Blu-Ray content on but can't justify the cost of upgrading each one. I've had decent luck updating old DVDs, re-using the video but updating everything else including the subs so it looks better using Blu-Ray players, though that's really a niche thing, & in that case it doesn't make much difference [if the players can handle it] using DVD or BD blanks. 720p & 1440 x 1080 seem to work well enough on BD 5 &/or BD 9 -- the quality difference between BD 9 & BD 25 *IMHO* seems about the same as SVCD vs. DVD, assuming both are done equally well, but you'll find opinions that run the gamut between trash & identical. The latest version of DVDA stopped listing BD 5&9, but that's not tragic -- encode your audio/video to fit a DVD 5 or 9 in VP [or using whatever], create the DVDA ISO, mount & optionally copy the contents elsewhere, test, burn with Imgburn.
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Videoon 11/13/2012
What is audio format for Blue Ray
> "Is multi channel PCM an option for blu-ray?" The prob with WAVEFORMATEX [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd390970%28v=vs.85%29.aspx ] is that it still has the same file size limitations as any .wav file -- generally you start having problems as you approach 1/2 an hour's worth. Sony's wave 64 does work great however until you do the final render to 5.1 AC3. > "s there a way to create Dolby True HD?" VP 12's AC3 encoder setup does include options for stuff like 7.1 -- I don't know how you'd use it, or how well it works if you get it to work, but it's there if you want to experiment.
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Videoon 11/13/2012
How can I improve render to DVD quality?
> "Is TMPGEnc similar to VirtualDub?" Only maybe in that they were both favored by video geeks. :) Avery Less, the dev behind V/Dub has its story summarized pretty well on the home page [virtualdub.org]. It's a linear editor that does its thing Fast, with an open plug-in architecture that has resulted in loads of plug-in filters, many very similar or duplicates to what's been written for AviSynth. It does not have a great range of input/output formats, though you can most always come up with a way to import video via AviSynth. For output you can frame-serve to VP or whatever, or I usually generate an intermediate in the UT Video codec [Note: I have had prob. with later versions of UT, so backup before adding].
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Videoon 11/13/2012
How can I improve render to DVD quality?
Adding to Dave's post, I think that they were one of the very 1st mpg2 encoders to hit the scene years ago, maybe before Ulead came up with their 1st versions of their DVD authoring app. Very good, a bit more technical re: settings etc., they were bought or merged or whatever with the folks behind the PicVideo mjpeg capture codec that was, again years ago, terribly popular.
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Videoon 11/13/2012
What is the Point of GPU!
> " I'm getting strange jumps, pixel shifts, & weird lines on the edges. Some might not notice because it is subtle but it is there. I am worried that other plugs might not work correctly with gpu on so I abandoned v12 all together. " GPU assist can be a minefield for users, that's for sure. It's gotten me skittish enough that I won't add anything video or audio related without a full backup, & then I try to record any changes in case I have to try & go back moths later. It used to be all about Nvidia's Cuda & ATI Avivo, later Stream, & now it's OpenCL, which to some extent relies on those other, older technologies. One catch is that whatever functions were developed had to be fast 1st, good enough 2nd, & never focused on high quality. And with the big money in multiple highest dollar cards in gaming rigs, video folks are not even on-board the ship, but trailing in its wake in a dinghy. Long story short, & just FWIW, some GPU video processing IMHO is pretty low quality, depending on the functions used, & on the video hardware brand, model, driver, & firmware. And since video hardware assist is necessary for many systems to just play HD, drivers plug into the video pipeline no matter what you do, & so can be effected by other software that you wouldn't think would have any effects.
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Videoon 11/13/2012
Death by China, Documentaries, Made in China
Very Excellent points, HyperMedia. Whatever you think of stratfor.com, they do put out some interesting, free, weekly e-mails. With a focus on the more analytical, Geo-politics angle, they do cut through a lot of the BS. I remember several that dealt with the west's, I guess I'll call it moral ambiguities, used both for setting requirements or conditions & for setting their policy goals. As far as the US itself, if it were possible to compare a nation to people, I'd say it acts like a disturbed teen with multiple personality disorder, & not a little self-loathing thrown in for good measure. Unlike the Brits, who have been at this nation business an awful long time, I think long term strategy in foreign affairs is almost non-existent -- we're re-thinking short term strategy yet again. My own perception, which may be so far off it might as well be on another planet, is that our leaders know they should be doing something, that that something should be different, but can't get around the day-to-day politics long enough to do much more than occasionally worry. Cynically, they have enough money & power that those leaders don't have to worry about any of that stuff on a remotely personal level, while the masses are increasingly flirting with isolationist tendencies. According to Stratfor, the rise of the Chinese won't let the US simply stay home & ignore the world though, so we'll have to come up with something.
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Videoon 11/13/2012
DVD playback issues
> "So, question is - are there known issues with Architect Pro and certain DVD/Blu-ray players? Or, is it something else, like a codec issue I'm not aware of?" If you used AC3 there isn't a codec issue. Most DVD authoring apps use boilerplate scripts [as does DVDA], & that boilerplate is most always included on every layout it creates -- features are then turned on/off by use of variables. I haven't had any prob. with DVDA DVDs in recent Toshiba players, but DVDA's scripting is a bit different than some others -- if you wanted to eliminate the scripting for a test DVD, use the free version of Muxman which uses the barest minimum of scripting possible. That said, you posted: "when I went to put disc with same program in a HP laptop at a conference it wouldn't recognize the disc". To me that would indicate a disc problem -- the player or drive has to recognize it as a video DVD before it can read the scripts & stuff in the 1st place. If it can't read the disc, DVDA scripts &/or the video can't be the problem. That's where most of the suggestions folks have posted come in. videoITguy brings up another very good point -- DVD players are cheap, & I don't necessarily mean the price. They almost universally use cheap drive mechanisms that fail, not to mention those that suffer user abuse. Strictly my own opinion, many brands/models really scrimp on the electronics too -- while there are certainly many exceptions, I don't expect a lifespan over 3 years or so.
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DVD Architecton 11/13/2012
Blu Ray won't move past Menu
It might be a case of there being something wrong with the BD layout DVDA created, but I'd lean to it being a problem with the disc you burned -- just like with DVD players some brands of discs don't work as well in or with some burners or stand-alone players. myce.com has more info, though their trove of data has a lot more about DVDs, & videohelp.com maintains a database of user reported results if that does you any good. Personally I only use Imgburn for burning BD blanks, & have found some brands burn better at different speeds, e.g. 1 batch burned better at 4x than the rated 6x, while another would only burn at 6x. If you're burning cheap BD blanks the rating already written to the disc may be a copy of something else, so speeds reported in Imgburn for example may not reflect the actual disc. You can & should check for firmware updates for your burner, & optionally you can also check at places like myce to see if there are reports of a better firmware version or mod for your burner. At any rate, if you wanted to do a check to see if the DVDA BD layout was a problem, burn a test disc using multiAVCHD to create the layout, then Imgburn to burn it. Both apps are free, though donations encouraged, & if you wanted use a re-writable Blu-Ray blank.
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Videoon 11/12/2012
Death by China, Documentaries, Made in China
> "So I ordered some product from China and yes it was exactly the same as that being sold by the US company; but at a fraction of the cost." Do be careful though, as much as whatever products you buy warrant it. Some stuff is rebranded; some is made for name brands; some stuff is made on the same lines as stuff made for name brands, but may or may not be produced at the same specs; some stuff is brand name designs/specs stolen, copied, shared with other plants, & again may be 100% the same or not; some stuff is just counterfeit, including packaging & any manuals etc., though usually I think that sort of thing is lesser quality -- someone may copy a design yet still have the desire to sell a top quality product, while the counterfeiter is already into scamming the buyer so usually doesn't care. Companies in the US encounter counterfeits sent in for warranty service, & some are so close in appearance they may not be able to visibly see any difference until they check serial #s, which may all be the same. At any rate the quality of the product depends on the company -- not on where it's located. The US & EU have more regs, so an honest person has more of a tendency to stay honest, but that sort of thing doesn't bother someone who's dishonest to begin with. China is weak on (C) enforcement -- the US & EU are not, so you won't see copies. Importers/exporters are not all honest either. While US companies may import most every part of an item, they're usually required to say something like assembled in the USA. Or if they export US made components for assembly they say something like Assembled in Mexico From US Manufactured Parts. I would expect any US company re-labeling stuff from Made In China to Made In USA would be the subject of complaints to the State's &/or Federal Atty., & hopefully prosecuted, though I don't know if the same laws & such apply to export or if there's some loophole. > "I import goods for my business ... I wanted products of quality and an assurance that the chemicals that are on the label are in the product." I can only speak to what US companies regularly encounter -- they've found they either need someone that can monitor operations on site, at least making spot checks, &/or they have to have the stuff analyzed, spot-checking shipments that come in. That's more so with overseas suppliers, but happens with US suppliers too, depending on the company selling the product & how much a premium they place on their brand. There's a recent case where a regulated US facility was re-packaging medicines from bulk into the sizes/portions hospitals & clinics used -- they didn't follow proper sanitary procedures, people have died, there will be all sorts of lawsuits & some folks may/may not go to jail, but that does nothing for the dead. Had the hospitals & clinics spot-checked those meds those people would be alive. Long story short, I think US & EU quality is *usually* somewhere between good & best, simply because people in the US & EU demand better quality as consumers -- I order some minor stuff from China/Hong Kong direct, & I've received some stuff that was not as good as the cheapest junk at the Dollar store... I'm talking about stuff like incredibly cheap watches, most of which are OK, but some few are so bad you would never, ever see them on *any* store shelf -- IOW the stuff we consider junk is still nicer than some of the stuff sold elsewhere in the world. We have more regs, but the gov can't check, can't see everything, & neither honesty, integrity, greed, nor dishonesty know any borders.
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Videoon 11/12/2012
What is the Point of GPU!
> "I bought a Dell Vostro 3350 i5, 8GB RAM with Radeon HD 6490 512 MB for two days ago to be able to render with GPU on my new Vegas Pro 12. So far, Vegas do not allow me to render with GPU. It can only be set to off. And Vegas will not smart render to Cine form, which studio 10 was capable of." One, I'd start by using Google to see how capable your notebook graphics are -- might also check the AMD site for info on whether it's recommended for GPU assist using OpenCL. If everything's go at that point I'd suggest searching for the best driver setup for your laptop -- it may/may not be from Dell -- & after a full backup you know how to restore, try those drivers. I did not check to see if your laptop has dual graphics or anything like that which could complicate things, so if that might be an issue please do research before plunging ahead. As far as 10 goes, VP started using OpenCL AFAIK with v. 11.
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Videoon 11/12/2012
What is the Point of GPU!
> "Pretty upset that I paid for an update for Vegas 12 & the gpu feature does not work at this late date" Hear ya... I was concerned about it so I did a full backup, updated ATI drivers, added VP 12 trial, found problems, restored backup. A month later repeated the whole thing, broke MPG2 w/GPU assist in VP 11 64 but not 32, VP 12 trial worked, paid the moneys for VP 12. Repeated again for the VP 12 latest -- still cool. Some of these sorts of issues belong on SCS' doorstep, some are the fault of the driver developers, & frankly some are the fault of users for the other stuff they've installed &/or not following recommendations on updating drivers -- I'm speaking generally here, not saying you did or didn't do anything wrong Zeitgeist, but suggesting always backup & test 1st, along with checking out the forums for your graphics hardware.
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Videoon 11/12/2012
How can I improve render to DVD quality?
> "One thing seems clear, that I should acquire and use TMPGEnc as an intermediate step between native output from Vegas Pro and DVD Architect. I had no idea that this program existed." There are several very good mpg2 encoders -- the folks behind TMPGEnc have been at it a long time & do excellent work. In my experience few if any NLEs achieve the same quality & speed down-rezing video, especially interlaced, that you can get using other software tools. That said, dxtv doesn't mention whether the video frame-served out of VP is re-sized yet or not -- that makes a difference, whether TMPGEnc is down-rezing or just encoding what it's given. > " I have recently compared some results rendered both using the same source material in both VP11 and Edius 6.5 and the difference is remarkable. Edius wins hands down... This should be a fair comparison since both applications cost about the same. Vegas wins hands down what comes to usability, but best possible render quality is also important." PURELY FWIW... personally I not sure I'd always buy VP if I paid MSRP rather than upgrade. Years ago comparisons I did in Vegas & P/Pro convinced me neither did as good a job as other tools when it came to re-sizing... Vegas & P/Pro were always a bit soft or less sharp & slower. I've seen little since to change my mind, though the speed difference might be less important, make less of a difference if a good portion of your rendering time is taken up moving HD data from one place to another. As far as the MC mpg2 encoder goes, I often like it better using VP to down-rez rather than letting the encoder do the job, but mileage varies. Somewhat often I'll use AviSynth & V/Dub to to create intermediates using the UT Video codec, sending those to VP either at the proj. start or replacing clips. And deinterlacing & IVT are a whole 'nuther ball game on top of that stuff -- you'll find discussion on that end of things in many different threads in this forum. As someone's already posted, blending or interpolation to deinterlace are hardly state of the art -- adding the effects of either to an already softer frame re-size isn't going to do your rep any favors.
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DVD Architecton 11/12/2012
Can scene menu button serve double-duty?
> "but that seems like a waste of valuable button space." IMHO if you're that tight for space your menu's already too cluttered for a std. TV screen. That said, if you add a button like DaveT2 suggests, rather than bothering with the color etc., once everything is in place & working, drag it over to the corner & reduce the size as much as possible -- that way it'll work on PCs without having to worry about the occasional mouse-over. Location is more or less irrelevant since it follows button nav order. Same sort of thing works whenever you want to hide something -- I use it on descriptive menu names/titles I want to see in the tree but not on the menus themselves.
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DVD Architecton 11/12/2012
Buttons that make sound?
> "Is there an option to make buttons with sounds when they are selected or activated? Is there anyway to do this in DVDA? Is there any DVD app out there that can do this?" Everything on a video DVD is event driven, but you're limited to playing mpg2 video & optionally an accompanying audio track. When you select or click a button, that linked video can be on another menu page or a stand-alone video file. As DaveT2 points out there may be a bit of a delay when playing a separate video file -- you *might* reduce that by loading a menu page instead. You might find a simpler menu background loads more quickly in a player -- you might find a single celled menu loads faster [one without a loop point] -- you might find mpg2 audio loads faster -- but I could be wrong on any of those 3 so test on as many players as you can. If you used a single celled menu you'd want to either hold when the background video ended or jump to an identical page without the initial beep or whatever button audio effect.
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DVD Architecton 11/12/2012
HD video on DVD DL disc
> " I have routinely put HD content in the form of Bluray images on to DVD media at 15 mbps or less and it worked on my hardware." I should think mileage also varies by the brand of disc & burner -- the folks over at myce.com have accumulated quite a bit of data showing neither blanks nor burners are all created equal.
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Videoon 11/11/2012
How can I improve render to DVD quality?
> "I am puzzled. I don't understand why it is not possible to produce a DVD which is comparable to a commercial DVD in terms of detail and image quality when I have originals which are crisp and clear." That's because as others have posted they use an original source that's much crisper & clearer. In my opinion anyway, given the same source VP would do better than most of the retail DVD movies on store shelves, because nowadays that re-size & re-encode is probably more a quick task or job since they want Blu-Ray to look as much better than the DVD version as possible... Blu-Ray discs usually sell for more $, & with much better DRM than DVDs, they'd rather that was what people bought anyway. Arthur wrote about optional, added steps/filtering... As videoITguy posted, as good as your camera footage is, it's not as good as the source for retail video Blu-Ray & DVD, & some of those steps/filtering might make up *some* of that difference. From the sound of it your biggest loss of quality comes from your source being interlaced, which doesn't re-size nearly as well as the progressive frames Hollywood uses. You're missing every other line of data, & there's no perfect way to make that up, to re-create it. The stuff Arthur mentioned can help, sometimes a lot, but it's up to you if it's worth it or not. What you don't mention, Jim, is where you're viewing your DVD, & that can sometimes be important, e.g. if you're looking at your DVD on your PC/laptop. Assuming you're creating a DVD to be watched on std TVs, judge the results on a std. TV using a normal DVD player. Can you do without menus? If so, then perhaps you might try some tests with DivX/Xvid, which will play in a lot of DVD players & won't have the same restrictions as the DVD spec. If it's to be viewed on PCs/laptops &/or HDTVs, why not use Blu-Ray with your 1440 or 720, on either BD or DVD discs?
mikkie
Offline, Member since 2/2/2001