Help with preview\external monitors, thanks.

[joshreluctant]

I'm running a 3.6ghz P4, with 2gb of ram, and 256 MB video card. Also running two 17" lcd monitors. I have a 400 gb harddrive.

My main problem is that when editing in realtime, it begins to get choppy, i hate having to prerender all the time. And I was wondering the following. Since my processor and ram can clearly handle it, is there a way to fix the settings so it'll run so much better in preview. Or, will an external monitor via media converter run the preview better? Any help is greatly appreciated.


Josh

[David Jimerson]

Vegas is not a realtime editing system. So, the more effects you add, it *will* get choppy, no matter how beefed up your system is (note that the video card has no effect).

I'm hoping for background rendering in a future release, but for now, Vegas is what it is.

[joshreluctant]

Vegas is not a realtime editing system. *So, the more effects you add, it *will* get choppy, no matter how beefed up your system is (note that the video card has no effect).

I'm hoping for background rendering in a future release, but for now, Vegas is what it is.


:(

Is avid realtime? or are there any realtime editors for PC?

[David Jimerson]

There's Pinnacle Liquid Edition, but it does not support a 24p workflow.

[joshreluctant]

There's Pinnacle Liquid Edition, but it does not support a 24p workflow.

Damn.

Josh

[Soliton]

In the video preview window try reducing the quality to Preview or Draft. This works well for my needs anyway.

[Masher500]

There's Pinnacle Liquid Edition, but it does not support a 24p workflow.

whats a 24p workflow? Thanks

[JohnT]

It will handle 24frame editing.

[David Jimerson]

Workflow:

Capture, remove pulldown, edit, render.

LE 6 does not remove pulldown. You have to remove pulldown in another program first.

[TJIsACoolGuy]

Are you saying David that it is possible to retain true 24 frames while editing, if you remove the pull down in another program that is able to, render out....and then use another program for editing, and you are still retaining 24 p. I don't think I can with canopus, because it uses some proprietary codec that doesn't allow for this. But I didn't think it was possible to edit in a non-24p capable editor with 24 p footage and still retain the full 24 progressive frames.

[David Jimerson]

Pinnacle claims that LE6 has a 24-frame timeline where you can edit in 24p, but you have to start with 24p footage first; it won't remove pulldown. You have to do that elsewhere.

Thing is, I don't know of another program which will remove the pulldown and then render out a 24p AVI -- that is, 24p that ISN'T 60i with 2-3 pulldown, but actual 24p (I'm not sure it's in the AVI spec).

Vegas will render out a 24p Quicktime, but in my experience, LE does not handle Quicktime well. (Maybe this has been fixed in version 6.)

Also, it appears to me that the 24p timeline is only available in HD resolutions, though I have never been able to get a definitive answer from Pinnacle on it.

I think, for 24p editing, LE is more trouble than it's worth, especially when Vegas is available.

That's not to say there aren't things to like about it, and things that it doesn't do better than even Vegas -- but for 24p editing, it's a no-brainer.

[joshreluctant]

in which case, does anyone here know of a good media converter or somehow ability to use an external monitor anyways? Like a cable to buy, a setup, anything, to use external monitors in vegas?

Josh

[BEENYWEENIES]

I'm running a 3.6ghz P4, with 2gb of ram, and 256 MB video card. Also running two 17" lcd monitors. I have a 400 gb harddrive.

My main problem is that when editing in realtime, it begins to get choppy, i hate having to prerender all the time. And I was wondering the following. Since my processor and ram can clearly handle it, is there a way to fix the settings so it'll run so much better in preview. Or, will an external monitor via media converter run the preview better? Any help is greatly appreciated.


Josh


Two major things that will help - although as it has been said Vegas isn't a realtime setup so there is only so much you can do. You really, really, REALLY need to get a seperate drive for your video files. Working with video that is stored on the same drive as the operating system/video application will slow things down considerably. Your poor system is trying to access high level OS data, Vegas is being accessed and writing/reading from the drive sapping some available bandwidth, your video files are loaded in all at once and trying to stream in real-time or near real-time. Since a hard drive's throughput (i.e. bandwidth) and, more importantly, its ability to access data scattered all over your drive instantly is pretty limited, you are trying to squeeze too much performance out of that single drive.
Also, you may want to look into setting up a RAID array as your video "drive", they are nowhere near as scary or complex as some people think, and ultimately they will double (or quadruple if you are using a 4-drive array) your drive throughput and access, which is hugely important in NLE work. For simplicity, you could just buy two identical drives (ideally 2 250gb SATA drives if your motherboard has SATA connectivity) and RAID them through your OS, a RAID card (not very expensive) or your motherboard if it has onboard RAID such as promise fasttrack.

Good luck~!

[David Jimerson]

in which case, does anyone here know of a good media converter or somehow ability to use an external monitor anyways? Like a cable to buy, a setup, anything, to use external monitors in vegas?

Josh

Vegas has an external preview, but it won't be any less choppy that what you see on your computer screen. No "media converter" will help you there.

[joshreluctant]

I get that it's still going to be choppy, but I'd rather have more room for editing and less for the obnoxious preview, however choppy it's going to be. And I'm not sure why you put the quotes around media converter, that's what vegas 5 calls it in the help file. I don't have a dvx, so it said to get a media converter that has passthrough and can output via firewire to a tv. So that's the only reason i'm asking. I'm not worried about quality, I want more workspace.

[David Jimerson]

Ah. That clarifies quite a bit.

You can use any DV cam which has firewire and an analog output to TV. For what you'd pay for a strict ADV converter, it's probably your better bet.

[joshreluctant]

Thanks a bunch, do you have any brand names or links or anything like that, that'd be the most possible help, i couldn't find a firewire one when i went to best buy :\ , or else i wouldn't be in this mess. Haha. So please, any help is very much appreciated, thanks man.

Josh

[BEENYWEENIES]

Thanks a bunch, do you have any brand names or links or anything like that, that'd be the most possible help, i couldn't find a firewire one when i went to best buy :\ , or else i wouldn't be in this mess. Haha. So please, any help is very much appreciated, thanks man.

Josh


http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC-100/pm_advc-100.asp

[David Jimerson]

Thanks a bunch, do you have any brand names or links or anything like that, that'd be the most possible help, i couldn't find a firewire one when i went to best buy :\ , or else i wouldn't be in this mess. Haha. So please, any help is very much appreciated, thanks man.

Josh

Most DV cams have a firewire output, except the very cheapest ones. Be sure you're not looking at VHS-C or Hi-8 cams, which are not digital.

[joshreluctant]

http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC-100/pm_advc-100.asp

Thanks a bunch guy. And I checked out your site, man you do some professional work. How do you get jobs with Ducati and lexus and even radiohead?

[TheMacB]

with regards to video being on the same hard drive as my operationg system: does it matter if the hard drive for storing video is external?

[David Jimerson]

Not generally, as long as you're connected through a firewire or USB 2.0 port. The throughput speeds are fast enough.