Movie Studio HD 11 - transitions problem

[David W. Richardson]

I'm using Vegas Movie Studio HD version 11 (build 75) and am encountering a strange problem when doing a simple cross-fade from one clip to another.

During the transition itself, the pixel aspect ratio seems to change -- the image squeezes in from the sides a bit. Once the transition is complete, the image aspect ratio returns to normal.

I have a mix of clips on the timeline -- some shot with my Canon T3i, others shot with a Nikon DSLR. All clips are 1920x1080, all are progressive, all are PAR 1.000, and all are AVC (.MOV) files.

This issue occurs whether the two clips being transitioned are from the same camera or from different cameras. However, there are SOME transitions where this does not seem to occur, and I can't see anything different about those clips.

These transitions were created by putting the clips all on the same track and overlapping them. But I've tried putting them on different tracks and using the fade handles, and still get the same result.

This occurs when I do a selective pre-render. I am pre-rendering using the "NTSC DV Widescreen" template (.AVI), but I've made sure the settings in that template match the clips. I've also made sure the timeline properties match the clips.

So I'm kind of at a loss here.

What's interesting is that I used these exact same clips -- also in Vegas Movie Studio HD 11 -- in a different project and used similar transitions, and had no problems at all.

Any thoughts?

 

[David W. Richardson]

BTW, if I do a "Build Dynamic RAM Preview", it doesn't have that problem.

I created a new project. Same problem.

 

[TheDingo]

Do you see the same problem when you render footage, or only in the preview ?

 

[David W. Richardson]

Do you see the same problem when you render footage, or only in the preview ?

Good question. Trying that now. I'll let you know shortly.

 

[David W. Richardson]

Do you see the same problem when you render footage, or only in the preview ?

It does not occur when rendered out. Only when pre-rendered.

 

[TheDingo]

It does not occur when rendered out. Only when pre-rendered.

This would not bother me much if I knew it would not be in my rendered footage.

 

[David W. Richardson]

This would not bother me much if I knew it would not be in my rendered footage.

But it shouldn't happen, and it bothers me that it does. It seems to change the PAR for the duration of the transition, and I can't see any reason why that should happen.

 

[David W. Richardson]

When I go to selectively pre-render, if I un-check the box labeled "Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)", then the problem doesn't occur. So that's interesting. Unfortunately, that box is checked by default, and must be un-checked every time a pre-render is done.

 

[David W. Richardson]

Here's another interesting observation. If my pre-render is as "MainConcept MPEG-2" rather than "Video for Windows (.avi)", then the problem doesn't occur, even though I'm using the "DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream" template -- which still uses a frame size of 720x480 but uses a PAR of 1.212 rather than 1.000.

If I pre-render as the .AVI file with the "NTSC DV Widescreen" template, it's also using a frame size of 720x480, but the problem occurs regardless of whether the PAR is 1.212 or 1.000. So it seems to be a bug in that particular template.