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Review: Create Professional Quality Videos with Sony Vegas 7

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:56:22 +0000

If you are looking to make professional quality audio/video productions you should seriously consider Sony Vegas 7 DVD production suite as a mainstay for your personal multimedia productions studio. This is a feature rich mid-range to high end video editing and DVD authoring solution that runs on moderate horsepower PCs and is reasonably priced. It’s great for independent multimedia productions, event videographies, and documentaries, and can help take your personal production projects to the next level.

Vegas 7 DVD Production Suite includes Vegas 7 video capturing/editing software, DVD Architect 4 DVD authoring software, Cinescore soundtrack creation software, and Dolby Digital AC-3 Encoding software.

Installation
Out of the box the first thing you notice is that everything is so well organized. The contents of the box include color-coded wire bound quick start manuals, installation discs, and keyboard command reference cards for each of the packages. The installation is professionally done and is a breeze, and serial number cards are included for convenience during the install. It should be noted that no special hardware is required and I performed the installation using a 1024×768 LCD without a problem. Some high end video editing programs will not install unless you have a higher end graphics display.

Once my video project was underway I did upgrade to a 22? 1680×1050 display which makes a world of difference when editing large, complex video projects and using multiple tools concurrently.

VEGAS 7

Video Features
Vegas 7 is rock solid, has an intuitive UI with its primary components being the editing timeline, media resources, and preview window.

The timeline offers some powerful features in Vegas 7 to manipulate and manage audio and video tracks. Very easily I dragged, reordered, named, and changed the color coding of my tracks. I came up with an approach where I used separate audio and video tracks to correspond with the different sections of my video including the intro and ending, each of the chapter sections, credits, and acknowledgments. This was not a problem as Vegas 7 has no track limits!

It’s also easy to work with a block of events. For example, you can select an event and then select “events to end” and move the whole event sequence forward or backward on the timeline. You can even create a new track clip by taking an existing track event sequence and reversing the event media–wow! A slick feature is creating media markers to section off various parts of your video project. These come in handy for determining the duration of sections and for rendering section clips of your video project.

You can create picture-in-picture (PIP) effects by layering tracks and using track motion (allows you to move closer to or further from the viewer). In my project I devised a layout where I created multiple zones and associated each video track with a zone (i.e. left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom, left, center, right). I set track motion sizing and positioning using the track level track motion option. This worked out really well providing more organization and management to media placement across multiple tracks.

A great time saving feature is the color-coded snapping grid which helps you align multiple events on various tracks quickly and easily–very slick!

Media resources has tabs for transitions, video effects, media generators, media manager, project media, explorer, and trimmer. Sampling the transitions is easy as you just mouse over them and view their behavior in the preview window in real time. Some cool transitions include 3D fly in/outs, page loops and peels, spiral, and zoom. Vegas 7 has over 190 video effects, and 175 real time 2D and 3D transitions.

Media generators include credit rolls, text, solid colors, test patterns, noise texture, checkerboard, and color gradient.

You can also change the layout to imitate other well known video editing tools (i.e. Adobe Premier Pro) by placing the editing timeline on the bottom and moving the media resources and the preview window to the top of the UI.

Audio Features
You can work with audio tracks similar to video and you can also apply 30 real time effects to your audio tracks including EQ, reverb, delay, and chorus. Vegas 7 also has native support for VST and DirectX plug-ins and supports 24-bit 192KHz audio. In my project I added volume envelopes to audio tracks by selecting the track and selecting “insert/remove envelope” and selecting volume. This allowed me to fine tune volume settings for each track independently. Vegas 7 also has a master volume slider and volume level meters that are really handy for testing audio tracks and monitoring their levels using color indicators (green, yellow, red) where red indicates distortion levels.

Import / Export
Vegas 7 has extensive import/export capabilities and supports a wide array of video formats including AVI, MPEG 1/2/4, QuickTime MOV, WMV, and divx/xvid codecs. Picture formats include PSD, BMP, JPG, PNG, TGA, TIF, and GIF, and supported audio formats include WAV, MP3, WMA, PCA, OGG, AIF, MPEG audio, AC-3, 5.1, and stereo.

I rendered my project as an mpeg audio/video file for use on the PC. For working with DVD Architect 4 to burn a DVD I rendered the audio and video stream separately. Sony recommends specific format attributes for this purpose so no further compression is performed by DVD Architect 4’s optimizer during the burn process. For example, I rendered my video as a DVD Architect NTSC video stream 720×480 29.97 fps; and the audio as PCM .WAV stereo 48KHz 16-bit.

My project video ran 22 minutes in length and the video rendering took approx. 60 minutes, generating a 992MB sized file.

Vegas 7 supports aspect ratios of 4:3 (standard), 16:9 (wide screen), can edit 24/25/29.97/30 frames per second (fps) video, and supports both NTSC and PAL TV formats. Vegas 7 can also render videos for PSP (PlayStation Portable) and Video iPod.

Performance
With my laptop PC configured with 1GB RAM I noticed the tools were a bit sluggish when I had both Vegas 7 and Cinescore open at the same time. After upgrading the PC’s memory to 2GB, performance was much better when running both tools simultaneously.

Cinescore
Cinescore is a loop-based audio soundtrack creation tool that has some very interesting sound styles, themes, and variations. I sampled some of these and combined a few to create intro and ending clips for my video project. Some interesting themes include wildfires, many rivers, rock ‘n roll reception, high adrenaline, high voltage, klezmerdia (great for movie comedy scenes), monaco diamond, blizzard of sparks, and the forces of evil (great haunting aspects for movie dramas). You can access these using the Generate Music feature and then selecting a theme and one of the available variations of which most of the 20 themes have 15 or more variations. You can preview the clip and adjust its properties including mood, intensity, and tempo. These adjustments can also be made right on the timeline using hint markers. You can also run Cinescore from within Vegas 7 or DVD Architect.

This is a great tool for adding royalty free music to your video production. In my project I imported a video track and then generated the soundtrack, merging and cross-fading multiple audio loops. A nice feature is Fit To Length which time stretches the music to match the length of a video track. Sony also has additional Theme packs available for use with Cinescore.

DVD Architect 4
DVD Architect 4 is easy to use and, like Vegas 7, is rock solid. After rendering my audio and video separately in Vegas 7 I imported these into DVD Architect 4 and created a few different projects. First, I created a single movie with an intro clip and then the project video and burned this to disc. The disc loads and runs when inserted into the DVD player. The intro clip plays and then the video starts. Granted, this is the easiest model but it was a breeze. Next, I created a DVD-based menu which is a bit more involved. I specified an audio clip that plays when the DVD main menu is displayed. I created the menu layout, text and buttons, and graphics for each button. A very slick feature is the navigation icon which shows the line connectors on each button. I used these connectors to link one button to other to reflect the navigation behavior I was after. The markers I created in Vegas 7 also showed up in DVD Architect 4 making it very easy to associate chapter section buttons with the corresponding chapter points of the video.

You can also test the button navigation in the preview window which includes a remote control simulator. I was able to preview the specific component I was working on (i.e. intro clip, video clip, DVD menu) as well as preview the entire disc behavior.

DVD Architect 4 uses a three step process for creating the DVD: prepare, burn, and master. The prepare is straight forward as is the mastering which creates mastering files for use by external programs if needed. The burn process for a 22-minute video took about 54 minutes. Also, once you’ve created a project and prepared the DVD it’s easy to recall the project at a later time to burn additional discs thereby bypassing the intermediate preparation step. DVD Architect 4 also supports surround sound 5.1 and the creation of dual layer double capacity DVDs (DVD-R DL).

Extras
Sony Cinescore Theme packs are available and retail for US$89 each. Sony also has a number of user forums for specific programs such as Vegas audio, Vegas video, DVD Architect, and Cinescore.

Always Room for Improvement

As the boxed set includes hard copies of only the quick start manuals I would also like to see hard copies of the PDF user manuals included in the boxed set.In Vegas 7 I’d like to see an option for a larger preview screen.DVD Architect has no DVD case artwork design/print capability (i.e. DVD cover, insert, booklet) and I would like to see these features added or provided in an adjunct tool.

Vegas 7 DVD Production Suite is more than capable of editing and producing your next large complex multimedia video project and should definitely be on your short list to consider.

Conclusion
I was very impressed with the overall stability of the Vegas 7 tool suite as I worked on a complex video project involving 15+ audio and video tracks. The tools performed very well and I was also impressed with the level of integration between Vegas 7, DVD Architect 4, and Cinescore.

For Geekness I gave Sony Vegas 7 DVD Production Suite high marks for quality. It’s a professional tool suite that’s packed with features and should certainly have a place in your multimedia project studio. I recommend this product to anyone who is serious about multimedia productions and audio video entertainment applications.

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Sony unveils world’s smallest HD camcorder

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:25:22 +0000

Sony has announced a sexy new HD camcorder that is said to be the world’s smallest. The HDR-TG1 weighs in at just 10-ounces and measures only 1.3-inches wide by 4.7-inches tall.

Although it’s tiny, it isn’t lacking in features. it can record 1920×1080 HD video and capture stills at 4-megapixels. Unfortunately it uses Sony’s stupid proprietary Memory Sticks or PRO Duo Mark2 media cards. It does at least include a 4GB Mark2 card, so you’re ready to shoot right out of the box.

On the potentially cooler side, it has a new face detection technology that allows it to adjust settings like focus, exposure, etc. for face shots. Finally, like most Sony cameras, it comes with a Zeiss lens — this one capable of 10x optical zoom.

The HDR-TG1 will ship in May (just in time for your summer vacation, Sony reminds) and be available for the tune of $900. My suggestion? Get a Flip Video Ultra and have some money left over for your summer vacation.

View the original article here

Review: Sony Sound Forge 9

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:45:22 +0000

Sony Creative Software’s Sound Forge 9 is a professional production quality digital audio editor ideal for audio and video production projects. With Sound Forge 9 you can create, edit, restore, and master audio. Sound Forge’s strength’s include an extensive editing and mastering effect tools suite and graphical editing tools. Like Sony Vegas (see our review), Sound Forge 9 is a rock solid performer and can be used to edit a video’s audio for use with Vegas as well as export audio to CD Architect.

The Sound Forge 9 tool suite includes Sound Forge 9, CD Architect 5.2, Noise Reduction 2.0, and iZotope mastering effects bundle.

Features

Out of the box Sound Forge 9 installs smoothly and includes installation discs, QuickStart manuals, and keyboard command cards. Using the Sound Forge 9 workspace I was able to work on multiple audio clips at the same time which is a real time saver for cutting, pasting, and mixing audio. Also, at the bottom right corner of the workspace is a snapshot of key attributes of your audio files (sampling rate, bit depth, mode, and time).

The file open command is especially handy as you can click on a file and preview the clip prior to opening the file. Sound Forge 9 can open audio and video file formats, has plenty of presets for NTSC, PAL, HDV, and HD and supports formats including AAC, AIF, CDA, MP3, WVA, AVI, MOV, MP1, MP2, MP4, SWF, WMA, and WMV. Each of the formats has many quality presets to pick from (i.e. MP3 has range of 16Kbps to 320Kbps bit rate). For new projects I was able to set the sampling rate (max 192KHz), bit depth (max 64-bit), and number of channels. Surround sound options include 2.1, 5.1, and 7.1.

For videos Sound Forge 9 shows the video frames above the audio. I was able to use the video preview window to monitor the video as the audio played. Sound Forge 9 also supports previewing video on an external monitor.

Precise real time editing is the name of the game for Sound Forge 9 and clips can be mono, 2-channel and quad stereo, and surround sound (2.1, 5.1, and 7.1).

The keyboard commands are a breeze as pressing “v” displays the volume envelope and pressing “p” displays the panning envelope when working on a clip. It’s very easy to shape sound envelopes and preview the sound and by tweaking the volume or sweeping and panning quickly you can create a wide variety of sounds including:

“Process->Auto Trim/Crop” for automatically trimming unwanted audio and “Process->Channel Converter” for converting mono channels to stereo or stereo channels to mono.“Process->Reverse” lets you flip (invert) audio data and can be very useful in manipulating waveforms (i.e. changing a crescendo into a diminuendo).“Process->Time Stretch” changes the audio length without affecting the pitch. Entering 150% for example, increases the length of a clip by half its size.To record, first ARM a channel for recording and press RECORD. Sound Forge 9 can support up to 32 mono tracks (16 stereo) and there are 25 cross fade curves, providing plenty of granularity control.

Sound Forge 9 can convert and clean analog recordings (i.e. tape, vinyl) to digital audio. Noise reduction 2.0 includes noise reduction, click & crackle removal, clipped peak restoration, and audio restoration effects. All of the effects have plenty of presets. For example, there is a preset for 78 RPM for cleaning vinyl records of clicks and background hiss.

To extract audio from CDs I used “File->Extract Audio from CD”. Here you can extract specific tracks, all tracks, or based on time range. Clicking on the MusicID button retrieves CD textual information using the Gracenote Media Recognition Service. Information including title, artist, and album are retrieved. Tracks can also be previewed prior to extracting and a Refresh button is handy when swapping CDs.

Editing and Master Effects

Sound Forge 9 includes over 40 real time effects that can be previewed in real-time using the Process, Effects, and FX menus. The FX menu includes favorites and you can also add your own effects using the Plug-In Manager as well as customize and organize entries in the Favorites folder. Once I was satisfied with previewing an effect I applied it by selecting the “Process Selection” check box which also re-generates the waveform. I also used the Bypass check box to compare the unprocessed signal with the wet signal.

Listen

Some effect types include amplitude modulation, chorus, delay/echo, distortion, dynamics, envelope, flange/wah-wah, noise gate, pitch, reverb, vibrato and wave hammer. Effects are also grouped by developer; some that should be familiar include Cakewalk, Cyberlink, DivX, Intervideo, Roxio, Snapstream, Sonic, Sony, Sony Express FX, and Ulead.

Listen

With the EQ effect you can adjust frequency, gain, Q, and parametric bands. Graphic EQ bands range from 20 to 20KHz and you can set high and low pass filters with parametric EQ.

There are a number of channel conversion options: down mixing multiple channels to single channels (i.e. 5.1 and 7.1 surround to stereo channels), sending a percentage to center, right and left (i.e. 100% of channel to center or 50% to right and 50% to left), and dragging and dropping between channels. Noise reduction 2.0 plug-ins include noise reduction, click & crackle removal, clipped peak restoration, and audio restoration.

Included with Sound Forge 9 are an iZotope mastering effects bundle of four effects including Mastering EQ, Mastering Limiter, Mastering Reverb, and Mastering Compressor. To select an iZotope mastering effect I used the “FX Favorites->Mastering Effects Bundle” option.

Tools

Some interesting tools include Detect Clipping and Batch Converter. “Tools->Detect Clipping” checks an audio clip and inserts markers where clipping is occurring. This is a very slick feature and one that I used a lot. With Batch Converter I applied multiple effects to a range of files. Also, when I invoked Batch Converter all of my open audio clips were automatically added to the queue for processing; pretty cool feature.

Sound Forge 9 also has a spectrum analysis tool that shows frequency over time and is useful for revealing which audio frequencies are most prevalent.

Sound Forge 9 uses the “track-at-once method” and can burn audio tracks to a CD, add more tracks, and then close the CD as separate actions. I used “Tools->Burn Track-at-Once Audio CD” and also tested prior to actually burning the CD. Sound Forge 9 can also export audio tracks directly to CD Architect for burning Red Book audio CDs using “File->Export to CD Architect”. CD Architect is launched automatically and loads the audio clip.

Sound Forge 9 can also generate MIDI time-code and has hardware meters to control the output gain of attached audio interfaces/devices.

Scripts provide a powerful way to automate repetitive tasks. Scripts are invoked using “Tools->Scripting->Run Script” and selecting a script such as “Add Markers”. You can also create your own scripts in C#, Jscript, or VBScript using “View->Script Editor”. There you edit-compile-run. For more information on scripting and access to sample scripts check out Sony’s Sound Forge 9 Script Developers Kit.

Extras

Directly from Sound Forge 9 I accessed web media using “File->Get Media from the Web”. This launches Internet Explorer displaying the Sony Creative Software web site with royalty free music and effects from content providers including Artbeats, Sony Media Software, Shockwavesound.com, ActionBacks, Sounddogs.com, and iamusic.com. Some of these developers have demo clips available for free download.

Sound Forge 9 can also link directly to Sony Music Studios Internet Mastering (SIM) Services where users can upload their audio files for fee-based Sony Music mastering. You may want to consider this option for one of your very special projects. To access use “Help->Sony Music Studios Internet Mastering”.

Always Room for Improvement

In a future version of Sound Forge 9 I’d like to see more integration with Vegas and Cinescore. As was the case with Vegas, in addition to the QuickStart manuals I’d like to see hard copies of the PDF user manuals included in the boxed set.

Performance

Sound Forge 9 combines a high quality fully featured high performance audio editor with a powerful real time editing and mastering effects library, which is ideal for audio/video producers.

View the original article here

Nvidia gives developers OpenCL driver and SDK support

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:33:22 +0000

Yesterday, Nvidia announced they would release their OpenCL driver and software development kit (SDK) is being offered to developers participating in their OpenCL Early Access Program. The beta release has been designed to obtain feedback from early-adoption developers about the implementation, its performance, functionality, stability and compatibility.

Tony Tamasi, Nvidia’s Senior VP of technology and content said, “The OpenCL standard was developed on Nvidia GPUs and [we were] the first company to demonstrate OpenCL code running on a GPU. Being the first to release an OpenCL driver to developers cements [our] leadership in GPU Computing and is another key milestone in our ongoing strategy to make the GPU the soul of the modern PC.”

OpenCL is short for Open Computing Language and describes a technique for writing software which allows software to be written for disparate heterogeneous architectures, such as an x86 CPU and a Nvidia or ATI GPU. It is a standard maintained by a non-profit organization called Khronos Group.

The OpenCL language/interface allows code to be developed within a single application which can then execute simultaneously on multiple architectures within the target machine. Such an encapsulating language allows Windows or Linux developers, for example, to not only write code for their target application on the CPU and OS in question, but also in a generic way for execution on the video card’s GPU itself.

Whereas utilization of the GPU is possible today using Nvidia’s CUDA or ATI’s CTM/BrookGPU implementations, having an OpenCL framework is, in theory, something akin to OpenGL or OpenAL, which are open 3D graphics and audio standards enabling developers to write code for multiple platforms which support the standard in drivers. The difference here is that the code developed using OpenCL operates directly on the GPU it’s targeting with the graphics card driver operating differently than it does with CUDA or CTM/BrookGPU API function calls. In theory, an OpenCL application would be “more native” and should operate faster.

The OpenCL standard was originally developed by Apple. As such, it will be supported natively in the next Mac OS X 10.6 release, dubbed Snow Leopard. Such support will enable greatly accelerated applications to be created for the Intel-architecture Mac devices, those which enable existing video and audio crunching software to move much faster, for example. In addition, AMD has also reportedly abandoned its CTM technology in favor of supporting DirectX 11 and OpenCL as well.

Basically, OpenCL simplifies everything related to writing code across multiple heterogeneous processors (CPU and GPU, and theoretically others as well).

See Nvidia’s press release. Developers can apply to the OpenCL Early Access Program here.

View the original article here

Review: Sony Vegas 9 – speeding up your video workflow

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:04:22 +0000

The power of Sony Vegas Pro 9 is in its practicality as a cost effective mobile video editing solution for video editors and video journalists on the go; as well as a cornerstone of your production studio that can take advantage of multi-core/multi-processor workstations and 64-bit operating systems.

While there are several top notch video editing tools on the market I’ve been a big fan of Sony Vegas Pro for a long time and I like the direction Sony Creative Software is taking with this latest release by introducing features that can speed your video workflow. If you’re just getting familiar with Vegas Pro be sure to check out my previous review on Vegas Pro 8.

This review covers new features in Vegas Pro 9 which also comes bundled with 32 and 64 bit versions of Vegas 9, DVD Architect 5 and Dolby Digital’s AC3 Encoder. And at the NABshow this spring Sony also introduced a new workflow productivity tool called Vegas Pro Production Assistant which can automate repetitive tasks, saving time and money for video editors and producers.

NEW FEATURES IN VEGAS PRO 9

Welcome to the dark side
Sony continues to improve on the layout of the user interface that it started in version 8 by now using a default dark editing room color scheme similar to Adobe Premiere Pro in CS4. The default layout also includes a visible trimmer window which can be used as a source window. This works great for me as I prefer a traditional 3-point video editing work style for loading clips, marking in and out points, and adding video to the timeline. Media can now be previewed right in the trimmer window and Vegas 9 also includes new workspace layouts for audio mixing and color correction.

Vegas Pro 9 dark UI

Device Explorer window
The Device Explorer is a new window for browsing, previewing, and selectively importing media from your video device directly into your Vegas project. This is a huge time saver as you can bypass any intermediary encoding and media conversion steps. This function works great for accessing video media in AVCHD (i.e. Sony HDR camcorders) and XDCAM EX (i.e. Sony EX1 and EX2 camcorders).

Frame sizes
Vegas Pro not only supports the cinema projection standard pixel frame size of 4096×2160 but now also supports pixel frame sizes up to 4096×4096 as well as Giga-pixel images. This capability can really enhance your videos with long range zoom in and panning across images all the while maintaining HD resolution.

Properties & Preferences
There are new settings in properties and preferences for optimizing frame rate during preview, adjusting source media to match project/render settings, and automatically cropping still images being added to the timeline. These settings can really save you a huge amount of time with repetitive tasks to tweak your project. There is also a quick fade length for audio events for applying fade ins/outs to audio clips that you cut or split so you don’t have to do this manually. This feature is customizable and fade length settings of 10ms (milli-seconds) for music audio and 20ms for voice narratives seem to work pretty well.

New lighting effects
Sony has added 6 new lighting effects under media generators and now has over 190 customizable video effects. These new lighting effects include glint, rays, defocus, starburst, soft contrast, and fill light. These work great for titles and as special effects on video and stills. My favorites here are the rays and fill light effects which let you do some interesting left to right sweeps and can lighten some poorly lit shots and scenes. There’s also a new gradient wipe transition that lets you use an image to gradually blow your next shot through.

Rays lighting effect

More features
Media generators now include a new button for matching event length, there’s increased format support including popular RED ONE camera (.r3d) files, and you can even edit and render in different modes (8 bit for editing and 32 bit for previewing/rendering) so Vegas Pro can work as fast as you do.

VEGAS PRO PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Developed by Sony Creative Software and VASST Vegas Pro Production Assistant 1.0 is a new workflow productivity tool for automating repetitive tasks and production processes. Given that today everything seems to revolve around Internet time this can prove to be a huge time and money saver for video editors. This product is a separate purchase and install and works with Vegas 8 or 9. It’s also complementary to VASST’s popular UltimateS Pro command tool.

The Production Assistant launcher can be run outside of Vegas Pro and the plug-in can be run inside of Vegas Pro. For example, first you can build a template in Vegas Pro with slugs (blank events to be replaced with media later on) on the timeline, saving the project in the Production Assistant templates folder. Now for each project you can run the Production Assistant launcher using the project template you created earlier, specifying the media that will replace the slugs, it’s that simple and pretty slick. The slugs will be replaced in order of tracks left to right and top to bottom. You can also pre-build your project media bins so that they mirror the structure you have on your hard drive. I really like this feature for getting a project set up quickly. You can also match all your various media formats to the project’s aspect ratio by running the Production Assistant Vegas Pro plug-in and using the widescreen converter process. One step and your there! This can save a lot of time when you’re working with repetitive segments.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant templates

It’s also very easy to overlay a station bug or company logo on your video. With your Vegas project open run Production Assistant and select the Image Overlay process. You can have the bug appear at periodic intervals, every 30 seconds, or across the entire video.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant logo bug

Automating repetitive tasks
Production Assistant uses the Vegas Pro engine, has a 3 tab interface (Source Media – Processing – Target Output), and can operate on project timeline media as well as media located on your hard drive. You specify actions in the Process window and then click the Process button to apply these actions in the order specified. Some example repetitive tasks that can be automated and applied to a large set of media and files are listed below:

* Removing track gaps on timeline
* Creating cross-fades for all media on the timeline
* Normalizing audio tracks
* Applying ducks for voice-overs
* Reducing interlace flicker when rendering videos for web
* Adding a bug (logo image overlay) to a video
* Archiving projects

The Add Process dialog provides the following functions and the results can be output to either a folder or the Vegas Pro timeline:

* Adjust playback rate
* Cine-look
* Create image sequence
* Create markers
* Crop aspect ratio
* Image overlay
* Normalize audio events
* Reduce interlace flicker
* Widescreen converter

Vegas Pro Production Assistant process

Archiving Projects
You can archive your project saving all media including nested Vegas files (.veg), everything you need to be able to re-build your project at a later time. Archiving your project will create a folder with the Vegas project file and any project media that you have used on the timeline. Any content in your media bins that has not been used on the project timeline will not be included in the archive.

Auditing Projects
A very handy feature on the Target Output tab is Audit Project. You can audit selected tracks or an entire project for locating and removing gaps, finding small or hidden events, and events with duplicate media. You can then place markers at events found or delete events if needed.

Montage tool
With the Montage tool you can quickly create photo montages, slideshows, and motion photos sync’d to music. During video track playback you can set markers (m) on or off the beats, and then add photos with the Montage tool and the photos will be placed at every marker you had entered. You can also fit to music/region, set duration and transition lengths, reduce interlace flicker, crop events to match project aspect ratio, pan and scan (zoom) with many directional choices to pick from.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant montage

Motion tool
You can quickly add action and depth to an image sequence with the Motion tool to spice things up a bit and there’s lots of choices for BackPak motion backgrounds.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant motion

Lower Thirds tool
The Lower Thirds tool includes GrafPak motion backgrounds that you can preview and add as a new track or to a selected track. You can also get more GrafPaks from the VASST website.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant lower thirds

EXTRAS

Sony also offers an extensive series of professional quick start hands-on training videos for using Vegas Pro Production Assistant with Vegas Pro 9 as part of its Sony Vegas Seminar Series. These training videos are presented by the experts at VASST and they’re really well done.

Vegas Pro Production Assistant training

ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

While Sony Vegas Pro 9 supports the AJA XENA line of video capture cards I would like to see a wider array of cards supported at various price points. I’d also like to see a Stop button added to the Sony Vegas Pro Production Assistant tool so that a running process sequence can be aborted if needed.

CONCLUSION

Overall I give Sony Vegas Pro 9 and Vegas Pro Production Assistant high marks for quality and enhanced innovative workflow. I recommend this product for professional video editors and producers who need a reliable high performance platform for audio and video productions.

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JVC HM300 time-lapse footage

admin — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:10:22 +0000

JVC HM300 time-lapse footage – New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com Feb. 19, 2010 (12:50 pm) By: Sal Cangeloso

If you are planning on buying a camcorder at a time when DSLRs, point-and-shoot cameras, and lots of mobile phones can take acceptable video then you had better make sure it’s worth the it. This means a lot of optical zoom, tons of storage, 1080p 1920×1080 recording, the ability to take good still images, and–for me–time-lapse recording. For some people time-lapse video is just another option in the menu that they’ll never explore, but with a tripod and a little patience, it’s an excellent way to get extra value from your camcorder.

The video above (available up to 1080p 1920×1080) is a time-lapse shot with the JVC GZ-HM300 camcorder. It is a full HD recording that is shooting at the 80 second setting (for example, a video that has been recording for 18:40 is only 15 seconds long). There are a lot of other intervals available too, plus all the camera’s different recording settings.

Here is another time-lapse example:

If you like these, don’t miss the time-lapse footage taken with the Samsung HMX-H100. It’s not quite as cinematic, but you can get a good feeling for what these camcorders can do.

Tags: 1080i, 720p, camcorder, full hd, GZ-HM300, hd, hd time lapse, JVC, time lapse, timelapse

Apple debuts iFrame, a new video format for optimized editing

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:21:22 +0000

The new video format, debuted alongside the iMovie 8.0.5 update, is designed to facilitate fast editing and sharing by keeping the content in its native recorded format. It’s currently supported by two high-end camcorders, but Apple hopes that more vendors will support it.

The new format came alongside the iMovie 8.0.5 update posted Tuesday. The 35.56MB download requires OS X 10.5.6 (Snow Leopard) or later and improves compatibility with a number of devices. iMovie 8.0.5 also fixed problems with resizing the iMovie window during playback and features an improved compatibility with importing video captured on the iPod nano.

The new iFrame format introduced a new resolution: 960×540 pixels at 30 frames per second. This equals to a quarter of the full HD resolution, half in width and half in height, and a bit more than four times the iPhone’s 480×320 resolution. This makes iFrame suitable for easy up and down sampling.

Apple’s support document sheds more light on iFrame:

The iFrame Video format is designed by Apple to speed up importing and editing by keeping the content in its native recorded format while editing. Based on industry standard technologies such as H.264 and AAC audio, iFrame produces small file sizes and simplifies the process of working with Video recorded with your camera.

Put simply, the content recorded in the iFrame format goes to your computer intact, unlike the content recorded in other video formats that needs to be transcoded into an intermediate coded (usually the Apple Intermedia Codec or AppleProRes) when you transfer a video to a computer. That said, the iFrame enables a dramatically speedier transfer and results in smaller file sizes, thanks to the efficient and storage-savvy H.264 and AAC codecs that compress video and audio content in an iFrame stream, respectively.

Because iFrame lets you edit video in its native recorded format, editing and sharing is much faster as well. In order to take advantage of an optimized iFrame performance in iMovie 8.0.5, users need to set a camcorder to record in the iFrame format. It’s the default video setting with Sanyo products and is indicated by a star icon, Apple said.

At the time, Sanyo’s VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A full HD camcorders are the world’s first camcorders supporting the new iFrame format. Debuted Tuesday, both camcorders can record at full HD resolution (1080p at 60 frames per second) and at high-speed for slow-motion playback.

The iFrame mode enables users to import video and still image files from these camcorders directly into iTunes and transfer them to iPods and iPhones, bypassing a video editing application completely.

Apple did not say whether other video vendors will embrace iFrame or when the format will make its way into Final Cut Pro, the company’s pro-grade video editing suite.

Read more at Apple’s iMovie 8.0.5 and iFormat pages.

IFRAME-ENABLED The $500 Sanyo VPC-FH1A, pictured above, can shoot video in the new iFrame format (960×540 pixels at 30 frames per second). The gizmo can also record full HD 1080p video at 60 frames per second and supports high-speed recording for slow motion playback.

Just one word: tablet. Most commentators believe that Apple’s alleged tablet will sport at least HD ready resolution (1280×720) to facilitate easy streaming and playback of the iTunes Store video content without rescaling (Apple offers HD movies and TV shows in 720p). While the new iFrame 960×540 resolution seems like an odd choice, it’s conveniently set at one quarter of the full HD resolution. It also scales up proportionally to 720P (1280×720).

The fact that Apple branded the new format with a logo indicates that the company has bigger plans with iFrame. While I’m simply speculating here, the 960×540 resolution fits a 6-7 inch tablet nicely. Equipped with iChat-style camera of the same resolution, such a device would also double as a high-quality camcorder. Paired with an iMovie-styled app, you’d be able to record, edit, and share videos directly on the device. Make sense?

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Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Premiere Elements 4 Bundle

admin — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:45:22 +0000

The Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Premiere Elements 4 bundle is a powerful photo/video editing and production tool suite for the home studio. With Photoshop Elements you can organize, edit, and enhance photos and create and share slideshows. Premiere Elements lets you take your photo and media collections a bit further, creating movie clips with transitions, effects, and animation; you can also create engaging DVD menus.

Installation
The Adobe Premiere Elements 4 & Photoshop Elements 6 bundle installation includes two discs, Photoshop Elements Getting Started Guide and editing shortcut card, and Premiere Elements User Guide and quick reference card. There are two separate installations that are nicely done, as is typical of Adobe software.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Features
The first thing you notice on start-up is the darker screen background, which draws your attention to the command buttons and your media clips. This is very classy, and applies to both tools in the bundle.

Adobe’s strengths are typically in feature richness and quality, and Photoshop Elements is no exception. Media such as photos, videos, and audio can be obtained from digital cameras, cards, PC scanners, files/folders, and mobile phone devices.

To speed things up a bit I used the auto fix feature when adding media to the library, and added media is displayed as thumbnails–adjustable using a slide-bar control. As you add media you can assign a star rating to each picture. If you right-click one or more pictures you can add captions, apply quick fix, auto red-eye fix, rotate, and assign a rating to your media.

For organizing collections, media can be stacked similarly to the way Adobe Bridge CS3 lets you stack assets. You can also view categorically by media type, such as photos, video, audio, and projects. Photoshop Elements also includes a timeline toggle (CTL-L) to quickly see picture and creation date associations.

There are a variety of fix options, and I really liked the Guided edit function. Here you can apply corrections and adjustments for aspects such as color, contrast, sharpening, brightness, lighting, and red-eye fix crop. You can lighten only the dark areas of a photo or darken only the light areas of a photo. Adobe guides you along the way step by step.