Thread: Configuring VS8

Hi guys
I'm a beginner looking for some advice on how to set up VS8 to capture dv avi from a camcorder, edit and export back to camcorder, from where I will burn to dvd via a dvd recorder.
My equipment is
sony vaio laptop 1Gz 246MB RAM
panasonic nvgs55 camcorder
philips dvd recorder
I have tried a few things but get jumpy video and distorted audio exported back to the camcorder (it looks bad when previewing in VS.
I have done the same operation using dvgate and the result is good so I think the problem is down to VS8 settings.
Any advice more than welcome
Cheers
Ian

If you have jumpy playback then defrag your hard disk (or disks if you have more than one) Incidentally if you do have a second hard drive then you should dedicate your Video editing files (including temporary files) to that drive.

The correct settings for export back to DV Cam are DV Type 1. You can check this in Video Studio,

1. From the File menu select Project Properties

2. Ensure that the Edit file format: drop down box is set to Microsoft AVI files

3. Click the Edit button

4. Click the AVI tab

5. In the Compression: drop down box set the value to DV Video Encoder -- type 1

6. Set the Audio Format value to DV Audio -- PAL (oer NTSC for N America)

7. Click the General tab

8. Set the Frame rate to 25 (PAL) or 29.97 (NTSC)

9. Set the Frame Size to 720x576(PAL) or 720x480(NTSC)

10. Click the OK button

11. Continue your project to completion

Remember to defrag that hard disk

Enjoy

Hi purejammy
Defrag in progress!
I will set things up as you suggest but I think the problem is there before exporting as clips previewed in VS8 during editing jump around and have distorted sound. Any further settings for capture/editing I should check?
Cheers
Ian

Check that you are capturing in DV Type 1 format. HAving said that, if your disk was seriously fragmented then your files would drop frames regardless.

1. Click the Capture tab

2. Clcik the Options button abd Select DV Type

3. Select the DV Type-1 radio button

4. Click OK

5. Would also be worth clearing the Preview File stack at this point.

6. From the Tools Menu select Preview Files Manager

7. Click the Delete All button and then the Close button

8. Continue your project as normal.


Good Luck

Hi purejammy
I set things up as you suggested and defragged both c and d partitions (fat32). d has 10GB spare and nothing on it expect 2 folders, preview and convert (both empty). Same problem still occurs - jumpy footage when exported to camcorder. Footage is jumpy when previewed in VS8 but I believe this is not necessarily a problem - is that right?
On the capture page the format dropdown list has both dv and avi as options but if you click on avi it jumps back to dv anyway. Is this a problem?
Even though the setting are avi, after capture I get a box up stating that project settings are not the same as clip settings. Should I select to change the project settings or not? (I think I have tried both and had problems both ways - last attempt I didnt change them)
For my last attempt I forgot to clear the preview file stack. After exporting the video I went through Tools, preview files manager - and found no files. It was looking on the c drive. In File, preferences, preview I had unticked the temp file on c and ticked a folder I created on d (d:\preview) so I would have expected it to look there.
After 'hard disk' it lists the c drive. If I select d, click ok and save the project and go back in the hard disk reverts to c.
It looks like I'm doing something wrong there!
Hope this is reasonably coherent - imagine a bit of strain in my voice!!
Cheers
Ian

Same problem still occurs - jumpy footage when exported to camcorder.

Is this footage that you captured before you defragged your disks? If so you should recapture the footage.

On the capture page the format dropdown list has both dv and avi as options but if you click on avi it jumps back to dv anyway. Is this a problem?

No, it should be DV. Video studio is making this setting because you have a DV camera attached and are using the ULeadnow plugin

Even though the setting are avi, after capture I get a box up stating that project settings are not the same as clip settings. Should I select to change the project settings or not? (I think I have tried both and had problems both ways - last attempt I didnt change them)

The capture setting should be as I have described earlier in the thread. On the Capture tab the information panel should look something like this (if you are in N America it will read NTSC)

Should I select to change the project settings or not? (I think I have tried both and had problems both ways - last attempt I didnt change them)

Your project settings for playback to DVCam are as described earlier, although having reviewed that post.

Re-capture your video footage and post back.

Good luck

Hi
Capture settings exactly as your example.
Footage was captured after defrag. (By the way I'm on PAL - in Yorkshire)
Project settings was my fault - for a new project it defaults to mpeg and I'd forgot to reset everything.
Tried again and captured footage is jumpy. In the capture window, when playing the camcorder to decide the start point for capture the footage is fine. After capture, playing the clip is jumpy on the laptop and jumpy when exported. The footage is of a waterfall.
Cheers
Ian

Iain

I have replicated all settings on my own system and have no problem whatsoever. I noticed that your laptop is fairly low spec (do you have any idea awhat the disk speed is?). Video Studio 8 is fairly resource hungry, so it looks ass though it simply cannot cope with your system spec.

You could try closing all unecessary processes etc, but I think this is clutching at straws a little. Alternatively you could continue to capture using DVGate and see if editing in ULead works.

Good luck

Hi
I tried capturing in dvgate and editing/exporting in Ulead VS8 and was fairly successful. The captured clips were much better- only 4 or 5 noticeable jumps in 7 minutes footage. Out of interest I also tried capturing using windows moviemaker - this got very bad towards the end of short clips.
I guess this all points to the system not being up to the job. If I was to look at a new setup, what features would you recommend? ( I want to stick to a laptop for space/portability)
A further question re VS8. When editing in Ulead it seemed to rerender every time I previewed the project. Is the idea to just preview clips during editing and have a long rerender session at the end or am I doing something else wrong?
Thanks for your help so far
Ian

If I was to look at a new setup, what features would you recommend? ( I want to stick to a laptop for space/portability)

There are others on these forums who are far more technically competent than I to offer advice in this area. Generally speaking though go for as fast a processor and as much memory as you can afford, as well as a built in firewire card. In addition try an get a second (physical) hard disk. In the case of laptops this would probably be a external firewire disk. Check out the Hardware forum for more recommendations in this area.

When editing in Ulead it seemed to rerender every time I previewed the project. Is the idea to just preview clips during editing and have a long rerender session at the end or am I doing something else wrong?

In general I tend just to preview transitions and leave the heavy duty render to the end of my project. So I think you are doing the right thing there.

Good luck