You use DVDA that came with Pro 10.

And don't forget, the manual is your friend! Download here.

One of the problems with Vegas Pro is it sort of assumes you know how the pieces all fit together. The docs are good at telling you how to adjust the color, but not how it all fits together. Here is an overview at the Sony site that gives a little more information on how this all fits together:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro
They just sort of assume you know what you are doing when you install it - I know I didn't have a clue where to start (not that I have it mastered now, but I do have a better understanding anyway). You might also want to check out some of the training available at VASST
http://store.vasst.com/store/sony-vegas-products.aspx

mikey

Simply put, this what I do:

1] Finish my video in Vegas

2] Render a single AVI file as a master file. And then from this…

3] Render 2 files - an MPEG2 video only file and then an AC3 audio file.

4] Open DVDA and import the files from 3]

5] In DVDA create my menus and then prepare the project, still in DVDA, and burn to disc - still in DVDA.

DVDA is a great program and can support much creativity.

Grazie

It's fine to create an AVI file as a master for future use, but why not create your MPEG and AC3 from your project directly? You should have slightly better quality because of one less transcoding.

I just knew somebody would bite me. And yes smally projects, where a re-mpeg encode is quick, yes.

How about uncomped Lagarith? I use this.

Why do I do it? You ever tried wasting time on rerendering a complex project AGAIN to mpeg 'cos of a simple typo, or fx or colour match or audio mistake or overlay in wrong place or not seeing the flow of a piece? I'd rather have a completed AVI any day. Here's some more blasphemous/heresy: Just how much quality would I loose? Honestly?

Grazie

Sorry. I did say "slightly" better.

I guess I commented because if this thread is to give advice to newcomers, they might follow suite and make an AVI file when it is not necessary. I have done it on odd occasions it in the past but usually don't.

You mention typo. If that is in a subtitle/comment then it would be hard coded into the video and not editable. I like the option to be able to change my edits at a later date.

I'm glad someone else asked this question. I have only been using Vegas 10 for a short time and created videos for uploading to youtube and smugmug, but haven't tried to create a DVD until last week.

I was so frustrated and in a hurry that I decided to use Windows7 DVD maker instead. I be reading the DVD architect manual this weekend!

Grab Edward Troxel's free newsletter at http://www.jetdv.com/vegas/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15.
While written for an earlier version, the concept remains the same.

Mike

Of course in Vegas 10 you can also do a burn straight from the timeline with Tools|Burn Disc|DvD
It doesn't give you all the options of DVDA, but if all you need is a quick 'autoplay' dvd - like a 'work in progress' reference for someone to see, it works just fine, as long as it fits on the DvD without having to customize compression.

"It's fine to create an AVI file as a master for future use, but why not create your MPEG and AC3 from your project directly? You should have slightly better quality because of one less transcoding."

it depends.

if you render your master to a lossless format there is no loss and rendering from the master will be quicker to make the mpeg or whatever you use for DVD since all effects, pan/crop/scaling, masking, etc, etc will not have to be re-rendered.

if you don't render to a lossless (or near-lossless) format, then rendering direct from timeline may give better results... i gotta wonder what point there is in creating a master that is visibly different from the timeline tho :)

I have to ask Grazie, if you render to AVI in Vegas, why not import that into DVDA and let DVDA render to MPEG2 before burning to a disk. Is there a benefit in time or quality?

"Here's some more blasphemous/heresy: Just how much quality would I loose?"

Assuming we're talking about a DV25 AVI file and not uncompressed or some such.

In PAL land very little. The AVI file will be 4:2:0 and mpeg-2 also uses 4:2:0. The two chroma sampling schemes are not exactly identical I'm told but so close as to make the impact very minor.

Now in NTSC land the AVI file will be 4:1:1 and then that becomes 4:2:0 for the mpeg-2 to go onto DVD. Now the impact is much greater.

So you're both right!

Bob.

"if you render to AVI in Vegas, why not import that into DVDA and let DVDA render to MPEG2 before burning to a disk. Is there a benefit in time or quality?"

Grazie is free to add or correct of course, but the Vegas encoder will be faster because it is multithreaded. (Anybody still running a single thread machine?) It has a few more options too, I believe.

If you want to insert markers, I find that easier in Vegas, as well.

I render to AVI intermediate first for a few reasons:

1. Not sure about 10, but in older versions of Vegas plugins like Boris will use project settings while you edit then revert to render settings to render. This matters if you are editing HD and delivering SD, and especially if you are editing 16x9 and delivering 4x3.

2. I have found rendering to AVI to be way more stable then MPEG2.

3. After everything is done and the project is archived, it is just much easier to go and get a complete AVI if you need to make something else quickly. Don't have to deal with missing media and the like. And renders faster.

Now to take the completely other tack, Grazie said:
"You ever tried wasting time on rerendering a complex project AGAIN to mpeg 'cos of a simple typo, or fx or colour match or audio mistake or overlay in wrong place or not seeing the flow of a piece?"

You can always edit those parts and smart render the rest if you made an MPEG. Of course, you can do this with most AVI that you wold use for an intermediate as well, so I'd stick with good AVIs myself.

kairosmatt