Sony Vegas 5 Manual

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Viewing the grid
The Video Preview window can display vertical and horizontal lines over your video. You can use the grid to 
help you align objects. To view the grid, click the down arrow next to the 
Overlays button ( ) and choose 
Grid.
Set the grid spacing using the 
Horizontal grid divisions and Vertical grid divisions settings on the Video tab in the 
Preferences dialog.
Isolating color channels
The Video Preview window allows you to select a specific channel to be isolated and whether the channel 
should be displayed in grayscale only. To display a channel, click the down arrow next to the 
Overlays button 
( ) and choose a color channel.
Note: Use the Alpha as Grayscale setting to isolate the Alpha 
channel mask and display it in grayscale.
Monitoring video with scopes
Video scopes are only available in the full version of Vegas software.
From the 
View menu, choose Video Scopes to toggle the display of the Video Scopes window.
Broadcast video uses a narrower range of color than the RGB you see on your computer. When you broadcast 
a project that contains out-of-range colors, you can introduce image problems or even noise into the audio 
stream.
Use the scopes to analyze the your video and adjust accordingly with the Brightness and Contrast, Broadcast 
Colors, Color Corrector, Color Corrector (Secondary), and Levels plug-ins before rendering.
Choose a setting from the drop-down list to choose which scope you want to display.
Choose settingDisplay video scopes settings
Update scopes
while playing 
						

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Note: If your video hardware will add a 7.5 IRE setup, click 
the 
Settings button () and select the 7. 5  I R E  S e t u p check 
box in the Video Scopes Settings dialog. Black will be 
displayed as 7.5 in the waveform monitor. If your video 
hardware does not add a 7.5 setup, clear the check box, and 
black will be displayed as 0.
Displaying chrominance using the vectorscope monitor
The vectorscope monitor in the Video Scopes window allows you to monitor the chrominance (color 
content) of your video signal. The monitor plots hue and saturation on a color wheel.
The vectorscope displays targets for broadcast-legal saturations of red (R), magenta (Mg), blue (B), cyan 
(Cy), green (G), and yellow (Yl). Individual colors in your video signal are displayed as dots in the 
vectorscope. A dots distance from the center of the scope represents its saturation, and the angle of the line 
from the dot to the center of the scope represents its hue.
For example, if an image has a blue cast, the distribution of dots in the vectorscope will be concentrated 
toward the blue portion of the color wheel. If the image includes out-of-range blue values, vectorscope 
display will extend beyond the blue target.
You can use the vectorscope to calibrate color between scenes. Without calibration, you may see noticeable 
color differences between scenes from multicamera shoots.
1.From the View menu, choose Video Scopes to toggle the display of the Video Scopes window.
2.Choose Vectorscope from the drop-down list.
3.Position the cursor in the frame you want to analyze. If the Update Scopes While Playing button ( ) is 
selected, you can monitor your video during playback.
4.The vectorscope monitor displays the chrominance of the video signal:
FrameVectorscope display of frame 
						

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5.Hover over a portion of the monitor to display the chroma value at the pointer position:
Displaying luminance using the waveform monitor
The waveform monitor in the Video Scopes window allows you to monitor the luminance (brightness or Y 
component) of your video signal. The monitor plots luminance on the vertical axis and the width of the 
current frame on the horizontal axis.
If you want to include chroma (color or C component) information in the waveform monitor, choose 
Composite from the drop-down list at the top of the monitor window. When you choose Luminance, chroma 
information is omitted.
1.From the View menu, choose Video Scopes to toggle the display of the Video Scopes window.
2.Choose Waveform from the drop-down list.
3.Position the cursor in the frame you want to analyze. If the Update Scopes While Playing button ( ) is 
selected, you can monitor the waveform during playback.
4.The waveform monitor displays the luminance of the video signal:
Chroma value
FrameWaveform display of frame 
						

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5.Hover over a portion of the monitor to display the luma value at the pointer position:
Displaying color levels and contrast using the histogram monitor
The histogram monitor in the Video Scopes window allows you to monitor color levels and contrast of your 
video. Use the histogram before rendering your project to find and correct out-of-range values that could 
cause problems on the destination playback device.
The bar graph plots the number of pixels that exist for each color intensity. For example, when using the 
Blue setting, the vertical axis represents the number of pixels, and the horizontal axis represents the RGB 
color range from 0,0,0 to 0,0,255.
To get acquainted with the histogram, use an external monitor to preview your video and watch the video 
output and histogram as you use plug-ins to modify the colors.
1.From the View menu, choose Video Scopes to toggle the display of the Video Scopes window.
2.Choose Histogram from the drop-down list.
3.Choose a histogram type from the menu:

Luminance: charts the luminance or brightness of colors in your video.

Red: charts the red tones in your video.

Green: charts the green tones in your video.

Blue: charts the blue tones in your video.

Alpha: charts the alpha channel (transparency) in your video.

Luminance/R/G/B: stacks luminance and RGB charts.
4.Position the cursor in the frame you want to analyze. If the Update Scopes While Playing button ( ) is 
selected, you can monitor your video during playback.
5.Use the histogram to evaluate the colors in your video. The Mean value indicates the average intensity of 
all pixels in the graph, and the 
Standard Deviation value indicates the average percentage by which pixels in 
the graph vary from the 
Mean value.
Luma value 
						

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6.Use plug-ins such as Brightness and Contrast, Broadcast Colors, and Levels to adjust the color. For more 
information, see Using video effects on page 207. 
Displaying RGB components with RGB parade monitor
The RGB parade monitor in the Video Scopes window displays waveforms for the red, green, and blue 
components of your video signal. The monitor plots RGB values from 0-255 on the vertical axis and three 
times on the horizontal axis.
The parade monitor helps you determine whether the individual RGB components of your video signal are 
within limits and whether the total video signal is clipping.
1.From the View menu, choose Video Scopes to toggle the display of the Video Scopes window.
2.Choose RGB Parade from the drop-down list.
3.Position the cursor in the frame you want to analyze. If the Update Scopes While Playing button ( ) is 
selected, you can monitor your video during playback.
4.The waveform monitor displays the RGB values of the video signal. Hover over the monitor to display the 
RGB value at the pointer position:
FrameHistogram display of frame
Mean and
standard
deviation
hues
Graph
RGB value 
						

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Adjusting video scope settings
Click the Settings button ( ) in the Video Scopes window to set your display options. These options adjust 
the display of data in the Video Scopes window and have no effect on your data.
7. 5  I R E  s e t u p
If your video hardware will add a 7.5 IRE setup, you can configure the Video Scopes window so the display 
will be consistent with an external scope connected to a device that adds 7.5 IRE setup.
NTSC video in the United States adds 7.5 IRE setup to convert black to 7.5 IRE. Consumer video hardware 
typically does not add 7.5 IRE setup, and most professional hardware allows you to turn 7.5 IRE setup on or 
off. PAL video and NTSC video in Japan do not add setup.
Refer to your video hardware documentation to determine whether your hardware adds 7.5 IRE setup. 
1.Click the Settings button ( ) in the Video Scopes window.
2.Select the 7. 5  I R E Setup check box in the Video Scopes Settings dialog. 
Black will be displayed as 7.5 in the waveform monitor. If your video hardware does not add 7.5 setup, 
clear the check box. 
Studio RGB display
RGB values on your computer can range from 0 to 255. Studio RGB values range from 16 to 235. If you want 
to limit the display of the Video Scopes window to studio RGB standards, perform the following steps:
1.Click the Settings button ( ) in the Video Scopes window.
2.Select the Studio RGB (16 to 235) check box in the Video Scopes Settings dialog.
Whether you need to use the Studio RGB (16 to 235) setting depends on the DV codec you will use to 
render your video before printing to tape. Suggested settings follow. Refer to the codecs documentation to 
determine whether the Studio RGB (16 to 235) check box should be selected. 
If the 
Use Microsoft DV codec check box is selected on the General tab of the Preferences dialog, the Microsoft 
DV codec will be used.
If the 
Ignore third-party DV codecs check box is selected and the Use Microsoft DV codec check box is cleared on 
the 
General tab of the Preferences dialog, the Sony Pictures Digital DV codec will be used.
You can render using a third-party DV codec by choosing a specific codec from the 
Video format drop-down 
list on the 
Video tab of the Custom Template dialog.
Codec Studio RGB Setting
Sony Pictures Digital DVOn
Microsoft® DV Off
Matrox® DVOff
MainConcept™ DV Off
Canopus®On
Apple® QuickTime™ DV Off 
						

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Previewing in a player
You can create a full-quality preview that automatically plays in the appropriate media player. You can 
preview the entire project or select a portion.
1.To preview a portion of the project, create a selection containing the portion you want to preview.
2.From the To o l s menu, choose Preview in Player.
3.Select the type of preview file to create. Select a 
template or click 
Custom to configure any compression 
options.
4.To preview just a portion of the project, verify that 
Render loop region only is selected. To create a preview of 
the entire project, clear this check box.
5.Click OK.
A progress bar displays the progress of the render. When 
finished, the file automatically plays in the appropriate 
media player.  
						

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Using an external monitor
You can feed video directly from the timeline to a television monitor. With this feature, you can make your 
final editing decisions on a broadcast monitor (which differs significantly from a computer monitor) before 
printing the project to tape. To use an external monitor, you must have:
OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 DV card
DV camcorder or DV-to-analog converter box 
While configuring your computer for DV external monitor previewing is not difficult, the setup may require 
some troubleshooting. The Vegas forum is a good resource for peer-to-peer system troubleshooting:
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums
Setting up an external monitor
The diagram below shows the preferred setup for sending video from the timeline to an external television 
monitor. 
The video conforms to DV format and feeds through the 1394 card to the DV device (camcorder or DV-to-
analog media converter). The DV device sends analog output to the television monitor.
Note: The DV device must support pass-through in order to 
use an external monitor. Some PAL camcorders do not 
support this feature.
Previewing audio
External monitor previewing differs in one respect from printing to tape from the timeline: no audio is sent 
through the 1394 card. As shown in the illustration above, the audio is routed to the sound card and then on 
to the mixer (if present) and speakers. This allows you to mix your audio on better speakers than are typically 
found in television monitors. 
Before printing to tape, you may wish to preview the audio through the television monitor speakers to ensure 
a good TV mix. You can use the print-to-tape feature to send the full video and audio to the external 
monitor. Follow the steps for printing to tape from the timeline (pg. 284) but do not set the camcorder to 
record. Both the video and audio are sent through the 1394 card to the external monitor.
Computer
Sound card
Speakers Video to 
camcorderAnalog to 
Audio to Television monitorspeakerstelevision
1394 cardCamcorder or 
Media converter 
						

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Optimizing preview quality
Keep in mind that complex effects and/or transitions may not play back in real time from the timeline. What 
effects can and cannot be played back depends on the speed of your computer. You may want to prerender 
more complex portions of a project. For more information, see Prerendering video on page 255.
Note: The compression settings used to create the 
prerendered video must be identical to your captured files for 
timeline playback to work.
Configuring an external monitor
1.Connect your camera to the IEEE-1394 card and turn it on in VTR mode.
2.Run Vegas software.
3.From the Options menu, choose Preferences.
4.Click the Video Device tab.
5.Select your device from the Device list (e.g., OHCI Compliant IEEE-1394/DV).
The output is directed to the camcorder through the IEEE-1394 card. You can preview this output on the 
camcorder’s LCD screen or connect the camera to a television monitor to preview the output there. Once 
you have verified that the external monitor settings are working correctly, you can use it to preview your 
project.
Verifying the external monitor configuration
1.Click the Preview on External Monitor button ( ) on the Video Preview window.
2.Open a properly formatted AVI (e.g., a DV AVI) file in the Trimmer window.
3.Click the Play button ( ) in the Trimmer window to test the output.
This can be a complex hardware issue. You can find more detailed information at the Sony Pictures Digital 
Media Software and Services Web site (http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware).
For more information, see Video device tab on page 294. 
						

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