Sony Vegas multiple on-screen videos

[Pilotwings_64]

Basically what I want to do is compare the results I'm getting with 4 different codecs. I have a single avi file I'm starting with. I want to divide the screen into four parts and simultaneously display a small, magnified portion of the video as produced by each of the 4 codecs.

I know how to crop the video with Vegas, but I don't know how to move the cropped image to the corner of my choice. It just stays where it originally was on the screen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Even key words or phrases I could lookup. Since I don't know what to call what I'm trying to do, finding results has been difficult.

Thanks

[zoobie]

better to render each codec at the same size then take the exact frame into your photo program, enlarge, then look for fine print
it will become clear that each piece of video is different and unique

[poisondeathray]

You can do this sort of thing with avisynth. Playing 4 different clips at the same time like "picture in picture"

Here's a tutorial, unfortunately some of the screenshots are dead. If you scroll down you can see some youtube samples

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=69316

[guns1inger]

a = AVISource("clip1")
b = AVISource("clip2")
c = AVISource("clip3")
d = AVISource("clip4")

e=StackHorizontal(a,b)
f=StackHorizontal(c,d)
StackVertical(e,f)

[Nitemare]

Or you could try embedding them into an HTML file and auto-starting all of them at once.

I don't know if that can even be done, but it seems to me that it "could" possibly be do-able.

Can anyone educate me on this?

[guns1inger]

Avisynth is a lot easier and doesn't tie you to the few codecs that can be easily served from HTML. Creating a webpage for a simple comparison is just too silly for words.

[Pilotwings_64]

In another forum I was given the answer.

"Pan/Crop will let you select a small portion of each video, as you've already discovered. Track Motion will let you position those portions where you want them in the frame."

Thanks for your suggestions. I hope this solution helps anyone else having the same difficulty.

[guns1inger]

Yes, it is easy to do in Vegas, it's just quicker and more accurate to do it in avisynth

[src2206]

Hello guns1iger

With reference to another thread, I have tried this method and created the following script to compare all the three files side by side:

a = AVISource("K:\Movies\Fistful of Dollars\Fistful of Dollars (AGK).avi")
b = AVISource("K:\Movies\Fistful of Dollars\Fistful of Dollars CQ crf 18.mp4")
c = AVISource("K:\Movies\Fistful of Dollars\Fistful of Dollars HQ Fast profile.mp4")
StackHorizontal(a,b,c)

As I try to open the AVS file in VirtualDub I get the following error:



Now, the .mp4 file, related to which VD is giving error can be opened normally in VD without any problem (for example when I just drag and drop the file in VD window).

Please check the AviSynth file and let me know where I made the mistake...

[guns1inger]

Try using DirectShowSource instead of AVISource for your mp4 files.

[src2206]

Thanks,
changing to DirectShowSource worked, but I can see only one movie window in VD, am I not supposed to see two side by side?