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Sony Vegas Pro: Transcoding, importing and exporting
  • Does anyone know a good codec for format to convert my GH2 footage to before it enters Vegas without losing any quality at all? Because importing the GH2 footage nativity lags like crazy on my not so fast PC. And also I've tried 5DtoRgb or whatever its called and when enter I import a shot into it, it just crash on me so that won't work for me and neither will converting my footage to AvidDnxHD codec cause that lags like crazy in Vegas too. I've converted my footage to 35mb XDCAM in vegas which works great but I lose quailty. Also I need help with my exporting to the web. I normally edit my footage nativity while its lagging like crazy then export out as Cineform.avi with 4:2:2 selected and Filmscan 1 then I convert it to H264 using mpegstreamclip but I lose a buttload of quailty. I've also tried virtualdub and converted to .avi x264 but doesnt work so well for me either neither does converting through Adobe's Media Encoder. I've also tried to export directly out of vegas as a .mp4 but even at two pass vbr 70-240mb. Like I know im supposed to lose some quality when uploading to the web but I tend to lose a whole lot! I see people that export at only like 10mbs and get much sharper footage than me! Also is there anyway to import a vegas project into after effects? I know FC7 or Avid can do it with automatic duck. Does vegas have anything like this or anyway to do this? But yeah I know im asking a lot but if anyone could help that would be great!

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  • hey when I had a slower pc I used to edit in Vegas with the age old method of "proxies" basically a low resolution representative of your original file for editing on the timeline to make cuts,then before exporting you switch back to the original file for maximum quality.I used to do this in Vegas10,don't know if it will work with Vegas11.It's a script that was wrote for Vegas called "Proxy Stream" goggle it.

    Far as importing a Vegas project into after effects,I have had success with "ImportSonyVegasEDL" also another script to goggle.The only catch is it won't import any complex transitions,just the basic crossfades and such,but it will get the project into after effects.

    Just like you no matter what codec I converted my footage to it would just lag on my slow pc.My only solution at the time was to use proxies or buy a new pc,lets just say at the time it was more realistic to use proxies.this is a link to a post about exporting from Vegas,never had a quality issue with these settings,scroll to the bottom.hope this helps..http://eugenia.queru.com/2010/03/14/starting-up-with-a-dslr-and-sony-vegas/

  • Use the Cineform. You can edit CF with an iPhone.

  • GOP1 mts-files play back smooth as butter in Vegas :)

  • @EYESOUL I tried to use the "ImportSonyVegasEDL" script and everything works file until I import the EDL into after effects I get a folder but no files are in the folder

  • Playing Vegas pro 11 on the brand bew Asus g75 laptop which I just bought. the thing has an Intel Core i7-3820QM = 2.7 GHz, 16 gigs ram. I thought I would replace my old 2005 3.2 GHz P4 with this new one. I was expecting fantastic improvements but unfortunately even with the latest greatest, computer vegas pro 11 lags terribly. I'm even using the gpu ( nvidia gtx 670m)in the settings to make it run better but I don't see any difference between gpu or cpu. If I have a single clip at best full it plays fine, but once I add more to the time line it just chokes. Iv tried Flowmotion, Sedna A, VY Canis Majoris Day etc..even draft quarter has a hard time. I should try another NLE.

  • @oscillian So the 176mb hack would play back just fine? I've never used GOP 1 in my editor I don't think.

  • Openview, I don't know if you've noticed, but it takes a heck of a lot of CPU just to play back those high bit rate clips. Some software players can't keep up, even with a very fast CPU. Add to that all of the work that an NLE is doing besides just trying to play the video back, and it's no wonder that it can't always keep up.

    Low bit rate proxies are the way to fix your problem. No NLE software is going to be great about handling such high bit rates, especially when you get more things on the timeline, and especially if you have any events that overlap in time. It just takes a lot of computational power to decode the video - the higher the bit rate, the more power. All of the hacked GH2 footage that you've tried is high bit rate compared to normal video. Depending on how many events you have in parallel, you might also use lower resolution proxies. And don't use 'best full'. Obviously it is too slow, and unnecessary for previewing.

    I use 50 Mbps files and Vegas 10 on an older Core 2 Duo laptop. With no events overlapping in time, but many events and clips spread over the timeline, Vegas keeps up fine, without too many stutters. With 15 Mbps MPEG-2 proxies, everything is smooth.

    Here's some existing discussion about proxies. http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1888/gh2-post-production-workflows/p1

  • I use Cineform. It is visually lossless, not mathematically lossless. Otherwise you can use UT Codec if you are planning on staying on a PC, for a high performance mathematically lossless option.

  • Thanks balazer, thepalalias. Iv tried a different editor, Edius6 the thing kicks vegas pro 11 in the pants. I put a 30 sec sequence together and there is no slow down even with multiple effects. very impressed with the power of the program.

  • @openView I do music videos so sometimes it requires werid cuts and crazy basic effects can Edius 6 do this?

  • @DeShonDixon I would think so, I just did an experiment with VY Canis Majoris footage with some effects like color correction, dissolves and there are no dropped frames plays back 100 percent. its not as fast a renderer as Vegas though.

  • @openView Yeah I don't care about how long it takes to render as long as it has everything I need

  • What settings can I use the best for renderig in sony vegas pro 10? Or should I move to final cut pro or after affects?

    at the moment I use

    sony vegas pro 10 and render as sony AVC picture

    Video format: AVC profile: high 1920x1080 Entropy coding: CABAC Framerate: 23,976 Field order: None (Progressive) Pixel aspect ratio: 1.000 Bit rate(bsp) 20.000.000

  • @subco I'm pretty sure he's talking about posting it on the web

  • Hi subco! Thank you.

    Well the footage I want to use is mostly for internet purposes and DVD to deliver for my clients.

    Hope you can give me some advice!

    thanks for sharing and have a nice weekend!

  • Well I like to know the settings for vimeo for example using sony vegas. Hand brake I don't have.. Can you tell me the best settings for sony vegas subco?

  • To forget about any kind of lagging in Sony Vegas Pro, do just two steps:

    1. Disable Media Manager (useless to be enabled in my opinion).

    2. Set Dynamic RAM preview to 0 (zero).

    Restart Sony Vegas and it will play the GH2 and others video files smoothly even at Good/Auto settings.