Appeal for TMPGEnc plug-in

mattiasj wrote on 3/25/2003, 1:59 AM
Frameserving in Vegas has been discussed on this forum several times, and lots of people want to do TMPGEnc encoding straight from the timeline, without an intermediate file. I am one of them, since I find TMPGEnc gives me superior SVCD quality "out of the box". It has been said that MainConcept can be tweaked, but I don't want to spend hours tweaking the MPEG encoder. I want to spend that time on editing instead!

Anyway, I e-mailed the people behind TMPGEnc asking if there were plans for a plug-in. They answered: "To our regret, the 'Vegas Video' plug-in is not scheduled to be made. However, your opinion is passed on to the development department.". So I thought that if everyone who has complained about the lack of frameserving here would post their request, then maybe, maybe someday we will have a plug-in.

I used this form: http://www.pegasys-inc.com/e_support2.html (which seems to lead to tmpgenc@pegasys-inc.com)

Comments

rextilleon wrote on 3/25/2003, 7:18 AM
Maybe Satish can write one--although I know he is a very busy man.
Chienworks wrote on 3/25/2003, 8:45 AM
I still say the burden is on the TMPGEnc folks, not on SonicFoundry. Many other compressors/encoders are available that work with Vegas simply by being installed on the same computer. Main Concept, Ligos, Huffyuv, QuickTime, DivX, etc. are all available directly from the timeline without needing frame serving or any other consideration from SonicFoundry. If TMPGEnc would supply a standalone plugin codec version of their encoder then Vegas would be able to use it as is.
DDogg wrote on 3/26/2003, 2:11 AM
Codecs like you mentioned above are VFW or DirectShow codecs. TMPG, Procorder, CCE, etc., are standalone programs that require a frameserver like output. Vegas, to the best of my knowledge, does not have an external export plugin structure and the associated SDK for third parties to work with. Without the underlaying structure from SoFo, I doubt anybody is going to do one.

If that structure was in existence, then somebody like Edgar at www.videotools.net could do a video server like the one he just did for Ulead MediaStudio Pro. The nice thing about this approach is that it is completely transparent to ANY standalone application that can load an AVI file. They just think they are loading an AVI file, although in reality it is frameserved output in a "fake" AVI wrapper. No intermediate files are needed.

I think many people are frustrated by the lack of what is becoming a basic ability. Premier has had this ability for years and now Mediastudio Pro. I just don't understand how SoFo can not address this issue given these two are the direct competition with similar pricepoints! Those of us that need this ability just need to remain vocal. Who knows, maybe SoFo will listen one day.
mattiasj wrote on 3/26/2003, 11:18 AM
Well. Last time(?) somebody suggested SoFo added frameserving the started to scream "bootlegging" etcetera (http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=94119&Page=0), and instead recommended the makers of TMPGEnc to contact them for information about how to integrate into Vegas. But I totally agree. Frameserving would be the ideal.
DDogg wrote on 3/26/2003, 3:14 PM
mattiasj, that was a terrific thread. In fairness to SonicEPM, he did apologize for the remark and I got the impression he regretted it. There was a lot of good stuff in the thread from SoFo, but to me, it gave a real impression of a myopic view as if Engineers rather than competitive business people were calling the shots on product features.

I do wonder if that was a snapshot into the brain of the person who identifies himself as the Vegas Engineering Manager. I also wonder if this is what the whole reluctance to support frameserving is about? A person can use a car to kill somebody, but we sure find cars useful. More importantly, nobody that knows anything about backing up DVDs would uses Vegas for that purpose. Vegas would be on the bottom of the list for that. Don't they know that? Heck, Pinnacle is selling a one click dvd backup program as commercial software. You don't have to know anything to backup a DVD with it. Why in the hell would SoFo think that somebody would want to use Vegas for bootlegging? That is just plain laughable and shows a very sad misunderstanding of marketplace realities. I wonder if SoFo has marketing people on this forum? That would be invaluable to them and us.

Sure, AviSynth is a frameserver and tmpg and CCE are encoders. They are used for all kinds of things that deal with huge files and that includes ripping. Is that a reason to not support it? The word obtuse comes to mind ... which does not make a great amount of sense as the product is so great.