Codec Suggestions?

Infinite5ths wrote on 7/29/2008, 4:33 PM
I am preparing to deal with a project filmed on a pair of Canon GL2 cameras in 60i. I plan to edit on a 24p timeline, and the footage was shot in a suitable manner (slow & minimal camera movement, stationary subject). This is well-lit outdoor footage.

Because I want event frames that line up with my 24p timeline, I intend to immediately use Veggie Toolkit to batch-render all captured AVIs to 24p (using Mike Crash's Smart Deinterlace filter).

QUESTION: What codecs in Vegas are suitable for this batch render, if I want to degrade the quality as little as possible? I prefer to work with MPEG-2 AVIs or some codec within a MOV file. DESTINATION: Web distribution, perhaps a few DVDs

Comments

GlennChan wrote on 7/29/2008, 5:22 PM
I don't believe Mike Crash's Smart deinterlace will convert to 24p. It will convert from 60i to 30p (from interlaced to progressive, same # of frames per second).

Here is one thread on how to set it up:
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=52097
I think there are other threads on this forum describing its usage.
Infinite5ths wrote on 7/29/2008, 6:01 PM
Well, for better or worse, it seems to be working in Veggie Tools Multirender as an Effect. According to the VT manual, the effect is applied before the render. Does that mean I'm in essence rendering from 30p (post-deinterlace) to 24p?

EDIT: Yes...I had already found that link and followed your advice there. Thanks!
John_Cline wrote on 7/29/2008, 8:44 PM
It is always best to start from 60i and convert to 24p (if that's what you really want to do.) It is difficult, if not impossible, to get acceptable results when going from 30p to 24p.
Infinite5ths wrote on 7/29/2008, 9:03 PM
Is that what I'm accomplishing by using the Mike Crash plugin + Veggie Toolkit? Or is this a process that has to be executed with DVFilm Maker, Magic Bullet or similar stuff?

It may be that I should stick to 30p/15p and aim for web distribution only. This is not a major project.
John_Cline wrote on 7/29/2008, 9:18 PM
30p is incredibly easy to accomplish using Mike Crash's Smart De-interlace plugin and 30p has almost the "film cadence" of 24p without all the conversion headaches.
Infinite5ths wrote on 7/29/2008, 11:17 PM
The Smart Deinterlace filter is wonderful. It is good to be able to run quality de-interlacing on an event-by-event basis. Somehow that seems less confusing than the de-interlace settings that are native to (and scattered all around in) Vegas. I'll just use it in Veggie Toolkit to batch-render everything to 30p ahead of time, so I end up with a nice, clean frame-accurate 30p project timeline. ...no more mucking about in project/event/preview/external-preview de-interlace settings! 8-)

Now I just have to pick the least ugly output codec for my batch-render. ;-)
Infinite5ths wrote on 7/30/2008, 12:18 PM
I did some more render testing. The Cineform HD codec (included in Vegas 6) seems to work quite well when set to standard DV frame size (720x480); and the rendered file sizes are close to the original capture file sizes.

However, I can't seem to get this codec to render an AVI file with a pixel aspect ratio other than 0.9091. I've tried rendering to 0.9091, 1.000 and 1.2121. Every rendered file ends up with a 0.9091 aspect ratio.

Is there something I don't know about how this codec handles aspect ratios?
Infinite5ths wrote on 7/30/2008, 4:49 PM
I think I've found a workaround for this project by using custom frame sizes (640x360) and (480x360). When I use those, the altered SARs cancel out the missing PARs and I get the desired DARs. And the deinterlacing process drops the vertical resolution enough that 480 looks no better than 360.

My gosh that sounded geeky...