Hey guys - we have one really nice day left here in New Jersey before the rain and cold hits tomorrow so I've been out shooting the spring blossoms in 60p all day...

What I did was take my 1080 30p AVCHD files directly from the camera and edit them on my VP10 timeline like I normally would any files. Once I got all my edits, I output (rendered) the aforementioned Sony .mxf file. At this point I stepped it down to 720p primarily for file size and speed of render (I'm using an old 4+ yr computer). I used the HQ setting (I think its 35mbps). That became the source file for my two primary delivery formats: SD DVD using the (near) default NTSC widescreen MC mpeg2 template and a 720p 3mbps .mp4 file for on-line viewing. So there was another down-rez with the DVD but it still looked so much better than when I went straight from my AVCHD 1080p files thru the MC mpeg2 encoder. The 720p mp4 file from the .mxf file also looked better than when I went straight from the original camera files. Clear now?

Clear as mud ;-) Just kidding.. Your explanation was clear, what I'm unclear on is how the quality could be better from a lossy intermediate than rendering from the source itself.

Which TMPGEnc program is the best for this frameserving, is it Video Mastering Works 5?

Video Mastering Works 5 is what I use, build 5.4.1.102

+1 for TMPGEnc!

For those that use TMPGEnc, see my new post here:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=893385&Replies=0
If this program is all it's cracked up to be, for $99 I'd take a flyer on it!

I remember TMPGEnc from my early days of video transfer to DVD format (~2002). Worked fine, but then began using CinemaCraft, which was a wonderfully-flexible (and expensive) encoder. Back then CC was far better than the MainConcept MPEG2 encoder Vegas used, but as the years went by MC got better to the extent that I only bothered with the hassle of frameserving to CC if I was really pushing a low bitrate project encode, where it still made a difference.

I would find it hard to believe that TMPGEnc was significantly better quality than MC, but I guess anything is possible. In any event, it is my experience that ANY encoder run at a very high bitrate (say, 8Mb/sec) should produce video that is essentially identical to the source (downsampled to 720x480 first, of course). If not, there's something wrong somewhere.

Another question: I use the MainConcept .mp4 AVC encoder to deliver 720p files to clients for on-line streaming/downloading. I use VBR (single pass) at around 3-4mbps and the files look good to great (source files from my Canon DSLR's or now my AG-AC90). However, when I bump up the resolution to 1080p, the codec falls apart. Blocky/mosaic random tearing along edges, etc. Even at bit rates as high as 20mbps.

So what do you guys use (hopefully already in Vegas) to encode 1080p files for download or streaming. I'd love to be under 10mbps and closer to 5mbps if possible...

EDIT: OK, never mind - just tried the Sony AVC codec and it looks fine, even at lower bit rates