Editing "AVCHD Video"

Juan David wrote on 3/13/2010, 12:36 AM
Hi... my English is not perfect, so please forgive me if I make a mistake.

I recently bought "Vegas MS 9 Pro" and a camera "Sony HDR-XR150" I was so exited because I was going to be able to make HQ DVD and to upload HD videos on youtube. But I haven't been able to find the rihgt render or setting fot those purposes.

I use the HD HQ setting on my camera because is very clear and takes about as much space as STD quality. But for some reason the format that comes out [AVCHD Video (.m2ts)] it's not good for editing on vegas, the smallest thing, like expanding the timeline, make the video choppy and unstable, and if I reverse the video (wich Ilike to do to make a nice backwards efect) it plays in like 3 frames per second. And when I save the video it comes out distorted.

Some one told me that I shoud render the video to "avi" but didn't tell what template to use. "avi" takes too much space and it still degrades the quality of my video, and what's the point of having an HD camera if I'm gonna have to degrade the quality to be able to edit it? it makes no sense. And when I save it, comes out distorted too.


I have a good computer (HP, Windows 7, AMD Phenom II x4, 8GB of RAM, and 750GB of hard drive) so I don't know what it is. Is it the computer? the camera? or the software?
I tried editing the video on "Windows Movie Maker" and it worked perfectly, I was able to make a good quality DVD but Windows MM doesn't give me the tools vegas has.
I wanted to buy The Seminar Training DVD, but I was told it doesn't have any info on render technics.

As you can see I'm new to this, can you help me?

1.What am I doing wrong?
2.What's the right setting to make a good quality DVD?
3.And what is the setting to make an HD video for youtube?
4.If have to render "AVCHD Video (.m2ts)" to be able to edit it (and reverse it), is there a format or template that doesn't degrade the quality?

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 3/13/2010, 1:23 AM
1. Here are some tips to speed up previewing:
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2008/12/19/sony-vegas-hints-and-tips/
Although I'd go with Intel CPUs for Vegas work. I found Vegas better optimized for them than for AMD (personal observation, don't have hard numbers).

2. You export using the right MPEG2 template for video (in the RENDER AS dialog), and for AC3 for audio (separately). Then, DVD Architect that comes with Vegas will put these two files together. Just make sure DVD A is installed.

3. http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/11/09/exporting-with-vegas-for-vimeo-hd/

4. Yes, but only for intermediate usage, not for playback. For intermediate usage you can download the freeware Lagarith, or AVID DNxHD codecs and export via them. But as I said, these are intermediate codecs, and are to be used for further editing or archiving. For casual playback purposes, you will always use quality over the original (especially if there's no "smart rendering" available). It's the same for me, you, and Hollywood.
Byron K wrote on 3/13/2010, 11:29 AM
Step by step proxy instructions is posted on Eugenia's blog just google "Eugenia proxy" (;

"proxy" files can also be made using a number of other converter softwares like Super, MediaConverter, Format Factory, Squared5 as well.

1st, consolidate all the oringinal footage for a project in one folder we can call it "o" (Original Footage).

Create a new proxy file folder in the same location where "o" folder is, we can call it "vwf" (Vegas Working Folder). Create the proxy files in this folder. Note the proxy file names must match the original file names and convert them in the "vwf" (Vegas Working Folder)

Open Vegas Studio and edit the proxy videos in the "vwf" folder
When you're done editing the proxy files do this:

1. Save the project and close Vegas
2. Change the name of the "vwf" folder to something like "p" (proxy)
3. Change the name of original folder "o" to "vwf"
4. reopen Vegas and render.

Note that the "vwf" and original folders must be in the same sub directory for this to work properly.
Juan David wrote on 3/16/2010, 5:40 PM
THANKS!
Juan David wrote on 3/16/2010, 5:41 PM
THANKS!