I generally replace the cineform .avi files with the original .m2t files before rendering. The standard Vegas profile for 720p is 6 MBit/s at 30 fps. I up this to 8 Mbit/s at 59.94 fps - quality looks good. For video, 720p is defined as 720p59.94 anyway. The Vegas 1080 profile at 8 Mbit/s is a no go - the quality is aweful. Have not tried any higher rates for 1080 WMV HD yet. For video, 1080 is defined as 1080i29.97.
Had good results at all kinds of bit-rates, including 1080, but playback on EVERY machine I've tried (no dual cores yet) is a problem for 1080i. About the only "trick" I've used is to make sure that "deinterlace" is set to something other than "none". Oh, I also render to 24P.
I've noticed the best results with project set to "Interpolate" instead of "Blend". It did the trick with my motionblur-problem :-)
I'm runninga PAL-system, so I use 25fps, and 6Mbs 720p looks OK. No point rendering to 1080i, because hardly any TVs in this region can show that resolution.
I've converted both cineform AVIs and original m2ts to WMV-HD with very pleasing results many times. I don't think there is any visual difference between converts from cineform or m2t material.
But you want to make sure in the WMV custom template you are setting "bitrate" to "8 M" and "video smoothness" to 100.
Also avoid Vegas' built in deinterlacers by all means.
"Blend" does just that: It blends the two fields and creats a lot of bluriness.
"Interpolate" is even worse as it throws away one entire field and interpolates the frame from the remaining field. So vertical resolution is halfened.
Much much better to use the "smart deinterlace" plugin for vegas: http://mikecrash.wz.cz/vegas/vegas.htm
For me this site didn't work recently but you may find other links.
Getting the right settings is a little tricky.
For HDV material I suggest you start your own experiments from the following setup:
"Motion processing" -> "Field only"
"Compare color channels" -> On
"Use cubic for interpolation" -> On
"Motion map denoising" -> On
"Motion threshold" -> 5
"Scene change threshold" -> 100
All other boxes should be unchecked.
Again, this works way better than any of Vegas' own deinterlacers.
Does the XBox 360 and your HDTV do only 720p, or do they also do 1080i? All the suggestions in this thread for 1080 seem to be targeted for PC viewing. Unless you're using an extremely expensive 1080p TV, you should not plan on using any deinterlacers at all for displaying 1080 resolution on the television.
I am using an IoData AVEL LinkPlayer 2 to play WMVHD on my 55" HDTV. This TV is 1080i. I'm finding that 6MBPS is adequate, with an occasional stutter in rapid-motion scenes. The color and definition looks beautiful, far superior to any DV footage from my friends' video cameras. I tried 8MBPS settings, but it seems to be too much for the LinkPlayer 2. I'm streaming it from the PC via 100 BaseT.
This is the kind of information I was looking for.
Espen
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I've converted both cineform AVIs and original m2ts to WMV-HD with very pleasing results many times. I don't think there is any visual difference between converts from cineform or m2t material.
But you want to make sure in the WMV custom template you are setting "bitrate" to "8 M" and "video smoothness" to 100.
Also avoid Vegas' built in deinterlacers by all means.
"Blend" does just that: It blends the two fields and creats a lot of bluriness.
"Interpolate" is even worse as it throws away one entire field and interpolates the frame from the remaining field. So vertical resolution is halfened.
Much much better to use the "smart deinterlace" plugin for vegas: http://mikecrash.wz.cz/vegas/vegas.htm
For me this site didn't work recently but you may find other links.
Getting the right settings is a little tricky.
For HDV material I suggest you start your own experiments from the following setup:
"Motion processing" -> "Field only"
"Compare color channels" -> On
"Use cubic for interpolation" -> On
"Motion map denoising" -> On
"Motion threshold" -> 5
"Scene change threshold" -> 100
All other boxes should be unchecked.
Again, this works way better than any of Vegas' own deinterlacers.
I have follwed your instructions and downloaded "smart deinterlace".
The problem is now I get horisontal lines instead of blurry movements.
My settings are like this:
File --> Properties --> Field order = None (progressive scan)
Full resolution = Good
Motion blur = Gaussian
Deinterlace = None
I have configured smartinterlace the way you suggested.
Can I somehow have failed to apply the smartdeinterlace-filter to the clip?