get over-the-air HD broadcast into Vegas

LReavis wrote on 4/25/2009, 11:16 AM
sometimes I want to edit out fund-raising breaks, etc., from PBS programs that I've captured to hard disk using Vegas. However, Vegas will not import the native MPEG2 file.

Now I've found that MPEG2REPAIR can fix the file so that it can be used by Vegas. MPEG2REPAIR's process takes around 15 min. per hour of program.

I still can't drag-n-drop, but I can use the Vegas File > Import > media routine and it comes in just fine. Vegas does stumble if there is a section of bad signal (not that rare with my simple antenna, far from the transmitter), but usually I can render to MPEG4 or other smaller-file format and archive it for viewing later without eating up huge amounts of hard-disk space.

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 4/25/2009, 11:43 AM
On the advice of others here, I've recently discovered VideoReDo.

It does everything I want it to -- automatically detect and eliminate commercial breaks, set chapter points, demux, save to .mpg or create a DVD. Very stable, easy to use, and frame accurate cuts and editing.

Just saving a program using fast recode (takes 5-6 minutes per hour of program) makes it usable in Vegas in case you prefer to do all your work there. Suggest you give the trial version a spin.
Sebaz wrote on 4/25/2009, 11:54 AM
Indeed, VideoRedo is a better solution for editing MPEG2 ATSC streams, because even if Vegas can open them, eventually it goes berserk and starts confusing frames and it makes editing impossible until you close and re-open Vegas. It might have to be with the long GOPs in those streams I suppose, but if you have to do a cuts only edit, VideoRedo is the best choice. If you intend to use the already cut footage in Vegas for some further editing as part of another project, make sure that in the VideoRedo options you select the Encoder Quality to high, which will provide the best quality for the tiny parts that it needs to re-encode. However, if you use it to edit something that you will put in a Blu-Ray disc, leave that option to Automatic, since that will ensure that the small parts that are encoded are consistent in bitrate with the rest of the footage, which is necessary to author the BD project without errors.