Vegas 6.0c focused its H.264 delivery on a target HW device with millions of deployed units (the PSP, fw 2.0).

What exact H.264 profiles do you need to deliver now /in the near future? (A HW device or a very specific list of needed settings would desireable)

Where do I begin? I am quite happy with at least having the option of having AVC/AAC in Vegas, the current state is only useful for portable devices. Naturally with H.264 AVC being such a prominent part of the future HD-DVD/Blu Ray devices and even web delivery, the current encoder cant provide for that.

Seeing how Vegas uses Mainconcept's H.264 AVC encoder, Im a bit puzzled with the current limitations. First is the low bit rate. Currently Vegas only allows 1,400,000 for the video with a max resolution of 720x480. I know for a fact that both of MC's encoders (V1 and V2) allow for HD resolutions and bit rates. MC's V2 now supports the High Profile level for H.264 AVC encoding.

Also support for 5.1 AAC encoding would be nice as well. HE-AAC Plus2 allows for roughly the same sound quality at half the bit rate and size.

Vegas also offers one pass encoding where two passesfor such a complex codec would be much more beneficial. Vegas also offers a basic preset with nothing to tweak. Some content looks better with inloop filtering and some doesnt.

But seriously, 1.4 M/bs isnt going to cut it for any HD type encodes. I believe the high profile allows up to 50 MB/s and even lossless. Im sorry that I can specify any type of HW because until everything is hammered out we are all just shooting in the dark so to speak.

From doom9.org's forums:

AVC/H.264 Profiles

The AVC/H.264 standard defines four different Profiles: Baseline, Main, Extended and High Profile (which themselves are subdivided into Levels):

- Baseline Profile offers I/P-Frames, supports progressive and CAVLC only
- Extended Profile offers I/P/B/SP/SI-Frames, supports progressive and CAVLC only
- Main Profile offers I/P/B-Frames, supports progressive and interlaced, and offers CAVLC or CABAC
- High Profile (aka FRExt) adds to Main Profile: 8x8 intra prediction, custom quants, lossless video coding, more yuv formats (4:4:4...)


Im pretty sure Vegas only has the Baseline and Extended covered. Main profile can be accomplished by frameserving to Nero Recode but it slows down what is already a slow process of encoding AVC. I just dont see why something cant be worked out with them to either include their codecs or allow for them to create a plugin that lets you access their framework.

MC's V2 provides decent quality but only outputs to .mpg containers and hardly any players (SW/HW) know how to play them back.

More cowbell...

How about the ability to read H.264 encoded QT7 files? I haven't looked at the profiles they deliver, but matching up would be my benchmark.

PAL Widescreen DV and PAL DV.
I probably haven't got my brain around how this H.264 is supposed to work but there's check boxes that say "Allow source to adjust frame size" and yet even when checked I end up encoding at 320x240 even though my source is 720x576?
Bob.

A compatible profile for the new Ipod would be nice too.
Ive tried all the presets but they still will not import into the ipod.
I have to convert the avi to the m4v file in quicktime pro for it to work.

Vegas 6.0c does not use the MainConcept AVC encoder, it uses a Sony AVC encoder, which is PSP centric. Hence no PAL or HD and some of the other constraints that were mentioned. The PSP was the target for our first MPEG4 drop, there are many millions of them out there and now you can produce content (feeds) for them.

Enhancements, as always, are planned, and we thank you for describing your needs. Also as always, can't say what or when.

"Vegas 6.0c does not use the MainConcept AVC encoder, it uses a Sony AVC encoder, which is PSP centric."

Thats absolutely incorrect. If you go to the Sony folder on your hardrive and look under the shared plugins, nearly the entire directory is mainconcept files. The aacenc.dll belongs to Mainconcept AG File version 1.0.0.1.

The H.264 Video wrapper is Mainconept's also. The only thing I see from Sony in there is the mp4plug.dll and then some sony4vem.dll which is possibly "Sony4 Video Encoder Module"?

Either way, Im not entirely wrong in that some if not all of MC's code is being used for the AVC functions. Heck, Id even settle for a proper working QT7 at this point.

Some MC components are and will continue to be used for H.264 encoding in Vegas. That said, the AVC encoder itself, the piece that encodes the video in Vegas 6.0c, is Sony-developed.

Ok, that makes more sense. My apologies as I assumed since the other MC componets were there that Sony was using MC's encoder. :)

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Vegas 6.0c focused its H.264 delivery on a target HW device with millions of deployed units (the PSP, fw 2.0).
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I hope this doesn't mean that over time video iPod support will be lagging. I've never had reason to waiver in my commitment to Vegas until I had to recently get QT7 to create video for iPod.