To elaborate on the previous post.

The MainConcept H.264 encoder encodes .mp4 files. So, what is H.264 wrapped in an .mp4 file? It is an H.264 encoded stream in the latest version of Quick Time. The .mp4 file format is an extension of the QT file format, and anything encoded with the MainConcept encoder into a .mp4 file should play fine in QT. If you install QT on your PC, it becomes the default (but not the best IMHO) handler of .mp4 files.

I found it easier and more compatible to purchase Quicktime Pro and encode to h.264 from there. Hopefully Vegas will handle it better in the future. It's one of the very few times I've worked from outside Vegas.
Daryl

I have had no problems whatsoever with either the Main Concept or Sony h.264 encoders. I use the Sony one because it lets you do HD encodes. It is a whole heck of a lot faster than going to Quicktime Pro.

As with Laurence, I am staying with Vegas. Apple's latest practices means that I am keeping Apple software far off my computer. Also, I have tried QT Pro for encoding H.264 for my PC and this is probably the slowest and lowest quality H.264 encoder on the market. Wouldn't ever consider it for any kind of work. Admittedly I haven't used it since before Christmas, but I see no reason to try again.

Apple is not above doing lower quality video encodes for people not on Apple computers. I found this out the hard way several years ago. The same thing with speed. Yeah QT Pro may use a little more recent version of the H.264 codec, but going to QT Pro is mostly going to give you lower quality at longer render times.

Hmmm, I must have gotten lucky, I've had VERY good results from QT Pro. I'll give Vegas another try, based on what I've seen in this thread. Just use the MP4 template?

I have had good luck with QT pro as well. There are some settings that you have to fiddle with sometimes. The default for an AVI preview is low resolution, you need to crank that up.

Dave T2

Use the MainConcept AVC encoder, use the template that best fits your desired output and tweak to make it perfect.

Been doing a bit of searching here for an answer to my question... this is the closest I have found... just want some clarification.

My client is insisting on having the video encoded as H.264 (not a problem) in a .MOV file (this is a problem). As noted... it is not possible to encode H.264 to .MOV file from within Vegas.

Daryl... you mention you use QT Pro to do the encode. So... I take it you encode from Vegas to a format that QT Pro can read... and then re-encode from there to the .MOV format. What is the format you encode to from Vegas?

To others. I know there is a suggestion you can use the Mainconcept or Sony AVC/H.264 options - and then just rename the file from .MP4 to .MOV - but that does not work for me (QT returns an error when trying to play the .MOV file - but plays the .MP4 file just fine).

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

-Liam
(Vegas 8.0c and 8.1)

>>>As noted... it is not possible to encode H.264 to .MOV file from within Vegas.<<<

You can render it as an MPEG-4 .MOV file:
RENDER AS...
Save as type: Quick Time 7
Click the 'Custom' button
Click the Video tab
In Video format choose MPEG-4 Video

That should be close enough for your client.

KK

If I can... I would rather not try "close enough"....

I did try and encode using the QT7 and MP4 option... however the result does not play in QT (or rather - the result is just black frames).

I appreciate the suggestion in any case.

-Liam

Been trying a few things here... and not having any success using QT Pro.

I have rendered my video (15 seconds of 1080p 24fps) using the Sony and the Mainconcept templates. Both formats play perfectly in Quicktime Pro.

I then try to convert these to .MOV format using QT Pro. This is where I hit the problem.

There are two ways to do this (I believe) within QT Pro. Option 1 is to do a "File->save as". The file created is only a few KB in size... and has 15 seconds of nothing in it. I also tried doing a File->Export and explicitely select all the H.264 settings / bit rates. The same thing happens.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here? This is getting to be quite a time-waster :-(

One other thing I tried was downloading a trial of Sorenson Squeeze. This appears to work... although it is incredibly long-winded. I use Sorenson to create a NEW .MP4 file (yeah sounds pointless I know). Then I can load that into QT Pro and do a Save-As and get a working .MOV file. Isn't that weird!! I would rather not have to buy a $500 package to get this working.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have!!

Latest version of QuickTime Pro is 7.5.5

It has compatibility for ProRes h.264...

Yes. That is what I am using. ???

People are very quick to criticize what they don't know well, whether it's folks of a different nationality/culture/race, etc. or "the other computer platform" (PCs for Mac users, Macs for PC users).

Apple is not above doing lower quality video encodes for people not on Apple computers. I found this out the hard way several years ago.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I suspect your accusation is based on ignorance of the "High Quality" bit in QT files. Set it and the video looks good, don't set it to get lower quality suitable for older computers.

It makes no difference if you're on a Mac or a PC for this.

The other potential source of ignorance is about the different gamma settings used in OS X and Windows. This means that videos should be adjusted differently for display on Macs vs. PCs.

(And before you absorb this as an eternal truth, you should know that Apple has decided to switch to the same 2.2 gamma standard as Windows for compatibility reasons. This can be changed in the OS X Preferences. Note that there was a good reason for Apple to choose the old 1.8 gamma, but this is not important today.)

The solution I went with in the end was to purchase a license to use:
AVS Video Converter 6

In my testing this allowed me to take the Vegas gererated .mp4 files and quickly convert them to a .MOV file... with enough control over the settings to ensure the quality was maintained.

Still not sure if this is the <best> way... but it works for my purposes for now.

@Liam_Vegas:

Regarding your issue with resaving not saving anything at all, try "save as source..." instead.