HDV Transcode Inelegant

zumadog wrote on 4/27/2005, 3:19 PM
I am quite dissapointed at the kludgy way Vegas 6 handles the HDV intermediate codec. One must capture the file, then individually render as an AVI, then open them into the project media. Now you have both m2t and AVI files with the same names. This all seems rather inelegant to say the least. In Premiere Pro, this transcoding is done automatically and with virtually no input by the user required.

Am I missing something here?

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 4/27/2005, 3:25 PM
Premiere does it in the background, because they purchased a license to do so from Cineform. They are still using the Cineform engine, but have applied it in their capture utility. In Premiere, you'll find a lot of unhappy users that have corrupt AVI files, and no m2t files to use for repair, so recapture becomes the next option.
In Vegas, you have the option to do things the way you've described, or you can use a tool like Gearshift that does it automatically for you, and provides a DV proxy if you want to edit on a slower machine or on a laptop. You can also create a 4:2:2 YUV finish file if you want to do that, too.
While Vegas isn't quite as elegant or invisible as Premiere is, it's also a lot more reliable.
If you want to use the Cineform tool directly, it will convert in the background during capture too, and those files will open up inside of Vegas 5 or 6.
donwidener wrote on 4/28/2005, 3:27 PM
Spot,
I am capturing from my FX1 using Vegas 6. I then just drop the file on the timeline and edit. Then I render a DVDA3 compliant 720 x 480 widescreen file to burn with DVDA3. I know I am losing all the "High Definition", I am simply trying to distribute a Ballgame shot in HDV to my brother. The file is 3.8Gig The DVD hangs in several places. I tried using two different burners and media. What do you think?
Spot|DSE wrote on 4/28/2005, 4:27 PM
The DVD hanging isn't likely related to HDV or Vegas. What bitrate are you rendering to? That may be the question.
p@mast3rs wrote on 4/28/2005, 4:37 PM
Spot, does DVDA3 accept an .M2T file and down convert it for DVD authoring?
Spot|DSE wrote on 4/28/2005, 5:08 PM
Yes, but Vegas does a better downrez from what little I've done with this. Plus, DVDA takes longer.
donwidener wrote on 4/28/2005, 7:42 PM
Spot,
It's the default rate for best under NTSC Widescreen DVDA compliant which is variable between 6 and 8. Is that too high?
Thanks!
Spot|DSE wrote on 4/28/2005, 7:47 PM
No, that's not too high, or shouldn't be....I'd now be looking at media.
Anything over 8.5 is suspect, but if you're using a template, it's likely not that.
donwidener wrote on 4/28/2005, 8:26 PM
Spot,
Do you think it might because I didn't use an intermedary render? I just rendered an avi intermediary file and it plays upside down and not in widescreen format. Did I do something wrong?
Spot|DSE wrote on 4/28/2005, 8:41 PM
Well...how did you create your intermediary? Just put it on the timeline as an HDV file in an HDV project? Or did you open a new DV project and drop HDV in? It shouldn't matter, but it seems to.
this was part of the inspiration behind the scripting tool, because it's fairly easy to run into problems if you're not using the Cineform or other "plug n' play" intermediary
donwidener wrote on 4/29/2005, 6:24 AM
I rendered the intermediary with Vegas using the template supplied.