Jerky AVCHD monitoring

AGB Productions wrote on 6/21/2010, 1:42 PM
We bought a nice AVCHD camera, a Sony AX-2000, to complement our inventory of Sony HDV Z1U's. After importing the video into Vegas 9d, we noticed that its video monitoring was updating maybe once each second, making it very difficult to synchronize our (many) sound tracks. We had to prerender parts of the track as an*.avi just to verify the singer's lips were moving at the right time. The Z1U's never had this issue.
Anyone seen this?
I think I read somewhere that the file had to be "aliased" before trying to edit it in Vegas. How is this done? And how is it restored to "un-aliased" after editing?
Or is our 32-bit editing computer (state-of-the-art three years ago) in need of replacement for a zillion dollars more?
Thanks in advance ...

Comments

Rob Franks wrote on 6/21/2010, 2:05 PM
You don't mention what your present computer specs is so it's hard to tell you if you should buy a new one.

What preview quality setting do you have the preview set for?
AGB Productions wrote on 6/21/2010, 3:46 PM
I'm away from the computer right now and don't have the exact specifications ... other than it has at least 2 GB RAM, a 1 TB video disk, a 1 TB SCSI RAID disk, dual monitors and Windows XP with service pack 2. The processor was 2 GB, if I recall.

Talk to me abourt monitor quality. If I dumb down the monitor, will it execute faster? Where do I do that? (I don't have Vegas in front of me right now.)

Thanks for your response.
kkolbo wrote on 6/21/2010, 4:17 PM
Yes, changing the preview window setting can improve playback. There are several other optimizations you could do, but lets try this first. On the top pf the preview window is a setting pull down. I would suggest trying Preview, Auto and then make the window smaller by dragging it to a smaller size. Alternatively you could try Preview, Quarter.




KK

JohnnyRoy wrote on 6/21/2010, 4:38 PM
> The processor was 2 GB, if I recall.

If it's a Single Core 2GB it's woefully inadequate... if it's a Dual Core 2GB it's still below spec for HD (you really should have a 2.8Ghz Dual Core as minimum) and what you really want is a 2.8Ghz Quad Core. I have a 2.66GHGz Quad Core and I can play AVCHD fairly smoothly if I don't add any color correction until the very end.

> I think I read somewhere that the file had to be "aliased" before trying to edit it in Vegas. How is this done? And how is it restored to "un-aliased" after editing?

You might be thinking of "proxy" editing. We have a product called GearShift that will convert your AVCHD to DV proxies and lets you edit in DV and then switch back to the HD before rendering. This works great for computers that can handle DV but not HD.

~jr
kkolbo wrote on 6/21/2010, 4:47 PM

In spite of what people say around here lately, using GearShift to create proxies, or using a digital intermediate like Cineform are great workflows. The reduction of headaches is worth it. You also would not be spending near the amount of money it would take to upgrade your hardware, Even with top speedy hardware like mine, some .h264 playback is still weak. The proxies or DI's work like champs.

One word of caution, while jr suggests GearShift, he may not be aware that the author of that software is secretly a genius with the stuff that he has written.

KK