Output to Avid Symphony? What codec?

fwtep wrote on 10/21/2004, 5:29 PM

Hi,
I need to output my film in a form that the Avid Symphony can read. I tried doing it as an AVI with Sony's DV codec but it couldn't read it. Is there a good codec I can use that will give top quality without being as big as uncompressed? Or, would the Avid be able to use the file if I turned off the "Create an OpenDML" option in the render template?

Comments

SonyEPM wrote on 10/22/2004, 6:40 AM

It'll probably need to be be a Quicktime file with the AVID codec*. AVID codecs can be downloaded here for free:

http://support01.avid.com/support/ProdRef.nsf/0/837BFD6A617C2BE285256C13005F6DA2?OpenDocument

Once you have the codec (and Quicktime) installed, you can render straight out of Vegas.

*Check with the Symphony editor on exactly what they want (frame rate, frame size, which AVID codec, compression quality etc).

Former user wrote on 10/22/2004, 7:26 AM

If, for some reason, you cannot get the AVID codec to work, you can export as a Quicktime, uncompressed. The Symphony will convert it on import.

Dave T2

fwtep wrote on 10/22/2004, 5:34 PM

Thanks guys! I'm using the Meridien codec with 2:1 compression. Interestingly, I found that I had to convert my project to 720x486 (from the DV of 720x480) or the codec would come up with an error. So now it works, and it looks great. One problem: It's slow. The project is 88 minutes, and the render took about 17 hours.

Another problem: It came up with an error on saving the final file, so that was 17 hours wasted. I'm trying to track down what the problem might be, but I have no idea. I had rendered some tests before I did the final render, and everything was fine. If anyone has any clues, that would be great.

Former user wrote on 10/22/2004, 7:17 PM

The digital broadcast standard is 720 x 486.

Are you sure that they want 2:1 compression. The Symphony can do uncompressed, but it cannot mix them in a project. If you do compressed, the whole project must use compression.

The file size might be causing the error.

Dave T2

fwtep wrote on 10/22/2004, 9:22 PM

>> The file size might be causing the error.

I hope not. It's not any bigger than a DV AVI (about 21 gigs). As for the compression, I figure at 2:1 it's less compressed than DV, and it looks great. Plus, it would take about 10 hours to transfer if it were uncompressed (the 20 gig file takes almost an hour, and uncompressed would be about ten times bigger). There's just not enough time for that.