Three times in the same week, new users have come forth with everything from colorspace confusion, preview or output leveling noncompliance, to very long render times, painfully slow preview and lots of stress, because of a single incorrect assumption, and the people here trying to help don't even hear about it until too late in the discussion.

There's so much of this showing up suddenly, that I suspect someone on the internet is spouting irresponsible hype and nonsense, again.

The default Pixel Format should not need to be changed. It should adopt the bit depth of the first Project media.

8-bit pixel format is correct for 8-bit source and output. That's 99% of all video.

32- bit pixel format is for 10- bit source AND 10- bit output together. If your source OR output is 8-bit, it won't accomplish a damn thing, except to screw with your native colorspace, cause unusually long render times and painfully slow preview performance.

Points to remember:

• 32 bit pixel format is not a correction for flat preview levels. Someone on the internet is saying again that it is, aren't they?? They reason and cause of flat preview / contrasty output is to be found here, and is the only advice you should trust. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-why-does-my-video-have-more-contrast-than-the-vegas-preview--104567/
• 32- bit compositing does not make your 8-bit source, grading, or output look better. We ran the tests. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/10-bit-vs-8-bit-grading-the-musical--111748/
• https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/this-is-not-about-grading--114804/
• 32-bit Pixel format does not correct output levels. We have a Levels filter for that, which maintains 8-bit YUV levels and gamma correctly. Vegas does not attempt to do this for you, unlike some consumer editing programs.
• 32-bit Pixel Format does not reduce 8-bit source banding. There is one plausible exception to this, but it wouldn't come into play unless we were actually shooting 4:4:4.
• 32-bit Pixel Format does not change your media to HDR.
• Rendering 8-bit source to 10 bit output does not make it better. We call that "adding air."
• If you truly understand video colorspace in the digital millieu, you should find this article below amusing . If not, just follow the directions, and beware of internet pundits not bearing empirical test data to support their pronouncements. Keeps us honest around here. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/pc-to-tv-levels-a-comedy-of-errors--107325/
• Replies bearing blog quotes will be ignored. You want to challenge an assumption, run some quantified tests of your own and show us.