Do you think it would be worth trying to render these AVI files from VV30a using the MS DV codec instead of the SF codec?

Rendering to another DV codec will not help. Rendering to Quicktime in Vegas is different than "converting" an .avi in QT player.

QT player does not (or at least did not in version 5.0.0) fully support OpenDML avis, and that's why it will not open long .avi DV files.

backing up a bit: What are you trying to achieve?

I'm hosting QT files on the internet and have an HTML document that has hyperlinks to play the single QT file but starting at different times of the file. Kind of like 'chapters'. So my users can simply click on different hyperlinks on the HTML document to begin the QT file at different places.

The problem is when I use QT files rendered from VV30a, there is a long delay when I try to begin at a specified start time of the QT file. This delay is not present when I render the same AVI file using QT Pro.

You can see the delay I'm talking about by taking an AVI file that is about 5 minutes or longer, render it to MOV in VV30a by using, for example the 256K preset. Then play the MOV file with your QT Player and moving the slider to different points. The delay isn't constant, but may last up to a couple seconds before it resumes playback. This delay is dramatically increased when played back via HTML and using the starttime feature. Again, the delay problem does not exist when the QT file was created with QT Pro.

Thanks,
Ron

One other thing I noticed when rendering MOV files from VV30a...

If I configure the render settings for either 15 FPS or 30 FSP, there is very little difference in the MOV's file size. As a matter of fact, the file size of the 15 FPS is a little larger than the 30 FPS!

However, if I create MOV files using QT Pro 5.02 with either 15 FPS or 30 FPS, the file sizes seem correct, meaning the 15 FPS file size is close to 1/2 the 30 FPS file size.

Ron

Actually the frame rate should make no difference to the final output size with formats such as MPEG, MOV, RM, WMV. What determins the file size is the length of the video and the bitrate of the encoding. If you reduce the frame rate from 30fps to 15, the file should still be approximagely the same size with twice as many bits allocated to each frame.

That's interesting. I wonder what QTPro does differently when I only change the frames from 30 to 15 but the size goes down. I'll check the data rate properties of the final MOV files and see if somehow it changes between the two files.

Thanks,
Ron

>>>The problem is when I use QT files rendered from VV30a, there is a long delay when I try to begin at a specified start time of the QT file. This delay is not present when I render the same AVI file using QT Pro.

sounds like a buffer setting or IFrame setting in the compression template. the same thing happens with Windows Media. the lower the buffering and Iframe/keyframe setting, the more responsive the seek bar will be, but if the buffering or Iframe/Keyframe setting is at the default of something like 4 seconds, the file will take 4 seconds to reposition.

since the delay is varying, I would suspect Iframe/Keyframes. in that case there would be a delay until the player hits the next IFrame/Keyframe. if Iframe was set to 4 seconds, it would take *up to* 4 seconds to start playing after repositioning.

I glanced at the settings for QT in VV3 but didn't see that setting. sounds like it's worth taking up with SoFo though, if this problem is really that bad. I'm sure they want their compressor to be the best it can be.

If you are looking for a good intermediary codec, try AVI Indeo RAW. it's perfect for stuff like 320x240 at 15fps. it's not lossless but it is very low compression. lower than DV, but the advantage is you can render to smaller resolutions at 15fps and save a lot of disk space. it might get you under the 1GB limitation.

You have to install the Intel Codec Pack. hopefully you can still get it from www.intel.com, but let me know if you can't.