Rendering Issue with Zoom Recordings

Stan-Green wrote on 5/2/2021, 9:19 PM

We use Zoom to record meetings. I then take the MP4 produced for the 2hr meeting and cut it up into sections. The native Zoom MP4 is very hard to work with, so I first render it to a new MP4 (Sony). Lately, the rendering stops at about halfway through the video. Has anyone else seen this and is there a way around it. (For now, I take the Zoom file and run it through OpenShot. It has worked so far, but not optimal.)

Vegas Movie Studio 17.0 Platinum

Thanks.

Comments

FayFen wrote on 5/2/2021, 11:47 PM

I trimmed few zoom's in VMS16P and they came out fine.

Musicvid wrote on 5/3/2021, 8:05 AM

The native Zoom MP4 is very hard to work with,

How so? It's low bitrate vanilla mp4, handled with ease in Vegas.

so I first render it to a new MP4 (Sony)

How so? Post your file properties please.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-to-post-mediainfo-and-vegas-pro-file-properties--104561/

Stan-Green wrote on 5/3/2021, 10:08 PM

I have a fairly fast i7 w/32GB memory and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX2060. With videos from my cameras, I can scroll through the video quickly and the Vegas keeps up no problem. Videos that come from Zoom are so slow, I cannot bear to work with them. They also tend to lock up Vegas from time to time during a make move with Sony AVC/MVC. I can see videos in the 2-hour range. Here is the MediaInfo from one of my smaller videos:

General
Complete name                            : C:\Users\Stan\Documents\Zoom\2021-04-06 19.14.40 Name 98302350459\zoom_0.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size                                : 1.09 GiB
Duration                                 : 55 min 21 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 2 824 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52

Video
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5
Format settings                          : CABAC / 11 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 11 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 55 min 21 s
Bit rate                                 : 2 695 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.052
Stream size                              : 1.04 GiB (95%)
Title                                    : H.264/AVC video
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 55 min 21 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 126 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 158 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 1 channel
Channel layout                           : C
Sampling rate                            : 32.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 50.0 MiB (4%)
Title                                    : AAC audio
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-04-07 00:39:52

 

Musicvid wrote on 5/3/2021, 11:30 PM

Zoom video is extremely modest in all respects. Your system is many times more powerful than mine.

There is something else wrong. Like effects and stuff on the timeline perhaps?

Stan-Green wrote on 5/4/2021, 10:55 AM

I am not using any effects at this point. I did notice that the Zoom file size is much smaller than the Sony size (i.e. 1.16GB v.s. 7.78GB). So my guess is Vegas is working as decompressing the file on the fly. I have seen this same slowness on three different PC with three different versions (14,16, 17) of Vegas.


Update: I did find that if I run the Zoom MP4 through OpenShot I get some audio drift. Maybe 200ms by the end of the first hour. So OpenShot is not a good long-term solution.

Musicvid wrote on 5/4/2021, 11:44 AM

I did notice that the Zoom file size is much smaller than the Sony size (i.e. 1.16GB v.s. 7.78GB). So my guess is Vegas is working as decompressing the file on the fly.

All files must be decompressed on the fly. The Zoom files are already so overcompressed, that a reasonable AVC encoder setting will create larger (less compressed) files with no improvement in quality.

I don't understand why a recompressed file would work any better for you here. It doesn't have anything intrinsically to do with the nature of Zoom recordings; they are created substandard in order to be handled by multiple streaming recipients and systems simultaneously.

I can, by comparison, tell you that I work with multi-hour Zoom recordings on an i5 with no performance issues whatsoever. They work in Vegas Pro 14 and 18.

If you have a particular file that isn't behaving, you can try running it through the VideoRedo trial, I can think of nothing else, Good luck.