If I render an uncompressed AVI to mpeg ...then open up another instance of Vegas, e.g. veg file and bring the aforementioned mpeg back into that file - will Vegas re-render my first mpeg?
Yes to your Question. Question, why would you want to this?
Take the uncompressed and render it to a DV AVI and edit from there to keep from taking such a quaility hit. vegas does not handle Mpeg 2 very well and the recompression will be lousey. Hope this helps.
Jimmy
Winrock...i thought i would see a template that read Dv AVI, but I did not. When you say DV AVI...is that choosing windows AVI type then NTSC DV (uncompressed, 48,000, 16,000 audio and so on? if not please advise how to get this template (DV AVI).
Just choose the NTSC-DV template if you want DV, which will be an avi file.
If you want uncompressed, then choose the Sony YUV codec by setting up the NTSC template, going to Custom, and choosing the YUV codec in the dropdown.
...just for another clarification: If I use the NTSC-DV template will the AVI file be uncompressed? If not, will there be much if any quality loss - if and when I bring same AVI back into another/new veg file for continued work.
#2 If I decide to go with the Sony YUV codec to get an uncompressed AVI will this file be very large and is the quality any/much or better than the NTSC-DV template mentioned above?
ANY codec is compressed. That's the meaning of "co" in codec. The only reason you would use a codec is to compress a file, and any time a file is compressed a codec is necessary.
That being said, the DV codec that SONY supplies is very very good! Tests have shown that after the first compression there is almost no loss for dozens of additional generations. Even the first generation is very true to the original. Also, if you have a cuts-only project, no fades or effects or titles or color correction, DV files are simply copied bit-for-bit with zero loss instead of being decompressed and recompressed.
Even the YUV codec compresses the file slightly. It is nearly lossless since there is very little compression. It is better than the DV codec and the files will be correspondingly larger. Whether the bigger files are worth it for the quality gain is probably something you'll have to determine for yourself.