Rendering slow down with MPEG-4 conversion

xberk wrote on 10/15/2006, 11:01 PM

I'm using MP4CAM2AVI.EXE to convert my Casio Ex-Z750 MPEG-4 files to .AVI files for use in Vegas...This works fine in Vegas 6.0d and renders in about the same time as other native .AVI files..but in Vegas 7.0b, the rendering time for the same file is vastly slower .. Can anyone think of a reason for this ? I'm no expert on file conversion, but the MP4CAM2AVI.EXE says the following about using a CODEX "Program doesn't need any codecs to perform conversion, but you should install any ISO MPEG-4 compatible codec to view or edit target files. DivX5 is recommended." I believe I have Main Concept and DivX installed. What is perplexing is that it all works fine on exactly the same converted file in Vegas 6.0d. Does anyone have clue as to why Vegas 7.0b does not perform the same? I've made an effort to make sure my preferences are all alike too.

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 10/16/2006, 8:04 AM

Here's a "shot in the dark"... it's possible that Vegas is using Quicktime to read the .MP4 files. It has been suggested that Vegas v7 needs Quicktime v7 installed to work properly. Just a thought...

John

xberk wrote on 10/16/2006, 11:09 AM

Thanks for the suggestion. I installed the free download of Quicktime V7 but no luck. Same old thing. I also notice that you can play the converted MP4's in the preview window just fine from the project window, but they play extremely jumpy from the timeline. It's something to do then with placing the converted MP4 file on the timeline.

I'm am really clueless on codexs and four cc changers and how they work but the files from the Casio Ex-Z750 start out as MPEG4-ASP, 640x480, M4S2 .. I convert them using MP4Cam2AVI.exe to MPEG4-ASP, 640X480, DX50 and this works fine in Vegas 6.0d but not 7.0b ..

xberk wrote on 10/16/2006, 5:26 PM

Ohhh... I hate when this happens..but after a busy day I got back to the MP4 problem in Vegas 7.0b --- The problem seemed to resolve itself. Of course, that's not possible. Something changed. Maybe the Quicktime did it (dunno)...Makes me feel foolish not to know what the hell I did to fix the problem but the preview is no longer jerky and the rendering seems as least as fast as 6.0d. For now I'll take it in stride and go on with it using Vegas 7.0b using the same conversion workflow I had in Vegas 6.0d.

xberk wrote on 10/16/2006, 9:23 PM

I spoke too soon. This problem persists in Vegas 7.0b. I can't seem to isolate it. As I build a project, on the timeline the MP4s suddenly seem to go bad and start being jumpy and sluggish in the preview window. They still play normally from the project window or the explorer window, but will not play properly from the timeline (and slow way way down when rendering). Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Shamo wrote on 10/23/2006, 7:28 AM

When there is a file that gives me a problem, I try to decode the file to uncompressed. For that I start with VirtualDub and just rip out the encoding. It does a great job of almost anything. Another tool that I use for MPEG4 files is Nero Video endoder. It has a native MPEG4 encoder, and it is pretty quick.

xberk wrote on 10/23/2006, 1:23 PM

Well my solution so far is to rack up the converted Casio Z750 MP4's on a new Vegas 7 project timeline in groups and output them as individual NTSC DV avi files preserving the original file name for each event. For how I did this see:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=478795&Replies=11

I've notice that I can't put up too many MP4's at once either or they run into the same ugly render slowdown if I do --- so far I've keep these transfers to about 10 minutes total per group with great success...Still this means those poor little MP4's are going through 2 conversions prior to rendering. Not cool.

dat5150 wrote on 10/29/2006, 6:37 PM

I found the best way to deal with Z750 video is in Windows movie maker. It opens them and then I render to Win media then go to Vegas easy.