Rendering to MPEG

orsonk wrote on 7/7/2008, 11:21 AM
I need to do a quick render for someone else to edit (not using Sony Vegas -- I don't know what they're using, possibly a consumer-grade editing application). They asked me to give them either an AVI or MPEG file.

I've been *trying*, but my AVI files are huge or they don't include audio (at least when I attempt to play back through Windows Media Player). My MPEG2 output tends to either be way too crude (very jaggy looking) or not include audio.

Anyone got a tip on this? Oh yeah, my source video is from a Sony PMW EX1 in 1920x1080/60i -- a very data-rich format. If someone asks you for MPEG, what settings do you typically use?

Orson

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 7/7/2008, 12:57 PM
If you want to render the audio separately, use one of the DVD Architect templates. If you want the audio included, start with the "DVD NTSC video stream" template. Set the average bitrate (you'll find it under the Custom button in the Render As dialog) to 6,000,000 or above. Leave the other settings alone.

Under no circumstances should you EVER use the "Default" MPEG-2 template. It will make horrible video. Sony was trying to cover up the relatively slow decoding of the MainConcept MPEG-2 codec by including a default template that has settings designed for quick encoding but lousy quality. I think they figured that reviewers under deadline would use that and report really fast encoding.

It was a stupid idea, and one that they never changed. I have often wondered how many horrible Vegas-produced DVDs resulted from this poor product management decision.
orsonk wrote on 7/7/2008, 2:41 PM
John, thanks for info, including the tip on never using that MPEG2 default template.

But.... I can't find the "DVD NTSC video stream" template even after clicking the Custom button in the Rendering dialog box. Can you point me to where it is? (Vegas 8.)
LJA wrote on 7/7/2008, 3:06 PM
Render as MPG; it's the sixth item in the template drop down list.
johnmeyer wrote on 7/7/2008, 3:14 PM
JohnnyRoy wrote on 7/7/2008, 7:58 PM
> I need to do a quick render for someone else to edit (not using Sony Vegas -- I don't know what they're using, possibly a consumer-grade editing application). They asked me to give them either an AVI or MPEG file.

You need to ask them what codecs they can handle. AVI is just a wrapper. Do they want HDV? or DV25? or MJPEG or ??? It makes no sense to give them a file that their editing system can't ingest.

> Oh yeah, my source video is from a Sony PMW EX1 in 1920x1080/60i

Since your source is HDV do they expect HDV files? Can their software handle HDV?

> If someone asks you for MPEG, what settings do you typically use?

If then expect HDV, I would use one of the HDV MPEG2 templates which produces files with an m2t extension. If not, and they want to edit SD I would render a DV Widescreen AVI file rather than MPEG2. SD MPEG2 is not the best quality for editing and re-rendering (unless you don't care about quality).

~jr
orsonk wrote on 7/8/2008, 9:54 AM
Thanks to all for the input. I seem to have decent-looking output starting with MPEG but customizing somewhat as johnmeyer suggested. However, very odd: I make sure I'm also rendering the audio, yet when I play back the output in Windows Media Player there's no audio.

Any thoughts on this? If I render audio, and Windows Media Player plays it back..... shouldn't I hear something?

Orson
Fredv wrote on 7/9/2008, 5:56 PM
Speaking of Mpeg2 settings, here's a question for the brain trust.

I purchased a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-350, which allows me to record TV stations. I'm using this to record our newscasts, with the intent to clip out commercials, and then trade with other TV people so we can compare our products.

What I have tried doing is recording something, then dropping it on the timeline, editing and rendering it out "DVD Architect NTSC video stream" with the corrected Average BPS. I've also tried "DVD NTSC".

When I do this, the video is awful blochy and somewhat pixelized, looking no where like how the source content appears.

I'm guessing that the Hauppauge's settings have to mirror the render settings else I develop errors. For example, if 720x480 29.970 frames 4:3 is set, I also have to be obedient to I-frames, B-frames, etc. Is this correct?
JohnnyRoy wrote on 7/9/2008, 8:11 PM
> I'm guessing that the Hauppauge's settings have to mirror the render settings else I develop errors.

It looks like the WinTV-PVR-350 has the ability to record NTSC DVD compliant files so if you are just cutting out sections and are using Vegas Pro 8.0 there should be no re-rendering of the MPEG file and thus no loss. If you are using a previous version of Vegas (I don't remember if 7 had smart-render for MPEG) then you need to use a tool like Womble which will just cut the file up and not re-render it.

~jr
John_Cline wrote on 7/9/2008, 8:15 PM
Another application that I highly recommend is VideoReDo, it will cut MPEG2 files without re-rendering and the interface is really quite elegant.

http://www.videoredo.com