Saving MP4s?

ellentk wrote on 8/4/2012, 2:40 AM
I'm a new user. I used the split command (S key) to split an MP4 file in half.
I saved each part in a .vf file (the only option). Is there a way to save both parts
as MP4s?

I tried both Render As and Make Movie but Render was grayed out.
But rendering takes a long time and all I did was cut out parts of an MP4.
Shouldn't the remaining parts still be MP4s?

Any advice will be most appreciated.

Thanks for any help.

Ellen

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/4/2012, 10:02 AM
First, understand that you are not splitting the file. It is still in its original state.
A project is not a media file. A .vf project is a signpost pointing to the file(s)..

To save each portion of your split event, select that portion, go to File->Render As, and choose one of the many options. Check "Render to loop region only."

There are some really good interactive tutorials that come with your program. Following them will answer most of your basic questions.
ellentk wrote on 8/4/2012, 2:41 PM
Thanks for your reply. I took a closer look at the dialogue box and saw I could
check an equal sign box which brought up all the matching output formats that allowed me to render. I had chosen MP4 when I got the gray render tab. (Not sure why that format wouldn't work when the original file is an MP4, but....)

I'll check out the tutorials. Despite my newbie status, I've manged to burn some great looking DVDs.

Thanks again for your help.

Ellen
Chienworks wrote on 8/4/2012, 7:48 PM
Generally the source format of the original video and the rendering format for the output have very very little to do with each other. Vegas doesn't know your intended output so it doesn't try to guess what you want to do. The = sign indicates output templates that are compatible with your project settings for frame size, color depth, frame rate, etc., but NOT because of anything to do with your source files.

Also, if you're making DVDs, you should be rendering to MPEG2, not MP4. DVDs are only MPEG2. No other format is allowed. What's probably been happening is that DVD Architect is re-encoding your MP4 files into MPEG2, which involves another lossy compression. Render to MPEG2 in Vegas an you'll get even better looking DVDs.