"The only issue is the .sfk files that Vegas generates. The guys are not willing to spend the time waiting for them to generate. Adobe's next release of Premier Pro will have a checkbox that allows you to turn off audio conforming (thus there is no time spent generating temp files)."


This is only a request and Adobe has said time and again that conforming audio files is necessary for their application to work properly. Also, Vegas' .sfk files are much smaller than the crap Adobe conforms.

Either way, Premiere Pro 2.0 will NOT be released until next year (NAB 2006) and the cost will be greatly increased and geared more towards their OpenHD partnership that was recently formed that will certify HD editing systems. Adobe is working towards becoming Avid like in supporting only CERTIFIED systems that they approve for the future. With Avid, you cant get tech support unless you are using an Avid certified and approved system. Word has it as well that Adobe is leaning towards charging $1199 for PP2 which is ridiculous for a program that still has bugs back from PP1.0

Vegas is the best bang for the buck on all fronts when compared to Premiere except plugins.

...not willing to spend the time...

On a decent machine, it really doesn't take that long.

Is there a way to either turn off .sfk file...

Deselect the "Options - Prefs - Draw waveforms and frames in events" box.
All audio and video is still there but you won't see anything on your timeline other than a blank white box.

Mike

Build em' as 8 bit. Screaming fast, but won't look as pretty.
Premiere can't do sample-level audio editing either. And won't likely be able to in the next rev either.

There's no way to specify where Vegas puts them. This has been asked for several times.

You cannot turn off the waveform display without also turning off the picture thumbnails. (Turning off the waveform display turns off the sfk files production.) This has also been asked for several times.

Send your observations directly to the Sony Vegas folks. Better yet, talk to a Sony Vegas sales rep.

Maybe sfk files across a network, even GB-eth, is a bit too much overhead? Hopefully they'll try the software out a bit more.

Rob Mack

Spot,

Tips like this are why I stay tuned to this forum. However, I tried it out for myself and found out -- I think -- that this switch doesn't do much of anything at all.

The option in question is found here: Options -> Preferences -> General Tab -> "Build 8-bit Peak Files".

I just tried a quick test. A 4.1 GByte NTSC DV AVI file (maximum FAT32 size) took 23 seconds to generate a "normal" 16-bit sfk file on my 2.8 GHz P4. I then changed the option to 8-bit, quit and re-opened Vegas, started a new project, erased the sfk file, and imported the same file. It took less than 2 seconds! Wow!!

After I stopped jumping up and down with excitement, I decided to test a little further.

I should have quit while I was ahead.

I then found out that, even though I only have 1 GByte of RAM, that somehow what I was REALLY seeing was some sort of disk caching. In other words, the build went really quickly the second time, not because of the 8-bit setting, but because information was coming from RAM, not from disk. I say this because, when I unchecked the 8-bit option, deleted the SFK file, and tried again, the SFK file got built in less than three seconds. The new file was twice as large as the 8-bit version, so indeed the switch did make a change, but it didn't impact the time needed to build the file.

I then tested a lot more, on different 4 Gbyte files, so no caching would occur, and unfortunately found virtually no difference in time (a few percent at most) between 16-bit sfk and 8-bit skf. Bummer.

I then tried the same thing with Vegas 6.0b. Same result.

Being a glutton for punishment, I tried it in Vegas 4.0d. Same thing: No difference.

The help file says:

"Select this check box if you want to use 8-bit peak files instead of 16-bit files."

I didn't see any noticeable difference between the 8- and 16-bit versions, even when zoomed all the way in.

Bottom line: I don't think this switch does much of anything, and probably hasn't for a long, long time. The resulting waveform files look identical (i.e., the 8-bit don't look "blocky"), and the time to build is the same.

Is it possible that this is one of those switches that has no effect until you quit Vegas and restart?

You have trouble with 23 SECONDS? 5 MINUTES, maybe, but seconds?

You can edit while audio is conforming. Try that in Premiere or Final Cut.

Is it possible that this is one of those switches that has no effect until you quit Vegas and restart?

That's why, as I mentioned in my previous post, I quit and then re-started Vegas between each test.

You have trouble with 23 SECONDS? 5 MINUTES, maybe, but seconds?

I wasn't the original poster. I just was trying to test the theory with a test that was short enough that I could complete it quickly.

Thanks for the info guys. I think Vegas has a number of features that will make it win in the end. I was hoping to get the .sfk issue out of the way on the first day.

Just FYI - the movie we used was 3.2 hours long and it took 11 minutes to build peaks on a dual 3.4 Xeon box (over a GigE network). So we're not talking about a few seconds. But we're also not talking about the end of the world.

Thanks again.

tell that that yes, it may take 11 minutes to build thefile, BUT it's 11 minutes once. Not every time you load, or zoom in, or pan across the file....

When I start a project I normally add all my media to the project & let it build the peak files while I go grab something to eat. I never even notice it anymore.

I belive there's a setting where you can have it only make peaks when the file is actuatly on the screen. That would help. I've never had a fill 3.2 hour clip (I normally break it down for ease of editing & getting rid of useless crap), but I think it would build the peaks on that once no matter what.