" but i def know it works on SD"

I never got Smart Rendering to work with SD mpeg file.
Nevertheless, the smart rendering seems to work fine when SD mpeg files are encoded with the Main Concept encoder.
I was also surprised about this limitation.

not a limitation.. its all about what quality level the ORIGINAL encoder is set to VS the quality of the second render is set to .

I seriously believe that there should be an option in the render tool (render as) after you select MC MPG2, that where the qulaity settings are, there is a check box which asks "Use smartrender for MPG based based"
Once ticked, we dont have to worry about "knowing" what quality level its at (as variable always change, this is a physical impossibility.
BUT with CBR HDV, were talkin about 25mbps no brainer material here
How its going to work with XDCam VBR multiple renders is beyond me though..

Yeah, mixed XDCAM types will be confusing for the project that will at some point need rendering!


In this loosely related thread:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=555789

I draw attention to this quote:

Vegas 8 differs from previous versions in that it doesn't recompress 19, 25, or 50 Mbps mp2 streams

Is that all?

As with this thread, I've been given the impression that SD resolutions, are also supported in Vegas without recompression?

Would they be limited to certain CBR rates too, or is this technology restricted to HDV rates? It seems likely that recompress would be in high demand for folks reworking DVD-Video and those with DVD-cameras or AVCHD cameras (that in some cases also have an MPEG-2 SD mode). Saying that, in consumer MPEG-2 you'd imagine that most footage from these types of cameras would need some modification rather than passing through as straight-cuts!

Does XDCAM HD follow these rules too? ie 1440x1080i 25,35,50 Mbps (rather than 19,25,50) or would they all require recompression (or just the 35Mbps rating)?


I'd say this ought to be covered off with a white-paper by Sony. Not unlike the Panasonic 24p firewire accessed 'DV-variant' support that was introduced earlier in Vegas4.0b. Yes? please.....!

We should know how it works and when and some best practices. Otherwise it remains a niche feature and almost a sales gimmick which isn't very fair on the efforts already made by the developers, IMHO.

I'm dabbling with AVCHD on a HDR-CX6EK and would like to understand what I can and cannot do with the SD MPEG-2 modes and what I've 'conformed' into XDCAM HD (25 and 35Mbps). I was going to make XDCAM HD my archive file format, but knowing the restrictions of Smart Rendering may delay my setting this in stone.

uve pretty much nailed what i was wanting to say..
a White Paper in this regard will put al the issues and limiations on teh table.

As its stands, as i know most of what ive been encoding to SD DVD, if i put the same bitrate in the encoder for re-processing, i get smartrendering working, if however i have no clue, then im prety much dead in the water.

What Vegas needs in teh smartrender engine, is an option to use smartrendering, where possible, check tab.
This would then overwrite any encoding bitstream configs, UNTIL the render gets to a point of needing to restistch frames through the IBP protocol
So in essence, you DONT put in a encode quality level... this is only used for sticthing or actual rendering.
(as the app reads this off teh file directly and just copies across) but then uses whatever settings you have set to "stitch" or render the clips into one file.

As it stands, i have NO idea what teh VBR bitrates in XDCam would be. HDv is a no brainer, jsut wack in 25 constant and your flying...

We need to know more about it so as we can decipher how useful it really is.. i mean this is now one of THE major selling points for Vegas, and we know nothign about it.
I mean if i was from Avid, and needed to do some straight out cam straight cut work on XDCam HD footage, id be using vegas... any pro with limitied time WOULD.. but if they dont know about it, let alone know how it works... well.. then youve got a dead horse..

In any case, if we had a
"use smartrender" global option this would then allow the program to run a variety of levels of quality (ie multiple MPG variations) without compromising the wrokflow or the original files quality.

I dont see why it cant be done..