Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/30/2012, 9:36 PM
MXF will smart render MPEG-2 source, so its use as an intermediate in that environ is a natural.
Laurence wrote on 8/30/2012, 9:54 PM
Keep in mind that Vegas only smart-renders clips flagged as interlaced. You can flag progressive clips as interlaced, but the transitions and any animated bits get interlaced when you do. This is why I've pretty much given up on smart-rendering for anything but folding together work footage.
videoITguy wrote on 8/30/2012, 10:06 PM
RZ:
In video speak "MXF" is a container like "MOV" and "AVI". When you speak of the MXF included in side VegasPro it is actually an MPeg2 codec wrapped by MXF. The fact that it is MPeg2 does imply that is a lossy codec- but here is the miracle part- it is a really super codec to work with on the timeline as very efficient and very little loss.

You can easily go 3 generations of compostie acceptable with MXF as compared to at least the same loss experience with a composite intermediate such as Cineform to 5 generations. So that speaks really well.

It's primary function with SCS product is to serve as a composite intermediary on the NLE timeline and useful as a direct file export to create motion menus in DVD Architect Pro.

IT would not be useful for animation or computer generated graphics due to its MPEG makeup. I do not use it for absolute frame accurate cuts where as I trust Cineform to do the job better.
RZ wrote on 8/31/2012, 8:38 AM
Thanks for all the valuable input. What would the file format recommendation for archival purposes, that can be used for future editing with minimum generational loss. Is Sony Mxf format good? With disk space cheap, file size is not an issue. Thanks again.

RZ
musicvid10 wrote on 8/31/2012, 9:04 AM
The best archival format is probably your source footage. What is it?
RZ wrote on 8/31/2012, 10:53 AM
Source footage.....

My source footage is about 100 mini DV tapes, being transferred to Pc via Vegas Pro. Also now that I have jumped into HDV, that is the newer footage. In addition, I incorporate stills and videos from Digital juice.

To keep things a little simple for future editing needs, I want to render each tape into a single file so that I don't struggle to find missing media in future.

So the question I have is: what file format should I render for immediate needs and future possible needs. Presently, I am putting stuff on WD media player connected to my TV.

RZ
videoITguy wrote on 8/31/2012, 1:33 PM
RZ: I think that I understood what your original question was - which I interpet as you were going to save an MXF render of your project from the timeline, and then throw away the project files, sources, and etc? Is that right?

And the answer is that would be a perfect idea, IF you were never going to regret thowing out the originals, the editing hours, and any graphics included would be in second level quality remaining as they are in lossy MXF container now!!!!

As I understand your impact of your question re-stated you are looking for an archival process. The answer is not so simple. Let's examine what I would do with 100 mini-dvs.

1) Capture the best sequences to DV-AVI - aknowledging there is probably high loss-to-keeper ratio. And I accept responsibility for throwing away the losses and never getting them back. Say your loss-to-keep ratio is 11 to 1, really not bad. That means I am saving the equivalent of possibly 10 mini-DVs.
A) You could keep the DV-AVIs on harddrive or Blu-ray discs for archive ( factor what kind of storage volume that would be...)
B) You could render back the 10 mini-dvs from VegasPro timeline to print on 10 new tapes. That's great storage as well.

2) Edits in a produced title with graphics, titles. composites, and footage from the timeline should be saved (best-value) with codec like Cineform, or less volume of storage by rendering to new DV-AVI (titles will suffer), or print back to new mini-DV tapes (titles will suffer).