Stupid Sony Vegas 8b

TLF wrote on 2/15/2008, 6:38 AM

25 minutes of HDV footage; captured with HDVSplit; correctly divided into 37 scenes.

Can I load them all at once into Vegas. No. I have to do it no more than 7 clips at a time, or else Vegas loads nothing on the time line.

Can I load them all at once into Premiere Pro? Yes.

Can I load more than 30 clips into Vegas without error. No. As soon as 30 clips are loaded, An Error Has Occurred.

Can I load more than 30 clips into Premiere Pro? Yes.

Does Vegas run like the wind when editing HDV? No, it crawls at a snails pace.

Does Premiere remain responsive, adhering to my every command? Yes.

Vegas just isn't cut out for working with HDV. Adobe is listening, Sony has its fingers firmly in its ears. I have money to make, and it it means I have to spend more on a tool that actually works, then that's what I'll do.

Sony, learn from Adobe, please.

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John_Cline wrote on 2/15/2008, 8:57 PM

As I understand it, Sony has licensed the MainConcept MPEG2 software developer's kit not the actual codec as such. Sony has chosen how to implement a Vegas-specific MPEG2 codec using MainConcept's subroutines and then compiled it for their own purposes. So, while it is technically the MainConcept MPEG2 codec, it is a version that Sony has "personalized." The same holds true for Adobe and their implementation.

MainConcept has recently updated their SDK, it appears that many of the improvements are MP4 / h.264 / AVCHD related. Perhaps some of the updates will find their way into the next version of Vegas and DVD Architect.

http://www.mainconcept.com/site/developer-products-6/codec-sdk-71-20946/information-20962.html

John

TLF wrote on 2/19/2008, 12:15 AM

OK, so I used Super (c) to create MPEG1 files that I used as proxies. And Vegas was perfectly behaved with these files.

I'm removing Premiere just in case there's some conflict between it and Vegas.

Fingers, crossed, this will resolve the problem. Believe me, I would much rather use Vegas...

darg wrote on 2/19/2008, 4:37 PM

Your problem is HDVSplitt for sure. I had the same issue with my files (search for my posts). Try to watch 30 files in autopreview and you will ge the same crash.
Vegas doesn't like it how HDVSplitt splitts the scenes. When you do it with Vegas, you will see that the last three frames are frames from the next scene but the time code is still OK. HDVSplitt is not doing it like this. Maybe that's the secrete.

Regards

Axel

Former user wrote on 2/19/2008, 4:58 PM

I agree that it sounds like HDVSplitt and quite possibly a codec problem as well. I've editing with QuickTime, MJpeg, and all sorts of weird codecs. Never had any problems. One day when PC's grow big and strong I'll switch to using AVCHD because right now it's too aggravating (HDV is nice a smoooth). But I digress...

Honestly, I've never had a problem with captures using Vegas' native capture tool. Mind you, I'm using Sony and Panasonic cameras (DVX 100B, HFX1). I've never had any burps, farts, or any kind of unpleasant glitch using the auto scene splitting with the Vegas tool.

Whatever is happening, I don't think it's a Vegas issue.

That said, I know how aggravating it can be to have a problem when everyone is just blinking and giving you blank stares. Maybe there's something in how Canon splits the scenes in-camera (as it were) that precipitates you needing to use an external tool like HDVSplitt.

jabloomf1230 wrote on 2/19/2008, 6:47 PM

I'm not so sure that the MainConcept MPEG codec included in Vegas and the same version number that is available as an independent codec is really all that different. The key difference is that the Sony version has been "declawed", such that software other than Vegas can't use the Vegas version of the MainConcept encoder. It is prolly a license thing.

I remember when I used to use both Premiere and Vegas, I did buy the full version of the MainConcept codec (1.5.1), since Adobe was offering a deal at that time for Premiere users. The only thing that I noticed that was different was that any software could use the full version of the codec as long as you didn't uninstall Premiere. It wasn't any faster or the image quality wasn't any different than the limited version, though.

Of course, MainConcept has moved on and the version of their MPEG codec that is in Vegas 8P (1.6.0) lags behind the most recent full version that is on their website (MC Reference 1.1.1). In any case, MainConcept's codecs are overrated IMO, at least when you factor in the cost. For a lot less money, you can get MPEG2 encoders like TMPGenc Xpress and get the same quality and faster encoding speed.

jabloomf1230 wrote on 2/19/2008, 7:18 PM

One thing that I've noticed about HDVSplit is that for some reason, some people end up with captures having a few blank frames at the end of the file and this gives Vegas a major headache. Keep in mind that HDVSplit hasn't been updated in a relatively long time and since even though it is a great piece of freeware, it is not open source, so it may never be updated in the future. A number of programmers have begged the author for the source code, but so far, there has been no evidence that the source code has been released to a third party. Given the crappy state of affairs with HDV capture software, you'd think that some company would have bought the source code for HDVSplit.

I mean, has anyone ever gotten Cineform's HDLink capture program to work flawlessly? Cineform says it has to do with the Vista camera drivers, but if that's the case, why does HDVSplit, Vegas internal HDV Capture and even MS Moviemaker HD captures all work without going belly up for no reason? Honestly, if someone wrote an freestanding HDV capture program that worked 99.9% of the time, I'd pay for it. Maybe not more than $50, but then again, I'm cheap.

What I'd like to see is a program that not only creates a an mts file, but also gives you the option for "almost RT" encoding to another format during capture. HDLink does that, as it give you both an mts and a Cineform avi file, but it's too flaky to be used for production work. Yeah, yeah, I know, I should go back to XP.

deusx wrote on 2/19/2008, 9:08 PM

Although I have no problems whatsoever with Vegas capture, it looks like we could use Scenalyzer HDV

fausseplanete wrote on 2/20/2008, 12:05 AM

I have only ever used HdvSplit, often for 2-hour live events recorded through a single-core laptop to a GRAID2 external USB drive, and have never found any problem with it. Am I missing out on Vegas editing speed though? Is Vegas capture as reliable as HdvSplit for such recording?

Intrigued to hear that Vegas-captured m2t files may have go-faster headers etc. I wonder if these could be added retrospectively to a captured m2t file e.g. that had been captured by HdvSplit.

Is there any problem using a Vegas-m2t file inside another app such as Adobe? If so, is there any quick way to retrospectively strip out the Vegas header info to make standard m2t files? AViSynth? Mpeg StreamClip?

fausseplanete wrote on 2/20/2008, 5:19 PM

In case it helps, the version of HdvSplit I have used with no problems is 0.75, capturing from a Sony Z1. Also ok in AviSynth where HDVInfo plugin displays recorded meta data like shutter speed ok (wish Vegas had an FX for that). No problems with HdvSplit so never upgraded. Just wish it did scopes and preview zoom like DvRack etc.