Vegas for Network Broadcast

erikd wrote on 2/20/2009, 12:11 AM
I noticed in another thread where John Cline mentions that he uses Vegas for Network Broadcast. I'm essentially trying to do that too for SD delivery by adding an AJA LHe card for output from my system.

My current workflow is this. All video is shot XDCAM HD 1080i for library purposes mainly. This is an upper field interlaced video format. Project settings in Vegas are 720x486 IMX upper field interlaced so that I don't have to change from upper to lower within the project rendering.. After adding many layers of effects, graphics, color correcting and closed captioning. I then render to uncompressed AVI or MOV (I seem to get better results actually with the MOV sof far) and then print-to-tape through the AJA card to a component analog BetaSP for media delivery.

I should add that with the AJA card I am considering changing my workflow to keeping my project settings native to the 1080i XDCAM and then let the AJA LHe do the hardware center-crop down convert to 720x486. I'm guessing this would be better than a software down convert.

I would be very interested to hear other workflows that are being applied as I feel that this is an area of Vegas usage that isn't well defined. It seems most people are outputting for the web or DVD and not for Broadcast. Maybe this perception is why Vegas isn't always considered to be a true "pro" editing solution?

Comments

richard-courtney wrote on 2/20/2009, 8:15 AM
The biggest problem has been the cards Blackmagic or AJA have limited support
in Vegas as apposed to the Apple products.

I never have had a national job but locals still follow their affiliate standards.
We have a house nearby that will convert for me so I just render onto a removable
hard drive and drop it off.

Capturing on the XDCAM (ProDisc or SxS) through HD-SDI is an option
(at least on the F350 or EX3) but easier to transfer the files then edit.

I am curious about closed captioning as I don't know of a plugin to generate the
white bars.
Spot|DSE wrote on 2/20/2009, 2:00 PM
I cover some of this in the Vegas 8 Workshop book, but FWIW in-house;
We shoot w/350
Deliver material on Beta SP or on USB HDD, depending on requirement from client/ad agency.
Letting Vegas manage the downconvert to SD.
You're exporting to C/C, then reimporting to Vegas?
erikd wrote on 2/21/2009, 9:33 AM
I am curious about closed captioning as I don't know of a plugin to generate the white bars.

You're exporting to C/C, then reimporting to Vegas?


Thanks for posting RC and Spot. I use a software only CC product that I purchased many years ago from Leapfrog Productions and is now still sold on the www.cpcweb.com website. When I bought the software it only cost about $450 but now they want like $2995 for the same basic software that doesn't do anything more. You create the closed captioning starting with a simple a .txt file and then paste the TC and CC commands within the text. Then import the text file into CCaption and it creates a 32bit .mov file with the captioning embedded. Then import that .mov into your NLE and turn on the alpha channel and you've got your closed captioning. I like it because I have full control to do quick edit changes with no resolution loss.

I cover some of this in the Vegas 8 Workshop book, but FWIW in-house. We shoot w/350. Deliver material on Beta SP.

I would be interested to hear what you have to say on this. I live in Israel and am not sure if I can get your book delivered here. (Hefty customs fee also added if it is deliverable.) Available for download possibly? I bought your Vegas 8 DVD discs (when I lived in the US) and found them helpful in getting started in using the software. It would be nice to be able to purchase a PDF file of your book but I guess that is a big technical hurdle and a potential copyright infringement problem.

Can you elaborate on at least the down convert using Vegas software only because my experience so far seems to be that I am getting aliasing in the horizontal definition of the picture from the PDW-F335L 1080i stuff we shoot. It looks very clean in Vegas at the native setting but as soon as the render settings are changed to SD resolutions I can see the aliasing problem. Your thoughts or suggestions appreciated very much.
farss wrote on 2/21/2009, 12:44 PM
"It looks very clean in Vegas at the native setting but as soon as the render settings are changed to SD resolutions I can see the aliasing problem. Your thoughts or suggestions appreciated very much."

I'm not Spot but maybe I can help.

1) Render at Best.
2) Specify a De-Interlace Method in your project settings. Blend generally works best.
3) Use very small amounts of the Gaussian Blur or Median FX applied to the clips. Generally only need this in the vertical direction but experiment.

Bob.
erikd wrote on 2/23/2009, 1:43 PM
Farss thanks for the input. I will remember your suggestions but hope that I don't have to use one of them. The idea of adding vertical gaussian seems to be a step that we shouldn't have to take. It feels a bit like a band-aid to me. We'll see how the hardware downconvert goes by next week when I get a chance to install the AJA LHE board. Thanks again.

Erik