This is a good place to start ... https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-make-my-video-preview-play-smoothly-in-vegas-pro--104624/

Matching project properties to timeline video is critical.

Thank you for responding! If I do all of these steps, Will this reduce the quality of the final project???

I very much doubt it. Best of luck. I've found it as well to always double check that VP does actually set the project properties correctly, if it doesn’t, Nick shows in the FAQ how to set using one of your files to do so.

It may be in the FAQ but in case not, right clicking the preview window and selecting “adjust size and Quality for optimal playback” can assist smooth playback if your PC cannot handle “best(full)”, preview quality, see at top left of preview window.

 

Thank you for responding! If I do all of these steps, Will this reduce the quality of the final project???

If you adhere to Nick's notes and set things back before rendering, such as reducing the frame rate and/or resolution, you should get excellent results.

 

Thank you for responding! If I do all of these steps, Will this reduce the quality of the final project???

If you adhere to Nick's notes and set things back before rendering, such as reducing the frame rate and/or resolution, you should get excellent results.

Thank you for responding. So I shot the entire documentary with a gopro in 4k, at 60 Frames Per Second. If I reduce the frame rate and/or resolution, what kind of effect on the quality of the final product? Also, considering I shot It in 4k at 60 fps, what would you reduce the frame rate to? Lastly, how do I reduce the frame rate? Thank you SOOOOOO much guys!

Thank you for responding. So I shot the entire documentary with a gopro in 4k, at 60 Frames Per Second. If I reduce the frame rate and/or resolution, what kind of effect on the quality of the final product? Also, how do I reduce the frame rate/resolution in Vegas? I really, really appreciate the help guys.

In project properties set the resolution to 1920x1080 or 1280x720, then set the frame rate for exactly half or your source. This may improve playback while you edit. When you are finished editing and ready to render, set the resolution in Project Properties back to 4K and set the frame rate back to the source frame rate, then render out at 4K/60.

@daniel-t2081 As best I understand it all of the above is with a view to improving playback. The final output quality is determined by the your initial source material and most importantly your final render template choice. @Eagle Six is far more knowledgable than I on most things Vegas, i’m off to bed, goodnight and good luck.

@Eagle Six is far more knowledgable than I on most things Vegas, i’m off to bed, goodnight and good luck.

Well I wouldn't say that! Happy dreams.

I was just sighting my example based on Nick's recommendations, who is far more knowledgeable than I.

However, I would tend to agree with you @Former user in Vegas Pro, that if you setup the render template correctly, it will render out at full resolution of the source material regardless of the project property resolution.

In other NLE's which I use if you set the timeline to HD when the source media is UHD, and then render at UHD, it will downscale the UHD for viewing and then upscale from the timeline resolution during rendering, which isn't good. So, out of habit I match the project properties to the source and the render to match. That's just me and the way I cover myself. And I have added this at the risk of causing confusion......maybe I need to go to bed.....Good Night!

However, I would tend to agree with you @Former user in Vegas Pro, that if you setup the render template correctly, it will render out at full resolution of the source material regardless of the project property resolution.

@Eagle Six - Isn't that because Vegas always changes the Project Properties to match the Render Properties when rendering?

 

Thank you for responding! If I do all of these steps, Will this reduce the quality of the final project???

If you adhere to Nick's notes and set things back before rendering, such as reducing the frame rate and/or resolution, you should get excellent results.

Thank you for responding. So I shot the entire documentary with a gopro in 4k, at 60 Frames Per Second. If I reduce the frame rate and/or resolution, what kind of effect on the quality of the final product? Also, considering I shot It in 4k at 60 fps, what would you reduce the frame rate to? Lastly, how do I reduce the frame rate? Thank you SOOOOOO much guys!

Gopro 4k 60p ? You will need to transcode those to prores LT to get smooth TL playback and smooth editing. There are free program out there you can use. Rocky Mountain is of of them. Vegas works great on those prore . I can edit gopro 4k 60p in single track. Playback are not great but getting 50+ franes. But really need to transcode it for a pleasant editing.

@EricLNZ Thank You, this is the 3rd thing this old man has learned today, I love learning! Had never noticed that before. It changes both the resolution and frame rate, Again Thank You.

 

Thank you for responding! If I do all of these steps, Will this reduce the quality of the final project???

If you adhere to Nick's notes and set things back before rendering, such as reducing the frame rate and/or resolution, you should get excellent results.

Thank you for responding. So I shot the entire documentary with a gopro in 4k, at 60 Frames Per Second. If I reduce the frame rate and/or resolution, what kind of effect on the quality of the final product? Also, considering I shot It in 4k at 60 fps, what would you reduce the frame rate to? Lastly, how do I reduce the frame rate? Thank you SOOOOOO much guys!

Gopro 4k 60p ? You will need to transcode those to prores LT to get smooth TL playback and smooth editing. There are free program out there you can use. Rocky Mountain is of of them. Vegas works great on those prore . I can edit gopro 4k 60p in single track. Playback are not great but getting 50+ franes. But really need to transcode it for a pleasant editing.

 

@BruceUSA Thank you for responding. I have no idea what "Transcoding" or "Prores" are. Can you explain what you mean? Thank you my friend!

GoPro 4k60p is HEVC Codec. This gives bad playback on Vegas timeline. Instead of transcoding those HEVC to prores or any other intermediate format, you can also use the Vegas internal proxy builder. Those proxy files are lores copies of the original footage and used for smooth preview during editing. For the final render the original HEVC footage is used.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/

You can download the transcoder and install it. Open the app, all you have to do is drag and drop in your footage and drop it in. Choose prores proxy LT, quality as source. This way you get full high quality footage and easy to edit. I don't like the Vegas built in proxy because you get very low quality footage in editing in Vegas's time line. I enjoy view high quality footage while I am cutting, color correct etc.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/

You can download the transcoder and install it. Open the app, all you have to do is drag and drop in your footage and drop it in. Choose prores proxy LT, quality as source. This way you get full high quality footage and easy to edit. I don't like the Vegas built in proxy because you get very low quality footage in editing in Vegas's time line. I enjoy view high quality footage while I am cutting, color correct etc.

 

@BruceUSA Thanks for explaining. Does this program work in the same way that Handbrake works? I appreciate your input.

Yes.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/

You can download the transcoder and install it. Open the app, all you have to do is drag and drop in your footage and drop it in. Choose prores proxy LT, quality as source. This way you get full high quality footage and easy to edit. I don't like the Vegas built in proxy because you get very low quality footage in editing in Vegas's time line. I enjoy view high quality footage while I am cutting, color correct etc.

 

Hey! Thanks again for your advice. So I have been using Handbrake to compress the file size. Quick question....I have some footage where I am interviewing people throughout the documentary, but it was shot in 4k at 60 fps. If I compress the video size and make it 30 fps, will that make it easier to playback in vegas? In general, do you think I should make all clips where the camera is not moving 30 fps? Thanks!

You transcode your footage same as original framerates 60s. You then edit in 60p timeline or you can slow down to 30P some of your slow mode .

This is how I do when I shoot 4k 60P footage. I can keep my project settings at 4k 60P timeline and edit away and out put 4K 60P MP4 or what ever for I chose.. my other option is start my project settings with 30P and editing as 30P project and having the ability to to slow down at where I want . That way you have 30P and slowmode.

After you transcoded to prores you will no problem playing it back in Vegas.

Yes. What is the delivery destination for your footage? Keep everything at that frame rate.

Just actually shot some GoPro Hero 6 Black, 4K60p for some testing today. Yep, it utilizes the HEVC codec in the MP4 container. Brought it into my "re-furbished" i7-6800K, 32Gb RAM, RTX 2070 FE, 1 TB Intel 660p NVME as OS/Apps (Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit) & 2 TB Intel 660p as Media/Scratch/Render. Using Movie Studio Platinum Suite 16 (build 109) as only NLE.

I did install the Avid LE 2.73 codec; Grass Valley codec; & MagicYUV codec for my machine. I did not install the Quicktime 7.6 application, as I also wanted to test out the Native .MOV support within Movie Studio, as I have a Canon 80D that shoots ALL-I with this wrapper (tested, and it did support natively! Yeah!). Additionally, here's the link for the tutorial site at MovieStudioZen by Derek Moran (Dr. Zen), that show how to "Render/Transcode" for DNxHD/HR, Cineform, and even Handbrake. He also has the links to get the Avid and Cineform codec (Old GoPro Studio).

So, what I did, was take that clip from the GoPro, brought it in via the "Import Media", let it build the Audio Peaks (just a few seconds long in doing so), then put it on a blank Timeline, let the program set the Project Properties to Match the Media!!!!!!

Then, without doing any other corrections to WB, Color, Splitting/Trimming, etc., basically just the clip plain, saved the project, then went to Render As. For me, I have had pretty good success lately using either the MagicYUV (I did pay for the Ultimate) or the Grass Valley codecs while setting up my own saved Templates in the Video for Windows. For today's test, the original file had a Bit Rate of 78.5 Mb/s, File Size of 2.6 GB for 4Min 44 Sec- Grass Valley HQX (online Standard) was 438 Mb/s & 14.5 GB. Result using this file on the timeline for editing - full 60fps compared to continuously going from 1.8 to 31.5 fps. Scrubbing - BeeOOOHHHtiful!

That's one way. Or, since you have Vegas Pro, can also get the Happy Otter Scripts (HOS), install that (watch the tutorials carefully on installation and setup!!!!!), and should you have downloaded the above codecs, guess what? You can use the Render Assist to create your own Intermediates with those, or what is available in HOS. I've got it on my "signature" system with Vegas Pro 15 and works great there, too.

Or, like also mentioned, you have the "In-House" proxy system, which I think Marco says creates an XDCAM file of 1280x720, and you just set your Preview Window to "Preview" or "Draft". Do your editing, and when you go to render, it will automatically revert back to the original.

What works for you is up to you. BruceUSA has a great workflow listed as well. I like using the Grass Valley or MagicYUV intermediates myself, as having "elderly" eyes, I cannot see that well using the Proxy Workflow - which I would use. At least I tried a couple of times. My eyes just couldn't handle it, along with the minor headache I got.

Hope this didn't confuse any more than it should???

Happy Editing!