Agreed. I should have seen this coming. I was just looking forward to the day when I could just drag and drop and edit. I have so much to do in so little time. Not to mention the fact of having to store all those extra files somewhere.

KK could you recomend any good Ideas for me? I could hardly afford to get the software to switch to Cineform, even though that seems best. I don't know what .MXF is, so a little enlightenment would be wonderful.

I have a program called Multi Renderer from PeachRock and normally convert to .avi. But never got the quality of AVCHD FILES from it.

Please help. This is really an issue for me. I know so little about all this. Thanks for the help.

Peace,

Joshua

" I don't know what .MXF is, so a little enlightenment would be wonderful. "

The option to render to Sony MXF Is only in V9 I think.

Bob.

I don't know what to say. This has been a topic of hot discussion in practically every editing forum online for 2 years or more.

You have three options

1. Transcode to something the NLE can work with better
2. Upgrade to an i7
3. Change to an NLE that handles AVCHD.

Maybe Sony's MXF will work out for you. I tried it and don't care for it, but that's just me.

Nope, it's in 8 as well. Just checked. And you have the 35 and the 50 Mbps variants.

Just to answers Ice's question.

MXF = Media eXchange Format. Basically an advanced wrapper that supports lots of metadata. The variant that you get with Vegas uses mpeg-2 to encode the vision.
The 50Mbps template gives you 4:2:2 chroma sampling so it isn't too shabby however I don't understand why we don't have access to the higher bitrates that include I frame only. Once you get to that point it becomes pretty close to lossless and it should be easier to edit than long GOP.

Bob.

*sigh* Wish this could be simple... So, like maybe I just don't know how to set the render setting for AVI. Before I was doing SD because that is what I wanted. I think that maybe if I use HD AVI it could work? What do you all think?


""You have three options

1. Transcode to something the NLE can work with better
2. Upgrade to an i7
3. Change to an NLE that handles AVCHD.""

I have an i7. Doesn't do it.

O maybe I should try that MXF. I don't know, sounds like a mess.

Thanks guys for any/ every comment and suggestion.

Take care,

Joshua

WOW! You can't get an i7 to play back a single stream of AVCHD? Something else is going on then. I can get that to work on my dual core laptop.

MXF isn't a mess. It works fine for what it's designed for. It would probably work great for you.

There is a free proxy script that has been mentioned on the forums here. Search for it and use DV Widescreen proxies for the edit. When you have the edit all set up on the time line, have the script put all of the AVCHD stuf on the timeline for you and render away. It really is easier than all of the headache if you are not going to Cineform.

Perhaps before we all start jumping up and down too much it might pay to look into the original problem but some more details could really help;

1) Which camera is the footage from. Some reports indicate that some cameras record variants of AVCHD that works well with Vegas and others are a bit of a bust.

2) At least install the trial of V9e to see how that performs.

Bob.

All the properties settings correct (or at least according to Eugene's blog).

Don't know quite what those settings are, but to match your Project Properties to your Media for optimal preview, the procedure is simple:

-- In the Project Properties dialog, click the yellow "folder" icon in the upper RH corner.
-- Navigate to and select one of your AVCHD files in the project.
-- Click "Apply," then "OK."

Additional tips for optimizing preview playback:

-- Use "Preview," not "Best."
-- Turn Off "Scale to Fit Preview"
-- Turn Off "Simulate Device Aspect"

Using this checklist, I get full framerate AVCHD (1440x1080) preview at 1/4 rez (CPU 87%) on my lowly dual-core laptop (1.9Ghz) and almost full framerate (28fps) at 1/2 rez (CPU 95%). Only at full rez do things start falling apart as the CPU hits the ceiling.

Okay.
thanks.. sounds great. I wish I was not so darn clueless in so much of this stuff. I feel like an idiot. Why can everyone else figure it out but me? ugh!

you said
-- Turn Off "Scale to Fit Preview"
-- Turn Off "Simulate Device Aspect"

Where do I do that?

I should definately be able to watch my AVCHD files here. What version of Vegas do you have musicvid?

Thanks.

some cameras record variants of AVCHD

My Core 2 Dual at work runs .h264 from the Go Pro at Preview full, but only one stream. It is also a full time 3.0 gHtz clock which helps. I bet his laptop is a Core i7m which spends a lot of time throttled back.

I have a Sony Webbie Camcorder which uses true AVCHD and Vegas runs that almost like HDV. Not quite, but on both machines (Core 2 Dual and Core i7 980X) I can playback multiple streams well. It is the other .h264 that folks are saying is AVCHD that just brings my machines to their knees. HD AVC is not AVCHD. Granted, the Webbie uses a low bitrate encode.

I don't get all of the ins and outs of .h264, but I understand that it can be many different specs. I am glad I don't have to figure it all out. For me, if it works then I use it. If it doesn't, I change my workflow. I really pity software developers who are trying to support it.

Yeah.. true about the i7 does stay pretty throtled back.

I have a Sony AVCHD CX-12. It's their top of the line for consumers. It's a dream. Looks like mega beautiful (Saw true HD for the first time today in my life, now I think I will be an addict. It's beautiful. my first HD film here: make sure your on 720p)




but I don't know what my CX-12 is really shooting in.. I though AVCHD was AVCHD.. but i guess not.

-- Turn Off "Scale to Fit Preview"
Right-click on the preview screen.

What version of Vegas do you have musicvid?
Vegas Pro 8.0c, Vista 32, unremarkable laptop T2390.

ice, upload a 30 sec. clip somewhere and let us test it on different machines. I qualify as the low end without a doubt.

ICE,

That should be true AVCHD coming out of that camera. Here are a couple of the tips I normally suggest.

Here are a couple of notes that may give you a better experience.

Render on Good rather than Best. Best makes a difference when you are changing the size of the video significantly, but not when it will stay the same. Best slows it down considerably.

Set your preview window to Preview instead of good or best. Uncheck some of the options on the preview window, right click in the preview window to see.

Under Options | Preferences | Video Try setting your Dynamic Ram Preview to 64mb and your Maximum number of threads to 8.

Make sure that your project settings match you source footage. You can do that by opening the project properties dialog. Click on the folder button which is the match media settings button. Navigate to your source footage and click on one of the files. That will set the project to match your source and reduce the load on Vegas preview FX etc.

Here is another trick for you.
To see the transition at a better rate, let the cursor loop across it a couple of times. Each time it will get faster as Vegas renders more of the frames to RAM for you.

You can also drag a time selection across the transition and press SHIFT + B and Vegas will render it to RAM for you. Unlike having to render it in FCP or PP the render to RAM is very fast and does not clog up your drive.

I hope some of these help. We are all pulling for you.

KK

You Guys are better than great. Thanks so much. I did all the suggested settings, they seem to help. Less skipping. Thanks. KK... that shift B thing is really amazing.. plays real smooth after that...never knew it.

I am going to keep working on it. Sounds like I should get Cineform... would make everything better.. but.. don't know if I can afford it right now.

Thanks a million you all.

I right now I am 8.1.. straight up. Do you think I should go to .b or c?