What Video Formats and Codecs Does Vegas Pro Perform/Work Best With?

MH7 wrote on 11/14/2022, 11:49 PM

Okay, so this might be a question that has been answered before, and if anyone wants to direct me to a post where this specific question has been answered, I’m more than happy with that. I know that there are numerous video formats and CoDecs that VEGAS Pro supports, specifically VEGAS pro 20, but there is probably a difference between what video formats and CoDecs that VEGAS Pro supports vs what it works best with, which is the question that I’m asking (by “works best with” I mean playing back in full/best quality @ 4K25/50 quite smoothly, even with scrubbing the timeline).

The two cameras that I use (mentioned in my sig) are a Sony FDR-AX700 and iPhone 12 Pro Max (with iOS 16). I mostly film 4K50 with my iPhone and 4K25 (that’s its limit) with my Sony camera. I iPhone films in HEVC (H.265) vs my Sony camera, which films in AVC (H.264).

I’ve played back my Sony 4K25 video in VEGAS Pro 18 with much problem, it plays back sort of alright at full/Best quality. If I was editing it with colour correction and different effects I’d probably have to drop the preview down to half the quality @ 1080p, which is fine.

(I know you may want some sample video, but given the personal nature of the videos being of my family, I don’t want to share those. But I guess I could find something to film with both cameras that wasn’t personal at all)

Thanks in advance for any help.

(For my hardware and software info please see my signature below)

Comments

RogerS wrote on 11/15/2022, 12:04 AM

I'd suggest ProRes, h264 constant framerate short GOP AVC in MOV or MP4 container. XDCAM. High bitrate 4K50p can be tough to play at full quality and framerate so maybe reserve it for slow motion.

It looks like you have an AMD CPU and GPU so decoding would be with the GPU- Intel decoders seem a bit more flexible with media in Vegas.

MH7 wrote on 11/15/2022, 1:23 AM

I'd suggest ProRes, h264 constant framerate short GOP AVC in MOV or MP4 container. XDCAM.

I have wondered if transcoding my videos to the MOV file format would do better in VEGAS Pro.

High bitrate 4K50p can be tough to play at full quality and framerate so maybe reserve it for slow motion.

Well, given my planned project, the 4K50 will get reduced to 4K25.

It looks like you have an AMD CPU and GPU so decoding would be with the GPU

Yes, it most certainly would, considering my R7 1700 doesn’t have an iGPU.

Intel decoders seem a bit more flexible with media in Vegas.

Yeah, with all my research, it does seem to be the case.

Thanks @RogerS for your help. 🙂

RogerS wrote on 11/15/2022, 1:34 AM

I have wondered if transcoding my videos to the MOV file format would do better in VEGAS Pro.

Probably, though it's [EDIT: not] MOV that matters it's what's in it. (ProRes is MOV, so is some AVC, etc. which are wildly different formats) Try a test in Shutter Encoder and swap media.

MH7 wrote on 11/15/2022, 2:12 AM

I have wondered if transcoding my videos to the MOV file format would do better in VEGAS Pro.

Probably, though it's not MOV that matters it's what's in it. (ProRes is MOV, so is some AVC, etc. which are wildly different formats)

I assume you meant the above, and that’s a good point. I believe MOV is more of a wrapper (if that’s correct?).

Try a test in Shutter Encoder and swap media.

Okay, I will try that. Thank you!

Musicvid wrote on 11/15/2022, 4:45 PM

(by “works best with” I mean playing back in full/best quality @ 4K25/50 quite smoothly, even with scrubbing the timeline).

I see two questions there.

For flawless preview quality with "reasonable" timeline performance, a low compression intermediate aka MagicYUV is best, the collateral being relatively HUGE file size. But why?
OTOH, for best timeline performance with "reasonable" preview quality, a plain jane Proxy is best. Small footprint, fast, and adequate.

Size, quality, speed; pick two.