Just downloaded the new Windows Media Player 9 and have been watching the HD clips available on www.windowsmedia.com, and I must say, I'm BLOWN AWAY at the quality of these clips.
Is this quality possible with the Windows Media 9 encoder in Vegas, or is it a new codec?
it's very possible with Vegas. At NAB, I was demoing Win9 with Artbeats clips and Vegas. Warning: Render times are slooooowwwww.... But what can you expect for that kind of upsample/resolution? Looks wonderful, doesn't it?
The demo machines in the Microsoft booth at NAB had HD clips of the season 2 BMW Films, and they looked even better than the stuff on their website. Mixed in 5.1 surround, too!
///d@
Wow... this <is> an old post. May have been better to simply post an entirely new thread as the "main" post in this is not really related to your question (other than mentioning windows media 9).
In any case... on my copy of Vegas 4 the Windows Media Video 9 option is there in the choices for "Save as type" in the "File->Rendar as" dialog box..
So... not sure what may be wrong with your setup. Have you tried doing a re-install (repairing the install if necessary)?
The option is there in mine as well, but Microsoft does have a pretty elaborate encoder for Windows Media 9 available for free, might be worth checking out: