Xacti mp4 files crash VegasPro9

earthrisers wrote on 4/29/2010, 10:42 AM
I borrowed a friend's Sanyo Xacti to consider buying one as a 3rd camera to do wideshots in gigs along with our two higher-end cameras. But when I tried to bring the resulting MP4 files into the Vegas timeline, Vegas crashed every time. Tried it on two different computers (one dual-core desktop, one laptop), and the result was the same on both.

Anyone successfully integrated MP4 files with AVI files in projects in Vegas9?

Comments

LReavis wrote on 4/29/2010, 11:06 AM
MP4 is not an easy-to-edit video format. For that reason, I always put clips from my Sanyo cams on the TL by themselves and render them using the Cineform or PicVideo codec. Then I can put them into any project and editing is smooth.
Byron K wrote on 4/29/2010, 6:56 PM
You can try Proxy Stream to convert to mxf. That may work better. I haven't had any issues with my FH1A AVCHD footage since 9d was released.

Here's the thread:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=699579
Jay_Mitchell wrote on 5/1/2010, 9:08 PM
This has been covered in depth here on the Vegas Forum. Purchase Cineform NeoScene for $99 and convert all of the Sanyo Codec mp4/AVC files into the Cineform .avi codec files. Then you will be able to edit with ease in Vegas and output your project to any of the Vegas render options. NeoScene is great and worth every penny.

Jay Mitchell
earthrisers wrote on 5/4/2010, 2:33 PM
Thanks for the responses.
I had tried NeoScene, but in the rendered files the audio was WAY out of synch with the video. I'm sure it has to do with the specific settings I specified in Cineform, and the specific characteristics of the MP4 files I was trying to convert, and the specific settings of the Vegas project I was working on, but... that's way too many variables to play with just now, given project deadlines.
I had borrowed the Xacti camera I was using for the experiment. I returned it to its owner and decided, for now, to "keep staying out" of the HD-formats world. Our customers (for school talent shows, mainly) are all still very happy with widescreen DVDs shot in nonhighDef. I'm staying on the HD sidelines as long as I can (i.e., until there's customer demand for HD), hoping that the universe of HD formats will one day resolve itself to something nearly as standard and workable as AVI has been in the regularDef world.
LReavis wrote on 5/4/2010, 6:09 PM
in case you reconsider: You'll need to put the Cineform files on a FAST hard disk or you'll have stuttering video and audio sync problems - I usually use RAID-0 arrays or SSDs. But even with the problems, I bet that if you were to render out one of those cranky Cineform clips to, say, .WMV or other easy-to-play codec that creates small files, probably they'd play just fine.

hint: render to a disk that is not holding the source file
earthrisers wrote on 5/4/2010, 9:32 PM
Thank you.

I'll probably try to run some more experiments after SchoolTalentShows&Graduations season winds down.
Grazie wrote on 5/5/2010, 12:28 AM
I've just used VASST's ULSPro4 to batch render 230 MPEG4s to PAL WS for editing in Vegas. I was getting hangs and inefficient & stressed editing.

Grazie

bill-kranz wrote on 5/5/2010, 3:30 PM
My question is this:

Can the Proxy Screen tool also convert my Canon SX 20's
.MOV / H.264 / M-PEG 4's HD movie clips?

I am a newbie getting used to working in this new for me video format and am
trying to get a free conversion tool that works well for Vegas Pro 8.0c.

I keep reading the Wiki page on .MOV and have copied this sentence:

..."H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec (does not support the AVCHD H.264 AVC format from HD camcorders)"

So when is H.264 not the same as MPEG-4?
Can H.264 stand alone from AVCHD?

Below is a quote from the Canon website on my new camera:

Movie: MOV (Image: H.264; Audio: Linear PCM (Monaural/Stereo))

Just trying to get a better handle on the Proxy Stream aspect...

Thx,
Bill
JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/5/2010, 3:58 PM
> So when is H.264 not the same as MPEG-4?

H.264 is a subset of MPEG4 (it is MPEG4 Part 10) and therefore it is always MPEG4 but not all MPEG4 is h.264. MPEG4 is a very broad standard with 27 parts. Other parts like MPEG4 Part 2 are what DivX and Xvid use for encoding. That's why it is very confusing when a camera manufacturer says that a camera records in MPEG4 because it could mean a lot of things.

> Can H.264 stand alone from AVCHD?

Yes. AVCHD is a format for the recording and playing back HD video that includes AVC/h.264 video compression and Digital Dolby AC3 audio compression. It also covers the filesystem layout. So AVCHD is always h.264 but h.264 is not always AVCHD.

~jr
bill-kranz wrote on 5/6/2010, 9:57 AM
JR:

Hi. Thanks for that update. Once I get my conversion software worked out
and into editing I think I can work this out.

Your knowledge is appreciated.

Thx,
Bill
musicvid10 wrote on 5/7/2010, 2:42 AM
Can someone upload a short clip from the Xacti somewhere? I'd like to test it and include a workaround in my tutorial.
LReavis wrote on 5/7/2010, 6:30 AM
Here it is (sanyo file):

www.homexam.com/test/SANY0001.MP4
musicvid10 wrote on 5/7/2010, 9:22 AM
All I had to do to get this file on the timeline was to run it through AVIDemux (stream copy). No need to convert or render it.
I did have to drag the last video frame back to the end of the audio once on the timeline.

Took a couple of seconds. Using 8.0c on Vista 32.
LReavis wrote on 5/7/2010, 10:10 AM
I don't even need to do that - just drag onto TL in 9C
musicvid10 wrote on 5/7/2010, 10:25 AM
Interesting - seems to be a GOP indexing issue that is showing up more and more with h264 files from small cameras and PVRs. Some versions of Vegas are maybe less picky.

Wow, Sony is making it really hard to sign in and reply to posts today . . .