XP SP3 solved my M2T problems in VP8.0c

BrianStanding wrote on 10/11/2008, 8:46 AM

Ever since I installed Windows XP Service Pack 3, the random freeze-ups I was experiencing when playing m2t files on the Vegas timeline have disappeared.

I took a look at the complete change list for SP3, and found this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886716/

I can't confirm if this is what fixed my issues, but could be worth a shot.
If you don't want to do the full SP3, it may be worth at least applying this patch.

YMMV.

Comments

tcbetka wrote on 10/11/2008, 9:48 AM

Hmmm.... I have SP3 installed as well--bought XP SP3 in the OEM version when I built the PC. I haven't had any significant problems working with .m2t files either, but I haven't done a whole lot with them. My AVCHD files make the frame rates go in the toilet of course (even with a fast quad core), but that's somewhat understandable.

I guess I need to go find some m2t footage on the net that I can download and work with. Does anyone know where I might find some? I would think 5-10 minutes worth would suffice, but more would be great as well.

TB

UlfLaursen wrote on 10/11/2008, 11:19 AM

Hi TB

I think there at least are a few clips at www.vasst.com

/Ulf

tcbetka wrote on 10/11/2008, 12:29 PM

I found some, at a couple locations actually. Running the m2t files is a dream compared to the m2ts files of the AVCHD format. WOW, what a difference. So I guess it's UpShift for me, to get all my AVCHD files transcoded to HDV format. I presume there's no loss in the transcode? The site has been down for me most of the day, so I cannot read the specs on the application, or download it.

TB

John_Cline wrote on 10/11/2008, 1:04 PM

Yes, there will be some loss in the transcode. You are going from a highly compressed, long-GOP h.264 format to a long-GOP MPEG2 format, the loss is inevitable. It may not be too bad.

tcbetka wrote on 10/11/2008, 2:33 PM

Thanks John... My copy of Vista 64-bit will be here Monday, and I am going to install it on an empty hard drive in my machine. I also ordered another 4GB of ram (for a total of 8GB), and will install that as well. Then I will install Vegas 8.1 and try to process AVCHD clips with 8GB ram in Vista. If things are still slow, I will likely buy UpShift and convert everything to m2t format.

TB

Jeff9329 wrote on 10/13/2008, 7:04 AM

Tcbetca:

Keep us apprised of how things work out for you rendering AVCHD files.

I just got a new Pana AG-HMC150 AVCHD (24Mbs) camera and am also going to work on my machine a little. However, I will probably upgrade to Nehalem as soon as the CPUs and other hardware are available because the 775 CPU platform with any Quad core will always be a little slow for AVCHD IMO.

However I will say that Vegas 8.0c is remarkably steady and dependable while rendering files for hours. All varieties of the rendered files are beautiful too. Much less jaggies, artifacts and glitches, etc. than HDV. I do see green frames and frames out of order on the timeline, but the render still comes out perfect. I give 8.0c a grade of "A" on working with AVCHD.

One thing that bugs me is that VLC is very glitchy during AVCHD playback. I use VLC as a clip screening tool because it will go full screen and 16/10 crop so I can evaluate the clips closely for focus, etc. The CPU usage is only about 25 to 35% during viewing, but I still think it's a CPU speed issue. Does VLC work well for you?

AVCHD renders to NTSC DV or DV widescreen are pretty fast. It's just renders to Blu-Ray or HDV (to create HD-DVDs) is very slow.