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Some advice on rendering avchd
I have home videos I have recorded on my Samsung HD camcorder (model: SC-HMX20C). These are only family videos I will be keeping for the memories. I have been editing them in Vegas Pro 9.0c, and cutting out the unwanted parts. I realize the Pro version is probably overkill for what I am wanting to do, but I’m using a dual-core laptop and was having issues with Platinum which were totally resolved using Pro without making any system changes.
And finally to my issue: I want the best output format and settings to use in Vegas to preserve the videos for playback on my PS3 and computer now, and to be able to easily burn these to Blu-ray in the future without needing to go back and re-edit the old raw footage. I have tried several of the Sony AVC output settings, and most I can get to play as desired. I just want to know that I am encoding these at top quality and not degrading the files to the point of needing to re-render later. With my laptop, it takes about 7 hours to render an average 30 minute clip, and obviously frustrating when they won’t play correctly afterwards. I may have overlooked a guide somewhere on this topic, but I would think there can’t be a guide for every camera and file format.
Here is the info from one of the files I’m importing in Vegas to make a final video. I normally record all my home videos with these same file settings:
General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 369 MiB
Duration : 4mn 50s
Overall bit rate : 10.7 Mbps
Movie name/More : SKY02 Digital Camera
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54
Origin : Digital Camera
TAGS : UNG DIGITAL MOVIEVideo
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 4mn 50s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 10.5 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.085
Stream size : 364 MiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 4mn 50s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 127 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 128 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 4.41 MiB (1%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54
Tagged date : UTC 2010-03-11 19:20:54From what I have read, the MP4 format is already compressed and so I don’t want to further compress/degrade the files further. I attempted to render the video using the same output settings as the input files. The main difference being changing the output to 59.97fps instead of 29.97fps, and the rendered video was unplayable on my PS3 or laptop. So the settings I have been commonly using are:
Audio: 192 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, 24 Bit, Stereo, AC3
Video: 29.970 fps (NTSC), 1920×1080 Upper field first, YUV, 12 Mbps
Profile: High
Entropy coding: CAVLC
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.000
Video Rendering quality: Best
Output format: m2tsMy computer specs: (laptop)
Pentium dual-core T4200 2.00 ghz
Vista Home premium 32 bit
3 gigs ram
320 gig hdThe files are playable at these settings. But again, I just want to make sure I’m not further compressing or degrading the video in some way. I am new to video editing, so assume I don’t know anything at this point.
Thanks for any help,
Nate
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7 Replies
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I want the best output format and settings to use in Vegas to preserve the videos for playback on my PS3 and computer now, and to be able to easily burn these to Blu-ray in the future without needing to go back and re-edit the old raw footage.
Use the Sony AVC render type with one of the Blu-ray templates. Don’t mess with any settings. Just use the Blu-ray templates that Sony provided and they will play on your PS3 and future Blu-ray without any problems. This will also maintain the best quality.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks for the response John. Two new questions I thought of:
1- When I render using the Mainconcept AVC, it took 17 hours to render a 30 minute clip (over twice as long as Sony AVC). I need a faster computer asap. But besides that, the clip would not play properly afterwards, even on my computer. Why wouldn’t the resulting Mainconcept .mp4 file work better than the Sony .m2ts (which play fine), since the input files were Mainconcept .mp4?
2- Since my original files were recorded at 59.94fps, is there not some drawback to rendering them at 29.97fps?
These are both curiosities and not complaints. Thanks again for your advice.
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1- When I render using the Mainconcept AVC, it took 17 hours to render a 30 minute clip (over twice as long as Sony AVC). I need a faster computer asap. But besides that, the clip would not play properly afterwards, even on my computer. Why wouldn’t the resulting Mainconcept .mp4 file work better than the Sony .m2ts (which play fine), since the input files were Mainconcept .mp4?
I have found that the Sony AVC render is better than the MainConcept one. I don’t know why. I just use the Sony one.
2- Since my original files were recorded at 59.94fps, is there not some drawback to rendering them at 29.97fps?
There is no delivery format for 59.94fps. It should only be used for video that you want to slow down smoothly to 29.97fps. The current delivery standards are 29.97fps, 25fps, & 23.976fps. I wouldn’t shoot at a higher frame rate unless it was for special FX.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
thanks for you help john.
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Hi John,
Again thanks for this info.
Using the blu ray burn option in Vegas, can you use , for example, a 4.7Gb disc as the recording media without a dedicated BluRay burner?
Thanks,
BenDo unto others…
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Using the blu ray burn option in Vegas, can you use , for example, a 4.7Gb disc as the recording media without a dedicated BluRay burner?
Yes, you can use 4.7GB DVD media but the resulting disc format will be Blu-ray. This means that it will not be readable by your DVD burner after it is created. It will be a Blu-ray formatted disc on DVD media.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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