-
can you export to a .mov file with h.264?
In Vegas 7, can you export to a Quicktime .mov file using the h.264 codec?
I know you can export to a MainConcept AVC file for the iPod and to a Sony AVC file which both use the h.264 codec but create a .mp4 file.
My question is, can you make customizable – defining the bit rate, frame size, etc. – Quicktime .mov files with the h.264 codec?
I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Vegas 7 to answer that question but of course they disabled all export options in the trial version and nothing explicitly says on the Sony web site that you make such customizable .mov files with h.264.
Thanks.
Greg
-
14 Replies
-
You can export a fully customized H.264 file from Vegas. This will be fully functional on any Mac. The .mov format is a wrapper as far as I know, in the same way .avi is a wrapper. I don’t think Vegas uses the .mov wrapper for H.264, but I am not sure why that would be an issue.
What is the reason you need the H.264 video to have a .mov wrapper?
-
“You don’t know if Vegas uses the .mov wrapper for h.264”
Well that’s exactly what my question was. I was hoping someone who uses Vegas and has tried this could tell me.
For anyone who does have Vegas 7, it’s an easy answer, go to “Render as”, choose “Quicktime 7”, then “Custom”, then under the “Video” tab, go to the drop down menu for “Video Format” and all the codecs will be listed. If you have h.264 installed on your computer with Quicktime Pro, h.264 will be listed in the drop down menu but won’t work if Vegas doesn’t support it in a .mov export. So you have to select h.264 and start the render to see if Vegas will render it.
I know this because I have Movie Studio Platinum 7 and it works the same way and it definitely does not support h.264. I was hoping what Sony calls their “pro” version might, but it doesn’t seem so.
Rather than speculation, does anyone know for sure?
-
If I want to render as H.264 and play it in the Quicktime player, I render it as H.264 using the MainConcept H.264 renderer. This plays on Mac and PC using Quicktime. The MainConcept renderer doesn’t use Quicktime wrapping. Please note that the MainConcept encoder can encode in any format H.264, from iPod to HD.
The Quicktime encoder in Vegas is for Quicktime 7, which obviously doesn’t support H.264.
My question to you is why it matters? Why are you asking, given that the wrapper is completely irrelevant. Vegas renders H.264 fine, for consumption on Mac and PC both. I can’t figure out why the wrapper matters. Is it critical to you whether the movie, which is identical, has a .mov file extension or a .mp4? If the .mp4 file extension bothers you, you could even change it to .mov, works like a charm. Still wouldn’t have a Quicitime wrapper, but that should be irrelevant.
-
Yes, Vegas exports it in a Quicktime wrapper.
Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST
Aerial Camera -
DSE/Spot – thank you for answering my simple question.
Terje – My question was regarding a specific functionality in the Vegas 7 program, does it export a certain kind of file with a certain codec. I wasn’t asking if someone could tell me why I would need such a file and to open up a debate about it, so there was no point in responding to your question about why I should care if it’s a .mov file or not.
-
[lunchmoney] “there was no point in responding to your question about why I should care if it’s a .mov file or not.”
Of course it’s your prerogative to provide whatever information you desire.
However, it is often the case that a question on how to do something is explored a little further, and it turns out that there is a basic assumption by someone asking advise that is incorrect. Thus, a better route to the desired end is arrived at, which makes for a better day for everyone.
Gary Kleiner
Learn Vegas and DVD Architect
http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
-
Sorry if I offended, just trying to help. As Gary pointed out, there was a rationale behind my question. Sorry if I offended you by trying to help, I will try not to try to help in the future.
-
…but just to be clear, if you didn’t understand DSE. You can export a Quicktime H.264 from Vegas, you can just change the file extension from .mp4 to .mov and all is well.
-
Sorry about being gruff when you were trying to help. No, I understood what DSS said and I called Sony and I actually got someone on the phone that said, yes you can export to a .mov file encoded with h.264. But then I found this at: forums.digitalmedianet.com where someone asked the exact same question and the last message posted on July 17, 2007 was this:
————————————————-
Here is the response I got from Sony Tech Support.“There is no support for the H.264 format in Vegas. Even if you have the Quicktime Pro update installed, Vegas does not recognize this format or allow you to export to it. It may be listed under the Qucktime codec, or under .AVI but the format is not actually supported. However, you can render to the AVC format in Vegas which is a form of .mp4.”
————————————————-So I don’t know who to believe, this guy says Sony Tech says no, I call Sony they say yes, and DSS says yes. I really don’t want to have to buy it, only to find out later that it doesn’t.
There must be someone with Vegas 7 that has tried this, yes?
Exporting to a .mp4 file using MainConcept or Sony AVC and changing the extension doesn’t work on my pc, the file doesn’t play – when I do it I get an error message saying it’s not a movie file.
Besides, these encodes are for web streaming/progressive download on a web site so I need the .mov wrapper. Even if the files did play after changing the extension to .mov, it still wouldn’t give me the wrapper with the faststart optimized for streaming that I need.
-
[lunchmoney] “Besides, these encodes are for web streaming/progressive download on a web site so I need the .mov wrapper. Even if the files did play after changing the extension to .mov, it still wouldn’t give me the wrapper with the faststart optimized for streaming that I need.”
Let me address one thing first. The email response you got from Sony support is absurd if that is the full response (and depending on what your question was). Vegas fully supports H.264. Both for editing (since 7e) and for export.
The information above was the information I was looking for when I asked you why you needed a Quicktime wrapper etc. I also think I can give you the answer. To my knowledge, at least I haven’t been able to find out how, the H.264 video file created by Vegas isn’t wrapped to enable faststart, streaming optimization etc. To support this in Quicktime you need the tools from Apple.
So, the answer to your original (incomplete) question is: Yes, Vegas fully supports H.264 export into a Quicktime readable format (leave the mp4 extension and it opens in Quicktime fine). It doesn’t appear that information pertaining to streaming, faststart etc is included. For this you need Quicktime pro, and this can not be invoked from within Vegas 7.
Are there work arounds? Yes. You can export to DV-AVI (or whatever format you would like) and do the conversion using Quicktime pro. This isn’t particularly hard, and given that the encoding it self is an insignificant part of your work flow, that alone should not be a gating factor in your purchasing decision. IMHO.
Other than that, again IMHO, if I was going to work with Quicktime and Apples tools, I’d buy a Mac. I have Quicktime pro on my PC and I have never in my entire life used software of such abysmal quality. Quicktime Pro crashes easier on the PC than would a house of cards built in New Orleans under Hurricane Cathrina. I love Mac OSX, and I love a lot of the products Apple deliver on the Mac, but whoever is in charge of Quicktime Pro for Windows should be summarily fired. It’s the worst piece of crap software ever. Oh, and when I (extremely rarely) can get it to encode something, it is also the slowest piece of junk H.264 encoder on the market today. By many orders of magnitude.
If you want to work professionally with Quicktime on Windows, forget about Apple and get Sorenson. Use Vegas for editing though. None better on the PC, IMHO.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up