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HDV in Vegas 6.0d
I switched from DVCAM to HDV, Canon XLH1 (the viewfinder sucks, better image on the Sony HC3) to edit in Vegas. Now I am realizing that M2T files are almost impossible to read but in draft, impossible quality to monitoring editing. Vegas converts to cineform 2.5, a more readable file, 3 times the size .avi file, but still only can be viewed in Preview(auto), never in Best (auto) and forget about Full (auto) in an external monitor, as I did with my DVCAM footage.
I tried Connect HD, a supposed more advanced version of cineform (200$), that the only advantage that has over Vegas is the time it takes (very fast) to encode to .avi. In the timeline it performs almost the same, I would say a little slower.
I really feel trapped in a new world that I did not think was as complicated as it is, especially after all the advertising of manufacturers.
1-Is there a way to be able to work more confortable in terms of what is going on with the stuff when editing and not being practically blind in terms of image quality?
2-Would a sata array thru the cardbus of my Vaio help?
3-I am planning to keep cleaned files footage in HDD instead of tapes. How should I keep it?, .M2T files or .avi
I appreciate any help. I didn -
3 Replies
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I feel sort of the same way, Carlo. It takes a honkin’ big computer to edit HDV, even using an intermediate codec. Many manufacturers recommend a dual Xeon with a three or four drive RAID array (preferably SCSI, but SATA will do). An accelerator card might help, too, but then we’d have to edit with Premiere or FCP or Edius rather than Vegas.
There’s a plugin that might ease your pain, called Gearshift. It substitutes DV files for your video while you’re editing. When you’re done, “shift gears” to replace the DV files with HDV, and do your final render.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
You should have no problem editing on your machine.
The only problem is that editing the m2t file is always going to be a mission and not very effective since it is in effect an MPEG file – and editing MPEG is a mission.
My laptop that I use on the road is an ol 2.4G HP with 512 megs of ram and a 5400rpm IDE drive. Using Connect HD (or Gearshift for that matter) allows me to edit freely. BTW, I always use “Preview” mode to edit with. The more the number of tracks/transitions and effects you have, the slower your preview will be.
Both Connect HD (the latest version is 3.0.4) which and Gearshift have slightly different workflows. The confusion is over CineForm’s use of the term “intermediate” which was derived from the film workflow “Digital Intermediate” not from the concept of temporary “proxy.”
In film digital intermediates you don’t go back to the source negative. The CineForm Intermediate is not a proxy for the M2T data, it completely replaces it. It is like an uncompressed workflow — only much more convenient due to file size and speed. The branding of “CineForm Intermediate” was during the post production of “Dust to Glory” where CineForm compression was used through out and was the final master format. So that is the philosophy.
With Gearshift, you would render a “proxy” to edit your HDV footage. Once you have completed your edit including transitions etc, you would “switch gears” and Gearshift would swop the proxy for the original m2t file and then you would render to your format of choice.
Jeremy
MJ Productions
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Jerry and Doug:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I
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