[Alan Yen]

Sorry about this, I got an e-mail saying there is new reply to my post, but when I click to the link, there is no new reply. Don’t know if it got cut off or other reason…

[Alan Yen]

Hi John! Thanks for the information, I was out of town for a few days….

I have read your reply a few times, and tried to render a short clip into various format as you suggested in the Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11. Here is a few questions hope you could help me a bit again… 🙂

(1) After I installed the Cineform codec, the Vegas 11 finally let me render the file into Cinform AVI. But the clip is only a 15sec file (original .mts file is only about 50mb, and I also rendered into .m2t as comparison.), and I was surprised that the resulting .m2t became about 55mb, but the Cinform AVI file became 500mb! So that means the cinform AVI file would take up about 2G per min?!….

this is the detail spec I used when rendering….

for the .m2ts:
output type: mpeg-2
1920X1080, frame rate: 29.97,
B-frames: 2 (don’t know what this mean)
Filed order: upper filed first
Variable bit-rate with average at 25m/bps

for the Cinform:(I am actually just use the default setting)
1920X1080, frame rate: 29.97,
Pixel aspect ratio:1
interleave every .25 sec
render alpha channel
Encode format: YUV:4:2:2
Encode Quality: Filmscan1 (it has “low, midiem, high, filmscan1, filmscan2, keying” as possible choice)

(2) Many file type has a “Field Order” option, and it has “none-progressive scan, upper field first, lower field first”. Does it makes any different which one I choose?

(3) In regarding to the bit-rate. My Canon HFM40 can take HD at max of 25m, but it said something about this kind of file can not be saved into an AVCHD discs, so I have been using the second highest bit-rate to shoot my video, which is 17m. In your previous message, you mentioned about the format I want to render into, the bit-rate should be at least the same as the original. My question is, setting it at the same rate is enough, right? If I set it at higher than the original, what would it help since there is no additional info in the original anyway?

Also, they usually let you chose to have constant bit-rate or variable bit-rate (with the average as the bit-rate that I want). Is there any difference I choose constant or variable?

(4) I have herd people saying the .mts, .m2t, and .m2ts files are all the same, is it true?

Because I saw the selections under “render as”, there is a MainConcept MPEG2 format(creats .m2t files), and also a Sony AVC/MVC format that creats .m2ts files (this one produce a slightly smaller file). I am wodering if I am saving some of the files back to these format after simple cutting only (I tried to save as both, and the results are visually almost the same as original), does it matter which one I choose?

Thanks very much for your help!

[Alan Yen]

Hi John… Thanks very much for taking the time to asnwer my question. I might have wrote it wrong in my original question, but I am going to use the Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 for my video editing, not the Vegas Pro.

I know the Vegas Pro has a lot more professional tool. But its a bit too expansive for me. Here is what I am planning to do…. I basically is using the camcorder to shot HD video for family events only. And after I edit the footage (usually simple cutting or add text for date, location etc.). I am just keeping the result files in my network hard drive so I can play it on computer, my TV, or planning to use the files in Corel VideoStudio to make AVCHD disk (it could use the .m2ts files, and burn it on DVD disk to make it a so called ACVHD disk, since I don’t have a blue-ray burner). I do not need to upload it unto youtube or other online service, they are for my own home collection only.

last month, I actually tried to edit and save/render a short .m2ts video using Corel VideoStudio X4(I have been using it for a while), Adobe Premier (trial version), and this Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11(trial version). And the result from Vegas is the best of the 3, that’s why I decided to buy it. (With the other two programs, the result is kind of granny, and the color or texture on things like face or clothes, it looks very artificial… don’t know exactly how to describe it)

But I still want to make sure I could have the edited file as close to the original as possible. So…

(1) If I am using only the Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11, does the YUV to RGB, and 32-bit mode precision that you described in Vegas pro11 does still apply here?

(2) What “category” exactly is the .m2ts file under? I thought .m2ts means “mpeg2 transport stream”, that’s why I first assume that I read somewhere that smart rendering works with mpeg2, so it will work with .m2ts… guess not..

(3)I guess I could live with just the Visually Lossless rendering. So you are saying, after I convert my .m2ts files into the Visually Lossless format with let’s say the Cineform (since I hear it all the time), what extension will it become? It’s that I am a bit confused about this Cineform… many places that mentioned it (even in Vegas) they keep refering to 3D video, but I just want to do simple 2D cutting eidit on my home video. So where do I get this Cineform converter? or is it already one of the format in Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 that I could just simplely open a .mt2s file and select the Cinform to convert it?

(4) I read it somewhere earlier that Cineform convert the file into their own special .avi format. But whatever format it became, I will then be able to use this as intermediate format to do all kinds of editing in Vegas(in addition to simple cutting), and then render it as either normal mpeg, avi or .m2ts, and the resulting file will looks almost like orignial?

Like I mentioned earlier, I am not going to do professional work, just want to find a “not too complicate” procedures to do simple editing on my home video and still be able to play it back on my computer or TV with near the original quality.

Thanks again for helping an amature like me…lol… But it has been bugging me for a while…. I really appreciate your help!