[John Bollenbacher]

aha. now I understand. Sorry about the confusion.

There are a number of things you can check.

When I rendered 30 seconds or so of 1080p footage to quicktime, using the default settings, it came to about 7GBs. I think it’s because it is completely uncompressed by default, and to play back uncompressed HD you usually need a very fast raid array.

I’ll mess around with different compression codecs to see which one looks and works the best – You post your findings too, cause I’d be interested to see which one works.

[John Bollenbacher]

Fraser,

It seems like there is something else going on here, and I don’t suspect your machine. How did these EX-1 files become .mov’s? They start out as .mp4’s on the SxS card, and I’m pretty sure the preferred workflow is to convert those .mp4’s to .mxf files to then edit in Sony Vegas.

Since Vegas is a PC app, it’s really happiest with .avi files (or .mxf files – but those are still more processor intensive). It will play just about anything, but with different amounts of processing, and I bet that an HD .mov might be a little much for it to swallow? If you render it I bet it plays smoothly, since it is creating a converted copy to read, in a format it likes.

If I were you, and I still had the EX-1 and cards, I would use sony’s free clip browser software to export the clips you are using as .mxf’s and try those in Vegas.

[John Bollenbacher]

Fraser,

First off, it’s usually helpful to tell people a little bit about your setup, ie. working off a laptop/desktop/OS/internal drives/firewire drives, etc.

But that’s not always necessary; I went ahead and shot some 1080p footage on my EX-1 to give this a shot.

I’m assuming that you went through the sony clip browser and exported the .mp4’s as .mxf since Vegas still hasn’t offered native support for the EX-1.

Once you’ve done that there are a number of things that can cause jittery playback.

First might be slow drives you’re playing back from. Internal drives or USB drives are not ideal (although I didn’t have problems with a short clip on my laptop’s internal drive just now), firewire or faster drives are usually better, especially for .mxf footage.

OK – so assuming that you are working from fast enough drives, the other thing to check is the format of your project. Vegas pro 8.0 has all flavors of HD so you should be able to find a 1920X1080 format that works for you. If you are in a mismatched format for your footage that would be the most likely culprit for your jittery playback. The easiest thing to do is to go File>Properties (or type Alt+Enter), and then right next to the box that says “Template:” there are 3 icons. The one all the way to the right looks like a folder, it is actually a “Match Media Settings” tool. It will load the media settings from any footage you select; so click on it, navigate to your .mxf files, select it, and click “open” and then “apply” back at the main properties page.

Now your project should match your media, and shouldn’t have jittery playback EXCEPT if your preview quality is too high. At first my preview quality was set to “Best(Full)” and that 1080p footage wasn’t playing at all. Once I reset it to “Preview(auto)” it played back really smoothly. Not bad for HD coming off an internal laptop drive.

The only other thing that I can think of that might make the playback look jittery is if you are previewing this progressive footage on an external interlaced monitor, since they don’t match.

Good luck.

[John Bollenbacher]

Thank you all for your ideas. It turns out that Gilles idea of using the CTRL key works best for me. It allows me to make that fine adjustment between -23dB and -infinity.

[John Bollenbacher]

Ed –

Thanks for the offer, and the response. I might take you up on that. For right now I just have a shortcut to a folder on my internal drive right next to my .veg and .bak files that I manually dump copies to at the end of every session. I know, not the most elegant or automated; but works for now.

Still say it should be a feature in 9.

[John Bollenbacher]

And that sir is why you are the moderator.

Thanks for the heads up. I must admit that this is the second “feature” in a short period that has caught me by surprise.

I guess there is some situation where it is useful to have the media offline. Maybe if you are trying to edit a file that is also in Vegas? So the other program doesn’t think that the file is in use?

Oh well, thanks again!

[John Bollenbacher]

Bingo!

I’m using XDcam HD clips. I will try the uninstall – install to see if it works. Thanks for the response!

[John Bollenbacher]

I’m having the same problem.

I create the regions, and then press the “save region” button. But when I open the clip back up, no regions.

[John Bollenbacher]

Well, Clicking on save regions doesn’t work either. I click on the save button, and when I come back to the clip the regions are no longer there.

Any other ideas?

[John Bollenbacher]

Gee, guess I should have tried that. 😉

Thanks for not makeing fun of me. I guess I assumed they would automatically be saved; seems like an extra step.

Anyway, I promise to read the manual a little bit closer next time.