John Rofrano
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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> Does anyone else use this for HD files?
Yea, only every AVCHD camcorder in the world. 😉
MPEG-4 is used for lots and lots of things from podcasts to HD and yes it does look great with small file sizes. BTW, MOV supports MPEG-4 (h.264) as well.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> I finally got an uncompressed AVI file to work, and it looks great, as the post house wanted an uncompressed file.
Excellent! It always pays to ask.
> I was under the impression that uncompressed files yielded the best quality
Yes because it does not compress the video, but if something is already compressed, it will not look any better. It just won’t look worse.
> and that digibeta was a virtually lossless format in that if it were to be output uncompressed it would end up being a 4:2:2 color stream instead of 4:2:1 of DV. Am I wrong about this,
You are wrong only because you can’t create color information that is not there. NTSC DV is 4:1:1 and PAL DV is 4:2:0. Rendering uncompressed just gives you a 4:1:1 stream with no compression. Nothing will make it 4:2:2 (even though it will be stored that way on digibeta tape) because the color information was never recorded to the DV tape to begin with.
> or is a true uncompressed file created on intake through SDI?
That’s correct. You need to capture uncompressed via SDI.
> And if wrong, is there any benefit to uncompressing DV, or even HDV for that matter?
No, there is no benefit to the signal other than it is not degraded.
> I guess I just have this idea in my head that if you shot something compressed (as in DV), if you uncompressed it you would get the best quality..
No. Once you compress to a lossy codec, the information is thrown away forever. You can never get it back. If you compressed to a lossless format, you never lost the information to begin with. But DV and HDV are lossy formats.
If you want to test this, take a JPG file in Photoshop and save it to a new name on the lowest quality setting (highest compression). Now open that file and save it at the highest quality (lowest compression). It will not look any better than the lowest quality setting because once the information is lost, it is lost forever.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I would get rid of and stop using WMV as an editing source. WMV is a delivery format which is highly compressed and tough on a processor to decompress. Use AVI as your first choice (DV for SD and CineForm for HD) or MOV as a second choice. Just be sure to use a codec that stores full frames. I assume the MTS is AVCHD which is tough to render. Make sure your PC is not overheating.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> When I burn the disc each time you go to a new menu it skips the first 2-3 seconds of the song and then starts playing.
I’ve experienced the exact same problem. I thought it was my DVD player because it only happens on my Philips player and not on my Pioneer player. Perhaps it is caused by DVD Architect not creating the disc correctly but I find it odd that some DVD players and fine while others aren’t. I too would love to know what’s causing this.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
You set the framerate when you import the images. You’ll have to import them again to get the framerate window again. It pop’s up right after you tell Vegas which images to import.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
The DivX problem is because Vegas doesn’t support DivX. The WMV problem is because WMV is a highly compressed delivery format and is not good for editing. Render your DivX files to DV AVI and you should have no problems previewing them.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
What format are the sound clips?
What format are you trying to export to? (by “export” i assume you mean “render”)
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> …most notetably on Vasst training DVD’s
We use Camtasia Studio at VASST. You can click on one of the ad links here at the Cow to get to TechSmith, the company that makes Camtasia. There are several free screen capture utilities but the secret to good captures is having a codec that compresses PC video well and that’s where Camtasia shines. The TechSmith codec is lossless so you get exactly what you captured. Camtasia also has a complete editing application and will render to many popular formats for YouTube, Flash, h.264 (mp4), etc. They have a free trial so you have nothing to loose.
TechSmith also has a free offering called Jing. This is a really easy way to record your desktop to Flash video files that can easily be shared. Jing also has a Pro version that gives you more output options. If this is just for occasional use, Jing might be just the thing.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> you have to think about what the orginal footage was? Was it shot on some format that already had compression? If so – going to an uncompressed master doesn’t really make sense. It would be best to keep it the same kind of compression that came out of the camera.
I agree, if this is DV footage just render a DV AVI file. Vegas has a really good DV codec. Optionally you can render as Quicktime using the DV/DVCPRO – NTSC codec. I would also ask the post house which they prefer.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> maybe windows updated and mess ed it up, not sure why it would.
I always keep windows update turned off. It it ain’t broke… don’t fix it. I have had windows update mess up my PC before. Never again. I only update after I have backed up my system so that I can restore it if something goes wrong.
Good luck,
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com